Salmon Cove

Josh and I made it an early day meeting at 3:30am and heading down to the Boat launch at Haddam Meadows. Figured we'd keep the option to fish the island slightly north in the river, if we had the time. We knew it was going to rain today and wanted to get as much dry fishing in as we could. We were on the water by 4:45am, and buzzed over to Salmon Cove, fishing the East bank of the river on the way. Water was calm and temperature was very comfortable. I alternated a 6" white swimbait and a light colored spinner bait. We spotted several fish on the equipment, but no hits.

It was getting light and we noticed a couple boats head on into the cove so we decided to skip the mouth of the cove and hit it on the way out later. Heading strait to the back of the cove we worked the northeast side from more than half way back, towards the back of the cove.


Although we mark several fish here and there, nothing was jumping out at us so we worked some nice lay downs and structure off the bank. We both we throwing primarily spinner baits but mixed in a couple other baits such as a top water popper and a shallow diving crank bait. Josh pulled in a LMB and a Perch, both on spinner baits being reeled in slow and steady. Both caught about 8:00am. I had a few taps here and there but nothing in the boat.
Here is a picture of what I brought in today. Hey at least the rain held off. Always stay positive.

So it was about 9:30 am and we figured we'd check out the mouth of the Cove to see if there may be any striper lurking in the deeper water. Here is the part of the day the tought us a valuable lesson. No matter how well you know your equipment and how confident you are in everything that you have put it through, things happen. So in the 14' boat we've taken out constantly and which Josh has fished out of for 20+ years, we were cruising up the cove when we noticed the boat was riding a bit low. Well suffice to say images of the Titanic crossed my mind. Well luckily we were in relatively shallow water and were able to drag the boat to shore. We bailed out as much as we could and with no motor and using long poles, we methodically moved along the shore to the boat launch (not the one we parked at), oh and it rained, it actually poured. A quick 4 hours later we were safe and sound. Special Thanks to Josh's wife Sarah for the save, again.

So again we spotted fish and they weren't biting easily. With other recent trips it seemed that we got bites in short bursts, or a small time span. Anyways, we learned some lessons, caught some fish and it didn't rain, at least while we fished. Good day, always stay positive.

Salmon River Cove - 4/30/2011

Launched from Haddam Meadows at 4:30. River was high, cloudy & moving quick. Water temp was 48.  The air was 50 degrees & calm. Drifted through the flats in 8-10' of water for 30 minutes while casting a purple & block 7" bomber and dragging a sandworm aling the bottom. I was looking for stripers, but saw no signs of life.

Headed down to the Salmon River Cove & continued upstream until I ran out of navigable waters.Water was 60 degrees & crystal clear inside the cove.

 I was hoping to find alewife & the stripers that eat them, but saw no signs of either of them. Drifted downstream for about 2 hours watching catfish hit the top of the water then dive down & stir up the bottom. Several smaller bass were hitting the top of the water too. First fish caught was a LMB that hit a 5" segmented swimmer in a silver/white shad color. He was suspended in 10' of water at a rock outcropping along the bank. He threw the hook at the boat, but looked to be about 2lbs.

Found a 20' deep channel at a tight bottleneck in the river. Marked several big fish on the bottom, most likely cats. I didnt have any catfish bait, so I drifted a couple sandworms through them and got no reaction. Found a nice shallow grassy ledge adjacent to the channel and stirred up 2 nice sized bass. They both missed the spinnerbait I was throwing in the vegetation, but they made a lot of noise and it was nice to see that. I'll come back to this spot for sure. The potential for big fish was certainly there. About 8:00 am the 2nd LMB of the day hit my spinner bait in a narrow channel of a small tributary that dumps into the main cove. He was in wooded cover along the bank in about 5' of water. Similiar in size to the one that jumped off earlier.

I anchored up and fished this spot for another hour, because it looked so good. I was slow rolling my spinnerbait up the middle of the channel when I felt a tap, then another, then another. Looking down, I could just make out the nose of a nice sized pike following the bait and nipping at it. I paused just beneath the boat and he hit it hard. I tried to give him line to tire himself out with, but because he was at the boat and there was only 6' of line between us, he made 1 turn up at the top of the water , then headed straight under the boat where he threw the hook. It was a nice fish, no less than 28" and he would have made my day. Oh well. I fished this channel for another 30 minutes hoping he'd would come back for more, but no such luck. This marked the end of the day for me, but it was well worth it. Salmon Cove is definitely a solid spot. I'll be back soon...