Air Temperature: 64-84
Water Temperature: 67-73
Water Clarity: Clear in the morning/ Muddy in the afternoon
Skies: Mostly clear, with occasional clouds
Wind: 0-3 Mph N
Barometric Pressure: 29.95 - 29.91
Josh and I took to the CT River, to try and fulfill the craving we both had for pike. Neither of us had any wife/girlfriend mandated time constraints, so we decided to head north. When we got close to where we were going to launch, there was roadwork that had the road closed right where we needed to go. So we followed a detour to the other side of the roadwork, only to find out, we couldn't get close enough to launch on that side either. So we decided to head further north to another location where pike are common.
Just as we were about to put in our kayaks, something broke the surface at the side of the ramp. So I cast out a big spook, and got blown up on twice, but didn't ever hook up. We couldn't tell what it was, but it appeared brown. Either a smallie or a pike. After we launched, we began to drift south with the current, we were spooking quite a few fish as we coasted into our first spot. I was throwing a 9/16 oz white Booyah spinnerbait, with a pearl Zoom Swimming Fluke for a trailer. I began ripping my spinnerbait erratically, and it got nailed by a pike.
Probably around 26", but it was FAT!
Release Shot
A little good bye splash!
We paddled a little further south to some laydowns and rock piles, and Josh landed a pickerel and a nice 3lb class smallie on a white ice Zoom Super Fluke.
Josh with a nice football
The release!
We continued fishing this area, throwing big sluggos and houdini shads, as well as spinner baits and flukes. We had a few follows and a couple short strikes, but couldn't get anything to commit. Josh did have either a small pickerel or pike launch 3 feet out of the water at his houdini shad. It was quite a sight!
Josh looked at the map on his phone, and found a few creeks flowing in to the river nearby. Pike look for these places and sit right in front of them to get into the cooler water. So we began paddling, throwing the kitchen sink at these creek mouths, but to no avail. We got out of the kayaks for a few minutes just to stretch, and noticed a foul stench. There were 6 or 7 dead shad washed up on the shore, encrusted with flies.
We began our exhausting paddle back up river, we had moved further south than either of us would have liked. We were trying to fish our way back, but the wakes from the obnoxious pleasure boaters, made that a strenuous task. I was throwing a small Rapala DT-4 crawfish colored crankbait at a rock pile near where Josh caught his smallie, and I hooked up. I got the fish right up to the boat, and he rolled on the surface and I ripped the hook out of his mouth. It easily would have surpassed my personal best in the small mouth department. When I don't catch a fish for a few hours, I have a tendency to horse the fish, just to get something in the boat, but this time it bit me in the butt. However, I did manage to catch this freshwater clam.
This little guy latched right on to the treble hook.
Shortly after this we decided to call it a day. What started out to be a promising day on the river, quickly turned into a sub-par outing. Once all the pleasure boats started making their undesired appearance, the fishing died. All the wakes really kicked up a lot of silt. It was non stop, one boat after another, followed by jet skis, and more boats. The big waves were constantly crashing the bank, and pushed us around quite a bit. It turned too frustrating to stay out any longer.
Josh was able to get out with Joe later on in the evening for some stripers. Joe will have the report up a little later, it's definitely worth checking out. But in the meantime, he has plenty of other reports to keep you occupied. You can find Joe's blog at Haulin Bass CT.
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