Wallace Dam Fish Ladder "World Fish Migration Day"

DEEP and Save the Sound

 This morning i took a ride over to the fish ladder in Wallingford on the Quinnipiac River after hearing from my father that it was going to be open for viewing today only. I have recently spent a lot of time in this area and have found the amount of fish and different species to be very surprising so the idea of talking with the designers of this ladder and the DEEP officers and employees seemed like a cool idea. Right when i got there the people working the event walked up shook my hand introduced themselves and we began talking about the ladder and the river in general. We discussed the fact that many fish are not using this ladder and i explained to them the thousands of herring i had seen in the past few weeks all stacked up on the other side of the dam. They admitted that the opening of the fish ladder maybe isn't in the best spot possible but also showed me the numbers of how many fish have used the ladder this season. The viewing area has a motion sensored camera that takes a photo every time a fish passes through. Then a DEEP employee checks this camera with there laptop every Monday, Wednesday and Friday and goes through all the pictures and updates there totals.  I was pretty impressed to see this but in my honest opinion the amount of herring using the ladder is maybe an 1/8 of how many have actually been up at the dam. We talked about the spike in gizzard shad which in previous years had not been seen in this river and they told me that all the ladders in CT have had big numbers off them this year.  Which is good news for stripers.

Click to enlarge:  Ladder totals

 In previous years the Quinnipiac River Association and students from Uconn have netted fish from the dam and lifted them up and over but they stopped this once the fish ladder was completed. I feel that they should continue netting these fish over and have the fish ladder. You could easily double the amount of herring making there way to spawn by going down with a big net in just one day. This is something that Save the Sound and I discussed for next season. You cant do this yourself or you will be in big trouble but with the right people this may be possible moving forward and i myself would love to volunteer and be part of it. These guys do great work and as a fisherman in this state i think in most cases they do a very good job but it can always improve and they are very willing to listen. I walked to the other side of the River to show John from Save the Sound the herring that all stack up on the other side and sure enough they were there. Most the fish have went back down river but there are still some trying to make there way up. We talked shad, herring, stripers and a whole lot of fishing and conservation and the guys could not have been nicer. It was a cool experience and with more and more fish ladders being made here in CT they were very interested in hearing some of the first hand details i had in these past few weeks. While down there a few fisherman stopped by to ask when the herring ban will be lifted and by the responses i would say it will not be any time soon.  Im glad i stopped down there to check it out and was happy to see some families bringing there children down to see it. Only problem was this whole event was about a week too late as no more fish have used the ladder in recent days. Read the fish totals and you might be surprised of the species that pass through our back yard water ways.  Very interesting stuff!

By; Joe Jacobowitz

Viewing Area (camera and window with lights)

Candlewood was something today...

 By something i mean it was not great but it had some positives that made the trip well worth it. I had my roommate Neil out today on the boat for his first ever Candlewood trip and what would hopefully be his first ever smallmouth. We arrived around 1:30 and fished until about 6:15. Water temp was 64 degrees and the weather was all but perfect on arrival. I had 5 rods tied with drop shot, grub, jerk bait, super fluke and a jig. Neil had one rod only and threw a black chatter bait from start to finish.. (smart)  We fished for about a half hour when i turn around and see Neil's 6 foot ultra light bent pretty good. Fish jumped probably 6 times during the fight and i net his first smallie ever! A solid 2.5 lb fish and after the release he goes... "do all smallies fight like this? I said yes and better.. " i love smallies, screw largemouth " haha  We continued down this one bank and again Neil is on! Fish is a little bigger this time and the pulling of drag and jumps were awesome! This one went 3.75 lb and 20 inches on the nose. This fish had its spawning partner with it the whole entire fight and she was even bigger! Here i am thinking.... first off. I need to tie on a black chatter bait. Secondly, why do i feel like the rookie on this trip! I proceed to tie on the same chatter bait and i get a few soft hits but didnt hook up. Now Neil has caught his third smallie and im not even on the board yet.

