Just One of Those Days 7/9/14

On the water: 9:20 am - 1 pm

Air Temperature: 78-82

Water Temperature: 76-80

Water Clarity: Stained/Clear

Skies: Sunny, occasional clouds

Wind: 2-9 Mph SSW, gusts to 16

Barometric Pressure: 29.88 - 29.89

Tide: High tide was approximately 9:30

I haven't targeted bass on the CT River in a long, long time.  I figured I'd give it a go this morning. I only had a couple of hours, and those of you who have fished the river, know that locating fish on a high tide is nothing short of a daunting task. I ended up at an old spot, right down the road from my house. 

I got on the water for the last couple minutes of the incoming tide. This particular area, has a small overpass just north of the launch that inhibits your ability to pass under with the elevated water level.  So, I messed around on the south side of the bridge in the heavily stained water waiting for the tide to relinquish. I moved up shallow, and threw a spinnerbait, chatterbait, swim jig, frog, square bill crankbait, and a flipped a jig around but couldn't find any fish. Once the water had fallen enough to allow safe passage under the bridge, I mad my move. 

Now with the tide going out, I was hoping to find fish moving towards outside weed edges. The only problem however, was that there didn't seem to be any weed edges. It was just grass, in every direction.  What was once a narrow channel, with two rather defined weed edges on either side, was now a field of submerged eel grass. Knowing I wouldn't have time to dissect all this grass, I made a move further north. 

I arrived at a bend in the creek, that included a current break with an eddy, a shallow grass flat with some sparse timber, deep water, and a couple of lay downs to boot. Better yet, I found some baitfish in the area. Precisely everything you look for when targeting bass in a river, was right here in front of me. As I paddled over the area to get to the down current side, I marked several fish, all suspended, sitting about halfway down in 12 or so feet of water. I figured this was my best bet for a successful day so I hunkered down. You name it, I threw it, all depths of the water column were sufficiently covered, as well as the casting angles. I fished the grass, the trees, the bend, the current breaks, I slowed down, I sped up, I changed colors.  In addition to the lures listed earlier, I also incorporated the drop shot, wacky rigged deadbolt, a DT-6 and DT-10 crankbait, a super fluke, a Texas rigged worm, and a jerkbait, and couldn't buy a bite. 

It was getting to be that time, so I began to venture my way back, battling the tide and gusty wind. When I approached the south side of the overpass, I noticed that the water had cleared up, a lot, as the tide went out, it took the murky water with it. 

  Unfortunately, my trek towards the launch had taken longer than I anticipated, and was already cutting it close on time.  But I believe, had I been able to wait for that clearer water to reach the bend, those fish would have turned on, and I would have gone home happy.

The river is funny like that, you can do everything "right" and come home empty handed.  If you don't have the timing right, which today I didn't, you aren't going to have a very good outing. But that's all part of the fun of fishing the river. 

On the bright side, I was able to snag a cool photo of the Essex Steam Train.