Annual St. Lawrence(Thousand Islands)Fishing Trip

[Nomad]

Loaded up the truck and had the whole family up to the Thousand Islands for a week. It was great that my oldest daughter could make it, flying up from Georgia. We have rented the same cabin for 15 years now.

Took a drive to Clayton one evening where they have the "big muskie" statue. They had a band playing in the park right on the river. Very nice people there.

As for the fishing, the smallmouth fishing was excellent. We are more old fashion deep water worm and minnow fisherman. It was a great way to get the kids started. Just anchor, drop your bait down and wait for the tap, tap. More common these days is shallow water fishing by the "bass guys" and plastics. We anchored on drop offs in 30 feet of water and as soon as you lowered your worm to the bottom you would get a hit. It was nonstop action most of the time. Fish ranged between 2-5 pounds. Average probably about 3. As you know, smallmouth fight very hard and it is a job getting them to the net with the depth and current. We use 2 oz slip sinkers and 12 pound mono leaders. You need the heavy leaders because it doesn't take long to get frayed on the rocks and clams on the bottom. Looking forward to next year already. We always have some fish that swallow the hooks, so I am thinking about maybe trying circle hooks next year. We did some trolling but only managed to get more bass. No walleye or pike this year. I think the pike are in trouble up there, very few being caught. Thanks for looking.

 

 

Edited July 18, 2021 by Nomad

[Lunatic]

Wow, that looks like great time 

[Bonefreak]

Wow!!   Looks like an awesome trip!! Always wanted to do it!!  Pal duck hunted Chippewa Bay for years….the Bassmasters were up there this weekend….today is last day!

https://m.bassmaster.com/
 

 

[splitrockoutdoors]

Awesome!!!  I've been up once so far this year.  Always a great time there!

[hammer4reel]

Looks like a fun trip .

Lots great bronze backs 

[Buckeyes11]

Some great fish and pics!

[nmc02]

Nice. One of my fondest memories....went w my dad every year! 

[Rusty]

Very nice!!    

[MGHunter66]

Awesome!

[archer36]

Terrific.

[OMC]

Looks like a great trip. Haven’t been up there in a long time. Making me want to go again 

[Kype]

great family vacation. nice

[madeinuk]

That place has been on my bucket list but I have never made it up there.  Is it possible to rent boats up there by the day or do you really have to BYO?

[Nomad]

5 minutes ago, madeinuk said:

That place has been on my bucket list but I have never made it up there.  Is it possible to rent boats up there by the day or do you really have to BYO?

There are boat rental places in Clayton and Alexandria Bay.  

[hemlock]

Very cool everyone had a great time.  Very nice fish and pictures.