Weekly Recap; 6/23/25-6/29/25

The adventure on the St. Lawrence River. Ultra quick recap; sunshine, smallmouth, largemouth, coffee and water. 

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Itinerary; (Loose) 

Sunday- Arrive, Fish

Monday- Fish

Tuesday- Guided Trip

Wednesday- Fish

Thursday- Fish

Friday- Fish, Head Home 

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It has been a hot week up here. We usually are here a week later than this year. Things change, but it also changes the fishing compared to what we are used to. That is okay, it takes some time to adapt. Which we certainly did. 

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First outing was Sunday evening and a great one for my Dad! The water is a bit colder than when we are usually up here. The first fish of the trip was a Northern Pike! My Dad and I both caught two largemouth and he also caught a smallmouth! A great first outing. 

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I am not going to breakdown everyday for you, the photos will do a good enough job showing you the week. However, I will take some time to explain what we used to catch these fish as well as the Nature observations we saw. 

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What tackle did we use to catch the fish? Pretty simple stuff! 

JDO Spinnerbait; 3/8oz 

• White, Double Willow Silver 

JDO Bladed Jig; 1/2oz 

• White & Chartreuse 

JDO Wacky/Neko Rig;

• GP, Baby Bass, Watermelon or PB&J

JDO Ned Rig; 1/4oz 

• GP, Smoke, Canada Craw or “The Deal” 

JDO Skip Jig; 3/8oz 

• Black Skirt with a GP or Watermelon Craw

JDO Drop Shot; 1/4oz 

• Goby Flatworm or Watermelon Trick Worm

JDO Tube Jig; 3/8oz 

• KVD Magic

Observations: 

Fish; 

Northern Pike 

Largemouth Bass 

Smallmouth Bass 

Yellow Perch 

Round Goby

Bluegill (Seen not caught) 

Channel Catfish (Seen not caught) 

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Birds; 

Osprey 

Canada Geese 

American Robins

European Starlings

Mallard Ducks  

Bald Eagle 

Mute Swans 

Loons 

Yellow Bellied Sapsucker 

Song Sparrow

Eastern Wood-Pewee

White-breasted Nuthatch

House Wren

Red-eyed Vireo

Blue-headed Vireo

American Crow

Red-winged Blackbird 

Double-crested Cormorant

Yellow warbler 

Warbling Vireo

Common Grackle

Northern Cardinal 

House Sparrow

American Redstart

Black-capped Chickadee

Pine Warbler 

Chipping Sparrow 

Black-and-white Warbler 

Great Blue Heron 

Common Terns 

Bluejay

Most of the birds were both seen and heard. Thanks to the Merlin Bird ID App, I was able to pick up on birds that I couldn’t see. 

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Miscellaneous; 

Great Mullein (Plant)

Alaska Yellow Cedar (Tree) 

Fairy Ring Marasmius (Mushroom)

Cottontail Rabbit (Mammal)

Black Squirrel (Mammal)

Doe and Fawn (Mammal) 

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Writing most of this article in the passenger seat on the drive home. It is a four hour drive, good time for reflection. 

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After seriously fishing the Chippewa Bay area of the St. Lawrence River for eight years, we have figured a lot out. The lure selection really can be stupid simple if you want it to be, and you will still catch stupid numbers of fish. 

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We love the area so much because of the diversity of fish and areas of which you can find them as well as catch them. Those areas can be shoals, bays, points, creeks, grass, rocks, sand and weed lines. 

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You can get elaborate with tactics to catch fish. Mind you we don’t catch five plus pounders regularly but in the week we spend up there it usually is broken on the smallmouth front. Maybe we catch the occasional four pound largemouth. 

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There is room to grow, there may be a larger caliber largemouth lurking in the waters. This year we explored a lot of new water. Some with success and some with flat zeroes. 

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Besides fishing, the next most asked question is “what do we eat?” so here it is. As are most things for me, it was kept super simple with almost none gone to waste. 

Meals; 

Sunday-

• Dinner; Sausages

Monday- 

• Lunch; Sandwiches 

• Dinner; Chicken  

Tuesday-  

• Breakfast; Kodiak Oats 

• Lunch; Sandwiches 

• Dinner; Burgers 

Wednesday- 

• Lunch; Burgers (leftover)

• Dinner; Taco Dip

Thursday- 

• Brunch; 315 Diner

• Dinner; Leftovers 

 Friday- 

• Brunch; Eggs & Home fries 

Improvements around camp; 

Moisturizer

Bug Spray (if outside at all at night) 

Salads 

Containers & bags for leftovers 

More movement during downtime 

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Between the two of us, we caught almost a hundred fish for the week. Pretty good numbers! As well as healthy fish with the occasional big one. This fishery teaches me so much each year and I am always eager to expand and learn. 

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A bit of an odd layout for this article. It is not always easy to fit in the the info you want while also keeping things flowing and intriguing. If you have any questions or curiosities about the trip, please feel free to ask me! 

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An interesting question we got from people up there, “why do you guys come here from Buffalo?” which is a good question. Especially since we have a top rate smallmouth fishery in our backyard. My answer was this, “we don’t have the opportunity at home to go largemouth fishing that easily as well as catching Northern Pike.” 

On top of that though, it is great to be more rural and right on the water. No need to take the boat in and out, leave it at the dock and fish whenever. 

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Podcast episode 113 of the Two Angles on Angling podcast will be up on YouTube soon! 

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Enjoy the photos below! 

Tight lines and catch ya soon! 

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Jordan H. DiVirgilio