CTFishTalk.com: Connecticut River - Haddam Meadows 12/20 - Connecticut River Reports ( CT River Reports ) - A Community Built for Connecticut Fisherman.

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

I planned to go fishing with NWDarkcloud (aka Bob) and thought about checking out the Housy below Derby, but after I picked him up and we hit the road, the navigation system in my car (aka Nav B*!@#) showed that Haddam Meadows was waaaay closer than Derby, so we went there, instead. When we got to the ramp at Haddam Meadows, we were pretty happy about our choice. The sun was shining and there was little to no wind. We launched The Other Woman, Too at about 8:45 am. Low tide was at 12:17 pm, so we fished both sides of it. For a change of scenery, we decided to motor past the Connecticut Yankee Atomic Power Plant Canal and fish the Salmon River, instead. I was a little bit worried about the shallow flats in front of the mouth of the river, because I almost got stuck in them once at low tide in The Other Woman. On that occasion, I had to pole my way out of the flats. However, when we arrived at the mouth of the river, we were really, really happy with our choice:

I started throwing a Pearl White 2-1/2 inch Gulp! Minnow on a 1/16 ounce round jighead, while Bob tried to warm up by drinking his coffee and absorbing some solar radiation:

There was a large brushy laydown next to the channel just outside of the mouth of the river, so I trolling motored over close enough to reach it with my minnow jig. I got a hit right away. Although I hoped it was a northern pike, it was just a 20 inch chain pickerel:

After I released the pickerel, we spent some time birdwatching, as a pair of mature bald eagles flew over us and landed on top of a pine tree on the ridge to the north of us. After they settled down on the tree, I trolling motored back over to the laydown. It didn't take long to find out that it held more fish. I quickly boated a couple of fat yellow perch; an 11 incher and a 12 incher:

Bob finally warmed up enough to rig a setup with a big Jointed Rapala. Nope, he didn't want to catch any yellow perch. Wink

But before we headed into the river, we enjoyed another flyover by one of the eagles:

We headed into the river and banged both banks as we went; I with the minnow jig and Bob with the Jointed Rapala. We went about 3/4 of a mile up the river without a single bite, although we each had a follow from a fish. Bob didn't see what kind of fish followed his Rapala back to the boat, but mine was just a yellow perch. I lost my minnow jig to a snag, so I tied on a slightly larger one, a Pearl White three inch Berkley Powerbait Minnow on a 1/8 ounce round jighead. It didn't help. Crying or Very sad

After striking out completely in the river, we decided to head over to the canal. The low tide was quickly approaching, so I fired up the big motor and we headed back down the river. Luckily, I have Navionics charts on my iPhone, so we were able to stay in the channel until we were almost out of the flats. I said, "almost", because we didn't quite make it. I wandered out of the channel and got into some weedy shallows, which caused the motor to overheat, so I had to shut it down. But I dropped the trolling motor back into the water and, in the two minutes it took to get back into the channel, the big motor cooled enough to fire back up, again. We got to the mouth of the canal at 12:10 pm:

I knew that the bite would be off during the slack low tide, but the minnow jig still got me a small yellow perch off of one of the big laydowns:

As we worked our way up the canal, I heard the cracking sound of melting ice in the shade of the west bank:

Sorry, ice fishing fanatics. Wink

Bob decided to try out my minnow jig, so I switched to my setup with a white 1/16 ounce marabou jig. When we got to my crappie spot, it got me a couple of crappie, a 12 incher and a 13 incher:

Bob got a little frustrated with my minnow jig, so he gave it back to me. I'm not sure what he was doing with it, because it got me three yellow perch within seven minutes:

After I boated the last yellow perch, the wind began to rise out of the south, so we decided to seek shelter from it in the cove at the end of the canal. When we arrived, we saw that there was no shelter from the wind. However, bait fish were rising all over the cove. I tried throwing the minnow jig and the marabou jig to see what they were, but didn't get even a nibble. I finally spotted one of the fish swimming past the boat shallow enough for us to get a good look at it. It was five to six inches long, bluish in color and had a forked tail. Unfortunately, it also looked like it had some infected white sores on its back near its tail, which was probably why it was swimming so slowly near the surface. Yuck! Confused

