FrankfortToHerkimer

Frankfort Harbor is a treasure along the Mohawk. In addition to a marina, boat launch, fishing platform, docks, restaurant, sport shop and plenty of parking, it's one of the best fishing spots on the river. Early in the year, panfish move into the harbor to spawn and feed. This is also the location of The Hole.

The Mohawk River pours into the Canal at Frankfort Harbor, creating The Hole.

The Hole is located below the dam where the Mohawk River pours into the Canal. This deep, highly-oxygenated pool attracts walleye, bass, trout, tiger muskie, northern pike and a variety of pan fish. Anglers who don't mind losing tackle in the debris at the bottom of this pool have caught impressive numbers and sizes of fish. The last time Ron Gugnacki and I fished here we caught a couple of nice walleyes and lost a bunch of lures. This time only trout season was open, so we decided to pass up The Hole.
We pushed off from the boat launch at 9:15 a.m. and made a few casts along the shoreline. We tried to stick to our plan, but the canoe would have none of it, so we paddled up to the dam and made one drift across The Hole casting jigs and plugs. We didn't lose any lures.

This rock and cobble bar at the mouth of Fulmer Creek illustrates how quickly tributaries can create crossings in the Mohawk River. Because this is also the Canal the state removes the rocks from the main channel.

A pair of Canada geese and several sea gulls greeted us near the mouth of the harbor with an out-of-tune serenade. Traffic rumbled over the Railroad Street Bridge as we passed under. The noise of birds and business quickly diminished as we paddled between banks of pale green, budding willows. After exploring the "old" river from Rome to Frankfort, the river / canal seemed strange. Too wide, too straight.
A lone goose flew high over our heads. Fish were jumping in the shallows. Carp perhaps? Blackbirds complained. A pair of mallards and a pair of wood ducks jumped off the river and circled round. Traffic was moving on the stretch of NYS Thruway that runs along the side of Oak Hill on the north side of the valley.
We passed a stream outlet where phragmities (common reed) grew atop a muddy bar. Their tassels waved slightly in the gentle breeze that came down the river.

At 10:25 we paddled into Steele Creek and beached the canoe just below the old railroad bridge. From there we waded upstream towards the Village of Ilion, fishing the pools and runs along the way. Steele Creek is excellent trout water further upstream, but we didn't raise a single fish in this lower stretch.

Ron caught this smallmouth near the mouth of Fulmer Creek within sight of the NYS Thruway.

We were back on the river at 11:05. A passenger train streaked by at 11:20. As we approached the Central Avenue Bridge, Ron cast a plastic jig to the shoreline where water was pouring from a concrete pipe. A big fish---a very big fish---grabbed it and headed upstream. While Ron worked the rod, I paddled the canoe. We fought and followed that fish for 10 minutes before the lure pulled free. Ron speculated, "tiger muskie." The way it hugged the bottom and bulldogged upriver I guessed "big catfish."

The midday sun was getting hot, so we stopped at the Ilion Marina to eat lunch in the shade. This seven-acre marina features a rec-vehicle park, seasonal restaurant, docks, boat launch, fuel and picnic area. A group of high school students were having a cookout at the picnic area, so we walked along a trail to a bench further down the shoreline. It was a peaceful place to eat lunch and stretch our legs.

When we returned to the river a half-hour later the breeze had picked up and cooled things off a bit. At 12:35 we paddled past a fishing deck and beached the canoe on the cobble and gravel bar at the mouth of Fulmer Creek. While Ron fished off the end of the bar, I walked upstream and discovered several dead suckers lying on the bottom of a long pool. Just upstream was a Waste-Water Treatment Plant. Could it have caused the demise of the suckers? When we returned to the canoe, Ron caught a 13-inch smallmouth off the point of land just east of the creek.

    At 1:25 we discovered a tributary (Bellinger Brook) on the north side of the river that ran under the Thruway through a concrete culvert. We paddled through the culvert into a short section of the stream bordered by phragmities. Several carp and a largemouth bass swam past the canoe. We continued upstream to the railroad bridge, back paddled to the phragmities and turned the canoe around. On the way back Ron caught a largemouth and a smallmouth.
    It was only a short paddle from the culvert to the bridge between the villages of Herkimer and Mohawk. We landed the canoe near the north end of the bridge at 2 o'clock.
    This is now the location of the Gems Along the Mohawk Complex that features a restaurant and retail outlets, and will soon include docks and other riverside amenities. Another treasure along the Mohawk.