CTFishTalk.com: Connecticut River - Haddam Meadows 06/27 - Connecticut River Reports ( CT River Reports ) - A Community Built for Connecticut Fisherman.

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

After seeing the crappy weather forecast for the next week, NWDarkcloud (aka Bob) decided to sneak in a trip to the Connecticut Yankee Atomic Power Plant Canal on Thursday. We launched in The Other Woman, Too from the boat launch at Haddam Meadows State Park. There were only two other boat trailers in the parking lot. The weather forecast was for a chance of rain after noon, air temperatures up to 80 degrees and south-southwest winds rising up to 10 miles per hour in the afternoon. When we left the ramp at 8:00 am, the sky was completely overcast, the air temperature was already in the mid-70s and there was very little wind:

Low tide was at 10:35 am and high tide was at 4:11 pm. The water level was what I consider to be normal for the Connecticut River. We saw water temperatures from 76.2 degrees when we launched to 79.4 degrees in the afternoon. The water in the river was surprisingly clear. Despite the overcast sky, we could see the bottom at least five feet down. Although our plan was to fish in the canal, the river was so calm that we decided to drift down the west bank of the river with the current and bang the shallows for northern pike. While Bob spent an eternity rigging a setup Laughing

, I began throwing a white five inch Slow Sinking Sebile Magic Swimmer. As usual, though, I didn't get a bite before Bob began throwing a Stanley Ribbit frog on a Stanley Double Take Hook. I was surprised by his choice of lure, because he had thrown out his casting shoulder at Mashapaug Pond when we were there on 06/19. Although he had rested it for eight days, I had thought that he'd try to take it easy and just throw wacky rigged Senkos all day. However, you can't stop a man who dreamed of catching a northern pike with a topwater frog. Wink

I tried to keep us within casting distance of the waterline as we drifted slowly down the west bank. Since the bite was slow, I also pulled out setups with a black Strike King Midnight Special spinnerbait, a Bullfrog Zoom Horny Toad and a wacky rigged Black with Large Blue Flake five inch Senko. We got all the way down to the green 53 channel marker with only a couple of hits on our lures. As we passed the channel marker, Bob got a hit on his frog and set the hook on what we immediately could tell was a northern pike. Bob didn't want to tire the fish in the warm conditions, so he hauled it into the net as quickly as he could:

Sweet!

The 24 incher swam off strongly after Bob released it. We continued our drift until we were past the marina that's in the channel just downriver from the channel markers and then motored into the canal. We dropped the trolling motor near the mouth and began fishing our way up the canal. The water in the canal was murky, with visibility down less than one foot. It looked like latte coffee. While Bob continued to throw his frog over the weeds, I began casting my wacky Senko at the outside edge of the weedline, the shore and the inside edge of the weedline. We didn't get any action before we had to put on our rain gear when a sudden shower fell from 9:30 am to 9:50 am:

It wasn't until 10:02 am, after the rain had stopped and we had reached some laydowns, that I finally got a hit and boated my first fish with the wacky Senko:

Whoo Hoo!

The largemouth bass was 15 inches long and weighed one pound, 13 ounces. Only three minutes later, I caught a 16 incher that weighed two pounds, two ounces:

I told Bob that I liked the way things were going, anticipating that my next fish would be at least a 17 incher. Laughing

However, I soon lost the hook on my wacky rig to a deep snag in the big laydowns near the mouth of the canal. Confused

Rather than tie on a new hook right away, I decided to try pitching a weedless spider-type craw jig into them. After only a few pitches, at 10:22 am, I set the hook on a smaller, but still a keeper, largemouth bass:

Although it was nice to pull a fish from underneath the big laydowns without snagging up with the jig, after we passed them, I ended up throwing wacky rigged Green Pumpkin with Red Flake or similar color Senkos at the smaller, shallow laydowns for the rest of the day. And the rest of the day was absolutely beautiful:

I caught a few more small largemouth bass with the wacky Senko at 10:43 am, 10:48 am and 11:12 am, before Bob's frog finally got him one at 11:18 am:

As has been the case for the last few weeks, I've found that the largemouth bass have been more likely to hit a slowly presented lure than a quickly moving lure like a topwater frog or a spinnerbait. I decided to stop taking photos of the fish we caught, unless there was something extraordinary about them. But at 11:56 am, I got one with some black blotch on its back and, at 11:57 am, I got one with a red nodule on its tail:

Bob finally stopped throwing just his frog, rigged another setup with a wacky smoke with pepper six inch Yum Dinger and, at 12:01 pm, boated another largemouth bass:

At 12:07 pm, after I lost a rare wacky rigged Senko black crappie at the boat Mad

, I boated a consolation prize rock bass:

Rocky!

We continued to boat fish as we approached the end of the canal:

Did I mention that it turned out to be a beautiful day? Very Happy

Bob's shoulder began to act up on him during the afternoon, so we began heading back down the canal. At 2:02 pm, I took a photo of a dinky largemouth bass that was probably only seven inches long:

Bob asked, "Why are you taking a photo of THAT?", and I told him that it was the dinker largemouth bass. He must have taken that to be a challenge, because, at 2:46 pm, he topped (bottomed?) me with what turned out to be the dinker at only six inches long:

Impressive, but I'm still looking for a five inch or smaller largemouth bass that'll hit a five inch Senko. Wink

At 3:22 pm, just after Bob finally gave up on trying to hit spots with a lure because of his bad shoulder, I made a particularly nice cast, and got my wacky Senko into a shady spot right on the bank and underneath a shrub. I felt a tap and gently set the hook on a fish that pulled for deeper water in the middle of the canal. The way it pulled down, I thought that I had hooked into a northern pike. But when I finally got it close to the surface, we saw that it was a really nice largemouth bass:

The lunker was a solid 20 inches long and weighed four pounds, nine ounces. Whoo Hoo! Very Happy

Coincidentally, I had told Bob earlier in the day that I had never caught a largemouth bass over four pounds in the canal. Go figure! Cool

As Bob stowed his gear for the trip back to the ramp, I caught my "Just One More", before we headed out of the canal at 3:45 pm. I caught 18 or 19 largemouth bass and the one rock bass, and probably would have caught a bunch of black crappie if I had tied on a grub jig. It was nice to have finally caught largemouth bass in a Summer pattern, where they held in the shade, tight to cover or structure. Hopefully, the lousy weather we had last night and will probably have over the next week won't screw things up.
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NWDarkcloud · Joined: 23 Apr 2012 Posts: 474

Good day... weather and all. Its definatly starting to come around to summer pattern for bass . Wish I could of hung in there a bit longer the night bite would of been hot i think.

Sorry to cut the day short on ya
Thanks again bud
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bowhunter095 · Joined: 20 Jan 2011 Posts: 392 Location: Berlin, CT

Nice going! I had to work yesterday so DCAJ went out on the river by himself to Wright's cove. He called me when he was done and said he had a decent day although he lost three huge pike. Maybe he'll see this and write a report? Razz

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

Nice job catching that lunker!

You only wish your dinker was 7" long Laughing

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

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

Nice fish. Went out in the Portland area of the river. Lost all the big fish and landed a few small bass and a pickerel

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

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

Phil,
I took my kayak, but someone has been clearing the way to get in there.

As long as you're not trying to get in or out at low tide, I think your boat can get in there. I'd make sure I have paddles though.