We marked a bunch of fish on or near the bottom on the fish finder, so we both began dragging lures over the bottom. Bob dragged a big banjo minnow on a big Berkley Blade Dancer jighead, while I dragged a Stock Trout River2Sea Bottom Walker Shad. Bob finally got a hit on his banjo minnow and boated a brown bullhead:

Yeap, he was thrilled about it, too. Laughing

We decided to head back down the canal. Although we didn't get any bites, we spotted several turkeys roosting in trees. This one was right next to the canal:

At 4:15 pm, the light began to fail, so we decided to pack up, motor down the canal to my crappie spot and each make several "last casts". Unfortunately, we struck out completely. I had to be home shortly after 6:00 pm, so we got off of the water pretty quickly. Although I've already bought my 2013 Connecticut All Waters fishing license, I hope that I'll be able to use my 2012 license at least one more time before the new year.
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Redneckangler · Joined: 05 May 2012 Posts: 851 Location: Meriden, CT

Good to see your report. With the warm rain, I'm ready to go Sat and Sunday!
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NWDarkcloud · Joined: 23 Apr 2012 Posts: 474

Yup we definatly picked the best of the days this week . The weather was just perfect for a day out ,no way near as cold as it has been but when the wind picked up a little it did put a little chill to the bone.
While Phil ran his small jigs and grubs for fish I worked the larger end of the scale hopeing to find a pattern we could lock in on for the larger fish , Between the two of us we couldnt find anything the bass or pike wanted . But keep in mind that it was slack tide and with the rain from the night before there wasnt much water movement to turn the fish on even at low tide the water didnt drop more than a foot or two.
Im a total lure fisherman stopped useing live baits years ago but I must admit ive been tempted to float 1 of Phils perch for a pike, every now and then theres a small 1 takes a jig and I get the Idea Twisted Evil

But for now i'll stay true to the artificial baits only, even if it means a dry day or two while im out.

thanks again Phil for another great day out
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pikePERSUADER1 · Joined: 07 Dec 2010 Posts: 521

In the CTR it's all about the tides, usually I find the most productive time to fish being 1-2 hours before slack tide, and then 1-2 hours after it changes, if you can time it so your trips land on those conditions around sunrise or sunset, your usually in for some decent fishing , and yes that goes for pike, bass, crappie, and perch, the tides move the baitfish in and out of slackwater areas Wink

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

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

Nice size to those perch Phil! Nice calicoes too.

bass tracker · Joined: 17 May 2012 Posts: 84

Nice job Phil. I've never had much luck in Salmon River, not lately anyway. Have you tried Chapmans lately?

Greg

SAP284 · Joined: 07 Jun 2011 Posts: 655 Location: Central, CT

Wow in that first picture, that is probably the most calm I have EVER seen Salmon River...maybe I just go on windy days lol.
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Redneckangler · Joined: 05 May 2012 Posts: 851 Location: Meriden, CT

Looking at tomorrow. May be SOL. Wind gusting to 25, and temp starting to drop from mid-upper 30s down below freezing as the afternoon goes on. There will be skim ice by Sunday or Monday Sad

Low tide at 2:35, so I wouldn't even have much water all afternoon. I think I'm going to throw in the towel on the open water pike fishing.
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Weekly reports from around CT, the LIS and beyond.

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

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

NWDarkcloud · Joined: 23 Apr 2012 Posts: 474

Its going to be a chilly ride back fom hamburg to the launch ....to me thats the toughest part of the day that 20 min ride back, in your mind the fishing is over and the cold really starts to set in...But im allways game to try
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I Love to fish......Not a big fan of sitting in the boat alone ....the Conversation and the company make it perfect