St. Lawrence largemouth

[billmac]

This is just a question out of curiosity.  Are the largemouth still thriving in the St. Lawrence?  When BASS came to NY in '78, they uncovered a largemouth fishery that the locals didn't really know existed, and for a time it was considered one of the best largemouth fisheries in the country.  I know the St. Lawrence is all about smallmouth now, due to the gobies and zebra mussels.  Are the largemouth still there?  Obviously I know there are still largemouth to be caught in the St. Lawrence, but I'm wondering if that fishery is just as strong, or have the conditions that allowed the smallmouth to thrive done damage to the largemouth fishery?  Or are they just ignored now?

[JackstrawIII]

I fished with a charter captain up near Alex Bay last summer. We fished primarily for smallmouth (as you noted), but he did tell me about how he likes to target largemouth during his off time. He says he focuses on shallow, weedy bays and inlets. 

Is it like it used to be up there? Can't say.

[Don51]

https://www.newyorkupstate.com/outdoors/2022/09/upstate-ny-waterway-ranked-1-in-us-for-bass-fishing-by-bassmaster-magazine.html

[TnRiver46]

Brock Mosley came in top 10, maybe top 5, fishing only largemouth there a couple years ago in a 4 day BASS elite event 

[stewa107]

I took 2nd in an ABA event and my bag was anchored by a 4.9 pound Largie

[Boomstick]

A couple of years ago when I was on the St Lawrence, I fished a little bit east of cedar point state park, but there was only a few spaces I could get out of the current in my kayak and fish. So I drove down the street to Goose Bay and fished in the bay where there's no current. The bay is all weeds and primarily largemouth fishing - and we got a few.

 

At a tournament a few years ago, I think it was Seth Feider who was having a bad day and decided to go flip some weeds and catch some largemouth. So they are there, just not what people primarily fish for.

[jhoffman]

Why anyone would even try in tournament fishing is beyond me. I remember watching once and I think they weighed 50 - 20lb bags in a single day of smallmouths.

My wifes aunt has a house right on the river. Thats the clearest water Ive ever seen.

[ChrisO91]

They are there...no doubt. Will you catch a larger bag of largies than smallies? Not likely, but there are some hawgs up there, just need to know where to go. Lake of the Isles area holds some nice largemouth.

[Dogface]

13 hours ago, ChrisO91 said:

They are there...no doubt. Will you catch a larger bag of largies than smallies? Not likely, but there are some hawgs up there, just need to know where to go. Lake of the Isles area holds some nice largemouth.

 

There are a lot of LM up there but you need to know where to look. 

[casts_by_fly]

On 1/23/2023 at 7:43 AM, jhoffman said:

Why anyone would even try in tournament fishing is beyond me. I remember watching once and I think they weighed 50 - 20lb bags in a single day of smallmouths.

My wifes aunt has a house right on the river. Thats the clearest water Ive ever seen.

 

In the last elite series up there, guys were throwing back 3.5 lb fish without even having a limit in the livewell just in case one died and they had to weigh it.  All of them said in interviews that 20 lb per day wasn't going to get it done and they were targeting 25 lb to really do anything.