My Story of the St Lawrence Monster's
The St. Lawrence river.....
ahhh. Have always wanted to get
there, so big , pristine , strong..... just like the carp in it!
I live
some 400 or so miles away , so Id need several days of exploring
to find
good swims to fish. This being the 13th of June (monday) and it
being an
unusually cold year thus far , my guess would be that the fish
were
still pre-spawn. So I set my sights to the Thousand Islands
section of
the river and its many coves and inlet creeks in hopes of
latching on to
one of those giants that Id seen just a few more times in
pictures than
I could handle!! So off I went....
Not much planning
until I was on the road, Which is usually my
style of travel, give myself a few days and plan as I go. My
journey
there took me across the Green mts. of VT and into the
Adirondacks of NY
, 2 beautiful places I certainly dont get to enough. My first
destination was the Black river near Watertown since it was going
to be
late afternoon when I arrived. This was the case when I got to
Dexter
and the weather was raw and cool, so I decided to just fish here
the
rest of the day since this area was noted for its good carping.
With all
the fish moving upriver from the lake to spawn, the spot (just
below the
dam in Dexter) was TEAMING with fish...they were jumping all over
the
place!! In a flash I was set up with just flavored sweetcorn on
running
leads and into fish right away! This was great , I took fish
after fish
to about 16 lbs. or so, but noticed the much larger fish jumping
quite a
distance from where I could fish (some 65 yds or so out) and
found it
dufficult at best to effectively pre-bait and fish at this
distance.
Left my spod and longer casting rods at home.....tsk tsk tsk! I
travel
light so I didnt think.... Although the action was intense (about
20 -
25 fish to around 18 lbs. that evening) , I missed out on
potentially
big fish (some looked 30 lbs.!!) because I didnt think before I
left!!!!! LESSON LEARNED but it wasnt to be the only one....
Tuesday the 14th dawned and
with high hopes I made my way the
last 20mi. or so to Clayton, NY to get my first view or this
mighty
river, and what a sight I saw!!! At the public dock in center
Clayton ,
I was dumbfounded!!! How in hell was I EVER going to catch fish
here. I
was so intimidated, Id never before seen a water like this! Miles
wide
and clear....you could see down 30 or 40 ft. and see EVERYTHING!!
It
almost made me decide to just go back to the Black r. , but I
decided to
go through with the exploration. My first spot was the French ck.
just
west of the center, this being the headquarters for the many,
many
"other" fish guides this town is so famous for. Marinas
all around and
some good looking spawning areas , so I scouted and prebaited a
couple
of likely spots. All of a sudden , around 7am , fish started
surfacing
and crashing all around! I was where the fish were but as yet ,
no
takes!! Boy this carpin' can be frustrating!!! Finally , a take!
This
really powerful fish took one run (50 yds or so) and found the
only
object in the bay...a buoy around 70 yds from me! rub,rub...snap!
Oh ,
well back to the drawing board. Looking for more rigs to tie , I
suddenly remembered to go to the baitshop in Dexter because I had
run
low( again bad planning) on rigs the... EVENING BEFORE!! Oh , man!!
That'll teach me to just wait for "a few more fish, then Ill
go to the
bait shop"!!! I'd forgot totally the night before and now I
had just a
couple of rigs to use and the shops didnt open til 9am (late
sleepers in
Clayton). So I used up the last couple of rigs on 2 nice fish (20
and
22lb.), and went to get some substinance until the shops opened!
But
hey, at least I got a couple of nice fish and knew where to come
back
to.... LESSON 2 LEARNED! But there was more...
After the visit to the bait shop I
realised that all they seem to
do with carp up here is to SHOOT em....rrrrr!Pictures of the big
, macho
blast-a-thon the last weekend (and fish to 40+ with many fish
over 35)
made me want to cry...what a waste!!!
So back to French crk. and all the fish I had
left pre-baited and
leaping , but when I showed up ,they were nowhere to be found! No
jumping or takes for the next 2 or 3 hrs at all!! What the... I
was
right back where I started! So back to the baitshop for more info
and
probably some jokes about actually fishing for carp, so I thought.
The
gent , Shaun, that owned it , just so happened to be a guide in
Clayton
(and managed to put a 58in. musky on his wall 2 seasons ago) and
was
real informative. He told me no matter what people say , EVERYONE
in the
area has tried fishing for carp and knew more about it than theyd
care
to admit! Out came the topo map of the area and a few choice bays
were
chosen where h'd seen some MONSTERS the day before! So with
renewed
confidence, off I went again with LESSON 3 learned (dont make
assumptions about locals attitudes on carp...ask around!)
