CTFishTalk.com: Connecticut River - Haddam Meadows 03/31 - Connecticut River Reports ( CT River Reports ) - A Community Built for Connecticut Fisherman.

PECo · Joined: 06 Oct 2009 Posts: 5203 Location: Avon, CT

My in-laws drove out from New Jersey to visit on Saturday, so I took my father-in-law (aka Joe) fishing in the morning on Sunday. He was impressed by how easy it was to renew his Connecticut Nonresident Season-Inland Fishing license online and print it out. I wanted to make sure that he caught some fish, so we headed down to Haddam Meadows State Park. I was very surprised to see that there were no cars, let alone trailers, in the parking lot. It was totally empty. Shocked

We launched The Other Woman, Too at 8:15 am:

According to my Jeep, the air temperature was 40 degrees. There was just a light north wind blowing, but the forecast was for the winds to exceed 10 miles per hour by noon. The sky was hazy:

The water temperature was 40 degrees at the ramp. Low tide was at 10:43 am and high tide was at 3:59 pm. We motored down the river and headed directly to the Connecticut Yankee Atomic Power Plant Canal. When we arrived at there at 8:30 am, there was little to no wind:

The water temperature in the canal was 42 degrees. The water was still murky, with visibility down only one foot. We motored up the canal to my secret black crappie spot and started fishing. I set Joe up with a chartreuse two inch curlytail grub on a chartreuse 1/8 ounce round jighead and told him to try to keep the jig on the bottom as he retrieved it from either bank of the canal. He quickly got the hang of it and boated the first fish, a yellow perch, before I even had my own jig tied on. He tossed it back before I could get a photo of him with it. Confused

But I got my jig tied on just in time to take a photo of him with his second fish, which was also a yellow perch:

I told Joe that he'd have to keep his own tally of the fish he caught. I think he was up to three yellow perch before I got my own line in the water and caught my first fish of the day, which was also a yellow perch:

I began my tally: One, Two, Three. . . . However, it wasn't long before I boated a short largemouth bass:

And it wasn't long before I followed it up with a 16 inch long, two pound, seven ounce keeper largemouth bass:

Whoo Hoo!

And, yes, everything was caught on a grub jig:

In between yellow perch, Joe caught his first largemouth bass, too:

The water temperature quickly rose to a high of 47 degrees, while the air temperature rose to the mid 50s. We moved up and down the canal between the channel on the west bank that appears at high tide and disappears at low tide, and the new laydown that almost reaches across the canal from the west bank to the east bank. It took a while, but at 10:41 am, I finally found a black crappie:

I quickly followed it with two more. When my tally reached 12 yellow perch, I kept the round jighead, but swapped out the grub for an Emerald Pearl 2-1/2 inch Berkley Gulp Minnow. Joe and I both continued to boat yellow perch, but then he went on a non-yellow perch tear. He caught another largemouth bass at 11:07 am:

And then a chain pickerel at 11:33 am:

And then a keeper largemouth bass 12:23 pm:

And then another keeper largemouth bass at 12:55 pm:

The wind rose as we began to work our way out of the canal. I switched back to a grub jig and told Joe that I'd love to catch a sunny, because I hadn't caught one all month. Sure enough, I got one on my first cast with the grub at 12:59 pm:

As we continued down the canal, the grub jig got me a couple of more largemouth bass that had been sitting tight to laydowns:

Just before 1:30 pm, guess who pedaled by in his Hobie:

It was Just4fun (aka Mark). Hey, Mark! Very Happy

Although Mark fishes primarily for striped bass these days, he was pedaling his Hobie on a shakedown run from the ramp at Haddam Meadows, up to the end of the canal and back. When Joe and I began heading out of the canal, I told him that he'd catch one more largemouth bass. When we reached the big laydowns near the mouth, he hadn't caught it, yet, and I began to worry that I had been wrong. As I stowed our gear for the run back to the ramp, he continued to fish. And at 1:39 pm, he got it:

Phew!

We left the canal shortly after, made the run back upriver and put out at the ramp at 1:50 pm. I caught 27 yellow perch, six black crappie, four largemouth bass and one sunny. Joe caught 13 yellow perch, five largemouth bass and one chain pickerel. Not too shabby, though, during what, for me, was a short outing. Very Happy

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Bass warrior · Joined: 14 Jan 2013 Posts: 21

You're on fire in the river. Nice job. Great report as always. My brother and I were pulling in as you were headed down river. We went out for a quick run targeting pike with no luck. Nice to see the water warming up now

PECo · Joined: 06 Oct 2009 Posts: 5203 Location: Avon, CT

Michael · Joined: 28 Jan 2012 Posts: 3823 Location: Bridgeport

Excellent job Phil!

I'm still waiting for the rock bass reports Wink

DirtyDawg10 · Joined: 27 May 2009 Posts: 2238 Location: Granby, CT

Nice day out!

hornhunter · Joined: 01 Apr 2013 Posts: 1

Peco,
The Easter Bunny was good to you and your partner.
Nice catching.