CTFishTalk.com: Bantam River 09/23 - Connecticut River Reports ( CT River Reports ) - A Community Built for Connecticut Fisherman.

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

DirtyDawg10 (aka Derek) took the day off from work to go fishing, because today's his birthday. Happy birthday, Derek! Very Happy

We decided to paddle up Bantam River from the canoe launch on Whites Wood Road to Little Pond, since neither of us had ever gone up there before. When we arrived at the canoe launch, the parking lot was empty. We launched at 8:30 am. Derek paddled La Calabaza and I paddled El Habañero. The water was back down to its normal level. The air was warm and humid, the sky was totally overcast and there was almost no wind. In other words, the weather was perfect! Very Happy

I was hoping to boat a northern pike, so I threw mostly a medium size black and blue buzzbait. As usual, Derek threw mostly a wacky rigged five inch Senko. It was pumpkinseed colored, I think. It wasn't long before the birthday boy boated the first fish with the wacky Senko. It was just a short eight inch largemouth bass, but I took a photo, anyway:

The fishing was slow as we made our way upriver. I boated a short nine incher, but neither of us got much of anything for almost an hour. I was throwing the buzzbait upriver and retrieving it as close to the riverbank as I could when I finally got a solid hit:

It was a 17 inch, three pound, six ounce largemouth. After that bit of excitement, however, more than 45 minutes passed before I boated my next fish, which was only a 12 inch largemouth, but was also a real fatty:

Over the next 40 minutes, I boated four more small keeper largemouth:

They were 13, 13, 14 and 15 inches long. Meanwhile, Derek boated a few shorts. We paddled into Little Pond, although we weren't sure whether it was Little Pond. As we entered the pond, Derek finally managed to boat a small keeper largemouth with the wacky Senko. It was a 13 incher, I think. The water in the pond is very shallow. I don't think I saw any areas that were more than three feet deep. By this time, it was 11:30 am and it began to rain. I put on my raincoat, Derek put on his raingear and we paddled up a river channel that flowed into the pond from the southwest. It was shallow and barren, with hardly any weeds on the bottom. Most of the bottom was sand, but there were some rocky areas. We paddled up the channel until we came to the Litchfield Country Club golf course and this pedestrian bridge:

When I checked the map on my iPhone, I saw that the channel would continue to get smaller, so we turned around and headed back downriver. I had picked up only one short largemouth on the way up to the bridge, so we paddled straight back into Little Pond. As I mentioned, the pond is extremely shallow. Most of the shoreline is bordered with huge beds of lily pads, so I tied on a bullfrog colored Zoom Horny Toad. I got a few hits on it, including one big splash, before I finally set the hook on and boated a small keeper largemouth:

Derek managed to boat a small chain pickerel with a frog, too. The rain started to fall more heavily and Derek had to get home to meet his boys at the bus stop after school, so we began heading back to the launch. Derek continued to throw a wacky Senko and I tied on a big double willow blade spinnerbait. We got halfway back before Derek boated a 16 inch largemouth with the wacky Senko. While he was weighing the fish, I got a hit on the spinnerbait and boated a 14 inch largemouth bass that had recently been injured:

Derek boated one more 16 incher before we reached the canoe launch. All told, I think that he got eight largemouth bass, of which three were keepers, and one chain pickerel. I got ten largemouth, of which eight were keepers. By the time that we got off of the water at 2:00 pm, we were both soaked. Although we didn't see any northern pike, we had a nice, if extremely wet, day out on the water.
_________________
Don't forget to wear sunscreen and don't litter!

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

Thanks Phil! It was a fun day out on the water. I brought 3 rods with me today. My senko rod, a spinnerbait rod and a crankin' rod. As Phil mentioned I started off throwing the senko. I also threw my spinnerbait, a buzzbait and a frog but none of them produced anything for me (except a small 15" pickerel on the frog). I didn't end up throwing the crankbait because of all the weeds. I caught 5 shorts (one was only 1/4" short but still short Mad

) and 3 keepers. Here's some pics of the keepers...
16" - 1lb 14oz

16" - if you look at the water in the background you can see how hard the rain was coming down. Because of the rain I didn't weigh it but judging by the gut I'm sure it was over 2lbs

13"

...and here's another one of Phil's lunker.

As usual it was a fun time with great company.

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

Nice way to spend a rainy day!

Boomatt · Joined: 31 May 2011 Posts: 11

NICE FISH!!!

The summer rush at work is slowing and the fish are biting!!! I cant wait to get out and actually do some fishing (failed trip today).

I have to say you guys give the most amazing reports!!! Ive been living vicariously through you guys this whole summer!!!

Thanks!!!

bdiggy · Joined: 15 Aug 2011 Posts: 245 Location: Thomaston, CT

3ft deep?!! Did you hit the middle of little pond, lol? Its 15ft in the middle, and the "islands" of weeds were holding all the pike I posted last week. Can't miss little pond. It's the wide open spot after the first bridge, but before you get to the golf course, that the boardwalk goes around. The river itself isn't worth it for the most part until you get right near where it opens into the pond, and beyond that up into the golf course runs out of cover and depth really quick. That part of the river eventually goes under RT 63 in Litchfield and turns into nothing more then a shallow trout stream. When it gets cooler again, it's worth another shot for you, and keep the spinnerbaits handy! Nice fish though guys Cool

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

We did hit the middle of the pond but were throwing buzzbaits and frogs over the pads at that point. The top of the weeds were only a few inches down from the top of the water in most of the pond so I couldn't actually say how deep it was. Flippy would probably love to launch his canoe in that place Wink

Bdiggy - were you dragging your spinnerbaits through the weeds or burning them over the top of the weeds?

bdiggy · Joined: 15 Aug 2011 Posts: 245 Location: Thomaston, CT

Burning them over the top. It's really the only way to get it done this late in the year, but again, it was cool last week and the toothy guys were up and moving. I actually got 2 of my pike that day out in open water with some rouge casts. It'll be better when we're in the 60's again.

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

Cool! Thanks for the info. I'll give it a try next time out.