Probably due to the late spring in the north country the bass are still spawning in the St. Lawrence River. The smallmouth are bedding in 10-15 feet of water and are very easy to catch just by randomly casting on spawning flats. Water temperature now on the main channel is in the mid 60's with 70's in backwater areas.
I conducted two guided trips on June 24 and June 28 that averaged approximately 15-20 bass. The largest smallmouth was almost 5 pounds with several over 3 pounds. Some appeared to even be pre-spawn. The channel water temperature the first trip was only 61 degrees in the morning. The bass were caught on tubes and senkos in shallow water and released.
They may spawn well into July this year. And when they are done, they usually will dissappear from the shallows very quickly. Some areas of the river do seem to be post-spawn already, but in other areas the shallows are active. It is very important to release these shallow fish. I was out yesterday July 1 and found more bass still shallow and aggressive. And it is possible more are still coming in to spawn depending on what section of the river you are fishing. I have more trips scheduled for next week on the river. My customers should do well if there are bass still shallow.
Was catching a number of small and largemouth bass as recently as a week ago in the shallow parts of the Grasse, but over the last week they have indeed washed up.
