1000 Islands NY Fishing Report

[Gerry Zagorski]

Just got back on Sunday from a 4 day trip up to the 1000 Islands. For those of you not familiar with the area, it's 100 miles north of Syracuse on the Canadian border where Lake Ontario forms a delta that feeds into the St Lawrence River. The delta is dotted with over 1000 Islands and the water is crystal clear because of Zebra muscles. Easily 50 foot visibility.

Our group of 7 met up first thing Wednesday morning 5/23, loaded up the boats with all our provisions and ran over to the 100 year old home we rented on Grindstone Island that serves as our base of operations. Nice place with a big kitchen, old soft beds and a wrap around porch on the St Lawrence River with a view that is fitting of a post card.

Once we got settled in we split up on the boats and started fishing. Your are not allowed to fish for Smallies this time of year in the Great Lakes areas, but as many of you know, the St Lawrence is practically polluted with them and you can't avoid them while fishing for Pike.

Best trip we had for the 27 years we've been going up. The weather was perfect and the fishing was lights out every day. Pike, Smallies, a few Large Mouth and even a Gar all carefully released. Most fish caught on Panther Martin spinners, a few on Meps and in one of the back bays the guys had a blast one late afternoon throwing surface baits like Hula Poppers. I saw a Musky swim by that was the size of my leg :eek:

Ate, drank, fished and laughed too much. A great way to get away from it all and spend some quality time with great friends.

[Wilson]

I'll be heading to Alexandria Bay in a couple of weeks. Glad to hear the PM's where working, cause I have a ton of them:)
Was there any special pattern (gold- silver) that was better then others?

[bunker dunker]

Glad Ya Had A Great Trip.gotta Love Those Smallies.

[kcritch]

Way Jealous....Looks like an awesome trip.

Thanks for sharing.

[AndyS]

Nice !!

[Art Berkman]

Good Stuff !!!

[Lard Almighty]

Sounds like you had a great time. I've been meaning to look into fishing the 1000 Islands myself.

Love that last pic. Redneck tour bus! :D

[Gerry Zagorski]

Wilson the Panther Martin spinner with a gold blade, black body with yellow dots size 9 is the ticket. The only lure you'll need. Reel it just slow enough to keep it off the bottom and you'll be all smiles all day.

If you want more specifics pm me your phone number and we can talk.

[Gerry Zagorski]

Lard that redneck tour bus was awesome. The guy Herb who rented us the house offered us a narrated tour of the island and since its an island and you need to bring things over on a barge, things on the island lets just say are used way past their normal life expectancy :)

Any way, the island is steep in history hand very colorful people. Only 7 year round residents on the island and Herb introduced us to them all and narrated the whole way. Very cool and a real treat.

[iceehot6766]

Sounds like a great trip......I need to get up there w/ the wife for a 3 day weekend to relax from work and fish this summer.....thanks for the report

[joeya78]

Great place it's what I would call "Freshwater God's Country". It's amazing, the fishing and scenery up there. congrats on a good trip

[Wilson]

Wilson the Panther Martin spinner with a gold blade, black body with yellow dots size 9 is the ticket. The only lure you'll need. Reel it just slow enough to keep it off the bottom and you'll be all smiles all day.

If you want more specifics pm me your phone number and we can talk.

Nuff said, that's my favorite one to use as well. I think I have about 2 dozen of that style in my box.

[Gerry Zagorski]

That's the one Wilson!! For those interested here is the Panther Martin we've been using pretty much exclusively up in the 1000 Islands. We've caught everything from Smallies, Largemouth Pike and Muskies on it. We use number 9s for the weight and longer casts.

We were up several years ago and were having a tough time fishing. Threw eveything in the tackle box we had at them and couldn't buy a fish. Out of frustration, I went to the bait store looking for something different. I saw a guy pick one up so I decided to give it a try.

I get back on the fishing grounds and start hammering the fish while the rest of the guys were doing nothing. Needless to say they took notice, immediately raced eachother to 3 different tackle stores in the area causing a Panther Martin shortage :D

Very important to use low vis line up there too since the water is so clear. I used the 8 lb Berkley Vanish Floro in the Blue Box up there this past time and was pleased with it.

PS - I don't do a lot of fresh water fishing in NJ but have used this at my buddies place in Lake Hopatcong with good success on Smallies and the stockie trout too.

[Gerry Zagorski]

Ice - Summer fishing is a totally different ball game up there. In the spring we are rarley fishing in more then 5 to 15 feet of water in the shallow bays.

Once the water warms up the fish leave the bays, go deep and tend to stack up on 20 to 30 foot rocky shoals that are surrounded by deeper water. Best way I have found to fish them is slow drifting worms and crayfish off the bottom.

Important to have a fish finder in the summer in order to mark/locate the suspended Smallies. If you zero in on them they will be stacked up like chord wood and its not uncommon to catch 20 plus fish in an hour or 2.

Wilson - if you get tired of Smallie fishing the best place for Large Mouth in the A Bay area is Lake of the Isles. Not sure if your are bringing or renting a boat but it's practically a must up there. There is a place in A Bay Obrein's that rents them but just be aware that like a lot of things in the 1000 Islands, these boats aren't in the best of shape :)

[FASTEDDIE29]

AWESOME report. Great pics. Its beautiful up there, GODS COUNTRY!!!