CTFishTalk.com: Connecticut River - Salmon River 09/19 - Connecticut River Reports ( CT River Reports ) - A Community Built for Connecticut Fisherman.

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

I was waiting for NWDarkcloud (aka Bob) or mikey5string (aka Mike) to post a report on this trip, since I just tagged along, but they must be too busy. Bob and Mike got on the water in Bob's boat, the Way More Better, at the Salmon River Boat Launch ramp around sunrise, I think. I got on the water in The Other Woman at 8:15 am and pedaled up to the Connecticut Yankee Atomic Power Plant Canal to meet them. The air temperature was 60 degrees when I launched and rose to 69 degrees by the time we got off of the water around 3:30 pm. The water temperature was a cool 65 to 67 degrees in the morning, but rose to 74 degrees in the afternoon. There was a decent north wind blowing down the river, but high tide was approaching at 9:30 am, so my trip up the river wasn't too bad. I got to the mouth of the canal at 8:45 am. The canal provided a lot of shelter from the wind, but I didn't see any fish activity either in or on the surface of the water. I threw and trolled a Perch Rapala Jointed Shad Rap JSR05 as I headed up the canal, but didn't get any action. When I caught up with Bob and Mike at 9:40 am, Bob was reeling in their first fish of the day:

The 12 inch long white perch would have been a keeper for me, well, if it hadn't been caught in the drainage canal for an atomic power plant, that is. Laughing

Unfortunately, the bite didn't pick up much from the early morning. It was slow all day. But I got a couple of fish in the slack high tide. At 10:05 am, I got a small keeper largemouth bass:

And at 10:35 am, I got a 21 inch long northern pike:

Both were caught with a big Mepps Musky Killer inline spinnerbait with a white and red bucktail. Unfortunately, the humongous grapnel of a hook on the lure made removing it from the mouths of both relatively small fish really tough. After 1:00 pm, I was jonesing to catch a fish, so I tied on a 1/16 ounce round jighead and tried a few different small plastics on it. I boated a dinky black crappie with a white 2-1/2 inch Gulp! Minnow and a dinky largemouth bass with a two inch chartreuse curlytail grub:

Although the fishing was slow, I enjoyed a couple of wildlife sightings. I got to see Soggy the Swimming Squirrel cross the canal:

And I caught a big northern watersnake with a perch patterned five inch slow sinking Sebile Magic Swimmer:

I think that Bob got a northern pike like mine and Mike caught several largemouth bass in the one to two pound range. Oh, and I think that Mike almost got a bowfin, but lost it to a soft hookset. I'll let them fill in the details on what they caught.
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MarkO · Joined: 12 Nov 2007 Posts: 330

Even though it was slow, thanks for a great write as usual.

How did you get the trebles out of the snake? I thought for sure there would have been more to that story!

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

Nice report Phil. I was there last week and at the end I saw a mink....never actually seen one before that was the first time...AND I saw a water snake too.

Lots of wildlife in that canal!
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PECo · Joined: 06 Oct 2009 Posts: 5203 Location: Avon, CT

NWDarkcloud · Joined: 23 Apr 2012 Posts: 474

Thanks to peco for touching on the weather and conditions saves me some typeing .
Dam the river flthy's up a boat fast looking at the photo of the water line looks like I need to get some bar keepers cleaner at bed bath and beyond tomorrow while im out. Embarassed

We hooked up a little later than we wanted Mikes first time to Salmon river launch took him a bit of time to get there from his corner of the state. But boat was ready when he pulled in and off we went .
Cooler than I expected in the morning pretty stiff wind blowing down the river but it was nice in the canal sheltered us with its trees. Made a run straight to the top hopeing the pike where still crowed up in the pool at the end (they wernt) and the bite was tough.
A hour or two later I looked down the canal saw group of birds running for it, I knew something was comeing up the waterway it was then we saw Peco and the other woman working there way around the bend.
He brought some good luck with him it was then we boated the first fish a white pearch. The rest of the day went pretty much as Peco had reported . Heres a few pic's to round out the report......

Sorry for the late report guyz been a crazy week ........
Thanks to Mike and Phil for Another GREAT DAY on the water.
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NWDarkcloud · Joined: 23 Apr 2012 Posts: 474

Whitout haveing a feild guide in my back pocket and given the wide variety of colors for the copperhead . Its allways better to err on the side of caution when dealng with potentially poisonous snakes.

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Redneckangler · Joined: 05 May 2012 Posts: 851 Location: Meriden, CT

I'm going to say northern water snake. 95% sure - 'course that other 5% could really ruin your day!
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PECo · Joined: 06 Oct 2009 Posts: 5203 Location: Avon, CT

First of all, Bob wanted me to let everyone know that he wasn't really yelling like an old woman when I hooked the snake. Laughing

The debate between us went more like this:

NWDarkcloud · Joined: 23 Apr 2012 Posts: 474

all I know if it had tryed to bite someone it would of been fried snake snacks on the riverside Wink

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Megaman · Joined: 08 Nov 2010 Posts: 85 Location: Central CT

Dudes..that is a COPPERHEAD Shocked

!! You can see the Pits on each side..and the color pattern....glad you kept paddling and didnt touch it.... Shocked

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Cameron · Joined: 09 Aug 2012 Posts: 10 Location: West Hartford

That is definitely a northern water snake.
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JJay · Joined: 23 Sep 2011 Posts: 113 Location: Farmington, CT

Great report guys - As for the snake.....100%...I'd paddle the other way...fast

DCAJ · Joined: 04 Jun 2012 Posts: 76 Location: Berlin, CT

Nice report.
Phil, there is one good thing about eating fish out of the power plant area. They're already cooked for ya. Razz

Megaman · Joined: 08 Nov 2010 Posts: 85 Location: Central CT

thats a VIPER (arrow shaped head) and Heat Pits just anterior to its eyes...google image it = clearly a Copperhead.... Shocked

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therieldeal · Joined: 20 Oct 2010 Posts: 245 Location: Thompson, CT

Seriously guys? This is 100% a northern water snake. They are non venomous and not dangerous, although they do have pretty big teeth so you probably shouldn’t try to pick one up unless you are used to handling snakes. I’ve caught and released them many times since I was a kid, never been bitten. They sure do smell bad though – like rotten fish!

God only knows how many of these harmless snakes get killed every year by people freaking out thinking they are copperheads, or more often “water moccasins”. Water moccasins don’t even exist in New England! I stopped some teenagers from killing one this summer at a pond near my house, they were convinced that they were saving the town from some sort of deadly menace…
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PB's:
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Carp - 11 pounds - W. Thompson Lake, Thompson

Still searching for some toothy critters big enough to be worth weighing...