Joined: 06 Oct 2009 Posts: 5203 Location: Avon, CT
Posted: Sun Apr 10, 2011 8:35 pm Post subject: Hamburg Cove 04/10
I just had to go back to Hamburg Cove for more white perch action, so I headed down there very early in the morning with Fishface (aka Tim). I wanted to work on my jigging technique. Although I was unable to locate my light tackle rod and reel this morning, I muddled through with my bass rods and reels spooled with 65 pound braid. Yeah, medium rods, floating line and small jigs make for short casts and slowly sinking jigs. We got on the water at 7:00 am and off the water at 4:30 pm. We had a few minutes of sun in the morning and in the afternoon, but the sky was totally overcast for most of the day. Thankfully, it wasn't very cold and the south wind was light, rising to 8 miles per hour for only a few minutes from time to time. Unfortunately, though, we arrived for the last two hours of the outgoing tide. We had trouble finding the fish at first. We stayed in the smaller cove where we launched next to the Hamburg Cove Yacht Club. 45 minutes passed before Tim landed a yellow perch. Although I spotted a couple of solitary white perch in the water, including one that followed my jig all the way to my kayak, neither of us could get a bite. I finally stopped fishing and started paddling to find a school. After I located a couple of small schools, Tim finally landed one at 8:30 am. We each caught several fish, including a couple of decent 11+ inchers:
But when the slack tide hit, the bite on our jigs stopped almost completely. We got one or two more here and there, but the white perch bite was mostly dead. For us, at least. There were a couple of small aluminum boats and a 22 foot outboard cruiser in the cove with us, and they found the white perch in the channel on the south shore of the smaller cove. The guys in one of the aluminum boats were baiting their hooks with nightcrawlers and were killing the perch. But Tim and I got next to nothing on our unbaited jigs. We finally decided to head into the larger cove and troll for stripers down to the mouth of the cove at the Connecticut River and back:
It was a nice paddle, but we didn't get any action. We saw a 25 foot outboard cruiser with a 225 horsepower motor also trolling around the cove. The guy at the helm told us that he also struck out. He said that he was surprised at this, because the water temperature was up to 49 degrees. We decided to make only the one pass through the larger cove and began fishing for white perch in the smaller cove again. The two aluminum boats and the 22 foot cruiser took off, but the perch still weren't biting our unbaited jigs. However, as the tide continued to come in, the bite suddenly restarted. At 3:00 pm, I began hooking up on almost every cast. Unfortunately, I began landing yellow perch, not white perch:
It was like UCLA in the early 80s. It was still fun, though. I ended up landing about a dozen yellow perch and maybe 30 white perch. Most were small, under 10 inches. I probably landed only three that were over 10 inches. Tim didn't get the same numbers of yellow perch that I did, but he landed similar numbers of white perch.
The next time that I go fishing for white perch in Hamburg Cove, I WILL have a light tackle rod and reel spooled with six pound fluorocarbon or monofilament line. And I'll PROBABLY also bring a container of nightcrawlers. And maybe a bobber. _________________ Don't forget to wear sunscreen and don't litter!
Joined: 01 Dec 2010 Posts: 53 Location: Canton, CT
Posted: Sun Apr 10, 2011 9:06 pm Post subject:
On The Water TV had there Hamburg Cove episode on this morning but they were catching Stripers and then Pike they did the Ole CT Slam they were calling it. Its awesome to watching local fishing shows, because you know where their fishing and what there catching. _________________ Personal Best freswater fish.
1. 40.5" PIke caught and released out of Bantam ice fishing with a shiner.
2. 30" Rainbow Trout caught and released out of Scoville on a mepps. (random lake)
Joined: 05 May 2007 Posts: 656 Location: Glastonbury, CT
Posted: Wed Apr 13, 2011 3:32 pm Post subject:
cast that perch out and see what ya get lol _________________
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We got on the water at 7:00 am and off the water at 4:30 pm. We had a few minutes of sun in the morning and in the afternoon, but the sky was totally overcast for most of the day. Thankfully, it wasn't very cold and the south wind was light, rising to 8 miles per hour for only a few minutes from time to time. Unfortunately, though, we arrived for the last two hours of the outgoing tide. We had trouble finding the fish at first. We stayed in the smaller cove where we launched next to the Hamburg Cove Yacht Club. 45 minutes passed before Tim landed a yellow perch. Although I spotted a couple of solitary white perch in the water, including one that followed my jig all the way to my kayak, neither of us could get a bite. I finally stopped fishing and started paddling to find a school. After I located a couple of small schools, Tim finally landed one at 8:30 am. We each caught several fish, including a couple of decent 11+ inchers:
And maybe a bobber. 
