Thousand Islands

[spothogg]

May take a Family trip in the next couple years, And wouldn't mind catching a few smallies when I'm there, what time of the year is best for over all numbers, with a few nice one's mixed in. What is the fishing like. what tactic's would you suggest. I'm a sponge so lets have it. PM me if you like.

P.S. I will be fishing from a jet drive rig.

[J P]

Just had a tournament up there. could not tell you a whole bunch about the best time of year to fish it, but the place is beautiful and so are the fish. great smallies and largemouths in the St. Lawrence River. Caught fish up there on a SK Coffee tube in green pumpkinm 1/4oz jighead (open hook) just dragging tthe bottom. Many ways to catch fish though up there

[mcburcon]

Best time of year to fish the St. Lawrence is the first week of bass season ( third saturday in june is opening day ) . Best advice I can give is be sure to get a map of the area , and be very careful of the canadian waters. Canadian police and the U S Border patrol will check you if your fishing the border line. Use plastics ( tubes , flukes and jigs work pretty good ) . Generally 2 to 8 ft close to deeper water ( 20 ft ) seems to the best areas for your 5 lb class fish. Durring that week of june its not hard to boat 100+ smallies a day. Good Luck !

BTW thats the Mighty St. Lawrence in my photo with a 5 lb and a 4 lb 7 oz

[RoLo]

Best time of year to fish the St. Lawrence is the first week of bass season ( third saturday in june is opening day ) . Best advice I can give is be sure to get a map of the area , and be very careful of the canadian waters. Canadian police and the U S Border patrol will check you if your fishing the border line. Use plastics ( tubes , flukes and jigs work pretty good ) . Generally 2 to 8 ft close to deeper water ( 20 ft ) seems to the best areas for your 5 lb class fish. Durring that week of june its not hard to boat 100+ smallies a day. Good Luck !

BTW thats the Mighty St. Lawrence in my photo with a 5 lb and a 4 lb 7 oz

What he said

(Mcburcon, that's a fine pair of smallies, or should I say biggies       Clayton or Cape Vincent?)

[Md]

I spend 30+ days on the St. Lawrence every year....you can't overlook mid to late September/early Oct.. The pleasure boats are all but gone and the fishing pressure is minimal.

[roadwarrior]

Best time of year to fish the St. Lawrence is the first week of bass season ( third saturday in june is opening day )...Generally 2 to 8 ft close to deeper water ( 20 ft ) seems to the best areas for your 5 lb class fish. Durring that week of june its not hard to boat 100+ smallies a day.

I know that's true, but for those of us that haven't had the

privilege of fishing in the region, it's just hard to imagine catching

that many smallmouth in one outing. I will fish the Tennesse River

from October through March and will not come close to 100

brown fish, total!

[J Francho]

Just a quick note, bass fishing is open to catch and immediate release on the St. Larry from 12/1 through the 1st Friday preceding the 3rd Saturday of the month.  If you came this year around that time, you'd have missed peak spawn already, though plenty of fish are still shallow by then.  

[Md]

Just a quick note, bass fishing is open to catch and immediate release on the St. Larry from 12/1 through the 1st Friday preceding the 3rd Saturday of the month. If you came this year around that time, you'd have missed peak spawn already, though plenty of fish are still shallow by then.

This is true for most years, but this year it seems there was no true "peak spawn". It seemed to be spread out over many months. As a matter of fact, I fished the Stren Tourney as a co-angler on July 16-18 and the guy I drew on day one was sight fishing for absolute pigs, as was his brother who led after day one with 23-7. Granted we we out on the lake, but I saw some good ones on beds the week before in the river itself. I think the weather had them really messed up this year.

[J Francho]

There definitely were some late comers....cool cool nights, warm days.   I found smallies on beds at Black Lake at our club T at the end of June. I had some LMB on beds a few weeks ago in the "lunchtime pond," and they were all but done way back in May.

[RoLo]

Best time of year to fish the St. Lawrence is the first week of bass season ( third saturday in june is opening day )...Generally 2 to 8 ft close to deeper water ( 20 ft ) seems to the best areas for your 5 lb class fish. Durring that week of june its not hard to boat 100+ smallies a day.

I know that's true, but for those of us that haven't had the

privilege of fishing in the region, it's just hard to imagine catching

that many smallmouth in one outing. I will fish the Tennesse River

from October through March and will not come close to 100

brown fish, total!

Mcburcon's info is Spot-On, so I swallowed "100" with a grain of salt.

I'm with you RW, the next time I alone boat 100 bronzebacks in one day, will be my first time.

It is possible though, because there are many offshore reefs at the mouth of the St Lawrence (Lake Ontario)

and in Georgian Bay, Lake Huron that are literally paved with smallmouth bass.

BUT...at that concentration their average length is usually 8 to 11 inches, so I'm long gone before I hit 50 ;D

Roger

[Md]

100+ of the footballs we catch and you would end up at the River Hospital in Alex Bay! ;D ;D ;D Best day with two of us combined was 108, with 17 that were 4+...we left them biting because our arms were about to fall off!!! On a different note, my buddy called me on Sunday and said that Mark Zona and Kelly Jordan were just on the River filming The Worlds Greatest Fishing Show last weekend before Kelly had to go practice for Oneida. He talked to them at the launch and said Zona was staying a few extra days because he loves it so much up that way!

[mcburcon]

Best time of year to fish the St. Lawrence is the first week of bass season ( third saturday in june is opening day )...Generally 2 to 8 ft close to deeper water ( 20 ft ) seems to the best areas for your 5 lb class fish. Durring that week of june its not hard to boat 100+ smallies a day.

I know that's true, but for those of us that haven't had the

privilege of fishing in the region, it's just hard to imagine catching

that many smallmouth in one outing. I will fish the Tennesse River

from October through March and will not come close to 100

brown fish, total!

Let me try to clarify the 100+ bass in a day. The St. lawrence seems to be getting better every year with size and numbers the last 5 to 6 years. ONLY durring the month of june have I had 100+ smallies in a day. Durring the trip I make every year I fish everyday from about 5 am to 8 pm , I stay on grindstone Island , and can be fishing in a matter of just a few minutes. I have fished in october , but it gets very rough to fish that time of year. But for me personally JUNE is the month.

those 2 fish were caught out of clayton,

[RoLo]

those 2 fish were caught out of clayton,

Yeah, that was an easy call.

I'm sure you know, but the largemouth fishing in and around "Lake Of The Isles"

is nothing short of stupendous (Hill Island backwaters too). I used to have it all to myself,

until Larry Nixon won the megabucks tourney there. As I recall, the pre-spawn peak

for bigmouth bass occurs just prior to opening day and around the first 10 days of open season.

Roger

[Md]

ROLO, the Lake of the Isles isn't a shadow of what it used to be. A two pounder is a good fish in there anymore...I think word got out years ago on that place and it's been hammered ever since. Hill Island back waters still produce. By the way, Clayton isn't just good for smallies. Got this big girl out there today.