CTFishTalk.com: Connecticut River - Hamburg Cove 03/17 - Connecticut River Reports ( CT River Reports ) - A Community Built for Connecticut Fisherman.

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

I headed back down to Hamburg Cove with hila2006 (aka John) and JJay (aka Jason):

We launched at the ramp next to the Hamburg Cove Yacht Club at 7:15 am. I pedaled The Other Woman, John paddled La Calabaza and Jason paddled his own Future Beach Trophy 126. The air was cold, the sky was completely overcast and there was almost no wind, although that soon changed. Rolling Eyes

The water temperature ranged from 47 to 49 degrees. Although the water was clear, the lack of direct sunlight and chop from the steadily rising wind made it almost impossible to see anything in the water. I didn't mark any fish on my fish finder in the inner cove, so we meandered toward the channel leading to the outer cove. 10 minutes after getting on the water, I got a hit with a white four inch curlytail grub on a 1/8 ounce shakeyhead jighead:

It was just a 12 inch largemouth bass, but a keeper is a keeper. Very Happy

And 15 minutes later, John boated his first largemouth bass of the year:

He actually yelled, "I got it! Sweeeet!" Very Happy

We didn't measure it, but it was about 1-1/4 pounds. I headed into the outer cove before John and Jason, because I saw some splashes that looked like they might have been caused by stripers, although I never got a hit from one. We separated when I headed for the south end of the west shore, where I got another hit on the four inch grub off of a laydown on the shore from what I immediately knew was a chain pickerel:

It was 23 inches long and pulled The Other Woman away from the shore a good distance as I played it to wear it out before boating it. Less than five minutes later, I boated the first of over four dozen white perch with 2-1/2 inch smelt and pearl silver Gulp! Minnows on a 1/16 ounce round jighead:

Once again, I never located any schools of white perch and caught them onesy-twosy, here and there, every now and then. And, again, they were almost all small. I ended up keeping the only eight that were more than 10 inches long. In between white perch, I also boated more than three dozen yellow perch, of which a dozen were more than 11 inches long:

Along the way, I boated another 23 inch pickerel that hit my little white perch jig! Surprised

:

While I was chasing the white perch, Jason explored the outer cove all the way out to the mouth at the Connecticut River. Somewhere out there, he boated a fatty yellow perch of his own with the same white perch jig that I was using:

He also boated a chain pickerel. Meanwhile, John explored (i.e., sheltered from the brisk south wind in Rolling Eyes

) the southeast corner and boated a couple of more largemouth bass on the west shore. And as we headed into the channel back to the inner cove, he got a fourth one:

When we got back to the inner cove, I made a few casts with the four inch grub at the steel seawall and picked up the lunker largemouth bass of the day, which was 15 inches long and weighed two pounds, one ounce. I think that Jason and/or John got a photo of it for me. Before we got off of the water at 1:30 pm, I took a quick look around the inner cove by Cove Landing Marine and didn't see any fish in the water or on my finder. I think that fish will start appearing in the inner cove as the water continues to warm. I can't wait for the big schools of white perch to begin swirling around in there. Very Happy

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

Awesome job once again Phil! Great job to the others too!

BassRican · Joined: 21 Mar 2011 Posts: 116 Location: Meriden

Nice job! Can't wait to get out there tomorrow. I will let you know how we do and hopefully have some pics to post.

Very Happy

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

Hey Phil, thanks for a great first day out on the open water. Even though the weather didn't cooperate like we wanted, it was a blast out there Thumbs Up

. Thanks for the use of La Calabaza, gotta get ours set up the same way to. I'm trying to get the photos off our camera and make a post as well, I think I have a couple good pics of your last largie. By the time I got home yesterday it was sunny and 68 deg. on my deck, had to hang out and enjoy the sun for a while. Waiting to see what today brings, looks like London outside my window with all this fog right now. Gonna drag a yak down to Hitchcock and see if my luck holds out today.
John

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

Nice work out there guys!

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

I had my biggest laugh of the day as I approached the channel that leads to the inner cove near the end of the day. A big canoe with two Chinese women was passing by me in the opposite direction when the woman in the back pointed at me and said (insert your best Chinese accent here), "I know YOU. . . from the website!" Laughing

It was fun to see you, too, Po Po! Very Happy

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Don't forget to wear sunscreen and don't litter!

JJay · Joined: 23 Sep 2011 Posts: 113 Location: Farmington, CT

Oh so here's my best fight of the day:

And Phils last LMB for the day:

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

Thanks for posting that JJAY, I haven't been able to get the pics of my camera yet, I'm going to try tomorrow at work. Nice to meet you by the way.

JJay · Joined: 23 Sep 2011 Posts: 113 Location: Farmington, CT

nice meeting you too hila2006! We should all do it again...soon!
Thanks again Phil for taking me to this new spot! (new spot to me anyways)