St-Lawrence River, the death of me!

[NorthernGuy]

Hi folks!

Im past overdue for a report so! without further do, here's my pitch

P.S. This will probably be a long one..

For the past 2-3 months ive been stubborn as 100 mules! I've been goin and goin and losing and losing the fight against the st-Lawrence river (Cornwall area) Ive tried Rapalas, swim baits, Senkos rigged wacky & Texas rigged, spoons, drop shots with braid, just a tube on a jig... I don't know but to me, Ive tried lots! Unfortunately, my boat is starting to lose its fish smell!! HEEELLLPPP hahahaha

So. I think I finally found my problem, think, (big word) Ive been goin every weekend and sometimes 2-3 times in a week fishing about 15-20 hours per week give or take. My ratio of fish per hour would be like, 1 for maybe 60 hours. Yah, I know, pretty horrible hehe. This Saturday me & my girlfriend went out & somehow after all those loss, I had a good feeling! We went to the dam, water was at 54! I was happy! I couldn't use the old excuse of water is still too warm... but unfortunately we didn't catch "anything"

We then went all the way on lake st-Francis to try and catch some perch, only got about 5-6 perch that you can barely call fish since they were so small. Came aaall the way back close to the ST-Regis church i believe its called. There was a good amount of boats so first instinct : We are in the zone! wooh! started fishing. A guy about 30-40 feet of me WAM catches a decent bass! Im like no way! this is awesome my time will come! Of course.. he gets another one, AND another one! 3 in less then 2 minutes! me.. nothing lol The guy literally caught more fish in 2 minutes then i did in probably 100 hours of fishing I did! Gosh, depressing moment here! It was getting late so we left after about an hour. Arrived at the launch & I saw a nice White Lund Boat with a GMC full of sponsors.. The lovely couple started talking to me & I think they helped me allot with just the few tips they gave me. I dont know who you guys are but I thank you very much for your kindness! They even gave me some tubes which I didn't really carry except 2-3!!!

My problem well, there's more then one obviously hahahaha (yah im laughing at myself lmao...) I hope you guys at least have a chuckle! Lots of courage here! hahaha. Back to business. First I wasnt using a fluorocarbon leader which I think is a must especially on these clear waters & second of all Im just running like a chicken with no head not knowing what to do & where to go on this massive body of water. I need to stay in 2-3 spots max & just work it. I do stay at a place for a couple hours but I switch "techniques" constantly even though a good amount of you guys told me to use drop shot or just a tube and a jig on the St-Lawrence.

So, I will be concentrating on the jig & tube this weekend and guess where... YEP on the st-Lawrence lol I might be alone!? anybody wanna join? Anyhow, Thanks for reading! I hope you guys have had better luck then me! I am not giving up... I will probably invest on a guide next year hopefully to get with the program. After all this gas spent this year! I should of perched my boat for a week or 2 and got a guide! Oh well, Im starting to learn!

Thanks in advance for all the tips & tricks! This website is awesome!!

See yah on the water!

[BobbyJordan]

Sounds like you're starting to figure it out! I can't believe your persistence...I would have been on to a new hobby by now! I'd say you're due and your day will come where everything just starts to "click". It took me a long time to get even a little bit comfortable out on that body of water. Here are a few things that might help:
- flourocarbon is a must. I use 8 or 10 pound test max and only use about a 6 - 8 foot leader attached to a 20 lb test braided main line. Look up a video on how to tie a uni-to-uni knot to attach the 2 lines.
- use small, natural colour baits that keep you in contact with bottom (tubes or drop shots are ideal) and make sure the weight is heavy enough to keep you on bottom (you will feel it ticking along bottom as you drift the current.
- if you feel anything different set the hook (8 times out of ten it will be nothing, but i'd rather swing at nothing than miss one! The other 2 out of 10 times be ready to hold on!! Those fish are strong.
- as for next weekend - and to give you another technique, try a white spinnerbait over flats in anywhere from 4 - 10 fow where you can find rocks and weed mixed together. It's a lot easier to detect those bites. Lol.
Good luck to you!!

[riverdog]

Go West my man! That section is my least favorite. Get some Floro on that braid! It's fall on the Larry so throw all your tackle out except for tube jigs & soft drop shot baits. Use at least 3/8 to 3/4oz weights. Look for 10-27' humps around deep water. Work the current which Cornwall has a ton of but in my opinion it sucks or maybe just boring. Good luck!

[seahawk]

Hi Rivergod,

I hate current too but the two places near Ottawa like Morrisburg and Cardinal have current so I am not comfortable to deal with. Where is your recommendation WEST place that I could comfortably try your tips on Larry and still not far from Ottawa before I put my gears aside for winter? Please PM me if you think you cannot post it here. Thanks.

Go West my man! That section is my least favorite. Get some Floro on that braid! It's fall on the Larry so throw all your tackle out except for tube jigs & soft drop shot baits. Use at least 3/8 to 3/4oz weights. Look for 10-27' humps around deep water. Work the current which Cornwall has a ton of but in my opinion it sucks or maybe just boring. Good luck!

[tmacinc]

Also, if you can't figure out the uni-uni knot, or it is too tedious/time consuming like I found. Try two perfection loops in a handshake configuration. They tie in a couple seconds and you don't have to cut your main line to change your leader. The loop in the braid is a bit more of a pain but you only have to tie it once. I use this exclusively and usually use 20 lb braid as my main line with 6 - 15 lb fluorocarbon leaders depending on the water clarity and how big I expect the fish to be.

Tom

[NorthernGuy]

i had an awesome success last weekend! Im goin out tommorow again & I will post a nice report on my 2 outings! thanks for the info it was well worth it