Carp Fishing On The St Lawrence River, USA

The Following is a day by day account of a week long fishing trip on the St Lawrence River near Massena, in New York State, USA. In Late July 1998

Thursday 23rd July, 1998
I arrived at Heathrow airport, early, and checked my luggage in at 10.00 am. I was full of expectation of the adventure ahead, but new little of the angling venue I was visiting. A conversation with Martin Founds from Angler's World Holidays, had revealed that the St Lawrence River held enormous shoals of fish and some of the carp were VERY big. A reasonable target fish was a thirty pounder, but the vast majority of the fish were into double figures. Martin told me that if I worked hard a thirty or forty pounder was a definite possibility. Apart from that I could expect a lot of fish!!!

I briefly met one of the guys on our trip while checking in my luggage, (someone called Bob), who had been to the St Lawrence before, and I met everyone else while collecting luggage at Montreal. The flight was seven hours (with Air Canada). We departed Heathrow at just after 1.00 pm, and flew north over the UK, and then west over the Atlantic Ocean, to arrive at Montreal in Canada, at 3.15pm US time.

After passing through passport control, I introduce myself to the five other members of the party. As it turned out all but one had been to the St Lawrence River before, and Bob (who I met at Heathrow Airport) had been twice before. All the others were at the venue for two weeks, and I was the only one there for one week. We then met our host and carp angling guide Bernie Haines, who was waiting for us just outside the entrance to the terminal building. Bernie Haines turned out to be English, but had lived in the States for twenty years. He was an intruiging character, with an in depth knowledge of the St Lawrence River in the Massena area. He revealed that the river had been fishing superbly recently, and the biggest fish so far this season was a huge fifty pounder!!

We loaded up Bernies' 4x4 with our luggage, and drove through Canada, towards the US border. The weather was overcast, and humid, and in the mid 70,s Fahrenheit. As we approached the border, the heavens opened, and it chucked it down with rain. We drove over the St Lawrence River, and stopped at the US passport control office, to fill in forms and get our visas. The rain stopped and we drove on to buy fishing licenses and beer.

We arrived at the Golden Salmon Ranch late in the afternoon, and Bernies' wife Aileen introduced herself to us. We drank beers and talked about the wonderful fishing ahead of us, and then had an evening meal, and went to bed early, in order to catch up on sleep.

Friday 24th July 1998
I was awake and up at 6.00 am, ready for a 6.30 am breakfast. Which was a good old fashioned fried english breakfast! At 7.30am we all started sorting out our gear for our first carp session on the St Lawrence River. I was told by Anglers World Holidays that I did’nt need to take any gear with me, and this prooved to be the case as Bernie had some of the best carp angling gear money could buy. Basicly if there was any gear I needed I just had to ask!

Bernie kitted me out with a pair of Armalite 12ft 3lb test curve rods, and shimano reels. A rod holdall full of bits and pieces, rucksack, 2 Delkim alarms, a Fox chair and a box full of terminal stuff, gave me everything I needed. In addition to this I brought some of my own gear including terminal tackle, and carp sacks, and a rod for spodding out maize. We loaded all the gear onto the boat, at the back of the 4x4, and we were soon driving through Massena Village towards the marina on the St Lawrence River.

After talking to the other guys regarding rigs and tactics, it soon became obvious that sophisticated terminal rigs were not necessary here. I was advised to use a size 2 hook and attach several grains of maize to the hook via a hair. I was also told that fixed leads were not necessary, and running leads were just as good. In fact Bernie advised us all to use running leads, as he believed that semi fixed rigs were detrimental to the welfare of the fish. The most critical factor was the use of a Spiderwire/Quicksilver shock leader, to avoid being cut off on the numerous large rocks/and zebra mussels, which were commonplace on the river bed. So a twenty to thirty yard shock leader was the order of the day.

After much thought, the rig I elected to use was a basic in line lead rig as (Fig 1 below).This incorporated a large size two hook, a 12” Silkworm hooklink, an inline lead and 14” of 1mm diameter black rig tube. The in-line lead and 1mm stiff rig tube, were used to eliminate tangles, but the inline lead was used (unfixed) to avoid tethering lost fish. The critical factor with this set up was that the inline lead and the rig tube passed freely through the mainline, and that the knot connecting the Spiderwire shockleader to the main line was small enough too pass through the rig tube and lead, so that should a cut off occur the fish will be able to free itself, and will not be tethered to the lead.

