First Time Fishing St Lawrence

[TylerCoade]

Hey Guys,

 

I am currently planning to fish the St Lawrence this weekend targeting smallmouth and largemouth bass. Having never tackled this body of water before, would you guys recommend any lures or strategies? Ive been doing some research but wanted to see what you guys think! Thanks guys!

[fishballer06]

I've driven over it but have never fished it. That being said, the BASS Elites have fished there twice in recent years. If you search around online, you should be able to see what those guys were throwing. I know KVD won using a Spybait and others have done well using a drop shot. 

[TylerCoade]

7 minutes ago, fishballer06 said:

I've driven over it but have never fished it. That being said, the BASS Elites have fished there twice in recent years. If you search around online, you should be able to see what those guys were throwing. I know KVD won using a Spybait and others have done well using a drop shot. 

Will do. Thank you for the info!

[fishballer06]

@J Francho might be able to help

[J Francho]

I've fished Chaumont Bay, not the river itself.  It's a little far from me, and not enough to lure me there.  There's lots of info and reports out there, though.  My buddy posted on a local board.  He uses big one ounce hair jigs with wire leaders for pike and smallmouth.  He did pretty well, Memorial Day weekend.

[TylerCoade]

6 minutes ago, J Francho said:

I've fished Chaumont Bay, not the river itself.  It's a little far from me, and not enough to lure me there.  There's lots of info and reports out there, though.  My buddy posted on a local board.  He uses big one ounce hair jigs with wire leaders for pike and smallmouth.  He did pretty well, Memorial Day weekend.

Thank you man! Ill be sure to do some more research.

[Dogface]

I've fished it many times. It is one of my favorite places. For LM this time of year I target grass and shallows in the back of bays and coves. I use many lures but mostly rubber and top water.

 

For SM I target drop offs or rocky drops along the numerous islands. My favorite SM lure is a twister tail on a lead head jig. 

 

As J Franco said keep some wire handy when fishing expensive lures. The place is / was loaded with pike especially small pike with sharp teeth. 

 

I noticed your from Ontario. I always thought the Canadian side was way better fishing than the US side. I've only fished the US side for the past few years but if someone asked me to recommend which side to fish I'd recommend the Canadian side.

 

Good luck!! 

[TylerCoade]

10 hours ago, Dogface said:

I've fished it many times. It is one of my favorite places. For LM this time of year I target grass and shallows in the back of bays and coves. I use many lures but mostly rubber and top water.

 

For SM I target drop offs or rocky drops along the numerous islands. My favorite SM lure is a twister tail on a lead head jig. 

 

As J Franco said keep some wire handy when fishing expensive lures. The place is / was loaded with pike especially small pike with sharp teeth. 

 

I noticed your from Ontario. I always thought the Canadian side was way better fishing than the US side. I've only fished the US side for the past few years but if someone asked me to recommend which side to fish I'd recommend the Canadian side.

 

Good luck!! 

Perfect! This is exactly what I was looking for. Have heard and read so much about the St Lawrence System and cant wait to get out. Thanks for the advice!

[Deleted account]

21 hours ago, fishballer06 said:

@J Francho might be able to help

With reaching stuff on the bottom shelf?...  

He's just gonna say "Throw a Pop Max"....  

 

Sorry JF, too much caffeine.

 

[Jleebesaw]

I fish there all the time. Look for shoals. The river has a ton of shoals and underwater humps that were made when they dredged the river for the seaway in the 1950's. Basically they dug out a channel and dumped everything on the sides. Some of the islands in the "lake st lawrence" area are actually just piles they made while dredging.

     There are sharp drop offs into the channel and the rest of the river tends to be fairly shallow. Keep the map on screen while boating. There are a lot of rocks if you aren't in the shipping channel.  These shoals and humps are all over the place creating places for fish to get out of the current. I normally drift past the edge of these shoals and drag tubes or dropshot rigs off them toward deeper water. Fish just sit behind rocks on the edge of the shoals waiting for something to cruise by.  The humps fish in a similar way. Dont be afraid the throw out marker bouys. Unless you have spot lock, it's easy to lose your spot. Downstream sides of islands are always good of course.

