Thousand Islands Angling – July 4 to July 11
I took my Tribalance kayak to the Eel Bay /Wellesley Island Region of the Thousand Islands in early July and enjoyed a pleasant week of fishing and family time. Many days I fished 3-4 hours, exploring various flats, rocky points, drop offs, weed lines, tiny rock islands and other visible structure. . Windy conditions and rain made sight fishing difficult, but most nights I was treated to a superb sunset
I fished w/ an 8wt intermediate clear line and a 7 wt floater. During the trip I landed 7 pike up to 28″, several dozen smallmouth up to 3lbs and a posse of scrappy rock bass and perch. Most fish fell for a chartruese clouser or some type of leech/crayfish imitation. Anchored up or slowly drifting, I was able to catch fish between 3′ and 20′ of water. All of the pike hit on weed edges and I only used 12lb flouro leader, only breaking off 2 pike the entire time. The flourocarbon leader provided more hook ups over wire, and smallmouth were more likely to hit w/out the wire. The smallmouth seemed to prefer broken structure/mottled bottoms and transition areas. Oddly, my two best smallmouth each fell for a tiny 1.5″ clouser.
It is worth noting that I did miss a hefty 5-6 lb smallmouth that taunted me within feet of our Island (where we stayed). In addition, I spooked a hog of a muskie one night as I was admiring the sunset and taking pictures. There certainly are bigger fish around. Next time you have a chance, consider making a short trip to the Thousand Islands. This regional warmwater fishery w/ a fly rod is very manageable and there are plenty of perch/rock bass/sunfish/smallmouth/largemouth/pike to target.
