Grady95

Sometimes it's easier to catch fishermen than it is to catch fish!

Ha! I just came home from a mushroom foraging trip this morning. We found two Calvatia Gigantea or Giant Puffballs this morning along with a good variety of others including Heracium Americana or Bear's Tooth, Wood Blewits and a real nice specimen of Maitake or Hen of the Woods. Unfortunately, both puffballs today had a bit of yellow in their centers. They were inedible, but where there's one, there are sure to be more. And they do make an interesting alternative to pizza dough. Suggest that after you cut them into steaks, take a rolling pin and roll the steaks out. They cook better, especially with that preparation. Great time of year to be out mushroom hunting.

Bon Appetite! Those look delicious. (even upside down!!)

Mariners have a pet nickname for this boat. They call her "Cinnamon Bun!"

Picked up fish each day Thursday, Friday and Saturday bottom bouncing in some fast current. At about 7:15 AM, on Friday, the glitterboys came flying by at 60+ MPH going from Waddington to probably fish all the way down in the lake. Apparently it's necessary to burn through tankfuls of fuel to catch real fish like real fishermen. Don't even get me started........ Friday afternoon, we could see the trucks with boats on trailers of the ones who didn't make the cut heading out of town. On Saturday morning, here they came again flying past our boat within just yards at 60+. Wonder if these guys even know we routinely throw back smallmouths they would probably win with, fishing within a few miles of where they launch? Anyway, had one interesting thing happen. Brought in a nice 23" fish yesterday morning that had clearly been attacked by something with big teeth. Looked like something came up from underneath and locked onto this guy, leaving fresh rake marks on both of his body toward the tail end of the fish. Makes you wonder what's down there sometimes looking a your presentations. Only one thing in that river I know of that would do this. You can probably guess where I'll be Muskie fishing during the week. BTW: had a nice visit from the CSL Assiniboine early Friday morning. At 730' long and 78' breadth, she's a touch bigger even than The Edmund Fitzgerald! Nice way to start the day. Probably if not the biggest, that one of the biggest ships to sail The River. The size is a function of the lock system. A 730' long boat is the biggest thing that will pass through the locks.

First time this season? I would suggest you pay CAREFUL attention to where you are. They have been sucking all the water out of the river for the past couple weeks. They usually don't really start doing that until September, but they're really drawing it down. Last two weeks we watched levels go down by at least 4-6" and it's continuing. Be really careful around shoals. This is the best time of year to own a prop reconditioning company! The fish are there. Just watch your step!

Ouch! Tough luck. Happened to us. Our homeowners covered having ServePro come in after we got everything pumped out and bring in these huge dehumidifiers to help dry the place out so it would not wind up smelling. Actually worked out pretty well. Best of luck with it.

Obviously the fish don't seem to know whether you have the grip or not!

Well done! Dropped one, picked up one nice one and again, caught a ridiculously huge smallmouth trolling. To end the night, trolled across a shoal, took no hits so reeled everything in to move. There on one of the plugs was a rock bass, no more that 4" long, hooked right in the mouth. The plug was bigger than he was. Never know out here. Beautiful night to be on the water.

Honestly, if I were you, I would take everything I knew about trolling on lake O, put it in a box under the bed and leave it there! There are virtually no similarities between that and walleye fishing on The St Lawrence. I have a big rig too, a well appointed Grady White with all the toys. It's almost useless up here for walleye. I don't even use it. This is about knowing the behavior of the fish and adjusting your techniques to get their attention. I'll be trolling tonight for example. I'll be running in 18-22' but making repeated passes over little humps and shoals that are where these fish come up to from the deep to feed No way are you going to be able to do this with a downrigger or a planer board. Maybe you could adapt using a couple colors of leadcore, but I wouldn't even bother. You would learn SO much from going out even just once with a real St Lawrence River walleye guide. Full disclosure: I am NOT a guide! Not looking to drum up business I promise you. I've tried all day to come up with an answer for you . Other than there is water, tackle and boats, there are no comparisons. This is just totally different. If I could suggest anything, it would be to leave the downriggers off. I can't imaging how long it would take before one snags and snaps your transom off. As you say, "like I do on lake O." This river is very different.

Will probably release any more of these zeppelin size bass. Don't mind the 14" - 17" size, they make decent table fare. Picked up a few more eyes tonight and thank God, no mosquitos. Something hit me right when I ran up my favorite little hump. I think it was maybe a huge walleye but this one could have been a musky. Where I fish, they have always been there. Jimmy Evans used to take his guided trips to this place back when we were kids. Also happens to be a premier general purpose fishery! (as is most of this river) Anyway, he just stayed behind the boat and fought. Could not gain much ground on him so I was trying to be real careful about not losing patience and horsing him in. I usually run about 125-130' out so he was out there a ways. My lines don't ever break on walleyes. After about three minutes, this thing took a big head shake and snap, my line got very easy to reel in. If it was a walleye, I want that plug back! It was the most productive lure I had. Something tells me this was no walleye though. Not this one. Would have been the first musky of the season. He's still out there and I'm not leaving just yet...........

Got literally driven off The River last night by a swarm of mosquitos. Just all of a sudden and seemingly out of nowhere, they descended on my boat and just started having me for dinner. Going back tonight armed with repellant for sure. Before they got me, the eyes started hitting. And along with them, this absolute pig of a bass took my plug trolling. I could not get my hands around this thing. Cleaned it, there were no eggs, just a few partially digested gobies. Look at this hog!

If you are really serious about walleye fishing and want to go with someone who knows what they're doing, Pat is your guide. Probably one of the most capable captains I have ever fished with. You want to learn how to catch walleyes on The St Lawrence? Go with someone that knows what they're doing!

Had a bit of a rookie out last week up on the St Lawrence. Moral of story? Never let a rookie tie off a drift bag! Started my trolling run and away went the bag, no chance of retrieving it. #$@%^ Do you still have this for sale? If so, let's close a deal now. I live in Ontario, NY, area code 14519. What do you need for the sale price plus a shipping charge? Bob

I stopped at the TI Bait Shop a couple weeks ago to fuel up a boat. There were glitterboats all over the parking lot. I asked the kid at the register if there was a tournament this weekend. He rolled his eyes and said "there's a tournament every weekend." I was then out on the water in the area near Singer Castle on the American side about 100 yards off shore. This damn puddlejumper came past me in between me and the shore going probably 50+ MPH. I was under power and making a turn toward the shore and it was only just dumb luck that I didn't choose to accelerate because this moron came at me from my blind side. Had I increased my speed at all, he would have T-Boned me for sure. I'm sorry but I have no love for these people. I don't own a marina or a tackle shop, I don't own a motel, but I've lived here all my life and I have NEVER seen such inconsiderate, in to themselves people on this river as these so called "real fishermen." I thank God that for the most part, they're gone for the rest of the season. I have many friends who own bass boats but they also possess an ethical compass, born of experience up here that we once took for granted. Not any more. I mean really, this son of a **** barely missed me and there was NO room at that speed for him to make any kind of course correction. And I know I'm not the only one this keeps happening to week after week.

Heading up there next week again. Hearing similar reports from some friends. Sounds like you had some better luck steering clear of weeds than I had the previous week. I'll be running deep diving sticks and if needed, bottom bouncers. With them turning on now, might have to spend an extra day or two at the cottage, PM me if you're up that way.

We're seeing surface temps in The River of over 76 degrees. It was 77 the other day out in front of Singer Castle. Sounds like a lot of that hot water from the lake is washing downstream and staying up top. It's also incredibly weedy on the surface. Really hard to troll. Is it weedy down there as well? Grady