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...