St. Lawrence River

[Katmai Kid]

Hey Coach! Heading for the 1000 islands this Thursday for 9 days. Any words of wisdom would be much appreciated!! Baits, trolling speed ext. Thanks a million!! Dustin P.S. Quan!!

[Red Childress]

Here are some words of wisdom.....take me with you! lol

I am not the guy to be giving advice on the Larry cuz I have never fished it. Not sure about water temps right now either regarding the spawn. I am betting the river temps are lower than normal. There are guys in this board who might shed some light for you. If I knew the water temps, I could give some general info.

You might be able to find a message board related to this site (Outdoor Network) that will help you. I will see if I can find anything right now.

[allegheny river kid]

Not to burst anyones bubble but i think musky season is still out of season on the St. Lawrence til the 3rd week of june in NY..I think pike may be in now though and i would suggest chippewa bay and chippewa creek, alot of pike in these areas. We usually fish end of june beginning of july and have caught alot of nice bass and pike from these areas.

[Red Childress]

You are right. That had not even crossed my mind.

[Katmai Kid]

Thanks guys! I didn't know about the Canada regs??? Our cottage is east of Alexandria Bay on the Canadian side so I will need to get a book when we're in Country. Coach, as soon as the cottage is "open" for the year we should plan a trip!!! I talked with my family and they would be more then happy to have you up!!! We fish it a lot, but with us only having a 14' boat and my grandpa having a 21' that is his baby it's tough. I'll let you know how we do!!

[toothyfishman]

When I was up as a kid we hammered the pike in Eel Bay but that was before the zebra mussels clearing the water. Not sure if pike would be in there catching some warm water and sun rays this time of year or not?
It's shallow so we run big willow leaf spinniner baits right below the surface.
That was before I fished for muskies much, the littlest Suicks would probably be good too, never used them back then.

The fishing has changed so much since then. That's all the help I got for you for early spring time. If I was you I'd fish for smallies around the main channel on the backsides of any of the small islands and shoal that are just below the surface. Bass should be around spawntime and they should be there or close by I'd think????

I wouldn't be trying to mess around with any muskie fishing, it might be big water but they patrol it, we got checked in the middle of November when there was hardly any boats out.

We did good in the slop in Alex bay for largemouth but water temps might be too cold for them? End closest to the big bridge.

[NitroMusky]

pretty sure bass season is closed on the NY side till the 3rd saturday in june. not even catch and release. that would apply to St Lawrence county (lk ontario to about 60 miles down river).not sure about the canadian side...don't know if they matched ny regs on that