CTFishTalk.com: Connecticut River - Hamburg Cove 03/24 - Connecticut River Reports ( CT River Reports ) - A Community Built for Connecticut Fisherman.

PECo · Joined: 06 Oct 2009 Posts: 5203 Location: Avon, CT

A few of the members from my bass fishing club said they were going to the Open House at Reynold's Marine, which ran from 9:00 am to 4:00 pm on Saturday, so I decided to check it out. However, since Reynold's Marine is on Hamburg Cove, I brought my kayak, El Habañero, and avoided parking congestion by paddling over to it:

The weather was nice. It was mostly sunny with increasing clouds, air temperatures from the mid-30s to the mid-40s and winds out of the north-northwest at seven miles per hour with gusts up to 15 miles per hour; not bad at all.

I launched at 8:50 am and quickly fished my way toward the ramp at Reynold's. I didn't get any action or see any fish in the crystal clear water, despite being able to see down to the bottom at least six feet. When I checked the surface water temperature, it was only 41 degrees, which was lower than it was a couple of weeks ago. On my way over, I spoke with a kayaker and a couple of guys in a small boat who had all launched at 5:00 am. They had found only a couple of yellow perch in the outer cove and were heading over to check out the docks at Cove Marina.

Reynold's was nice, too. I saw the purtiest bass boat I ever did see:

Strangely, there weren't any price tags on any of the boats I saw. I'll just pretend that boat costs $1,000,000 and stop fantasizing about having it.

I also saw the most awesome cartopping setup ever:

I got to catch up with the guys from the club, including bass tracker (aka Greg). I also met, for the second time, apparently, a fisherman named Peter who used to frequent CTFishTalk and I had met on the ramp at Batterson one evening as I was heading out to fish for walleye. Hey, Peter!

There was a decent crowd:

Those guys were waiting to hear a seminar by Jason Christie, who I understand was able to boat only four keepers on Day Three of this year’s Bassmaster Classic and ended up in Third Place, losing to Jordan Lee by only one pound, two ounces:

Ouch!

I'm not much of a fishing spectator, so I left Reynold's just before Jason Christie spoke at 11:00 am and went back to fishing. On my way to the outer cove, the guys fishing the docks at Cove Marina told me they were catching yellow perch, but would swear they saw a few white perch swimming around in the clear, shallow water, too.

I paddled around 3/4 of the outer cove in a counter-clockwise direction. I threw only a white two-inch curlytail grub on a 3/8 ounce ball jighead. That lure will catch anything that swims in cold water, but I didn't get a bite until after 1:00 pm, when I was already more than halfway around the cove and heading back toward the inner cove:

I couldn't get the fish to straighten out for the selfie, but that was because it was The Hunchback of Hamburg Cove. It wouldn't stop thrashing around for a hands-free photo, either:

Speaking of crooked fish, though, it couldn't hold a candle to the boomerang northern pike I caught at Winchester Lake a few years ago:

I love catching fish that are true survivors.

And speaking of northern pike, I was being a lazy-ass and didn't re-tie my jig, even though I was fishing with eight or 10 pound fluoro line. It ended up costing me a photo op, because only 10 minutes later, I felt the bite and set the hook on a little 18 to 20 inch northern pike. It came up on the right side of the kayak, so I had to reach over with my left hand to grab it and ended up lifting its head too high out of the water for the already abraded line to handle. It's funny, though, how it took me several years to catch my first ever Hamburg Cove northern pike and, now, I've run into two there within the last couple of weeks.

I got off the water at 2:50 pm. Strangely, I got only the two bites. I never would have predicted that I wouldn't have gotten any bites from a yellow perch. The weather forecast gives me hope that the water temperature will rise significantly within the next couple of weeks. Unfortunately, I'll be out of town for the first half of April, so it's looking like I'll probably miss the white perch spawn at Hamburg Cove, again. Oh, well, I guess there's always next year.
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PECo · Joined: 06 Oct 2009 Posts: 5203 Location: Avon, CT

Oh, I almost forgot to mention that if you're looking to join a small, laid-back bass fishing club, the club I'm in, Empty Lake Bassmasters, is having its pre-season meeting at noon on Saturday, March 31, in the bar at J. Timothy's in Plainville. We'll catch up and go over the club rules. For more information, check out this post:

http://www.ctfishtalk.com/empty-lake-bassmasters-2018-tournament-trail-updated-t17674.html#.WrevL4jwbb0

If you're unsure whether you really want to join, stop by for a beer and some extra dirty wings, and just say, "Hi!"
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Don't forget to wear sunscreen and don't litter!