A January Session on the Saint Lawrence River

An unusually warm January had canceled my eagerly anticipated ice fishing plans for the St. Lawrence River and left me despondent. My last adventure to the river had seen 60 degree temperatures and only one carp of middling weight and laconic disposition. To say I had soured on carp fishing would be an overstatement, but December’s results had been poor and admittedly my spirits were low. Bright hot sun beat down on my desk as I read with disbelief the incredible January 1 session of Waddington area anglers Sean Rafter and Sean Warner. These two gentlemen had the audacity and knowledge to brave freezing temps and engineer a simply stunning session. The kicker is that they accomplished this not on a Texas impoundment, or Pennsylvania warm water discharge, but on the mighty Saint Lawrence River of northern New York, on New Year’s Eve no less!!!! Multiple thirty pound plus fish were included in the staggering 900+ pound session. Water temperatures were recorded below 40 degrees and air temperatures were cold enough to clog the line guides with ice… Awe inspiring! Needless to say, I immediately called Ed Sheffield to reconfirm my reservations at his rental apartment for “ice fishing”. He laughed and said, “Come on up! The river is calm but rain and high wind is forecasted.” I double checked th weather report and thankfully no snow was predicted. Game on!

My next call went to Dr. Iain Murray of the great state of Massachusetts. After explaining the plan, the potential, and the possible payoff he agreed that this was a once in a lifetime opportunity not to be missed. Plus his wife was away on business and we both agreed she would have wanted him to go if she had been there to say yes. Dr. Murray is a superbly competent angler by way of a lifetime dedicated to the joys of all things piscatorial. We had met at a friendly fishing contest the previous spring. He had apparently taken sympathy on my enthusiastic approach to carp fishing. An enthusiasm, I might add, that was at that time apparently, and completely, unsupported by any obvious technique. As we firmed up plans for the coming weekend, we determined that Iain would drive to my apartment in Albany Friday night. We would assess the gear, pack my car, and leave very early Saturday morning for Waddington, some four hours away.

Iain drove to where I worked on Friday afternoon; we loaded my gear into his brand new rental car and immediately left for Waddington at 4:30pm Friday afternoon. The benefits of careful planning are obvious and need no further enlightenment. Since the roads were dry, and the traffic light, we chose a direct route through the Adirondack Mountains of central New York. Even in the dark it is impossible not to be awed by the oldest chain of mountains to grace the northeast. The trip was uneventful other than my joy at being in a brand new vehicle that had clearly been designed for the traveling carp angler. I came away with a profound respect for the spacious and well thought out 2007 Toyota Matrix.

We arrived in time to catch a word with Ed before he closed up the shop at nine. He gave us detailed directions and permission-by-association to use the “Sean’s Swim”. (Note: Nobody else has volunteered a name for this wonderful piece of riverside real estate so Sean’s Swim it is!) They had not planned to fish it till Sunday but our spodding on Saturday would certainly be appreciated. At 9:30PM it was too warm to snow, but a rising wind brought a light rain that was to be a harbinger of things to come. A couple celebratory adult beverages and we hit the racks with visions of tomorrow dancing in our heads. Having long ago been relieved of the innocence of youth I am still delighted at the joys great anticipation can stir in my soul. Everyone has their own motivations. I know mine.

Being a skilled conversationalist, scathing political satirist, and a veritable font of knowledge all things carp, Dr. Murray prepares a breakfast bagel sandwich unparalleled in our McDonaldized world of mass consumption. He confused my silence for critique, but given the opportunity, I would merely have said that my mouth was full. I choose my traveling companions well.

Downstairs in the tackle shop, we enjoyed a steaming hot cup of java with Ed as he began his day. Our game plan was honed to sheer perfection and twenty minutes later, we were setting up the swim in a shallow side bay of the Saint Lawrence River. Even though the swim had been thoroughly catalogued with a sonar unit, Iain chose to use a marker float and confirm the lack of snags, light weed cover, and 15 foot depths that had been reported. While Iain was carefully and meticulously unfolding the Murray Carp Machine, I took the road less traveled. Ed had suggested a yellow pop-up with a kernel or two of pescaviva to get started with. Never one to confuse my own conceptual meanderings with someone else’s hard-won knowledge, I carefully selected a yellow pop-up with a single kernel of pescaviva for my initial offering. I put a 3 ounce in-line egg sinker on the main line, with a plastic bead to protect the swivel knot. An 11-inch hook link of 30 pound Power Pro finished with a size 4 ACS K-9 completed my terminal tackle. I usually squeeze a very small split shot about a foot above the in-line lead to create a soft bolt rig. If the split shot slips, that is okay with me, as I wouldn’t want to make it anymore permanent as this would in effect create a death rig. Nobody would knowingly do that. I launched the first bait to about 15 yards on the other side of an obvious drop off, and the second one went out approximately 45 yards. I chose 45 yards because it seemed like the right thing to do. My presentation was complete. My method mix is very heavy on oats with enough birdseed, and molasses-flavored stock feed to give it some flavor. This mix is sticky enough to make forty yard casts possible but still breaks down in a few minutes. Iain gave a running commentary on the results of his marker floating. He has proven, beyond a shadow of a doubt, the value of marker floating many times over. I listened! He had established an open spot in the bottom cover approximately 35 yards straight away, in about 12 feet of water. Leaving the marker in the water he started spodding out his particles mix with a grin of satisfaction that meant the carp were up against a formidable opponent!