      I normally fish between chippawa bay and waddington. Upstream from there in the thousand islands area is a little more like a natural river. There are less shoals and humps. Downstream from waddington is basically like a resevior lake. They call that section lake st lawrence. Think stump fields, flooded roads, and foundations.

     Goby colored tubes and jigs are my bread and butter on the river. I use plastics that have brownish green colors to try to imitate them. Berkeley "goby magic" color is great. They make tubes and finesse worms in that color. The water is super clear so take care with line choice and stick to natural colors for baits. 

   Btw, the bassmasters college series is fishing out of waddington this weekend. There are a lot of boats there this week. It might not hurt to see where they fish!

    

[TylerCoade]

13 hours ago, Jleebesaw said:

I fish there all the time. Look for shoals. The river has a ton of shoals and underwater humps that were made when they dredged the river for the seaway in the 1950's. Basically they dug out a channel and dumped everything on the sides. Some of the islands in the "lake st lawrence" area are actually just piles they made while dredging.

     There are sharp drop offs into the channel and the rest of the river tends to be fairly shallow. Keep the map on screen while boating. There are a lot of rocks if you aren't in the shipping channel.  These shoals and humps are all over the place creating places for fish to get out of the current. I normally drift past the edge of these shoals and drag tubes or dropshot rigs off them toward deeper water. Fish just sit behind rocks on the edge of the shoals waiting for something to cruise by.  The humps fish in a similar way. Dont be afraid the throw out marker bouys. Unless you have spot lock, it's easy to lose your spot. Downstream sides of islands are always good of course.

      I normally fish between chippawa bay and waddington. Upstream from there in the thousand islands area is a little more like a natural river. There are less shoals and humps. Downstream from waddington is basically like a resevior lake. They call that section lake st lawrence. Think stump fields, flooded roads, and foundations.

     Goby colored tubes and jigs are my bread and butter on the river. I use plastics that have brownish green colors to try to imitate them. Berkeley "goby magic" color is great. They make tubes and finesse worms in that color. The water is super clear so take care with line choice and stick to natural colors for baits. 

   Btw, the bassmasters college series is fishing out of waddington this weekend. There are a lot of boats there this week. It might not hurt to see where they fish!

    

Thank you so much for the info! Will definitely keep an eye out for the bassmaster boats! 

[RichF]

The majority of the fish will be shallow right now.  The college kids are pulling those giant bags mostly off beds.  Not a huge fan of that since the River is essentially my home water, but bass season is open, so fair game.  You have the potential to catch the biggest smallie of your life right now there.  I believe the 1000ft from shore no wake rule is still in effect due to the high water, so be wary of that.  Good luck and have a blast!

[Jleebesaw]

Did the OP get out there last weekend? I went Saturday and got a couple nice ones. 4lbs 13oz, and 5lbs 3/4oz. Plus a few dinks. And a pike of course! That tournament ended friday, so I figured I'd try it out. 1st time this year.

   The no wake zone is 600ft from shore. There was a message board by the road near ogdensburg stating it.

[TylerCoade]

2 hours ago, Jleebesaw said:

Did the OP get out there last weekend? I went Saturday and got a couple nice ones. 4lbs 13oz, and 5lbs 3/4oz. Plus a few dinks. And a pike of course! That tournament ended friday, so I figured I'd try it out. 1st time this year.

   The no wake zone is 600ft from shore. There was a message board by the road near ogdensburg stating it.

Didn't end up hitting the St Lawrence last weekend.... ended up staying at a local lake! Will definitely be getting out in the weeks to come! 

[JLBBass]

BASS has been having tourneys there since the 80's

On 6/19/2019 at 12:10 PM, fishballer06 said:

I've driven over it but have never fished it. That being said, the BASS Elites have fished there twice in recent years. If you search around online, you should be able to see what those guys were throwing. I know KVD won using a Spybait and others have done well using a drop shot.