Saint Lawrence River!!

[-sro-]

Went up to the Saint Lawrence River this summer for the first time.  Launched out of Keewaydin State Park.  Largest Smallmouth Ive ever caught in my life!!  Anyone else fish in the area?   Just a few pics but caught alot of nice fish

[Robhuntandfish]

Used to fish the St Lawrence a lot. I used to launch out of Jacques Cartier state park.  Great for smallies, northerns, walleye, perch, musky.  I caught some dandy walleye out of there but could only ever catch one a day it seemed.  

Best catch ive ever seen was up there. A boat came in with an 54 inch musky and a 31 inch walleye.  

Used to also fish the cape vincent area some. All of it seems good fishing. The perch were usually not huge but a ton of them.  I wanted to see if I could catch 100 in day. Had a spot off of cape vincent and I stopped at 123.  The two guys in the boat with me caught just as many too.  We had seagulls circling the boat. Lol. 

 

[wolc123]

My family has a camp just down-river from there, on Goose bay.  I have been making at least one fishing trip up there a year for about the last 30 years.  The smallmouth growth rate has been way up there, the last few years, thanks to all the gobys.  We don't always get as many as we used to, but those we get are real big for their age. 

I have been doing better on largemouth the last couple years.  Last year, we killed them in lake of the Isles, but this year we did better in Goose bay.  The northern pike action was significantly better in both those spots this year than it was last year.

I am about due for a walleye, because it has been a few years since I caught any there.  We used to go up the last week in June however, when there were more of them in the shallows.  The last two years, our trip was at the end of July.

That is supposed to be a musky hot-spot, but have also yet to hook one of those up there.  Maybe those musky's are a different strain than we have closer to he on the upper niagara.  Out there, one used to grab my bait every other outing or so.

 

Edited August 23, 2020 by wolc123

[wolc123]

Here is the fattest Goose bay largemouth from our july trip this year.  My brother in law got that one on a purple wacky worm.

[SpacemanSpiff]

2 hours ago, wolc123 said:

My family has a camp just down-river from there, on Goose bay.  I have been making at least one fishing trip up there a year for about the last 30 years.  The smallmouth growth rate has been way up there, the last few years, thanks to all the gobys.  We don't always get as many as we used to, but those we get are real big for their age. 

I have been doing better on largemouth the last couple years.  Last year, we killed them in lake of the Isles, but this year we did better in Goose bay.  The northern pike action was significantly better in both those spots this year than it was last year.

I am about due for a walleye, because it has been a few years since I caught any there.  We used to go up the last week in June however, when there were more of them in the shallows.  The last two years, our trip was at the end of July.

That is supposed to be a musky hot-spot, but have also yet to hook one of those up there.  Maybe those musky's are a different strain than we have closer to he on the upper niagara.  Out there, one used to grab my bait every other outing or so.

 

My family has been camping at Kring point for 4 generations. Best smallmouth fishing in that area. 

[Daveboone]

Aint no other fishery in NY like it...our favorite boating and fishing destination, but we usually stay away during the hot busy summer months. This is my son with our day best from last september. We specialize in pike and perch....bass are fun, but too easy and taste....well, pike and perch are much better!

[wolc123]

1 hour ago, SpacemanSpiff said:

My family has been camping at Kring point for 4 generations. Best smallmouth fishing in that area. 

That is where we usually stay.  We always did good in June on the smallies, straight out from Kring point.

 

1 hour ago, Daveboone said:

Aint no other fishery in NY like it...our favorite boating and fishing destination, but we usually stay away during the hot busy summer months. This is my son with our day best from last september. We specialize in pike and perch....bass are fun, but too easy and taste....well, pike and perch are much better!

Bass are very good if you keep them alive and remove the meat while it is still twitching.  Not so hot if you let them pass in a cooler however.  I like the largemouth a bit better but the smallies fight a lot better and are usually easier for me to find.

My wife won't let me keep pike since my brother in law got a y bone stuck in his throat up there a few years ago.  They were not able to help with that at the A-bay hospital but he coughed it up the next morning while eating an Orio cookie for breakfast.

 My biggest pike up there was 38", and I got that one mounted.  My biggest walleye(29") was also from up there.  Both caught by accident while I was bass fishing.

Edited August 23, 2020 by wolc123

[wolc123]

Here are the two st Lawrence "accidents", along with an upper Niagara 48" musky "accident" (they had to be 44" to keep that year but now 54").  All hang above the bar in our billiard room.  I copied that from George Boldt.

[-sro-]

I didnt realize people ate pike

[wolc123]

10 minutes ago, -sro- said:

I didnt realize people ate pike

I recall them being pretty good, especially when the water is cool.  There is a guy up in Goose bay that would clean them for me, removing all the meat in one big boneless slab, in exchange for the y-bones.  He cut them out with a straight razor.  Pickled y bone are a delicacy up there.

 

[Pygmy]

Pike are wonderful, as long as you know how to trim out the Y bones....Back in the glory days of Seneca Lake,  I ate many of them...The bone free parts were excellent fried, and I would can the strips loaded with y bones  in pint jars..The canning softened the bones and they made great fish patties....

[SpacemanSpiff]

I like to chunk them up and poach in butter. All bones are removed prior to eating. 

[wolc123]

When I had to do it myself, I use to remove the meat from pike  in three pieces.  The first piece was the top, above the spine, then each side, staying outside of the y-bones.  Usually, I was careful, and there were few bones. Lots of meat was wasted in the process however. Ever since the accident in A-bay, my wife makes me release them all.

I never drank a beer , until i had a limit of fish (alcohol eliminates my ability to detect the strike). The number of bones left in the meat was directly proportional to the number of beers I had before cleaning.  Bass are so much easier to clean , and better tasting, if properly cared for.  I can clean them with a 6-pack in me and still not miss any bones.

 

[The_Real_TCIII]

I love eating pike from through the ice. But holy mackerel do they produce a lot of slime in the sink lol


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[wolc123]

On 8/23/2020 at 6:29 PM, The_Real_TCIII said:

I love eating pike from through the ice. But holy mackerel do they produce a lot of slime in the sink lol


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Musky make much more slime and stink especially in the summer.