I would give a detailed description of Dr. Murray’s suspension rigs but every time he started to rig up he would send me back to the car for some trifling piece of forgotten kit. Strange, but I never saw how he built his rigs. What a coincidence. I’m sure there is nothing to it…

The first run of the trip was exactly like the first run of any trip, on any water, anywhere in the world. We weren’t ready for it. My right hand rod went off, the one at 45 yards. That gave Iain plenty of time to get the net, mat, weigh sling, and scale out while I battled the as yet unseen brawler slugging it out in the frigid water in front of us. Did I mention the weather yet? No? Well, let me tell you it was warm! Fifty-five degrees can’t-wear-two-jackets-I’m-boiling warm. The driving rain wouldn’t have been so bad if it wasn’t in such a hurry to get to wherever it was driving to. We would find out later that the wind was gusting up to forty-five mph!!!! Let’s get back to that all important first carp of the trip, and here it comes, surfing a humongous wave towards shore that had my netter scrambling for his life. The three foot rollers crashing in to the shoreline made carp safety our primary concern. Iain’s deft use of the landing net prevented the carp from contacting the harsh rocks along the unprotected shore and we both breathed a sigh of relief. We delighted in the first fish of the trip, a perfectly shaped 24 pound specimen of the incredibly rare ….. JANUARY Saint Lawrence River carp!!!!!

The Fox Oval Plus was threatening to fold up under the onslaught of the gale so we took it down. It was touch and go for a moment as the wind tried to take me up on a trip only Mary Poppins could have appreciated. (The Oval Plus is a type of umbrella shelter used by anglers to get out of the weather) The Carp Gods had decided that the carp would only come from the right (my side) and thus Iain would be forced to watch me land three more mid twenties before we would be graced with the sound of his alarm filling the swim with its urgent message. In typical British fashion he had carefully recorded the weights of my fish while pointing out, in his diary, that “10:00~11:30am RW continued to catch while I markered, spodded, and navel contemplated.” One can only wonder. The carp gave us a brief respite and we took the opportunity to feast on crackers, pepperoni, and a superb local cheese to top it off. I have to admit that if, at just that moment in time, I had been the wealthiest man in the world I could not possibly have felt more satisfied in my surroundings. Iain’s first fish of the trip was worth waiting for as he brought a 30 pound 8 oz. common to the bank. I was so engrossed in capturing the moment with my camera that Iain had to tell me twice that I had a run! It was pretty crazy for a moment there, but finally we got set up for a brace shot with Iain’s 30+ and my 27+. I doubt if two prouder carp anglers could be found that blustery day in January 2007.

The action was steady for the rest of the day. Most fish were in the mid twenties except for a fish that fell to Iain’s pole at 3:30 in the afternoon. This was at the height of the tempest and you would be forced to wonder how it was possible that two diehards would even be out in such weather. I had put my hip waders on earlier in the day to facilitate landing and releasing fish so I had “assumed the position” in the pounding surf to await Mr. Murray’s latest trophy. I waited, and I waited… then, I waited some more. On closer inspection, I noted a level of tension that I had never seen on his face before as he stood on the bank above me, his reel screaming in protest. This is an angler with countless captures to his credit and he was nervous! So naturally I got nervous. The huge fish just simply stayed away from the bank and ran Iain up, over, and around the entire shoreline. Three times I prepared to put the net to her but three times she found the power to veer back out past the rock studded drop off and the safety of the depths. I’m not even sure that Iain noticed the gale force winds, he was so intent on playing the spectacular fish to the best of his ability. On the fourth and final approach, the waves shot her past my waiting net and it seemed an eternity before I could turn and locate her in the foaming wash behind me. As the surge retreated I netted her on the way out and the relief on both our faces was a tangible thing. An inch lower on any one of those numerous runs and the razor sharp zebra mussels would have ended the struggle between Iain and his new North American personal best common carp of……

Thirty-seven pounds ~ two ounces !!!

