lumberjohn

Maybe I'm an old timer if you consider I've been on this lake 20 nyears now. My boat has caught one 'eye during the day since stocking, and that was at dusk. I catch all my 'eyes at night from 12-3 AM from early June - early August along the shore during the mooneye spawn. Get a mess of big smallies then too. Gotta find your spots.

I heard you were out there yesterday Billy. It was pretty lonely out there, I only saw four other boats all day. A buddy and I started out at 100 fow at 7:45 AM sunday and never ventured further than 160. We ran an all dodger/fly rig and went 4 for 4 w/ 3 kings and one steelhead. Our first hookups were a double of kings. Landing them in my 18 footer while getting tossed in those 4' waves was some trick. It was a chineese firedrill. Everything for us came on green 50-65 down on the riggers over 100-120 fow. Green e-chip and green fly and Mtn dew e-chip w/ hammer flies did the trick. We were marking fish throughout the day with the occassional baitfish. It was a good day for us. It was my buddies first time salmon fishing on Lake O and he was impressed but a little concerned as those big swells reared up behind the boat.

Got set up in 100 fow at 7:15 AM and headed west with the rest of the pack. The waves were 1-mostly 3 feet but friendly rollers as opposed to whitecap breakers of saturday. After awhile we started marking pods of baitfish around 20-30 foot and some at 65 foot. I guess there was a brief round ofr action for some boats early but slowed as the morning wore on. We pulled up around noon and ran out to 200 and set up again. Worked 200-260 for awhile and marked one bait pod down 65. We trolled back into the chute and pulled the rods. One rod was peculiarly heavy and I thought a couple paddles had tangled. To my surprise there was a fairly large fish dragging behind the boat on the 65' down rigger off the ball w/ Mtn Dew Echip paddle and hammer fly. It was a 13 lbs Brown, pretty played out. No telling how far we'd been dragging him. From 220? or more likely over shallower water. The release was tripped but the line had gotten wrapped up on it somehow. A disappointing day but we still ended up w/ meat in the box.

Started out of Fair Haven around 9:30 AM. It was blowing pretty good from the NE and waves were a good 2-4' which is kinda tough in my boat. Set up in 100 fow and headed into the winds and waves. Didn't do a thing until we got out around 200 then had a hit on a white echip w/ a white glow fly down 95 on the rigger. Had the drag set too tight and it broke off. Lesson learned, dialed back all the drags on the rods. Continued through the day and the wind and waves settled to a more manageable 1-3 by late afternoon. Worked all the way out to about 320 but the few marks and bait pods we saw were in the 220-240 fow range down around 65'. Went back to that depth and that is where we picked up two Kings in the afternoon, a 19 lbs on a chartreuse echip w/ hammer fly and a 9 lbs on a white spin doc and bloody nose fly. Likely be out there on monday again.

In answer to your question, "Are all the finger lakes like this that hold trout/salmon?", the answer is, pretty much. Seneca is known for it's fantastic, and big Lake Trout. Cayuga has it all, w/ plenty of Atlantic Salmon, though not that big, w/ Rainbows and some really good size Browns. And the rest of the Fingers ain't too shabby either. All of the Finger Lakes and Lake Ontario originally had large populations of smelt as the natural forage. Alewives were introduced into almost all the Fingers and Lake O and they did extremely well, much to the detriment of the smelt and trout. Not only do they compete with the smelt for food, the smelt, and Rainbow Trout spawn sooner in the spring, and the Alewives feed on the baby smelt & trout fry. Alewives spawn from June to July in shallow and on Owasco the walleyes & smallmouths go on a feeding frenzy then starting around midnight and lasting until 3:00 AM in the shallow water. Hardly anyone fishes them then on this lake except me and a few other guys. Smelt populations have crashed in the Finger Lakes, much to the chagrin of any spring smelter. From my understanding the smelt prefer colder temps than Alewives so they tend to be at deeper depths. Alewives have a vey high oil/fat content in proportion to their weight. That's great for growing big fat predator fish. Problem is, you are what you eat. In my opinion, trout, and fish in general, taste better off a smelt forage base vs. alewife base, and stream caught trout that eat bugs and worms and such taste the best. Skaneateles does not have alewives and it is illegal to use them as bait there. Consequently, they have a great rainbow fishery as well as Atlantics and some Browns. The fish run a bit smaller but there are plenty of them. It is unlikely you could convince the NH fish & game dept to introduce alwives in the NH lakes. It's not always good to mess w/ mother nature. Introducing alwives will do a job on your native smelt pops. You are right about one thing, NY has been blessed with some awsome fisheries, thanks to the glaciers. I've lived in NJ, PA and Idaho and they have nothing on NY when it comes to lake fishing and the number of lakes and variety of fish available from them. Mamy other states, if they have lakes at all, they are dammed up rivers. Ya can't beat it.

felixjayce,

Wow!! You did well. That was a very nice mixed bag of fish. Maybe I should skip going to Lake O. and put my boat back in my hoist and stay at home. I trailer it in Aug/Sept while I work the salmon. I went to Ontario out of Fair Haven sunday and struck out on the salmon. Fished 100-420 fow but the screen was pretty blank save for an occassional baitpod. On the way in we were marking fish and bait like crazy around 20 down over 80-50 fow. Dropped some B&S Rapalas and small Stingers to 18-20' and we got three very nice Smallmouth on the riggers. It was a small consollation to an otherwise unproductive day. Glad I could help you out and that you had success. Owasco is a great little lake with a little of everything to offer.