 We hit some other spots that i have had success over the past few seasons with very little to show for it. Spent 3 hours fishing these spots and as we left the last spot i got the skunk off my hands.. A little 1.5 lb Largemouth on the drop shot. We could not find a solid pattern today. The fish Neil caught were between 6-12 feet but no reference to any structure. Was odd for sure. The sky's started to turn dark and the drizzle started so we headed back towards Lattins Cove and at our last stop of the day Neil gets another nice 18 inch smallie with a crazy ugly eye wound from being previously caught and i start to get the im not going to catch a smallmouth at candlewood for the first time ever feeling. Next cast my chatterbait goes weightless and i miss it. Then miss another. Threw out a big spinner bait and BAM!!! Nope i lost it... nope its there. A small calico spinning on the surface as i KVD the fish back to the boat. The rain picked up and we headed home. I couldnt be happier to take Neil out there today for his first smallies and catch some beautiful fish but i also was pretty dam bummed at not getting one smallie. I tried probably 8 different lures today that should all produce this time of year and it just wasn't happening for me. I think im still in striper mode. Ill be back soon for redemption!  Thank for coming out today dude! Lets do it again soon.

The end might be nearing but its not here yet!

Went out to the housy tonight for the top water striper bite and after reading Mr. Rich Zaleski's post this morning I didn't have high hopes. We had some very strange weather in a short time period.. pouring rain, gale force winds, sunshine, rain, windy again then perfectly calm the last hour and a half. The good news is we saw plenty of fish tonight but they were swirling the bait and not really taking it. As we were fishing Larry see's a spook on the surface stuck on a floating branch.. I joked with him saying.. hey thats the one I lost last Wednesday in that same area... Well it was. 5 days later after all that rain it was right there. Could tell because of the hooks I had just added to it and the leader. Too funny. Was a sign that I had to fish that lure. Not five minutes later I caught the first fish of the day. 28 inches on the dot but thin. Rest of the trip was missed blow ups and follows until I hooked this nice 29.5 inch fatty on a slug go. Was a bad night for totals but a good sign to see so many fish. Thanks Larry Johnson for another adventure. We found most of our active fish in 2-5 feet of water and the water temp is climbing fast. Ranged from 60-62 in some places. Had a ton of rises and missed blow ups on the Cobra Bait sad shad tonight but didnt hook up at all. But that was the theme of the evening. Fish seemed full from there heavy diet of herring. Ill be back out again this week for sure. There are big fish to be had.

Be at the launch in 45 minutes... Yup.

 Got this text at the end of the work day yesterday ( be at the launch in 45 ).  The obvious response was see ya there. We were on the water for 5:30 and had the just right conditions. We had the end of outgoing still happening and had plenty of cloud cover. We were feeling good about getting a top water bite after last saturday in the same spots had almost nothing more than a boat ride. Things started off pretty quickly with us both getting some good rises behind the baits and as Larry says the words i think we should move...I set the hook on a nice solid 31.5 inch fish that clobbered the pearl sad shad. Great fight with some long drag ripping runs and we were on the board!  Not 5 minutes later i get blasted again on the sad shad by a 30 incher on the dot. Right before we left this spot Larry hooked up with a 26 incher on a lunker city alewife slug go. We slowly made our way down river having some rises on the surface but no hook ups and not enough action to keep beating up the spots. We would hit them for 5 -10 minutes not hook up and move on. When time is short cant waste valuable sun light.

