CTFishTalk.com: Connecticut River - Haddam Meadows 04/24 - Connecticut River Reports ( CT River Reports ) - A Community Built for Connecticut Fisherman.

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

Despite the weather forecast of 13 mile per hour winds that would shift from the northwest to the southwest throughout the day, TurtleKiss (aka Kira) and I decided to fish the Connecticut Yankee Atomic Power Plant Canal. We figured that the canal would provide decent shelter from the wind. We were also swayed by the forecast of air temperatures up to 70 degrees! Cool

Although I had been a little bit worried the water level in the Connecticut River would be so high that launching from the ramp at Haddam Meadows State Park might be tough, the Advanced Hydrologic Prediction Service forecast ( http://water.weather.gov/ahps2/hydrograph.php?wfo=box&gage=hfdc3 ) (Thanks for that, Dan! Very Happy

) showed that the water level in Hartford had dropped below the "Action Stage" of 12 feet very early in the morning on 04/23 and forecasted that it would quickly drop even further after that:

Even though the sun now rises before 6:00 am, we decided to both get a good night's sleep, take our time and just get a late start. When I got to Kira's place at 8:20 am, I opened the rear door on my Jeep so that she could load her gear. She took a look inside the Jeep and said, "No seats today?" Shocked

I took a look and realized that not only had I forgotten to bring the fishing seats for The Other Woman, Too Embarassed

, even worse, I had also forgotten to bring the PFDs. Mad

Luckily, our itinerary for the day included dropping by to see SAP284 (aka Steve) at his house, so I figured that we might be able to borrow PFDs from him. We got to Steve's house at 8:40 am (It was nice to finally meet you, Steve! Very Happy

). He was kind enough to lend us a couple of PFDs and we headed down to Haddam Meadows.

There was only one other trailer in the parking lot when we arrived. The sun was shining, the wind was blowing out of the northwest at about seven miles per hour and the water level was completely normal Very Happy

:

(No docks, yet, Brian. Wink

) As usual, I launched The Other Woman, Too into the river with Kira at the helm:

Low tide was at 6:14 am, high tide at 11:41 am and low tide at 6:21 pm. Although I typically pilot the boat on the river, I made Kira take the front deck to manage the trolling motor and anchor whenever we stopped to fish. Yeap, I'm that lazy. Wink

Plus, if she's in charge of piloting the boat, she can't complain about me not going where she wants to go or me backboating her. Laughing

On the way to the canal, we decided to do a short drift from the Green 53 channel marker on the west bank down to the first marina around the point. Kira whined about having to wear a PFD the whole day. You work it, girl! Laughing

:

The river was as murky as I've ever seen it. We could see our lures down in the water only about six inches, even in the bright sunlight. The current and the wind carried us downriver at more than two miles per hour as we casted our lures toward the west bank. Kira threw a big spinnerbait, while I threw a Natural Blue Back Herring 7-1/2 inch Sebile Magic Swimmer. We didn't get any hits and didn't see any fish activity, so we continued downriver and got into the canal before 10:00 am. Kira has what she calls "Bowfin Madness!", so she wanted to start fishing in the cove at the end of the canal. After we anchored up in the cove, Kira came up with a stupid "No Crappie Lures" rule Rolling Eyes

, so I threw a big white double Colorado blade spinnerbait and a Smelt five inch Berkley Powerbait Ripple Shad on a Pearl 1/2 ounce Strike King Squadron Swimbait Jig Head. Kira skipped her usual ADD thing and stuck mostly stuck with a spinnerbait. After 1-1/2 hours without a hit, we began drifting slowly back down the canal. I was shocked when Kira tied on a wacky rigged Senko Shocked

, so I said, "Screw the "No Crappie Lures" rule!" and tied on an Emerald Pearl 2-1/2 inch Berkley Gulp! Minnow on a chartreuse 1/8 ounce round jighead. After only a few casts, I finally boated the first fish at 11:42 am:

Okay, so I know the horny little pornstar yellow perch was just bait Rolling Eyes

, but a fish is a fish. Whoo Hoo! Very Happy

While we were putzing around at the end of the canal, the wind that had been blowing at seven miles per hour in the main river dropped from five miles per hour when we anchored in the cove to almost nothing:

13 mile per hour winds?!?! Meteorologidiots! Rolling Eyes

We continued our slow drift down the canal. As I expected, we didn't get any action until after we passed the new laydown that almost reaches from the west bank of the canal to the east bank. At 2:04 pm, I boated the first largemouth bass with my minnow jig:

Whoo Hoo!

I know, I know, it was just a short. Rolling Eyes

As we continued our drift down the canal, I hooked into an 18 inch chain pickerel that leaped from the water and spit the hook at the boat. A little while later, I also lost another short largemouth bass at the boat. Although the catching was slow, the fishing was terrific! Very Happy

Spring is definitely here. The air temperature rose from 50 degrees when we launched to the upper 60s. The water temperature that was 47 degrees in the main river was 51 degrees when we entered the canal and rose to a high of 58 degrees! The opaque water in the main river gave way to up to two feet of visibilty in the canal. Plus, the only boater who didn't honor my reservation of the entire river all day was in a cabin cruiser that passed us in the main river on our way to the canal. Very Happy

Not having any fishing seats, though, soon became a problem. I have no idea how flippy (aka Jim) does it, but neither Kira nor I can fish on our feet for 10 hours at a time. We ended up taking turns sitting down in the boat or laying on the front deck. Oh, my aching back! Confused

Just before 3:00 pm, after Kira's spinnerbait broke off, she asked me what color spinnerbait she should tie on. I think the choices where white, chartreuse, and peanut butter and jelly. I suggested chartreuse, because the fish in the canal seem to love that color. On her very first cast with the chartreuse spinnerbait, she got a hit almost immediately after it hit the water. When she got it next to the boat and I netted it, she said, "Is that a spotted bass?":

It wasn't the prettiest fish in the river, with a mangled upper lip and a severe case of melanosis. But it was very vigorous and at two pounds, five ounces, it ended up being the lunker largemouth bass for the day. A funny thing about Kira catching the largemouth bass is that about 10 minutes after she boated it, we realized that our backs had stopped hurting. Could someone please give me a grant to study the analgesic effects of catching fish? I think $60,000 should cover it. Laughing

When we got to the big laydowns at the end of the canal, we found that the wind had shifted around to the southwest and was blowing pretty strongly up the river and into the mouth of the canal. So, we decided to head back up the canal. As we slowly fished our way to the end of the canal, our backs began to hurt more and more. Believe me when I say that I will never, ever forget to bring the fishing seats along, again. Wink

At 4:30 pm, I finally got another bite when my minnow jig got picked up off of the bottom by a big fish. I knew it was a big fish, because I initially thought that I had caught yet another snag and then that the snag had pulled free, and only then did I realize that the snag was a fish. When Kira asked whether she should get the net, I told her, "Yeap, I think it's a five or six pound bass!" I loosened my drag when it began to pull back down and when I finally got it up and out of the murk, we saw that it had barbels! Shocked

I yelled, "It's a catfish!" After we finally worked it up and into the net, we saw that it was a nice channel catfish:

Whoo Hoo!

It was my first ever channel catfish! Although it was mostly a pretty fish, it had a very disgusting looking, bright red lesion on the side of its head that actually made a hole to the inside of its mouth:

Yuck!

