CTFishTalk.com: Connecticut River - Hamburg Cove 03/12 - Connecticut River Reports ( CT River Reports ) - A Community Built for Connecticut Fisherman.

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

I was feeling lazy this morning, but forced myself to head down to Hamburg Cove, instead of wasting a beautiful day. I headed down Route 9 and decided to try the route that Fishface (aka Tim) usually takes, so I took Exit 7 and crossed the Connecticut River at the Goodspeed Opera House. By the way, Tim, although your route is more scenic, my Jeep's nav system says that it's five miles and 10 minutes longer than crossing the river at I-95. Wink

I forgot to bring a bucket for any fish that I might want to keep, so I stopped at the H.L Reynolds Co. General Store and picked up one of those cheap little styrofoam coolers. But when I got on the water at the boat launch ramp next to the Hamburg Cove Yacht Club at 9:15 am, I left it in my Jeep Rolling Eyes

:

The sky was sunny, the air was warm and there was almost no wind. Unfortunately, I arrived shortly before the dead low tide. And when I say, "dead", I'm referring to the fishing. I was able to see the bottom eight feet down through the tea stained water and the only fish I saw were a small school of yellow perch, a smaller school of sunnies and two dead white perch. Perhaps that's why there was only one other boat on the water with me, an aluminum rowboat anchored off of end of the Cove Landing Marine dock:

The fisherman in the boat had managed to boat only a couple of small yellow perch. After checking out the channel up to the docks of Reynolds' Garage & Marine, I turned around and headed over to the steel seawall that's across the cove from the ramp. I threw a four inch white grub on a 1/8 ounce black shakeyhead jighead. As I retrieved it past the corner of the seawall, I got a hit from and boated a 24 inch long chain pickerel:

Since I didn't see any schools of white perch in the inner cove, I decided to pedal into the outer cove. When I got there, I saw that I was the only boat in the outer cove:

As I worked my way up the shore of the east side of the cove, a guy in a house on the water opened a window and shouted, "Hey, you're making ripples in my cove!" Laughing

I continued to throw the grub and it got picked up by a 13 inch largemouth bass off of the corner of a dock:

As I continued around the shore of the outer cove, I got a short strike and follow off of some boulders from another chain pickerel that appeared to be slightly smaller than the one I had caught. Otherwise, I saw nothing in the water or on my fish finder. I decided to head to the small cove on the north side of the mouth of the outer cove, where I had caught a three pound, 13 ounce largemouth bass last Fall. Here's a view of the mouth of the outer cove, with the Connecticut River to the right:

The mouth of the small cove was super shallow but, to my surprise, there was a v-hull boat already in the cove. As I pedaled up to the boat, I saw the two fishermen on the boat pull up a few fish, a couple of small largemouth bass and a chain pickerel, I believe. They hadn't seen any white perch, either, so I headed back the way I came. As I passed the boulders where I had the short strike and follow from the chain pickerel earlier, I threw the grub past them and this time I got it:

I was right about its size; at 22 inches, it was a couple of inches shorter than the first one I had caught. As I worked my way back to the inner cove, a slight breeze rose out of the south. When I got there, there were several boats in the water. One of the boats had three fishermen who were pulling up loads of small yellow perch. The fisherman in the aluminum rowboat was still in the same spot and was pulling up loads of small six to nine inch white perch. By this time, it was 1:00 PM, and he told me that the white perch didn't start biting until the tide had begun to rise. I pulled up more than a dozen with a chartreuse curlytail grub on a 1/16 ounce round jighead at the same spot:

After he took off at 2:00 pm, I heard someone call my name and saw asianfisher (aka Billy) paddling over in a big green canoe with his girlfriend, Trisha. Hey, guys! Very Happy

30 minutes later, I told them that I had to leave to drive my kids around, but a kayaker paddled up from the outer cove and told me that a school of white perch was out there. When I asked whether they were big, he pulled a 12 inch white perch out of a bucket and held it up for me to see. I told Billy and another boat with a couple of fishermen in it that they should head to the outer cove, and headed back to the ramp. But I just couldn't leave, knowing that a school of big white perch had finally appeared. So I called my kids and found out that they didn't need to be driven around, after all. Hallelujah! Very Happy

I grabbed my little foam cooler from the Jeep and pedaled to the outer cove. I saw several boats gathered along the west shore. And they were pulling up fish! Surprised

It wasn't long until I began boating perch, too, but, unfortunately, they were big yellow perch:

While I was catching a few big yellow perch, I chased a stick bobber around that had, apparently, broken off from someone with a fish on the line. The fish pulled the bobber under the water and out of my grasp the first couple of times that I tried to grab it. Mad

When I finally located it a third time and pulled it up, all that I found was a round jighead with a tiny baby bass on it:

I guess that whatever had pulled the bobber under the water the first couple of times had let it go. I ended up catching a bunch of big white perch with the chartreuse curlytail grub. All told, I probably boated a limit, but kept only nine of the bigger ones that were 10 to 13 inches long:

We pedaled/paddled back to the ramp and got off of the water at 4:45 pm. Here's Billy, the gondolier:

I filleted my white perch and they're in the refrigerator under a bag of ice, ready to be pan fried for breakfast, lunch and dinner, tomorrow. Very Happy

Although I can't wait to get back out there, I have to admit that my lack of proficiency at filleting fish makes me reluctant to take any more home. Rolling Eyes

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hila2006 · Joined: 22 Jul 2011 Posts: 582 Location: Ellington

Another good day on the water for ya Phil, good job.

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

Nice job! Some big white perch. They are fun to catch.

snap fisher777 · Joined: 18 Sep 2011 Posts: 238

Any good shore access for fishing from land?

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

Awesome fishing!

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

No, there really isn't any good shore access in Hamburg Cove. It's surrounded by very, VERY expensive private real estate. You could fish from Cove Road, but you wouldn't be able to reach the channel and would be in very shallow water.
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Don't forget to wear sunscreen and don't litter!

asianfisher · Joined: 12 Jan 2009 Posts: 920

on my way there now!!!!!!!!!!!!

asianfisher · Joined: 12 Jan 2009 Posts: 920

on my way there now!!!!!!!!!!!!

asianfisher · Joined: 12 Jan 2009 Posts: 920

Beautiful day fishing... took home 23 10+ inches fish caught a few schoolies too....
they are still in the outer cove today they were in the channel while other boats were catching them other side that were undersized....