I wouldn't waste your time targeting pike on Owasco. Owasco, like most of the Finger Lakes, has little in the way of prime pike habitat. Most of the Fingers shorlines drop off rapidly a short distance from shore. Therefore, there aren't alot of weedy lilypad type of bays and flats. It's not that they aren't here, they just aren't extremely abundant. I catch one now and then by accident while casting lures for bass, the last one being 17 lbs at 6:00AM. In the winter they concentrate at the southend and are caught in fair numbers. Guys also do well at the south end in November and right after ice out. If you want to pursue pike go to Fair Haven, Sodus, Oneida or you could go down to Otisco. Otisco is stocked w/ Tiger Muskies, has some Brown Trout and also Bass. Conesus is too far from Oswego. Sodus would be your best bet and an easy drive, just head west on Rt 104. Private launch on the NW side at the marina in the village. Sodus is a good size body of water and depth up to 35' I believe. Has lots of varied habitat, a copuple island and is protected from the wind more or less. Has all the pan fish, large and smallmouth bass and plenty of pike. You can even catch some Browns in there at times. And, if the Big O is rough in the AM and lays down later in the day you can just shoot out there through the chute and set up for Salmon.

The only problem w/ Owasco or Skinny on a windy day is if the wind is strong and running fom due south to north, then it can get a bit rough, otherwise no sweat. I suppose due north to south could get rough at the south end as well, and north end would be fine. There is a launch at the south end of the lake at Cascade, South Shore Marina off Rt 38. Thing is, if there is a south wind then Ontario will be relatively calm with a shore breeze so you won't be hitting the Finger Lakes. If there is a northerly wind and Lake O is too rough, then the north ends at least of the Fingers will be pretty calm and fishable. It's a win/win.

If you are into trout then head to one of the Finger Lakes, without question. Oneida doesn't have trout but it is a great bass and walleye lake. Oneida is a shallow lake and can get real squirrely waves if it's blowin hard there. The Finger Lakes have plenty of trout, though not the size of Lake Ontario. Seneca and Cayuga are big and can be overwhelming for where to start for someone new to them. My advice is to stick with Owasco Lake and Skaneateles Lakes. These lakes are about a mile or so wide and about 14 miles long. Owasco is loaded with good size Lakers, some Browns, big Smallmouth and Walleye. Skaneateles is one of the prettiest lakes you will ever want to fish. Huge stately homes, aqua blue water and nice populations of Rainbows, Landlock salmon and Lakers, though the bass are kinda small. If you go to these lakes downsize your gear some, lure size, line test and such, but similar trolling tactics can work as Lake O. I'd skip the dodgers and spin doctors and slow your trolling speed to about 1.5-2.0 mph. Read my post on "Going to Owasco, need advice". I just wrote a detailed report there. What works on Owasco will work on Skinny. For Bows and Llocks try the brighter lures. Owasco has a launch at the north end of the lake in Emerson Park off Rt. 38A. Skaneateles has a state launch of the west side about 5 or so miles out of town on Rt 41A. There is plenty of parking at Owasco. Skaneateles launch can fill up quickly so get there early. I hope to also fish Ontario this weekend out of Fair Haven but in my 18' Starcraft I'm only game for 1-3 foot waves. Sunday looks like the best bet for Lake O right now. I live on Owasco. Here's the NOAA link for Ontario http://weather.noaa.gov/cgi-bin/fmtbltn ... S.+Portion

You'll find all those fish here. Where to start to point you in the right direction? Hmmmm?

Your thermocline is at about 40' this time of year. Warmwater fish wil be at or above that, cold water species at or below it.

Lake Trout - Probably somewhere btwn 60-100 fow is where you'll want your lures this time of year over 100-150 deep. 10 lbs test or about 30 foot of 10 lbs leader tied to line is all you'll need. I have good luck w/ black & purple spoons and small straight or jointed black & silver Rapalas. Silver spoons or silver w/ color is worth a try. No spoon larger than an NK-28 and don't be afraid to go smaller w/ Stingers, Evil-Eyes and the like. Run them 30-60' behing the ball. Run paralell to shore and around points. Run them at depths you see the bait fish. The north end can be very productive this time of year from Fays Pt. to Bucks Pt. on the west and over to the Yacht club to Burtis Pt. on the east side. Further south around Ensenore can be good on the west and off the Boy Scout and Girl Scout camps on the east side can be productive.

