Irondequoit Bay Eyes

[Mark M]

Hi Everyone,

New to the board. Great place.

My son told me this year, kind of out of the blue, that he wanted to fish more. So I ran out and picked up a little 16ft Lund.

The boat is docked in Irondequoit Bay.

So far we have been doing well with the Drum and Bass but no Walleye.

I have done some jigging and some trolling with no luck.

I used to have a cottage on Honeoye Lake and did pretty well with them down there but so far I cant seem to find them up here.

Any thoughts? Any ideas would be great.

Thanks in Advance.

Mark

[GAMBLER]

Night fishing is the only way to go on I-bay. Throw stickbaits along the weedlines on points and you will find some here and there.

[REELJERKS]

Hi Mark;

Welcome to the board and the professional side !!

Early morning or late in evening is when they are most active on I-Bay. I did catch ONE mid day once fishing for bass.

Did you try the area near the blow boat club, there is a few drop offs over in that area with some nice weed beds that coincide with steep drops.

Mark

[devoknevo]

Hi Everyone,

New to the board. Great place.

My son told me this year, kind of out of the blue, that he wanted to fish more. So I ran out and picked up a little 16ft Lund.

The boat is docked in Irondequoit Bay.

So far we have been doing well with the Drum and Bass but no Walleye.

I have done some jigging and some trolling with no luck.

I used to have a cottage on Honeoye Lake and did pretty well with them down there but so far I cant seem to find them up here.

Any thoughts? Any ideas would be great.

Thanks in Advance.

Mark

Troll or drift with bottom bouncers and worm harnesses. You can catch them in the middle of the day when they are there, we don't start seeing them untill the middle of July though. I believe they follow the bait into the bay from the lake.

Just my .02$

[kwatchi]

I've gotten quite a few near the pillars of the bridge on the west side at first light bass fishing....have had the same hunch about em' comming in from the lake. Anyone have any idea locally where you can get them in the lake?

[JBoock]

pillars of the bridge anytime of the day

[Mark M]

HI everyone

Thanks for the ideas. I do 90% of my fishing at night. Ill try some of the areas mentioned.

Mark

[scott111]

I fish for walleye every night in Ibay. Here is what i can tell you:

i got my first walleye in Ibay last year on July 19 at 9:15pm. I thereafter got 1 to 2 per night through the end of august, starting at 9:15 pm. By labor day, they were gone and did not return to the shallows

All of them were quite large, heavy fish.

All of them were caught in 5 foot of water or less along the shoreline where i live on the Bay, off the dock or back yard

All were caught on Shadraps(fire tiger) or Xraps (especially red/orange). My friends who use mister twister type plastics got some too. Seems they will grab almost anything

Every night they turned on like clock work and were especially aggressive on nights when there was a full moon. A slight chop did not seem to be needed. I got em when it was still and like glass as well as when it was choppy

There seemed to be a predictable window of opportunity to catch them that lasted about 2 hours max. I may have caught 1 after midnight despite trying every single night

Could this be done by boat? i suppose you can if your willing to stay out after dark and anchor near shore.

I would love to understand what is happening but i suspect that large schools of walleye come in shallow and cruise the shoreline to feed on goby and other small fish that are more visible in shallow water, especially if there are dock lights like i have

I did have better luck with the dock lights turned on

I never caught a single walleye off the end of the dock where the water is 10 plus feet.

I caught many of them in 1 foot of water believe it or not

I am on the Irondequoit side off bayshore blvd. I have no idea if others have consistent luck elsewhere on the bay but i did

Many evenings, I saw boats sitting out in the middle of the bay apparently fishing for walleye. Most boats would have the occasional flurry of activity with flashlights and lanterns lit suddenly and people moving about...i assume they were catching walleye like me but out in 30-50 feet of water? I have not tried fishing for them by boat in deeper water

I tried many times to catch them in the early pre-dawm morning. Nothing. for me, it was night only between 9 and 11pm

good luck

here's one of my typical eyes

[scott111]

just noticed you said your boat is docked on I bay

I would therefore suggest that you skip taking the boat out and simply try my technique off shore at the marina (i presume) first.....

and one more thing..i noticed that my hookups were more consistent when i slowed my retrieve down as slow as possible to the point that the lure is going only just fast enough so that the lure's action comes alive.

twitching, jerking, pausing etc....didnt seem to work. just an extremely slow yet steady retrieve made them wack them hard

[zach]

Growing up we always fished Rapala's in size 9 or 11 or Thundersticks. Like Scott says- all were on the shallow baits but I did do them over deeper water also. The key was watching baitfish jump and scatter and then working that area over a few times. At night, slower retrieves and yes there are some good ones.

