Salmon river cove this morning

[imsafanct]

The barrier has been removed. There is a sign with a number to call. I called the number and the person I talked to indicated that the place that was closed is now open. So I went in. I had one smallish pike leap completely out of the water as it missed my Super Believer. The fish came back for a second try but didn't get hooked. Other than that, nothing, but very cool that the place is open again.

-Eric

[imsafanct]

I'm heading back tomorrow. I'll be making a beeline straight for the outflow canal, launching from the Salmon River ramp; no fishing on the way up this time.

I'm going on the assumption that this week's rain has brought the water up a touch and probably dirtied it up a bit, so I'm rigging larger lures that are black and or chartreuse/firetiger. Big spoons, 2 oz. Pearson's Grinders, Jr. Double Cowgirls, big Jakes, big Suicks and a J-Mac jig w/ 9" lizard trailer. Tomorrow looks to be warmer and cloudy. I'm gonna give 'em hell. We'll see what happens.

-Eric

[lowaccord66]

I will keep an eye out for you and will try not to run you over I might be in the same spot.  However words out now expect excessive traffic like it used to be in the good old days.  Tides are still strong but starting to weaken a bit after the full moon.  Keep that in mind as low tide is not good in that area

[lowaccord66]

Eric I checked the tides.  Looking like only time to give them hell until noonish. (you'll have an easy float back!)  Also if you want a giant you'd do better catching a few goldens and putting them under a float. 

[imsafanct]

Jon, I'm here...call me at 860-212-5605 if you decide to hit the canal...I'll be fishing until 11 or so.

-Eric

[lowaccord66]

Well that was a long day.  Good speaking with you Eric.  I broke down again on the way home despite replacing the thermostat at bantam.  Coolant system was airlocked, heat stopped and eventually it overheated and went into limp mode.  I managed to get off exit 45, coast down the hill and around the corner to a pull off.  It took us another hour and lots of coolant to get it purged.  All fixed now. 

[imsafanct]

Very cool to speak with you Jon as well. Sorry to hear about more issues with the jeep on the way home. I had to pop-start my Accord when I went to leave the launch, just as I figured I would have to. I was done kind of early. I think I was home by 10:30, waited for my son Henrik to wake up from his nap and then my wife, Henrik and I went to Rossini's for pizza in East Hampton. Henrik and I spent the rest of the afternoon chasing each other around the house being silly. Laughing and going crazy with him cancels out any frustration from a fish-less morning!

I worked most of the canal, but this was as the tide was receding, so maybe that's why I didn't catch anything. I was surprised to see how shallow the mouth of the canal is during low tide. I fished lures that should have at least generated a hit or two: Pearson's grinder, cyco spinner, super believer, mag force rat-l-trap, five of diamonds Johnson silver minnow and I even slowed down with the j-Mac jig w/ a reeper trailer as well. I worked fallen wood and the weed lines I saw, but not even a hit.

On to next weekend then, I suppose. And Jon, thanks for the tip on the lipless cranks. I love those lures too.

- Eric

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Good stuff Eric.  I did the playing around the house thing/ trick or treat thing Saturday.  Im just happy I didn't blow that motor, when the temp was way up it was knocking.  (We just put it in 3 months ago) 

Bantam was wicked slow too, it wasnt until the clouds broke that I started getting hits trolling.  Was pulling baits at 3-3.5 and got that 28" and missed a few others.  I need to bring my leadcore setup next time to hit the deeper edges.  Thats where those bigger pike should be.

[imsafanct]

Jon,

In your experience, do some of the larger pike come shallower for a bit each Fall, like I've read they do in articles on the web? Perhaps my misconception is that they do come shallower, so I keep hoping I'll find them shallow this time of year.

-Eric

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I personally think all fish will filter in and out of deeper water to feed.  I suppose it depends on the body of water you are fishing and what the forage base is.  If the bait is mostly pelagic, I can understand it being a deeper game than it would be if they were eating non pelagic baits.  

Where you were fishing it's all a matter of ambushing so I focus heavily on spots where that is possible.  That spot in partucular is tough.  Also I noticed that speed was the trigger yesterday.  I casted the same baits for hours without a tap.  Some trolling at 4mph got the pike to take a shot.

Also you have to be willing/able to fish the main river.  The easy spots to find get fished hard.  Finding subtle main river spots to hit can work really well.  A gentle current near a ton of downed wood can hold fish.  If you watch videos of UK pike fishermen they get them in decent current without issue.  

Thinking about this some more I wanted to edit again and add that I hink lots of people fish too shallow for pike and most species for that matter. If I think about some of the offerings you mentioned the problem with them all is the don't really penetrate the water column.  Putting a dead golden or dace on the bottom is a staple and not to be skipped although boring.

Up until recently all the pike hits I was getting at ine lake were 15-25 fow on the deep weed edge.  Tim's 25 pounder was located somewhere in the column in that depth of water as well.  However all the YOY baitfish tend to be shallow.  This is a good thing to talk out...

[imsafanct]

So I may be heading back to the river on Sunday, with Bill on his jon boat. Your comments about willingness and ability to fish spots on the river itself got me wanting to get back to the spot we found last year in Rocky Hill. This spot has old wooden pilings that have deteriorated and now barely break the surface, depending on tide. The water is probably 5-10' deep and the current is pretty calm around the pilings. This was the place where I caught my 37" fish and I've had other follows there too. We've caught numerous pike in the stretch of the river from White Oak down to the Glastonbury/Rocky Hill Ferry. The Western shore is the shallower/better side.

I'm certainly one of those shallow water guys. I don't really have any experience fishing deeper than 10'. I know I need to learn to be effective in deeper water though. I'd especially like to do some deeper water drop-shotting and deeper cranking for bass next Summer. Mashapaug, Gardner and Bashan should be good for this sort of thing. Needless to say I won't be trying to find pike at Mansfield next Summer like I did this year.

My goals for pike fishing are to learn the times of year when they are shallower and or more active at certain bodies of water, and target them at those times. I understand that I'm limiting myself, but I'm not interested in fishing for them super deep in the Summer months. But when I figure out when they are more active throughout a lake, I want to be there fishing hard for them. From what I know of them, pike are just simply a harder fish to find than bass. It also seems like they're just on or off; no in between. I also understand that because I only get on the water once, maybe twice a week, it's just going to take a LONG time to get some sort of baseline of knowledge that I can rely on or refer back to. For me, this challenge is one of the reasons I enjoy fishing for them so much. That and their strikes, of course.

The smallie fishing on the river in Enfield/Suffield is dynamite in the Summer and I wish I did more of that this year. We're lucky that we have the variety of fishing we do here in CT. If it's no good for one species, it's probably good for another.   

-Eric



 

[imsafanct]

Pine Island Lake in Westhampton?

[lowaccord66]

If your plans don't come together let me know as I may try to head down now that the jeep is squared away. 

[imsafanct]

Will do. If you did choose to hit the river for pike, would you be fishing the Haddam area?

[lowaccord66]

Will do. If you did choose to hit the river for pike, would you be fishing the Haddam area?

I'd be down to fish anywhere on the river.  My craft is a 19'6 alumacraft with a 140 so I have plenty of range and can do about 38-40mph fully loaded.  Helps to cover lots of spots.  For example I will rip from Haddam all the way down towards Seldon and back.