Brown Trout - You may run into them on your upper rigs or trolling anywhere in the 40-60 fow range. Spoons and stick baits will both take fish in natural colors or silver spoons and your green colors.

Rainbows - Some in there but not enough to target. If you do go with chartreuse and orange lures.

Bass - Great smallmouth fishery here running 1.5-4 lbs for the average fish. During the day they hang out just outside the weedbeds, off points and drop offs in 15-40 fow suspended and cruising. Use diving crankbaits or other lures that you can work down there. I like to drift live bait like shinners or crabs through those depths, or cast them out and let them drift down. Also look for weedbeds that end and drop off into deeper water. Cast a shinner or crab with just enough splitshot to let it sink slowly. Cast it over to the deep edge of the weedbed but not in it and let it slowly sink down into the deeper water. If you get one stick around cause there wil be a dozen more. Don't waste time casting the shallows and under docks during the day, they aren't there. This isn't Lake Ochechobee. At the crack, and I mean crack, of dawn for an hour or so and an hour or so around dusk they move up onto points and rocky flats chasing minnows and grubbing for crayfish. Then I work shallow diving crankbaits, crayfish immitations and J-11 black & silver jointed Rapalas in 2-10 fow w/ 3-5 fow being the best on average. I like to work the Rapalas just along the surface, reeling slowly so it just wobbles back and never breaks below the water. This has worked extremely well for me on this lake. You need the J-11 size to have enough weight to get some casting distance. The action can be fast and furious but only lasts about an hour. Try Martins Pt, Fays Pt, Koenig Pt, Bucks & Burtis Pts. on the northerly end or any point or rocky areas anywhere else.

Walleye - You missed the best night fishing which is June/July in shallow. Walleye here act differently than many other Eye lakes like Oneida. Here they act more pelagic like trout. They feed on the schools of Alewives mostly. Average walleye are 2-6 lbs. They hang out during the day in the same type of waters as the smallmouth but damn if you can catch them then. I have caught them at night this time of year trolling w/ downriggers along shorelines 15-35' down over 35-60 fow using stickbaits about 60' or more behind the ball. My favorite are the B&S jointed Rapalas. It's a recipe for tangles, birdsnests and getting hung up on weeds, but it can work.

Pike - They are in the lake up to 20 lbs or so but most average around 4-6. I do most my pike fishing here through the ice, but they are like pike everywhere and lurk in the weedbeds or not far from them.

Panfish - Rockbass galore with your mix of Sunnies in shallow with the Perch a little deeper at the outer edges to just outside the weedbeds this time of year. The Rockies will hit everything. Bait, flies, lures, twistertails, bubblegum, doesn't matter. There are some pretty hefty Rockies in here and they are my wifes favorite panfish. Try drifting perch minnows a foot off the bottom for the perch in 15-25 fow just where the weeds start to thin out.

Good luck out there and have fun.

Got out for the first time of the season Friday and Sunday. Friday we headed east and set up at 130 fow by 8:00 AM. We managed one 17 lbs'r 65/130 in the moring and a 12.5 lbs'r 65/230 in the afternoon. Sunday was far more productive for us. Headed NW of the chute at got set up at 6:00 AM at 90 foot for awhile and only marked one pod of baitfish. We went deeper to 150-175 range and spent most of the rest of the day there. It was a slow morning with few marks of fish or bait but the fish were there. Most boats gave it up and by 11:00 AM when we got our first fish we were near alone out there. By 1:00 PM we were all alone. We went 5 for 5 on the Kings btwn 11:00-3:30 weighing in at 27/26/23/17/6 lbs. The wind was blowing from the NE with waves 2-3 feet and all the fish were caught while we were trolling with the wind, all 100 down on the rigger over 150 fow, all in the same vicinity on the GPS and all but one on a Pro-Troll Glo-Green blade with a G-Fly green-glo e-chip fly. One fish was caught on an NK28 Green Puke spoon stacked at 88'. By our second fish, and after seeing another boat catch one in that same area, we figured out the pattern and would pull up all the lines and shoot back to the beginning, reset the rigs and head west trolling through the same area again. Trolling into the wind was an unproductive waste of time and harder on the kidneys. Hope to get out one more time this week, maybe late afternoon, before I head on vacation for a week. Tight lines.

No idea. I clobber them at night this time of year. Never caught one during the day though I see them scuba diving at 30-35 fow. If you figure it out let me know.

Walleyes are biting all around the lake near shore chasing the mooneyes from 11:00 PM to 4:00 AM. Two of us caught three monday night and missed about 15. They were 2.5-4.0 lbs. They have a hard bony mouth and will flip off if the hookset isn't solid. Black and silver J-11 Raps doing the trick on a REAL SLOW retreive at the surface.