Bay of Quinte, July trip

I'm heading back to Merland Park for 4 nights again in mid July and was wondering if anyone has been on the Bay recently who could tell me about the water conditions there. Is the water level still high? What are the surface temp readings. I have some favorite spots that have produced for me in the past so I'm not looking for locations, but water depth that you've had some success would be helpful. Thanks in advance.

No one has been to the Picton area?

Not from the BOQ, but I have fished the big bay, telegraph narrows area in July many times and did very well bottom Bouncing, can't recall if depth was a huge factor, but when I was trolling, I'd keep the speed below 1 mph and that seemed to make a huge difference, On another note I'll never hit the BoQ in August again, as the water turns to Pea soup making it almost unfishable in my opinion.

From a report sent to me by my buddies who live out that way. Water in BOQ is 1 meter (3 ft) above normal levels. This was near Shermans Pt. Fishing was okay, not many walleye caught, but pike and bass were biting. Water temps were still cold, mid 60C. I was suppose to be out there fishing this weekend, but could not make it... Good Luck and have fun.

Thanks for the replies guys. That info helps a lot. I didn't think the water level would still be that high though. Good thing the resort I'm going to has floating docks with adjustable anchors!

Just got back from my cottage on Adolphus reach and can confirm the water is still so very freaking high!!!! I was standing down on my "shore" usually high and dry and where I would be standing was up to my waist deep (5'7") and wow...shorts and t-shirt, water was nice not sure on the temp. However, that said, I was catching walleye right from my shore line- something I have never done before and can only guess it's cause of the high water levels- fish exploiting new areas not available before. Tons of perch, jumbos, and a few silver bass.

Wow. I'm thinking the launch at the resort is going to be fun with the water up that high on shore!!

One more sleep!!!!

After the fiasco last weekend on Canal Lake and the frustration of trying to find a replacement outboard, I'm so excited to get to Trenton tomorrow morning to acquire my new (used and higher HP) motor and continue on to Picton. 4 glorious days roaming around the BOQ....this time I'll be targeting walleyes as well as bass.

Hopefully the install go's smoothly for you with no surprises...
Let's see some pics of the eye's..

Hopefully the install go's smoothly for you with no surprises...
Let's see some pics of the eye's..

The install went smoothly except for one thing. The connector on the 90hp Merc was an 8-pin connector, while the one on the 115hp Optimax is a 14-pin. They didn't have one at the shop, so I had to wait one more day. But it's installed now and working great.

Now if someone can please shut down the fan (far too many whitecaps for this little bass boat) so I can get after the bass and "eyes"!!!

Pics to follow!!

Hopefully the install go's smoothly for you with no surprises...
Let's see some pics of the eye's..

The install went smoothly except for one thing. The connector on the 90hp Merc was an 8-pin connector, while the one on the 115hp Optimax is a 14-pin. They didn't have one at the shop, so I had to wait one more day. But it's installed now and working great.

Now if someone can please shut down the fan (far too many whitecaps for this little bass boat) so I can get after the bass and "eyes"!!!

Pics to follow!!

Great news...
Yah the wind out that way has cancelled a few trips out that way for us..
Looking forward to your report..
Good luck..
Dave

I have great news and I have bad news.

First the great news. The new used outboard is one very welcome replacement. It starts quickly and runs so smoothly. I actually have a hole shot now. Where normally with the old motor it took me from 100-200 yards to get on plane, now it takes 50-60 yards. I did experience one morning with almost no wind, so I stretched it out a bit. My fast speed with the old motor was 38.5mph....with this one I reached 46.4mph and still wasn't at full throttle. Since I'm not a speed freak, I'll be sticking to 35-40mph, even on calm days.
The guys at Bay Marine were so professional. Excellent company to deal with. I had a problem with the power switch on my power pole and Mike solved the problem by giving me a much more substantial power switch with a lock in it. Problem solved.

Now the bad news. The BOQ is chock full of shad. On the Downview, I spotted many "clouds" in both shallow and deep water.....everywhere!! They migrated into the inner areas where I was about 3 days before I got there. Even though the solunar tables had this past week as peak times because of the full moon, what the table didn't know about was that the bass (both smallies and largemouth) are totally stuffed from eating shad and in no mood to eat anything!. I spent 3 full days throwing everything except the anchor at them and could only get one follow on a twitch bait. I caught one bass.....a 4" rock bass. Lots of perch, some that would qualify as Lake Simcoe Jumbos, 2 bluegills that looked like frisbees they were so big. Also, not a single walleye for the week either. The guide where I was staying explained where to go and what to use. No dice. Even he had a lot of trouble putting eyes in the boat.....again, because of the shad! So no pictures, no fillets for the wife. I'll get over it by Sunday!!

that is unfortunate that you hit a period of such tough fishing but it happens

don't now how far you are from Erie, but it has some 40 million walleye waiting for you less 6

LOL.....I'm about 2.5 hours from Ft. Erie, so it's not out of the realm of possibilities for me to make the trek. But I have no knowledge about Lake Erie...where to launch, where to start the search, etc. It would be a totally new experience for me, but I'm not adverse to fishing new waters. I understand that there are a few smallies in there as well!!