[scott111]

update: have not caught any walleye. not catching much of anything. fishing sucks compared to last year at this time. water too hot perhaps.

anyone else catching walleye in i bay?

[frm03064]

I had a 5lber under the o'rorke bridge at the genesee a few nights ago around 9 on a fire tiger rapala floater...

I live off bayshore as well and i usually work the area down by the marina every few evenings.... but i havent got much of anything down there since mid june... I think its too hot... Usually i can slam bass down there... but lately theres been nothing. Ive been having way more luck at the outlet channel at the end of culver and the genesee.

[fb14619]

I tried it the other evening. Caught a small pike(22). Fished for walleyes until 11. Only thing biting was mosquitoes and there were plenty of those. Thank the Lord for the repellent that I keep on board.

[scott111]

finally got two tonight about 9:30 in 4 feet of water or less on a small red fire tiger shad rap. both back to back casts and then nothing....all the splashing seems to scare em off for a while

[scott111]

got another tonight at 9pm. small one. so i guess they are back, though tough to catch this year compared to last. was in about 3 feet of water

[fishhead54]

It sounds like a good place to give a shot. Are the "pillars" that were mentioned in the post above associated with Lake Rd or the 104 crossing. Either way I would certainly like to give this place a try.

Hey Scott111. What marina are you talking about fishing off of, is it Mayers Marina. I am not familiar with the area at all, as you can probably tell, so I am just trying to get a better idea of where those shallows you mentioned are at in relation to the outlet and lake rd. I would really appreciate any help you can give. Thanks!

[scott111]

i was thinking sutters and the area around it. i catch my walleye on the west side, just north of bay village. ive never tried anywhere else on the bay so i dont know if they bite everywhere.

[fishhead54]

Hey thanks for responding scott111 I might give that area a try than. Who is that in your picture. It looks like Higgins from Magnum P.I. Thanks Again

[scott111]

got 2 walleye tonight around 9:45 and 1 large pike that broke off at the net (10 lb braid!). walleye are a bit smaller than any i got last summer but good fighters. biting on orange x-raps

here is one from tonight

yea its higgins

[scott111]

walleyes still biting fairly consistently, though had a few fishless nights this week. here is the best one of the night..pretty big and heavy. im always amazed at how strong and tough the big ones are. was in 4 feet of water and caught on my usual x-rap at 9pm

[idn713]

wow that is awesome! I think I have an idea as to why you are nailing those walleye during certain times of the year and why only at night. My buddies and I noticed this spring and actually quite late into the spring we ran into some really nice walleye right at the mouth of sandy creek. Now this was very interesting as we never really run into walleye but it got me thinking that obviously with the cold water the bait filled and warmer creek was the way to be. But after the conditions switched we would still run into the walleye first thing in the morning. I have to imagine that those fish move deep and roam outside there respective creek mouths waiting for a a few degree temp change (night) to come into the more bait concentrated areas aka the creeks and bays. Now I have often speculated why we don't catch more walleye around this area in Lake O and honestly I just think that they suspend in right in the Brown trout zones but dont bite because the offering for BT's and the speed of the troll is not conducive to walleye. I would be intrigued to see if a all night vigil at any of the local pier mouths with minnows or crawlers would be a good way to put more walleyes on the shore or heck even a midnight troll might work wonders. Anyway thanks for the awesome reports!

[scott111]

I'm catching em way into the bay. My guess is they are eating goby off the bottom, along the shore where they can see better. I release all fish so I'm just guessing. If someone would cut one open then we would know for sure I think.

Last spring I got a walleye while trout fishing in lake Ontario that I suspect would have been close or better than the state record. I posted a pic of it in the trout/salmon section.

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