 We made our way down to a nice flat down river and found fish stacked up in less than 2 feet. Casting would scare the fish and you could see there wakes all over the place. It was really cool to see and even better that they were hungry. Larry hooked up on his first keeper of the day pretty quickly down here at 29 inches and he was pumped. 3 keepers in the boat in the first hour and a half of fishing was a solid start. We both got into some big schoolies over the next half hour. From 22-26 inches all on the surface which is always a blast. As were fishing Larry looks across the river to see what looks to be a striper blitz right on the bank. We motored over as fast as we could shut the motor down and started to fire our baits over them. My first cast had so many bass trying to eat my lure at the same time that they were bouncing of each other. They were on the smaller side but it was pretty awesome to see. Mean while Larry is getting 5 blow ups per cast and im laughing because somehow his lure didnt have a hook on it. Wiff wiff wiff wiff. Were cracking up enjoying this crazy action when his next cast became the greatest moment of Larry's fishing life.  And honestly one of the coolest moments for me to witness myself.

Working the slug go on the surface almost as fast as you can possibly reel this fish blast the bait and misses twice and right as its at the boat she didnt miss.. Bammmm! Fish on.  He didnt see the fish but i saw it and i looked and him and said " OMG Larry its enormous "  The sleigh ride started. This fish was pulling us over to the channel bending his rod to the breaking point and pulling line like a beast. He was in full panic mode and i talked his nerves down. Saying relax you got this.. breathe.. lol  He did a great job with that 7 foot largemouth set up. After 5 minutes that fish was in the net and high fives and hugs were had. 38 inches  23 lbs 14 oz.  What a truly amazing fish. Couldnt be happier for ya Larry. All the time we put in down there is paying off and it couldnt happen to a better dude. Thank you for having me out there again. Always a blast and we will remember this trip for a very long time!  All fish caught on Cobra Bait sad shads www.cobrabait.com and Lunker City Slug Go's.  All 9 inch baits.   Go down for the pictures.

By: Joe Jacobowitz

Mothers day CTR Bassin with Josh Rayner

 Had my ole fishing buddy Josh back in the saddle today for a CT River trip. We were on my boat twice a week the last few years but our schedules just haven't lined up and he now lives in deep river so i went to his neck of the woods. We hit lower river in search of 1 thing. Stripers... Not schoolies The morning bite i expected before we had bright skies really never developed. A few rolls and rises but no hook ups until about 6:30 id say. Started it off with a decent schoolie then a 28.25 incher on top. Very next cast josh hooks up with a just short fish but it was fat and gave him a solid fight. Pulling some serious drag and going under the boat a few times. The fish we did catch today were great fighters and it was such a nice morning that catching some fish was just the bonus. Plenty of herring around all morning and i really think the fishing is going to get really good in the next week or two depending on the rains. Last year right as things started to heat up we got a two day rain storm and ruined the spring run. Forcast doesnt look good but fingers crossed the weather holds out and we get the opportunity to get some stupid good fishing. Got our fish on slug go's and cobra bait sad shads. Thank for coming dude and happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there! Fished from 5am-11am  water temps were up to 62 in the river! If you need any sad shads hit up www.cobrabait.com and talk to John. He has been pouring baits all week trying to keep up. Get your spot in line

 

 

Holy Cobra Bait.. 3 trips over the past 4 days.

Day 1

 This past saturday i drove down to haddam to meet John Weeks and pick up some 9 inch sad shads that he poured for me that day. I was psyched on how they looked and couldnt wait to huck em out there and get some bass.  It didnt take very long at all! We were on the Housy sunday morning for 5am and off the water by 10am. We could have left at 6:30 because after that we had zero hits... Oh well thats fishing! We started off great with me throwing the Cobra bait 9 inch white sad shad and Larry Johnson throwing a alewife 9 inch slug go. I got a 25 and two 26 inch fish quickly then Larry got a 28.5 and the fish of the day 31 incher. Ended up with 12 fish in that hour and a half. 6 each. My last fish came on a spook and then it was over. Still a fun morning and after talking with 3 other boats we were pretty happy with our results. 1 fish total for those three boats. The baits produced very well. No pics of  Larrys 31 because it was a bleeder and we wanted to get it back in the water asap. 