By 8.30 am we were travelling by boat along the huge St Lawrence River. There was water for as far as the eye could see, and large sea gowing vessels could be seen traveling along the centre channel! We travelled to a large island near Massena, and myself and Mark decide to fish a large eddy which Bernie reckoned was a good swim.
The weather was cloudy with some sunshine, and the wind was North Westerly and fresh. From the boat we scattered several handfulls of maize, at the thirty yard mark, just where the slow water met the fast water, forming a crease. I fished one right hand rod at the thirty yard mark, and one rod to my left at the marginal shelf. The swim we were in looked very very promising, but no fish were topping anywhere. Even so, we waited expecting a run any minute!

After thirty minutes I had a screaming run on my left hand rod, and the  Armlite bent over into a deep curve, as the fish held its own in the deep marginal water. I leaned into the fish, and felt the line grating, on the large rocks on the river bed. Within a few minutes I caught a glimpse of a beautiful golden common carp, which swirled on the surface before diving down once again into the labyrinth of rocks which existed below the surface. Within a few minutes the fish wallowed on the surface, and Bernie was by my side ready to land my first St Lawrence common carp! On the scales the fish weighed 23lb 4oz.

Despite the immediete action, overall, throughout the day the fish were not willing to feed. By 6.00pm I had caught three fish (the other two being single figures).

It appeared that the fresh cold north westerly wind had driven the fish into deeper water, and the only action we could get was the occasional aborted run at the thirty yard mark, in 40 + feet of water.

At 6.00pm we packed up and went straight to a local pub called the Casablanca, for a few beers and to discuss the fishing. It turned out that my 23 pounder was the best fish of the day, so I had to buy drinks for everyone!

Saturday 25th July 1998
I was awake by 6.00am, and having breakfast at 6.30am. After discussing tactics for the day, Mark and myself decided to fish the eddy again in the hope that the feed that we put in the day before, had pulled the fish into our area. Also Bernie reckoned that because the weather forcast for the day was warm the fish would be feeding there!! We drove through Massena Village and onwards to the marina. From there we travelled by boat accross the huge expanse of water that is the St Laurence Valley. The sun was rising, a deep golden orange, and the water was flat calm. We arrived at the eddy to see fish topping everywhere. I new we were going to catch today!

We baited up, and set our gear up with excited anticipation. I cast a rig with hair rigged maize (plus 20 grains of maize tied to the rig via pva string), out to the thirty yard mark where I was fishing the day before. I then prepared to cast out the second rod over to my left. The bait I cast out was picked up immedietly, and my delkim buzzer screamed into life, and a powerful St Laurence carp headed out to the main flow of the river. After a short spirited fight a small common is in the net.

For the next four hours I have non stop action. All the fish being about 8-12lb in weight. In complete contrast, Mark sits next to me with motionless indicators, and for some reason the fish ignored his baits. After perhaps an hour of watching me haul in fish after fish, he finally hooks into a fish himself, of around 8lb, and shortly afterwards at 10.00am he hooks into a real big fish which turns out to be a lovely common weighing 28lbs. By 5.00 pm I finish up with 17 fish in total, the biggest weighing only eighteen pounds. The action was non stop throughout the day, and I could undoubtably have caught more if I had been more organised. The weather was warm throughout the day with a fresh warm north westerly wind blowing directly into our bank. This undoubtedly was the significant factor as to why the fish had been feeding throughout the day.

I was soon to learn that these American carp like warm weather, in fact the warmer the water, the more the fish feed. In many ways there behaviour was very different to the carp I was used to catching in the UK.

As we cruised by boat back toward the marina at Massena, I talked with the other anglers obout what they had caught throughout the day. I became aware that I caught a lot more fish than anyone else, but the average size was much smaller. The fish caught by other members of the group included a 33 pounder, a 29, and a 28, and a 24 pounder, and one person had blanked! In complete contrast to this, although I had cought far more fish than everyone else, my biggest of the day was only 18lb. Also an interesting point was that Mark who was fishing next to me caught only three fish all day (but his biggest was 28lb).

We headed back to the Casablanca for some beers, and I pondered over the situation. Bernie explained that he thinks I should move, and he recommended that I try another area, where he had been prebaiting. He also told me that while he was snorkling in this new area throughout the day he saw many many fish (mainly double figure), but amongst all the fish there were three or four very big fish , around the 30-40lb mark.

So I decide to fish this new area in the morning. We head back to the Golden Salmon Ranch at 10.30pm for dinner, and at 11.00pm I go to bed for some much earned sleep.

