St Lawrence river

[Snake_River_Man]

Planning a trip there in 2020. Whens the best time to go to catch monster smallies?

[KandKKustomz]

Anytime if you know how to fish for them , however the spawn is close to end of June if it were me id go around the 27 28th.. 30 pound bags are quite common this time of year. Be careful where you run if unfamiliar with the river and if you have never been there big bags are not as easy as its made to look on tv etc..

[bill.s]

Try Travis Manson at Travis Manson.com (1-901-292-0881). Aka "Smallmouth Crush" on You Tube. Lots of experience up there.

[ECobb91]

I second the end of June recommendation and that it’s not as easy as it looks. More times than not you’re coming in with a 15-18lb bag. It’s not easy and the guys who do good spend a lot of time up there, a lot of guys don’t even get a limit during tournaments too. Look at past BFL results and it’ll show how it actually fished compared to how it’s shown on TV.

June end of June is the best time for big bass, just be aware you can’t fish for bass before June 20th

[Murph44]

I like late June threw July .. spawning just ending .. depends on temp .. catch them from 2ft down to 40-50 fr..
have done 25+ in less than 3 ft .. with 4-5 pounder roaming the flats ..

[gatorsin09]

I'm the opposite of everyone else. I like late July when theres a less chance of big winds. Time for the big girls to recover and group up out deep and still be shallow fish. The fishing is always great you just want good weather. July

[5pigs]

I hear the water has dropped big time?

[Blake]

Water is down HUGE! emptying out the River to make room for water coming from Lake Ontario as its still high. There are areas of the river right now that have no water and you can literally walk along the river bottom. Best time for big ones is obviously end of June. However after the spawn and once they set up fishing can be pretty good as well.

[behls16]

Water is down HUGE! emptying out the River to make room for water coming from Lake Ontario as its still high. There are areas of the river right now that have no water and you can literally walk along the river bottom. Best time for big ones is obviously end of June. However after the spawn and once they set up fishing can be pretty good as well.

known anyone with cool pictures of it down?

[Blake]

Here is one from Massena from a facebook grouplow water.jpg

[KandKKustomz]

good time to walk around with a handheld gps!

[BAM]

Maybe a stupid question, but how do "they" control the level of the river?????????????? Are there a series of dams on the St. Lawrence????

[ECobb91]

Maybe a stupid question, but how do "they" control the level of the river?????????????? Are there a series of dams on the St. Lawrence????

ya there is and most are controlled by Canada. There’s the Iroquois Locks between Ogdensburg and waddington, then there’s a small one in Massena, Another one at the Saunders Hydro dam near Cornwall, then a few more in Beaharnois, and I think the last one is in Montreal. So there’s about 7-8 dams/locks between Lake Ontario and the St Lawrence bay. The govt claims the yearly flooding is because of rain, but there was never a constant issue until a recent trade agreement was signed that allows the water levels to be consistently at the high water mark to allow freighters to go faster in the river.

[BAM]

Thanks ECobb91, interesting....