St. Lawrence River bass fishing

[GuidedBassTrips]

Some of my repeat customers have been requesting I take them on the St. Lawrence River instead of Black Lake this time. And I always tell them I'll have to watch the weather first. It's the wind I pay attention to the most. My best days there are almost always calm days.

So this past week, I had two repeat customers on Monday and Tuesday that had been requesting the St. Lawrence. And fortunately for them, the wind laid down for two days.

Monday I had Mike and Mona Heyer from PA. They stay at Pleasant View each year and I had them meet me at the Chippewa Bay boat launch this time. We had a beautiful day and I was able to keep them out on the main river most of the day. My best smallmouth fishing on the St. Lawrence is often near the main shipping channel and calm days are just easier for fishing out there from a bass boat. I had Mike and Mona alternating between a tube and a senko. Between opening day and about now the smallmouth are still "up" and hanging around the spawning flats. Some are still spawning and others are kind of hanging around feeding before they go deep. We didn't count this time, but they caught alot of smallmouth. They were amazed by the clarity of the water and being able to watch them fight all the way to the boat. To me it's the most enjoyable bass fishing in the north country when it's on. But it's also important to respect that some of these bass are still spawning and release them unharmed. The wind did finally pick up around 2pm and I brought them back into Chippewa to catch some largemouth. All bass were caught on circle hooks and released.

On Tuesday I had another repeat customer, Adam Bocera and his younger brothers Nick and Andreas. They are originally from Ogdensburg and now live in Virginia and were here visiting family. They have been with me twice on Black Lake but had never fished the St. Lawrence before. Today was calm all day and I knew these young guys would catch them. I showed them how to fish a senko a couple of years ago on Black Lake and they smoked them this time on the St. Lawrence. I wish I had counted them, but most impressive was the number of 3-4 pound smallmouth they caught along with all the 2 pounders. These are hard fighting, jumping fish on light line that they watch fight all the way to the boat. The fish are scattered on these flats and the key is to cover water and make alot of casts. About 3pm, I brought them back into Chippewa, and with cloud cover rolling in they proceeded to catch largemouth one after another on two different shoals I like. Just a wonderful fishing day for action. Unfortunately these young guys are now spoiled! All bass were caught on circle hooks and released.

I'm not sure how much longer the shallow fishing for smallmouth will last, but eventually it will be done, and I'll have to fish deep on those calm days. Last year it was done by the 2nd week of July. The main channel just hit 70 degrees so I am expecting the shallow fishing to start slowing. There are always some shallow all summer but not the numbers of the last two weeks. Eventually the key depth will be around 45 feet fishing vertical. There is good largemouth fishing too when in the right areas. But not as widespread as on Black Lake.

[ken18621]

Great report.......Thanks for sharing.

I hope the St. Lawrence is on the upswing when we come up in late August.