However, it was very strong. I lipped it and it clamped down on my hand with its coarse sandpaper lower law extremely hard. Surprised

It was a relief when Kira got it onto her gripper scale. It weighed five pounds, 14 ounces. Despite the big lesion, it swam away very vigorously. About 10 minutes after I released it, we realized that our backs had stopped hurting again. Surprised

I really need that grant! Laughing

When we reached the cove at the end of the canal, I got another hit on my minnow jig. The way it shook the line, I thought that it was another short largemouth bass. When I pulled it out of the murk and got it near the surface, it rolled and spit the hook, but not before it flashed a 15 inch long body, dark brown back and sides, and a light belly at me. At first I thought that it must have been a baby bowfin, but later realized that it might have also been a brown bullhead. Confused

That one gave us only five minutes of relief from our back pain. Laughing

Anyway, we soon began a faster, trolling motor assisted drift back down the canal. Kira took a long social media break while sitting down in the boat, while I discovered why old people always bend over at the waist. Man, that feels good! Laughing

After we passed the new laydown, I boated another bait sized yellow perch and then a short largemouth bass. When we approached the channel on the west bank of the canal that goes dry at low tide, we heard and then saw some huge splashes from fish coming completely out of the water on the east bank down the canal. Bowfin! Shocked

We quickly motored down, anchored up and began throwing spinnerbaits toward the bank, The fish kept rising and splashing up and down the east bank. One even followed Kira's hair weed covered spinnerbait back to the boat, but appeared to whiff on it. After 10 minutes of eager casting, a huge fish came completely out of the water next to the boat. Carp! Confused

Stupid herbivore! Evil or Very Mad

We pulled up the anchor and resumed heading back down the canal when I called "Just One More". At this point, though, it was after 7:00 pm and I think Kira's back was hurting so much that she would have been happy to just leave. I did, however, boat one more bait sized yellow perch before we stowed our gear, ran back to the ramp and put out from the water at 7:45 pm.

As I mentioned before, although the catching was slow all day, the fishing was great. Very Happy

Despite our aching backs, we couldn't believe that we didn't see a single other boat after we passed the cabin cruiser in the morning. We saw a water snake swim across the cove at the end of the canal and turtles sunning themselves on logs everywhere. We watched ospreys hovering in the wind and carrying sticks to the nest. We even saw one snatch a fish from the water and another crush the life out of another bird in a tree. We spotted four deer climbing the mountain to the east of the canal. We saw a turkey strutting in the forest, and heard a rafter of them calling and gobbling somewhere over the east bank. Dusk didn't just bring out the carp. Several large beavers swam around us and we pissed off a couple that slapped their tails on the water. I can't wait to get back out on the water tonight. But this time, I'm going to fish while sitting down! Very Happy

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anointed130 · Posted: Thu Apr 25, 2013 11:42 am Post subject:

Love to read your reports Phil, those fish were real ugly looking.
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x182dan · Joined: 19 Mar 2009 Posts: 329 Location: Seymour, CT

nice job phil
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snap fisher777 · Joined: 18 Sep 2011 Posts: 238

nice fish! Cool

jimbojonez · Joined: 04 Feb 2012 Posts: 295 Location: Berlin/Kensington

great report! tide seems to be a big factor in that part of the river. Don't make the mistake of lipping a big bullhead!!! i'm glad to hear you got your channel cat!
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SAP284 · Joined: 07 Jun 2011 Posts: 655 Location: Central, CT

Great meeting you Kira and Phil! That's a nice size first channel catfish Very Happy

. Those things are so tough it amazes me.
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DirtyDawg10 · Joined: 27 May 2009 Posts: 2238 Location: Granby, CT

Nice cat!!

Nickp · Joined: 07 May 2007 Posts: 708

Looks like a lamprey mark phil! Good report guys

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

Nice report. Headed out this afternoon/evening to do some scouting.
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I_fish_therefore_I_am · Joined: 19 Mar 2013 Posts: 20 Location: Middletown, CT

I caught a cat down at Salmon River last weekend that had the same injuries, was wondering what happened to the guy.
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bass tracker · Joined: 17 May 2012 Posts: 84

Nice report Phil, I have never caught a cat out of there before. Good job!

BT