Sunday 26th July 1998
Awake at 6.00am, and I decide to make some rigs up for the mornings fishing. My plan is to fish the new area that Bernie recommended in the pub yesterday. We arrived at the new area by boat at 8.00am, and the weather was very warm and flat calm. The new area was also fringed by thick woodland with tall pine trees. The new swim was obviously a lot shallower than the area we fished yesterday, and a good cast was required (70-80 yards) to reach the productive area. There was thick weed in the margins, up to about 50 yards out. So a 70+ yard cast was critical in order to present a bait in a weed free area. I grabbed my gear from the boat, and Mark decided to join me again, and we carried all our gear around to a peninsula. We had put some more bait in from the boat in a long line about 80 yards out, and Mark put his two baits on the left of the line of feed, and I put my two baits on the right. In addition to this I introduced some further feed via a spod, in my area, in an attempt to further concentrate the fish that were already there.

After casting out ten spods full of maize into a 4 foot square area, I carefully cast out my left hand rod, and then began to place it in the rod rest. Before I could do this, the rod was almost ripped from my grasp as a powerful carp immedietly picked up my baited hook. (The bait had literally been in the water for four or five seconds), and I was amazed that I was into a fish so quickly. The fish turned out to be a small common of 8lb. But it was obvious that there were many many fish out there feeding on the bait. For the next 2 hours I have non stop hectic action, as carp after carp is played to my waiting landing net.

Strangely, Mark has very little action even though he is fishing 10 yards to my left. Although I was catching lots of carp, the average size again was rather small, with the size being in the 8lb - 12lb range. By early afternoon, I decide to cut down on the feed, in the hope that the shoals of small fish will move on giving me a better chance of landing a big one. I continued to catch after cutting down on the feed, but the number of runs drastically diminished. By 6.30 pm we pack up to go down the pub. I finish up with 13 fish, the biggest being just 12lb’s.
There was obviously a lot of carp in front of us in this new area, and I came to the conclusion, that the more feed I put in the more fish I would catch. But again, overall the average size was small, in fact even smaller than yesterday. It was also obvious that if I had continued to feed the carp at the rate that I was, I would have caught many more than I did. But somehow this was not important, as I had caught enough quantity of fish to satisfy me.

However, my main priority by now was to catch a big fish, and as I now had only three days left, this was my biggest priority. Although I was catching more fish than the other men in the group, most of them had all caught a reasonably big fish (25 - 30lb). However, I was confident that I would put this right within the remaining three days.

Monday 27th July 1998
This was my fourth full days fishing, and we were moving to a completely different part of the river. The area in question was the Massena dam, and we would be in the area just uptream of the dam itself. All the guys in our group who had fished the St Lawrence previously were looking forward to fishing this part of the river, as apparently, absolutely loads of fish were living in residence in this area!

After a short drive out of town we arrive just ustream of the dam, and we launch the boat, and motor over to the far bank of the river, which is surprisingly narrow here, at about 400 to 500 yards wide. As we approach there are signs of fish everywhere. Every second a fish crashes somewhere within our vicinity, and it is obvious that there are many many fish in this area.

Everyone in the group had definite ideas about where they wanted to fish, and I settled into one of the remaining swims available, which had to be one of the most cramped, uncomfortable swims I had ever fished in my life! The area we were in was very steep sided, with electricity lines towering overhead. Littered in the margins and in sorrounding large rocks were the remains of old cabling that had previously fallen in to the river, from the electricity pylons ahead.

This area of the river was obviously littered with snags! Not only was there electrical cabling on the river bed to contend with there were also apparently many huge bolders in the deep water, which were covered in Zebra mussels. It was obvious that it would be a challenge getting a fish out of here!

I perched my chair on rocky uneaven ground in about 6" of marginal water, and my rod holdall, and rucksack, was hung on a large bank stick, which had been hammered into the steep marginal wall. I had introduced some maize into the area, from the boat, and I also decided to introduce some more from the bank with a catapult. The left hand rod was cast out about 30 yards out, and the right hand rod was fished 15 yards out in the margins, straight in front of me.

There were fish topping everywhere, and at this stage I was expecting a take at any moment! However after 30 minutes I was still awaiting some action, and there was still fish crashing everywhere in font of my area. I drifted to sleep, in the warm sunshine, for what seemed about an hour, and then woke up and decided to recast. As I stood up the left hand rod screamed off! I picked the rod up and bent into a very powerful fish which headed off like a steam train towards the Canadian border! The power of this fish was increadible. I had been warned previously of the fighting abilitys of Canadian river carp, but nothing had prepared me for this! The Carp stripped off about 50 yards of line in seconds, and kited very quickly to my right, throwing me off balance. The fight then reached stalemate, when the fish found a weed bed, somewhere in the margins, far over to my right. I was convinced I was connected to a good fish, and I managed to ease the carp out of the weed, by applying steady pressure, and within a few minutes the fish was lying in the bottom of my landing net. On the scales the carp only weighed 18 lb. I was amazed, as it seemed much bigger when I was playing it!