The very first bay he described was only
a few miles away, and when
I laid eyes on it , I almost fainted! It was a small harbor of
about 8
or so acres , ovally shaped with decent access and lots of
shoreline
reeds. every 10 yds was a boat dock which accounted for the path
around
the harbor.I was told it was OK to fish around the docks by the
owner of
the marina as long as I didnt
leave litter. The whole harbor was PACKED with monsters!! You
could see
every one! They were just milling aroung and actively feeding!!!!
I
thought I was in heaven and was gonna score BIG! Out came the
trusty
stalking rod and bait...bread, my #1 bait for this
situation.My first
couple of trys at 2 big fish (both mid to upper 20s) failed, even
though
I did everything right!So I saw a monster a little ways down
feeding
heavily and though it took me forever to get it to take , it did
! A not
quite as powerful fight as I had anticipated later , I had a
magnificent
34-1 (39 in.) on the bank! I was ecstatic!I had done what I set
out to
do but I wasnt done. Anything else would be icing on the cake! A
pic.
and the fish swam away. After unsuccessfully trying to get at
least 6
more in the 20s to take I saw THE ONE! There she was just a few
yds away
and it dwarfed the one landed earlier! Well over 40 inches long
and
super wide at the back , I put this one in the 50+ lb bracket! My
knees
shakin I started.....
being mighty careful not to spook this one! Everything going
perfect
,this fish was feeding and my bait goes in the water silently
some 8 ft.
or so in front of it...it approaches and...goes right past it
like it
never saw it!?!?What the...
This scenario was repeated close to a dozen times along some 50
yds of
reeds and docks and the same thing...nothing! Glad I have (or had)
a
thick
head of hair cause this fish caused me to pull much of it out!
With no
more shore to walk the fish continued to feed itself out of range
, but
not before it decided to clear the water 20 ft. away from me as
if
mocking me! Man what a beast!!I was so humbled, Ive always taken
pride
in being able to stalk fish effectively as I grew up doing this.When
I
saw all the big fish in this bay and how well they were feeding ,
I
assumed (<
So after a few minutes to get my head back ,
the search continued.
By this time it was 3pm or so and the sun was shining towards my
face so
I decided to try the other end of the harbor near the marina.
More nice
fish avoiding my confidence bait and I was stubborn and didnt
want to
change. Standing on a dock , pondering , a nice fish cruises by
20 ft.
from me, feeding.Instinctively I made a perfect flip and the bait
was
positioned. However my confidence had been trounced by the
results of
the day thus far . Continued ponderance was shattered cause this
big
fish (I put it at 35+lbs, but couldnt see the girth) inhaled the
bread
like it had seen it all its life. Was it a pet fish fed here in
the
harbor... No time for thought.The fish repeatedly tried to get
under the
docks and it was all I could do to stop it . It did get under one
of
them (thank god the boat wasnt there ) but came out OK. After a
spirited
, but fairly short fight the beast came to shore . During
the fight I
noticed the big , sagging belly the fish towed but had no idea
just how
big this fish was!!!putting it in the sling it was appearent I
had 40 so
some more yelling to the marina owner to witness and photograph (he
was
quite amused by me at this time having watched me for a while!) ,
he and
a client came to help. The fish measured just over 38 inches long
with
an amazing 31 1/2 inch girth and on certified scales, went 43 lb.
8
ounces!!!! Wow , this is a hog!!! And it was odd fish with its
two-toned
coloring and its giant head and tail (15 in. spread!), I was
dumbfounded!
After the pictures and weighing the fish went right back in
and was in
sight for a long time,as I watched her impressed at her. Wow ...what
to
do now???
After 2 or 3 more hours of fishing this
bay , only one more fish
decided to take. At 26 lbs. it was a nice end to the day . The
results
were incredible so no complaining, but I had to work real hard
for the
fish. 6 or 7 hrs. or stalking with just 3 fish to show....LESSON
LEARNED
again about being over confidend (cocky!!!)!
Having to be home the next afternoon and
not thinking I was gonna
be up to the hard work involved in fishing this bay , I decided
to get
on the road at 6am the next morning for home.....But with several
good
lessons learned and memories for a lifetime!!
Scott Osmond,
Lowell, MA
Scott with his 43.5 lb whacker ! a steeply sloping bank can make it difficult to hold the fish,which always seem more slippery with the heavier fish. Here is a natural fed wild female from the U.S. We know there are even bigger out there !