TOXIC

This will be our 3rd trip up and it’s been a zoo every time but we caught fish. Wind blew hydrilla islands into the launch and the canals, which made it a little dicey at times.

Must be a funk up north. I just put a post up in the smallmouth forum about our trip up to the St Lawrence. We thought the fall feed should be closer up there but we were wrong. Probably the hardest I have fished for a week straight. Here’s a pic of the Hotel we stayed in if it gives you any idea how tough it was.😜

Uggggg……we are going in February. Hopefully it will be better by then. Please keep us posted if you venture back out. We will be running big motors, not that it makes much difference.

Uggg…I edited it. You are correct I’m so used to Michigan, I had a brain cramp.😂. Also, looks like a good trip and it was, but we fished soooo hard every day and were in bed by 9pm totally worn out. We had a couple of guys come up to us in a little roadside restaurant and ask us if we were on the river in a Ranger. We said yes and they asked how we were doing. We told them it was tough but that we were getting some. He said they drove up from Texas and hadn’t caught a fish. It was that tough.

As I posted earlier, a buddy and I went on a week long trip to the St Lawrence river fishing both in Canada and New York. We had a mountain of info and waypoints along with stories of big smallmouth and 100 fish days. 4 of our friends had been there 3 weeks before and my buddy had a Canadian pro that was born and raised on the river supplying us with intel. We felt pretty confident we were dialed in on baits and locations. This would be both of our first times on this body of water. We stayed in Alexandria Bay in a nice clean old fashioned double decker style motel right on a creek with docks right outside the front door. It was nice being able to walk to the boat in the morning and cast off for a day of fishing. As a general statement, over the week we traveled 25 miles up river and 20+ miles to the mouth of Lake Ontario downriver. We did not venture out into the lake. Due to a couple of factors, fishing was tough. Very tough. We fished hard sun up to sun down every day. Did we catch fish? Yes we did, but none of them came easy. The weather has been unusually warm and the fish were in a funky pattern. We were hoping to time it to the fall feed up but it was not happening. Second, if you have ever fished there, it is a totally unique style of fishing. I’ve done my fair share of fast moving water smallmouth fishing like on the St Clair and Detroit rivers in Michigan, and I’ve waded fast flowing rocky rivers like the Shenandoah and the headwaters of the Rappahonock but nothing compares to the St Lawrence. While there are many, many, islands and bays to tuck in for some slower water, we found all of our fish on ledges and seams in the main river. I’m going to throw a little shade on my buddy who was in the front of the boat. The best way to catch fish hunkered to ledges and seams is to vertical drift fish. He would set up on a ledge and spotlock, which totally eliminated me from using the massive current in my favor. To give you an idea how fast the current was, the lightest dropshot weight I used was 3/4oz. Sometimes I could use 1/2oz in the seams. The river could go from rock outcroppings above water, to 100ft plus in 20 feet. It was crazy. Will I go back? Absofreakiglutely! I have never had a 5 pound smallmouth pull like these fish did and still go 4 feet in the air multiple times. It wasn’t just the current either, they are a different breed living in that river and every single one we caught was absolutely pot belly full of gobies and perch. Enjoy my picture dump and if you have and questions, feel free to ask. Oh and by the way, every one of my fish came on a Yamamoto bait. Shad Shape Worm, 4” Senko, Yamatanuki, Pro Senko and finally a Scope Shad. All on a dropshot or a Ned. My buddy did catch a couple on a jerkbait. He also used a Berkley Flatworm a lot. Since I don’t like posting pics of others without their permission, I’ll just put up a sample of mine. May take a couple of posts to get them all up. Few more pics….

How am I a weirdo? I am as proficient from the back deck as I am from the front. I will always be a finesse fisherman mainly with plastics. I don’t believe in using 20-30-50lb braid to catch on average 2 to 6lb fish. i don’t measure my fishing worth by what I spend on baits/gear. I’m sure there are a bunch more but those are just off the top of my head.

You obviously have never fished with Berkley Silver Thread. 😂 I agree with Ajay. I still use 15 year old Bass Pro- Pro Qualifer reels that perform well. I will ask the question though that just like rods and reels there is a point (IMHO) where you pay for a name more than the actual substance of the product. I use Bass Pro Excel mono line. Have I gotten some bad spools? Yes I have but for the price, I can respool once a week if I want.

I was responding to Glen for agreeing with the no leader school of thought.

@spartyon8 I feel your pain. Here’s how I kept mine whenever it wasn’t on the water.

My boat sits outside for most of the summer. I now put it in the barn on my daughters farm though. It’s a 2005 and was outside most of its life. I never towed with a cover because I had a different trolling motor from stock that altered how a stock cover would fit. Most don’t take the proper precautions to trailer with a cover and on glass boats end up with rub scratches. Same with painted tin. I bought a cover from a guy off a website that was made for a 621 Fisherman model and I put it on my Z21. That allowed me to leave the seats in which helped shed rain and snow. If I were to decide to cover my boat towing, I would have to go custom because of the modifications to the boat. With covers, the general consensus is you get what you pay for.