I recast my left hand rod and awaited some further action. 10 or 15 minutes later, the left hand rod was away again, and the power of this fish was even more awesome! I hooked the fish over to my left, and it immedietly swam very quickly over to my right. It was 70 yards over, in that direction, within what seemed seconds, and the tightly set clutch on my reel was screaming into life! I just stood, hanging on for a few seconds, and then the line cut off on the rocks, and I wound in minus the rig, and I got that sinking feeling that all big fish anglers know when they lose a fish.

Whilst re-tying a new rig, the other rod screamed off, and I decided to play this fish a bit more gently, to avoid any more cut offs. But the fish found some rocks deep down on the bottom, and my line had cut through again!

At 2.00pm I finally got another take and a spirited fight finally ended in a 14lb fish on the bank. After this the area went very quite, and the wind picked up considerably, followed by cloud, and light rain. I decided at this stage to introduce the remaining maize within my bucket, in the hope of pulling in any remaining fish within the vicinity, and also with a view of attracting fish in the area for my session here the next day. There is no action for the next two hours, apart from a few buzzards flying overhead, and we pack up at 6.00pm to go down the pub.

Later I found out what everyone else had caught, and it became apparent that they had all faired much better than me, and the best fish caught was a common carp of 29lb. It was obvious that I had had a lot of fish in front of me, but I had failed to get many chances. I found myself pondering over the fish I had lost. One of them was almost certainly a big one! I decided that I would fish the same swim again the next day, but I would change my rigs slightly, and use three grains of maize, popped up with rig foam, rather than the six grains of corn, hard on the bottom, as I had been using during this session. The rig set up was as per (Fig 2) below.

This rig change plus the additional bait that I had introduced would hopefully bring the fish on the feed, and tomorrow, I decided would be my day!

Teusday 28th July 1998
We all returned to that same area upstream of the dam, and we were all full of expectation of the day ahead! Unfortunatly I had forgotten to bring my camera, and I had left it back at the house. But Bernie offered to take some pictures with his camera should I get amongst the fish. I was definitley more hopeful that the carp would be more onto the bait today, and I scatterd maize in and around my swim, as we approached it from the boat. I loaded my gear onto dry land, and got all my gear set up.

I found that one of my rods still had six grains of maize attached from the previous day, so I quickly lobbed this out whilst I set up the other rod with a pop up rig. Whilst I am sorting out the pop up rig on the other rod, the first rod goes screaming off, and the fish heads for the middle of the river, with immense power and speed. Unfortunatly the bloody thing cuts me on the rocks, and again, I find myself winding in minus a rig on my rod! I was now begining to wonder how to go about getting a fish out of this area, and my success rate seemed to be about 50/50 in terms of fish caught and fish lost!

I recast the rod with the pop up rig, and within a minute I get a take, and this time I make no mistake, and I land a fish weighing 13lb 12oz. Over the next hour I am unable to cast my second rod out due to non stop action from my baited area, and I soon land fish of 14lb and 12lb in succession.

The next fish I hook feels like a good one , and takes about 70 to 80 yards of line from my reel, as it heads out towards the middle of the river. I decide to just let it go, this time, and it soon slowed down, way out in the deep water, and I pumped it up quickly towards the surface, away from those dreaded mussel covered rocks. After a few more minutes a nice carp was landed, and the scales gave me 22lb 8oz.

I continued to catch fish for the next few hours, including a fish of 20lb 4oz, and a small seven pounder, and I was now beginning to get the hang of avoiding cut offs on the rocks. The best technique seemed to be, if the fish went straight out towards the middle, let it go on a loose clutch, and when it is out in the deep water, 80 to 100 yards out, just pump it to the surface, away from the bolders and snags on the bottom. You then play it to the net in the upper layers of the river, well away from the snaggy areas.

At 4.00pm I got yet another run, and when I hit into it, the fish headed straight out towards the middle, as I hoped it would. I let the fish go on a loose clutch, and when it reached the middle, it slowly cruised up to the top. At this stage Bernie Haines arrives in his boat, and motors up to the fish on the end of my line. "Can you see the fish", I shouted, as I was playing the carp. "Yes, its a good twenty", he shouted in reply! I finally net the fish, which turns out to be a nice common of 26lb 6oz. I catch one more fish of 13lb 8oz, and lose another good fish when the hook pulled out.

