1st report of year - MONSTER perch!

[TheDL]

With all the great weather we've had lately I decided to haul the boat out for the first trip of the year this weekend    Having just moved to the Brockville area, I had new waters to explore and was flying solo.  I was a little nervous about trying th St. Lawrence river on my own in my little shallow hull 14 ft aluminum, but I went anyway and I'm really glad I did    Launched late in the day after driving around the parkway looking for a suitable boat launch for my car, ended up launching from Gananoque, didn't get the boat in the water untill around 10am.  The water was calm and I headed out to try where the Gan river meets the St. Lawrence for some pike.  While casting around I noticed a strange looking orange jug 'swimming around'.  It wasn't just floating, it was bobbing up and down, cruising at a good clip, turning around, and generally circling the little area when the rivers meet.  As I fished, my curiosity wouldn't let me leave it alone - so I trolled over to this thing and as I approached it in a weedy-murky 15 fow it seemed to "run" from the boat - I did notice a really slimy/weedly  cable attached to it, and I thought it might be a diver marking his location for boats/fisherman?  Well, I tried to leave it alone and while I watched it I managed to hook into my first spring pike!  It was a good fight for a small pike, but he really inhaled my swimbait, so I threw him on the stringer.  Another fisherman came over in a canoe and I asked him about the "swimming" jug - he said looks like a bait-trap marker and we were both really puzzled by the thing doing circles around a 200 yrd area, speeding up and slowing down, bobbing up and down....

[TheDL]

So we both went over to it and picked up the jug...it was HEAVY   and seemed like it didn't want to move at all...then it started 'towing us' !!  I was really excited, thought it might have been some monster musky/pike/sturgeon on some wierd 'jug-fishing' setup.  We pulled and pulled, the steel cable digging into our hands, all the while this thing is towing both boats here and there and back and forth.  Eventually, we got the thing up....3 cinder blocks    I guess this was a shoal marker that had floated away and the extreme  under-currents of the 2 rivers joining REALLY pulled those bricks around quickly.    

Well, after that let down I didn't see any more pike and crusied around most of the day getting to know the HUGE and beautiful St. Lawrence river.  Just before calling it quits I tried another spot hoping to haul up some perch to go with my small pike...found a 100 yard stretch in 14 fow that was piled up with BIG perch!  I trolled a home-made worm harness across that stretch about 8 times, hauling 1-3 perch out each time with an average size of 9-10" - and there were a few hogs in there too!  By far my PB perch at 13 + inches!!  I could likely have hit a limit of perch, but once I had enough for dinner I headed back.  What an awesome fishery!!  

[bass_belt]

Great report DL! I was hoping you found a monster on the end of that "jug"! Had my hopes crushed though when I read "cinder blocks"! Ah well, neat story!!!

Nice perch too!

bass_belt

[jjz]

Nice Job DL! How did they taste?

[O]

That is some serious undertow!  No swimming there!

Nice perch, glad you found a new spot.  Have a great season,
Otto

[TheDL]

Great report DL! I was hoping you found a monster on the end of that "jug"! Had my hopes crushed though when I read "cinder blocks"!

Yeah, those blocks were really moving, I would never have thought the current was that strong given my boat was barely drifting.  There must be a really strong undertow

Nice Job DL! How did they taste?

Ate them last night, they were great 

[Raquettedacker]

Nice catch DL....

[bassjunky]

wow, that is a monster perch, nice job

[Rickl1968]

Them are some nice perch DL...Congrats!
I thought you were going to say a large perch was tied to a balloon, until you said it was pulling the boat around and cutting into your hands with the steel cable. the suspence was building and then again thinking it was a huge sturgeon. 

What size of motor were you using on the river? Were there any whirlpools near ya?
Up here we generally use at least a 20 horse on the Nipigon river due to the strong currents and whirlpools.

Great story!

[TheDL]

thanks Rickl - sorry to dissappoint with the ending - I sincerely thought there was a fish on there....I couldnt' believe how those cinder blocks danced in the undertow, especially considering my drift was barely notice-able.  It's a spot where a small river enters a large river in a bit of a bay - so I was able to easily control my boat position with small bursts on my 50-lb thrust trolling motor.  Main motor is only a 15hp, but I didn't need it to maintain position.  I've been back there twice since and seen the same orange jug 'swimming' around in circles!  It's so odd and really looks like something is towing it around. 

I'll have to bring out some buddies and get them to try to haul it up..."look, it's swimming!  It HAS to be a fish on there!" 

[Rickl1968]

I'll have to bring out some buddies and get them to try to haul it up..."look, it's swimming!  It HAS to be a fish on there!" 

That would be a great video! 

[Goonloon]

Great story....reminds of that scene in Jaws when it takes the bait under the marker bouy.

Top class perch there too!

[TheDL]

Great story....reminds of that scene in Jaws when it takes the bait under the marker bouy.

Yeah, that's kind of what I was hoping for (minus the murderous shark)

[Goonloon]

Yup...murderous sharks not good....lol.