We did not put a tape to her but I feel confident in saying that this was a very long fish that would easily have pushed the measure past 42 inches! In my role as event photographer I was to drive Dr. Murray completely out of his comfort zone by taking “too many” photos of this stunning capture. Of the twenty odd pictures I took, only TWO made the cut as acceptable. I’ll let you decide!Six more twenties would grace our weigh sling before this session came to a close just after 5PM. We had nothing left to prove and we both agree it couldn’t possibly get any better so we began the process of packing up. We left a few kilos of boilies and a can or two of Pescaviva as thanks for use of the trailer, or American Bivvy as Iain came to refer to it. I couldn’t wait to get back and share our success with Ed ! After making ourselves presentable, the three of us went out to a local restaurant that featured a very generous buffet meal… the name of the restaurant you ask? Murray’s ! Iain was delighted as this was surely another sign from the Carp Gods that this was to be a memorable day. We retired to the apartment two very tired anglers and believe me when I say that getting to sleep was not an issue!!

Sunday, January 7th would turn out to be a delightful study in contrasts from our experience of the previous day. We had moved across the bay to a new swim suggested by Ed. Where gale force winds had battered us with rain drops the size of kittens, today we would be forced to contemplate a dead calm bay lit by the gentle light of a warming sun. Pretty rough, I agree, but we made a go of it. I got right to work with the first rod and launched the pop-up out over a hundred yards. Why? I felt that the bay was a wintering area and they were stacked up in numbers. Spodding out the maize certainly couldn’t hurt in the grand scheme of things, but I didn’t feel it was absolutely necessary in this specific situation. I honestly felt that I had nothing to lose as the trip was a smashing success already! The second rod went just to the left of the spod line that Iain was so diligently creating at 35 yards. The other shoreline slowly filled up as at one point there were seven trucks parked at the Sean’s Swim. The sound of alarms going off carried perfectly across the water as did the many children’s cries of joy and wonder. Sean Warner and crew were having another monster session!! At 9:30am the alarm on the long distance rod announced a very slow, creeping run that could more likely have been called a “trickle”. I set immediately and felt a great thumping on the other end and then everything just came to a stop. There was full tension on the line but the fish must have swum into a large weed bed and was just resting against the pull generated by the 12’ European style pole. My mainline on that particular reel was 16 pound mono so there was an extreme amount of stretch to deal with as well. Twice I let off all tension and counted to twenty… nothing. He didn’t fall for that old trick. Iain had given up waiting on my reluctant prize and with one last admonishment, “Be patient!” he went back to spodding. Ten minutes later I lost patience as I did not want to winter there along the river with that carp attached to my gear. I pulled slowly and pumped the rod twice to the right, then twice to the left. Since the left hand pull seemed to meet with some success I moved twenty yards to the left and duplicated my efforts. With a slow tearing sensation the carp finally came free and the fight was back on!! It was only when it got within fifteen feet of us did we realize that this was quite a good catch! One last surge and I brought the carp in to the ever patient net, skillfully wielded by a now fully focused Dr. Murray. It was clearly a thirty. Thirty-three pounds ~ two ounces to be exact.

We took a moment to realize that we had banked THREE thirties in a January session on the Saint Lawrence River…. Unreal! We would land seven more fish by the time it came to leave at our preset departure time of 1PM. The average fish was smaller on Sunday as we caught several in the teens, but no complaints were registered by our party! As is always the case, the gear seemed twice as heavy on the way out as it did on the way in. We settled up with Ed and took one last look around the apartment to make sure that no gear had been left behind and down the road we went. We relived the weekend several times on the long journey back to my place (Iain had another 3 hours to travel! Yikes) and many times since.When all was said and done, a total of twenty five January carp fell to our efforts. The total seems to me an embarrassment of riches given that our expectations would have been satisfied by far, far less. The old adage “Nothing Ventured, nothing Gained” never felt so appropriate. Three thirties, sixteen twenties, and six teeners….. in January!!!

I would very much like to thank Dr. Iain Murray. A top notch angler and a better friend would be hard to imagine. Mr. Ed Sheffield (www.edsbaitandtackle.com) continues to define the meaning of service “Above & Beyond”. His help was crucial as we relied heavily on his vast knowledge and experience, so freely given, to make this marvelous weekend a possibility. I certainly look forward to many more carp adventures in the Waddington area in the years to come!!

Hope you enjoyed the Tellin’

Rick “CarpDaddy” Walker