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| This spring/summer when what temps get way hot I am going to spend some time fishing a medium sized river in central NY (seneca river for anyone who may know what I am talking about) Its a part of the erie canal system/a couple other river systems. For the most part the water is pretty stained and it is just a dredged out 20ft canal with some back bays and bridges here and there with your typical lumber along the banks. They stock it pretty heavily with tigers but they are always on the move so finding them can likely be a bit difficult but want to spend some time out there and see if I can figure it out. I see some videos on here of guys fishing pures in river systems that resemble the one I will be fishing and wanted some input on how you guys fish these systems? |
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Posts: 1425
Location: St. Lawrence River | fan cast the shore line. throw double 8 bucktails and spinnerbaits maybe some smaller gliders (6in softtail phantoms). throw propbaits at low light situations and after dark. youd be surprised what kind of muskies the small rivers can offer. |
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Location: Yahara River Chain | I have relatives that lives there and visit often. My cousin takes me fishing the canal around the Rome area. Gotten my share of pike and pickerel as well as smallies and largemouth. I have not seen a tiger there, but my cousin has caught a under sized one. I did get a kick out of my cousin when I 1st fished with him and dug out a small perch bobbie. He told me "that sh#t is too big here". I asked, you have pike, right, he said yeah. and on the 1st cast get get a 30 inch pike. I got 2 more that night and a 24 in walleye the next night. Good luck. Not sure if I will be heading that way in 2012 for the family reunion |
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| small world! yeah I know they stock it heavily in baldwinsville (more towards syracuse, east of rome) and some real nice mid 20# fish have been caught on accident by bass fisherman so its not heavily pressured for them. Most NY anglers consider a 6" lure to be "shark bait" haha |
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Location: St. Lawrence River | lol maybe down your way! i never met a saint laurent fisherman who thought a 6 inch bait was too big haha. |
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Posts: 984
| Haha I'm talking finger lakes region definitely not up there |
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Location: Northern IL | Ronix - 12/12/2011 10:56 AM
I see some videos on here of guys fishing pures in river systems that resemble the one I will be fishing and wanted some input on how you guys fish these systems?
Just curious what is it that "resembles" your river? |
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Posts: 1425
Location: St. Lawrence River | otisco decent in the summer? i hear of a few guys up here that go down to ice fish it |
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| jerryb I was just browsing some of the videos on here and there are some of guys fishing river systems that remind me a lot of the seneca in terms of size, water clarity, etc.
Jake, ive been to otisco once for ice fishing (zippo, but some guys got a nice 42" fatty) and once in the spring with a 31" dink to show for the efforts. There are big ones in there but I think they mostly chase around pelagic bait over open water so I may have to alter my methods the next time I give it a go |
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Posts: 984
| jake- you ever travel down here to do any fishing? there are a few decent waters for both pures and tigers |
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Location: St. Lawrence River | no i never have. i stick to the 3 or 4 systems up here that offer muskies. my brother and i would be willing to make a trip this summer to try new water. |
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Location: St. Lawrence River | the small river you originally described is similar to several small rivers we have up here. they can be a time waster, but sometimes are a hidden gem. the musky in my avatar came from a small river, could throw a rock across it, and no more than 8 feet deep. another guy that fishes the river with us got a 53" last summer on the same river. |
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| are you talking about the grasse? thats a nice fish its gotta be a nice change getting them from such a smaller body of water than the larry! the seneca river is a bit bigger, almost reminds me of the erie canal with its width and depth...pretty much a 20 ft dredge out basin but it does have some back bays, smaller islands in the wider parts, bridges, lake inlets (it runs from seneca lake and connects to cayuga lake, cross lake, onondaga lake and then dumps into the oswego/oneida/erie canal rivers which connect to oneida and lake ontario-tigers have a lot of places to go!) They've been caught by bass guys and a lot between 20-30 lbs so im intrigued to try and figure something out with that system |
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Location: St. Lawrence River | yeah the grasse. but also the st. regis, and the deer river. |
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Location: St. Lawrence River | ever try night fishing it for muskies? |
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Location: Northern IL | I've never been to your river but at the risk of sounding cocky, I can already tell you where the fish are. Wish I came up with this, ha ha... They're in the shallows,,,, they're in the deep water,,,, or they're somewhere in-between. Smart ass right?
The problem most of us have is we think we can tell where the fish are by looking at the shoreline. However the truth is the shoreline only tells us what "we" can see not what the fish see. I'll give you that a break such as a laydown, a weedline or some type of cover may hold fish for a longer period, however there must be bottom features the fish can follow to get them to the cover, other wise every tree in the water at some point or another would hold fish.
The shoreline terrain on the other hand often times gives us many clues of what might extend out into the water, such as a "wash" or a "feeder creek". If your river is as you describe "pretty much a 20 ft dredge out basin" then it should be quite easy to find a few spots. If it's dredged or if it's not there should be a drop off and you need to fish, (troll) that edge and once you find "something that leads from the deep to the shallows you have a potential spot. The farther the spot "bar, hard clean" extends out into the deep water the better. This is just one and the most common type of possible 17 structure situations that exist but as I said it's the most common and we don't have all day. You need to find something "different".
One more, you said there's bridges, ok then you probably have rip rap, go to where the main channel cuts through. Keep in mind often times channels are diverted when the construction of the bridge took place.
Your observation of the water color being stained, is a good one. Stained meaning after an algae bloom (yellow green) has a couple of benefits, It allows the fish to move to a shallower depth vs. a clearer body of water also the fish will be a bit more catchable in a bad weather condition, (post frontal).
Best of luck! |
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