As Mike pointed out it is one of the main ways. When I fish a Senko weightless I use BPS EXCEL mono in fluorescent. Not clear, not green. It helps with the line watching and actually gets brighter blue in the sun. My old favorite was Berkley Tournament Pro mono in Photochromic. Sadly discontinued. Another tip to help when line watching is to focus on 2 different spots. First where the bait enters the water and is sinking, pulling your line down into the water and second where the line leaves the water coming up to your rod tip. That’s 2 points separated by your line laying on top of the water. Good gear helps feel the thump in the rod but many times it’s a suttle pickup moving your line left, right or some other unnatural way. As I have said, when I throw a senko, my mind goes completely blank and I am visualizing what the Senko is doing as it falls. Hyper focused. Back to the main topic, as I said, different methods require different guide skills. Saltwater, especially blue water is totally different from wading which is totally different from trolling. I did some trout walk in fly guiding in the Blue Ridge mountains off the Shenandoah river and I fished on those trips as well. I was pro staff for Bass Pro and a lot of my clients were referred through the store I was headquartered out of. There were all different skill levels. I was also sponsored by a local marina that kept a “brag book” with pictures of all the guides and their catches and contact information. There’s a lot of negative talk about guiding but there are also tremendous highs. Putting someone on their first bass, putting someone on their biggest bass, seeing the pure joy in kids eyes catching bass, having a tournament angler call me after pre-fishing him to tell me he won the tournament, guiding for multiple Wounded Warriors tournaments I got to give back to those who were willing to give all. Those are the moments that make guiding rewarding more than just the $$.

That’s exactly why the Senko made my job much, much, easier. A few,pointers and with me watching their line, catch rates went up even for the most inexperienced. 😂

This question always makes me laugh. Let me just say this after being a guide for 25 years. If I didn’t fish and you didn’t catch any fish, you would accuse me of being a terrible guide. 99% of the time not catching fish falls squarely on your skills as an angler not my skill as a guide. I always had a saying, “I can take you to the fish but I can’t catch them for you”. I also would say “I can take you to the fish but I can’t make them bite”. I’ll qualify my comments to be for bass fishing on inland lakes. Walleye, perch, crappie, trout, musky, panfish, etc., all have different types of guiding and different methods so broad brush statements about guides not fishing may be different. I also had clients that wanted totally different trips. Some wanted numbers, some wanted size, some wanted to learn the lake, some wanted fish patterns for an upcoming tournament, some wanted to learn new techniques, some wanted to learn how to run a boat and it’s functions, and some just wanted to tour the lake. You need to communicate with a guide what your expectations are. I’ve had clients tell me that if they didn’t catch a trophy/citation size bass, the trip would be a waste. Refer back to my 2 quotes above and if they didn’t like it, they could get back in their vehicle and call it a day. I can cast for you, I can set the hook for you and hand you the rod to reel them in or you can do it yourself. Makes no difference to me. My job is to put you on the fish and position the boat so you can cast to those fish and if necessary, provide the gear and baits that allow you a fair shot at catching fish. All the while providing you a safe environment to accomplish your goals for the trip. Of course, there are trips bass fishing where the fish just won’t cooperate but as a guide I’ve never had a client not recognize I put out 200% effort. ps…I fish.😉

On our trip to St Clair this year, I caught a pike that was deep red all over. First one I have ever seen with that coloration.

Don’t laugh….Pink, Bubblegum or Metholiate or whatever name they are using for pink currently.

@islandbass Yamamoto makes a whole line of floating baits but I’ve not used them yet. For dropshotting I don’t use the Senko although my go to bait on a Ned rig is a 4” Senko. For dropshotting, traditionally I use the 3.75” Shad Shape Worm. If they want a larger bait, I step up to a 5” Pro Senko. It’s nowhere near the same as a regular Senko. It has a thin profile and pointed tail. If I think they want more action, I step up to a 5” California Roll. New to try for me are the Scope Shad and Covert Craw. I’ve never felt the need to use floating formulas but I know they are popular.

@islandbass that would be a good recommendation for most but me being pro staff for Yamamoto kinda eliminates others. 😂. I have no doubt, I will find a Yamamoto they want to eat. My buddies are also Yamamoto faithful but said they caught a lot on Berkley max scent flatworms. We shall see. 😉

@gimruis it is actually exciting to me. I’ve fished dropshots before dropshots were cool.😂 This is a different type of dropshotting with big boulders 60-80 feet deep and in current. I actually upsized a couple of spinning rods to handle bigger dropshots. Of course upsizing to me is 8 and 10lb test and a little longer rods with a heavier action. With the chance for a 6-8lb smallie, I’m not taking any chances. 😉

Well, the time draws near and I got a report from a couple of my buddies who just spent 10 days up there. Relined 5 spinning rods and 1 casting rod. Report was that they threw a lot of baits but dropshot was the big winner. They threw a lot of different plastics on their dropshots so that leaves me with packing a lot of Yamamoto to try. One guy had 8 dropshot rods on his deck and he cycled through all of them. Weights were up but numbers seemed down (if you can call 50-60 a day down) he said if they were catching 3 pounders, they would move because they wanted 4’s and up. They averaged 4 to 5 with a few 6’s thrown in. We are actually thinking of extending to a full week if we get on them that good.

I knew there was a reason I liked you. 😂

Good info but for me nothing in the 6” bait world ever hits my dropshot. Biggest I throw is a 5” Pro Senko. Nowadays my bait of choice is a 3.75” Yamamoto Shad Shape Worm. Yet to be tested is the Scope Shad, 2.5” Yamatanuki and new Covert Craw. Many of these also double as Ned baits. I don’t worry about float factors because I Texas rig my dropshots on 6lb mono with a 1/4oz QuickDrop dropshot weight and a #1 Gamakatsu ewg hook. They all stand up with the weight and line combo.

@Zcokershhhhhhhhh….😂

New favorite. Yamamoto to the rescue.

Yamamoto DShad. Twitched on top and then let fall. Looks like a wounded baitfish and has a fall similar to a Senko. I always have one tied on because it works well in grass. Rig it Texas style on a 4.0 gamakatsu ewg hook.

Remember, where you get 1 there will more than likely be more. Before spotlock, we used to drift with the wind and hit a waypoint every time we hooked up. Then repeat the drift. Now, we have enough spots marked that we just run to them. Boulders, weedlines, etc., we still search by drifting or with the tm on “constant”