 Day 2

  Then last night i headed over to the Q river to give it a try. Never targeted stripers here but figured why not. I know the herring come up the river so the bass are usually never too far behind. Well im glad i went. I spent more time walking trying to find current breaks and casting lanes than i did fishing but once i found a spot i tossed out the 9 inch pearl sad shad and Bam! Start getting blasted. I caught a 27 incher then lost a 30 inch plus fish that got into the heavy current. Moved down a little and caught three more nice sized schoolies and lost another 30 plus inch fish that got wrapped around a tree branch and came loose. Loved working these baits in the heavy current. Felt like smallie fishing a weightless fluke. Twitch twitch let the current do the work. I tried 3 other lures last night and didnt have a hit on anything else. These fish are keyed in on herring and cutting the tail on the baits make it the perfect match. Thats a great design feature. Three tails in one.

 

Day 3

  So obviously this morning i went back to see if i could find the ones that got away. Well I did even more walking this morning because the one spot that produced yesterday today was void of life. Started to think i wasnt going to catch anything when this fish came out of no where and smashed the bait but just missed and before i was done saying awww man it was right back on it! Never stop working your bait after a blow up just keep it moving because these fish come back for a second time more often than not. Battle was on and to be honest i didnt realize how big the fish was until i got it closer. It was ripping line off my bait caster and the head shakes were really wide swings. I was on a step mud bank and knew i couldn't just dead lift the fish so i slide down the mud almost falling in and lipped this beast of a fish. My biggest fish i've ever caught in fresh water and third biggest fish of my life. 36.5 inches and 22 lbs! So hard to get pics being alone but i tried my best. I could not love these baits more! Ive never had such a bad bass thumb from one fish in my life and although it was my only fish of the day i could not be happier. This is why we fish. Moments like this. Heart racing adrenaline that is hard to find in every day life. Support a local CT company and get some of these baits.If not, your missing out.. I simply cant get over how good they have been in just these first 3 trips! www.cobrabait.com  tell John i sent ya! Now time for work.. Nothing can ruin this day!

Schoolies moving out.. Herring and bigger fish moving in.

 Planned all week on going out with Larry Friday evening into Friday night but started to wonder after those heavy rains if we would have to cancel or not. Well at about 1 pm yesterday we got the call from Rich Z saying it was running fast and dirty but the fish were still chewin. We were on the water for 5 pm and Larry had a bad luck curse begin immediately.. ( the first cast fish ). Then we had nothing for a while. Went a ways down river never marking a single fish. Strange that just 4 days ago all these spots were still loaded with schoolies. Hmmm. Kept heading down to some good spring time spots and threw spooks on top and bam.. Started getting blasted by good sized fish. I lost a fish that looked between 35-38 inches as it rubbed it's face into the bottom.. tail out splashing every where and threw the hook. Few cast later I have another fish on and after a few seconds it broke one of my hooks.. Larry had a few great blow ups here too. I took one long cast into maybe a foot of water and hooked up with a nice 29 incher and i was on the board.

 We hit another flat down river and again blow ups like crazy! I got another 29 incher and Larry had a big fish completely smash his spook but again no hook up. If we learned one thing today it is spooks come with garbage hooks! The amount of fish lost and not hooked was crazy and both of us had fish break or straighten a hook. Larry got back on the board with 3 good sized schoolies and I caught a couple more schoolies before it got dark on a mag fluke weighless.  Once it was dark the top water and sub surface bite was over. We ran down all the way to Devon and fished a flat that has been great past few weeks. Again marking no fish but we were seeing plenty of herring so fish couldn't be too far. We made 3 or 4 drifts here throwing black bombers and we caught another dozen fish but no more keepers.  By the end of the trip we probably only caught about 20 fish but most between 22-26 inches with the two keepers mixed in but we saw some big fish, lost some big fish, saw some herring and schoolies seemed like they made the move out of the river. Things are about to get really goood. No more 200 or even 100 fish days. Now it's 2-30 fish days but much better quality. Thanks Larry for another great trip!  Ps always have jumper cables people. Saved our night last night by having them.