CTFishTalk.com: Connecticut River - Wethersfield 03/27 - Connecticut River Reports ( CT River Reports ) - A Community Built for Connecticut Fisherman.

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

I was in Florida and had an early flight home on Thursday. My wife didn't want to leave the office early, so NWDarkcloud (aka Bob) picked me up from Bradley at 1:00 pm. Since the weather in the afternoon was so nice, we decided to check out Wethersfield Cove. We had heard that the recent dredging was either done or almost done. As we approached the cove at 3:00 pm, we didn't see a dredge, but we did see a cool looking boat motoring around in the cove:

We figured that it might be checking on the dredging. Although the cove is largely clear of ice, the south-southwest wind blew the remaining chunks of ice toward the ramp. Some of it was fairly thick, but it looked punky and soft, so we launched my boat, The Other Woman, Too, right into it:

Unfortunately, one of the larger chunks of ice ripped the cable clean out of my side imaging transducer on the stern Question

We motored over to the other boat in the cove and found out that we were right about it being a hydrologic survey vessel. The guy piloting it said it was nice day to be out on the water, but that it was really turbid. He wasn't kidding about that; the visibility in the water of the cove was less than a foot. He also told us that they had dredged the channel down to a depth of six feet. We motored across to the west shore of the cove and worked our way clockwise around the cove with spinnerbaits and fluke jigs. The fishfinder on the bow that uses the US2 transducer in my trolling motor marked several solitary large fish in the deeper waters (i.e., 10 to 12 feet) of the cove that appeared to rise up off of the bottom to check out the boat as we motored over them. However, Bob and I were unable to get them to bite anything, so we decided to motor out of the cove and head to the powerplant near Charter Oak Landing. On our way out of the cove, we saw the dredge moored in the channel:

We made the cold, bumpy run up to the powerplant and dropped the trolling motor into the water, but used the outboard motor to check out the cove. There wasn't much to see, but when we passed the warm stream of water coming through a breach in the steel seawall next to the powerplant outflow, we marked several fish with the finder. I hit the Spot Lock on the trolling motor and began throwing a small white fluke jig at it, while Bob three a wacky rigged Senko. The water temperature in Wethersfield Cove and the Connecticut River was between 36 and 37 degrees, but it got as high as just over 48 degrees in the outflow:

At 5:00 pm, I was about to give up on the fluke jig when I felt a solid bite and set the hook on a schoolie striper:

Whoo hoo!

And 15 minutes later, I caught a slightly larger 22 incher:

We stayed out on the water until almost 6:00 pm, but didn't get any more hits. Although we didn't get much action, it sure is nice to be able to finally post a Connecticut River striper report on CTFishTalk. I'd like to see more of these! Laughing

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

Thanks for the report. Good to hear Wethersfield is open. Nice to see a CT River striper. Just picked up the Gemma Rose II today, and will be ready to hit the water Sunday, but the forecast sucks.
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NWDarkcloud · Joined: 23 Apr 2012 Posts: 474

It was nice seeing some of the last of the Ice breaking up finally but damn it was so cold in that wind ..... but that comes with the sport...
Cool

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

We were definitely too far upriver for stripers. Yesterday, Bob and I checked out the stretch from Haddam Meadows to the mouth of the Salmon River and down to Chapman Pond. We saw next to nothing on the fish finder and didn't get a nibble. The next time I hit the river, I'll launch at the Baldwin Bridge and motor upriver from there.
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