Check One Off The Bucket List

[TOXIC]

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….

Edited October 1, 2024 by TOXIC
Lake Ontario not Huron….duh….

[Mike L]

Wow !

Looks like a wonderful trip!!

 

Great Job 

 

 

 

 

 

Mike

[Susky River Rat]

Awesome trip! Glad you had a good time and got into great fish. 

[TnRiver46]

Nice ones!!!

[GreenPig]

Excellent 

[gim]

Still won't convince me to do any more drop shot fishing, but nice work.  Dandy smallmouth.

[A-Jay]

Looks like a most excellent time was had by all.

Plenty of Fat brown bass too.

Congrats

 

A-Jay 

[Dwight Hottle]

Not bad for a first trip. Definitely vertical jigging  while drifting would have been better for you both. I'm assuming you meant Lake Ontario instead of lake Huron.

[Catt]

[Eric 26]

Wow, absolutely beautiful pictures. Thanks for sharing 😃

[F14A-B]

Very nice, seems like a fantastic trip. Congratulations.. 

[TOXIC]

2 hours ago, Dwight Hottle said:

 I'm assuming you meant Lake Ontario instead of lake Huron.

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.  

[DaubsNU1]

Those are some absolute FOOTBALLS! Excellent work!!

[Swamp Girl]

Well, be proud of yourself for fishing hard and fishing new water. All the intel in the world doesn't equal time on water and especially water as fast and clear as the St. Lawrence. I've imagined fishing it in my canoe, but I'm thinking now that it's a no-can-do. 

[Dwight Hottle]

43 minutes ago, Swamp Girl said:

Well, be proud of yourself for fishing hard and fishing new water. All the intel in the world doesn't equal time on water and especially water as fast and clear as the St. Lawrence. I've imagined fishing it in my canoe, but I'm thinking now that it's a no-can-do. 

 It's doable but you would be trolling about 6-7 miles per hour. LOL but good for muskies. 

[Swamp Girl]

15 minutes ago, Dwight Hottle said:

 It's doable but you would be trolling about 6-7 miles per hour. LOL but good for muskies. 

 

I laughed at imagining the moment a five-pound smallie hit. I'd be going downstream at 6 mph and it would be going upstream at 6 mph and I'd be hanging onto the rod with all my might. 

[TnRiver46]

😂, 6mph is probably crawling in slow motion to a smallmouth 

[Fishlegs]

Nice fish, and beautiful scenery. Congrats on a great trip!

[pdxfisher]

OMG! Those fish are just ridiculous!! Awesome report!

[PaulVE64]

6 hours ago, TnRiver46 said:

😂, 6mph is probably crawling in slow motion to a smallmouth 

I pulled a jig right out of a smallies mouth because  I thought it was a snag.

Undeterred that smallie gave chase and lept out over a rocky ledge at my airborne jig. 

Little guy a savage.