Wednesday 29th July 1998
We all set off for a full days fishing at 7.30 am, after breakfast, and again we were driving towards the dam at Massena, in Bernies 4x4. This was my last days fishing, and my last chance to catch a big fish, as on Thursday I would be flying back to the UK. I decide that I would be going to fish the same swim as the previous day, which produced eight fish up to 26lb 6oz. Also I was confident that the fish would be well on the feed, as they were the previous day. I settled into the swim, and cast both rods out at around 9.00am. 11 am soon arrived, and I still had'nt had a take. I noticed that the fish were not jumping, as they were on previous days, and at this stage I was wondering if I was going to do a blank!

At 2.00pm, I finally got a run, but my hook link cuts on the rocks. Then immedietly, I got a take on the other rod, and this fish kited very quickly to my left hand margin. As I apply heavy pressure the hook pulls out of the fish, and onother carp is lost!

About half an hour later I get another screaming run, and the fish goes on a 100 yard dash, to my left, and goes past Roy's swim, and towards where Bob is fishing. At this stage I was very worried that the fish might cross another anglers line. But suddenly the carp decides to move out into deeper water, and I begin to believe that this fish is as good as mine. I had survived the worst, and this fish felt very heavy!

I played the fish to within 10 yards of the bank, just slightly to my left. I was concerned that the fish might cross the line on my second rod, so I decided to lean over, and lift the rod off of the rest, and sink the rod tip well below the waters surface. AS I did this the carp got another lease of life and went on another run along the margins. I leaned heavily into the fish, and tried desperatly to pull it up to the surface. But the fish finds some ironwork down in the margins, and the fish was lost! I cursed out loud, and threw the rod down in disgust. These St Lawrence carp just never no when to give up! I was gutted as I had just lost a big common carp, and I had now lost three fish on the trot!

I re-cast my rod, and at this stage I also decided to wind in the other rod to recast it as well. I picked the rod up, disengaged the baitrunner mechanism on the reel, and then, Whack! My rod hoops over, as a fish picks up the bait just before I am about to reel it in. The fish shoots off to my right, but strangely doesnt seem to do much. I applied side strain and eased the fish towards me and for the next few minutes it just waddles around in the margins at my feet, and I could see it was a fish of about 20lb. I finally get it in the net. My first St Lawrence common which did'nt fight much! A rare occurence indeed. On the scales I get 19lb 14oz, but the fish looked about 23-24lb! With relief, I celebrated my first fish of the day, and I could now forget about the three previously lost fish.

All the action so far had been on the left hand rod cast at the 30 yard mark. I had been feeding maize in to the right hand margin all day, but no action had occured to this margin rod so far. I new that there was plenty of bait out there in both areas. "Are the fish starting to switch on"? I said to myself, with a smile. Over the next 30 minutes I get two more fish of 17lb and 16lb, and I decide to spod more bait out to the margin area and the 30 yard area as well. By 4.00pm, the wind drops right down, and I get the first run of the day on my right hand margin rod!

The fish heads out towards my left, and then out towards the middle of the river, and feels very heavy. The carp finally stops somewhere out in the middle of the river, and at this stage I begin to feel I am in control. At this stage my left hand rod goes screaming off. I cursed under my breath, "damn it thats all I need", I said quietly to myself. I now had a big problem. I was playing what I considered to be a big carp, and I now had a take just when I did'nt need it!

I decide to concentrate on the fish I am playing, but at the same time, keep an eye on the rapidly decreasing spool, on the rod in the rod rest! I ease the fish towards the margins, and catch a glimps of it as it kites towards a bush in the margins, and it looks like a good one. It was now becoming increasingly obvious that I needed to get this fish in the net very quickly, or get spooled off on the other rod and get the rod pulled in. To cut a long story short, I finally land a really nice 27lb 3oz common, and I lose the other fish which cuts me on the rocks. Bernie Haines turned up at 6.00pm to take some nice photos of my biggest fish of the trip, and in what seemed no time at all my carp fishing holiday in the St lawrence valley was over.

The St Lawrence River is a great venue for catching lots and lots of common carp, and the action at times can be non stop. The fighting qualities of these Canadian fish has to be seen to be believed, and they literally never give up. This was my first trip to the St lawrence valley, and although the overall average size of the fish I caught was quite small, ther is undoubtably much larger fish to be caught.

In August 1998 I made a return trip to the mighty St Lawrence river, and I really got amongst these hard fighting common carp, and I caught 75 fish up to 32lb 8oz.