FLXTroutman

I was out for a family cruise Wednesday night, and marked a ton of fish on the north end, eastside, near the first point, (don't know the name). Wind was pretty stiff from the south so I imagine bait and fish had moved with it. Marked then from 30-45 fow, then heading west the bottom came up to 23' and then not much activity. Near the point there are bouys marking shoals or shallow water to avoid. Woodville launch is probably still quite shallow from what I have heard lately.

the weather forecast is looking bad for hydroplane racing, but good fishing weather

nice pics, bow must have been wrapped up in line maybe before?

Hi Brian, no Kurt did not bring any venison jerky but I did get to try his home brewed IPA later in the evening at his house and got a tour of Bluebell Hopyard, good stuff.

I had my brother in law Michael and my niece Colleen in town for the weekend so we hit the water very early Sunday morning. 33canuck and Pete Collin joined in on the fun too. We had some good bites, boated 6 fish, 3 lakers and 3 rainbows. We kept 1 bow and a 2 lakers for the smoker. Colleen had a chance to sleep in the cuddy through the morning bite, while Michael learned the ins and outs of playing a fish on the diver rods. He did drop a nice bow off the back of the boat right off the bat. He figured it out after that one. We worked the west side mostly, however we did make a troll from the LeTourneau camp to Long Point then worked south to Seneca Point. Divers were best with nulcear glow spinnie and nbk fly, 600' copper took some small lakers with a glow spinnie and seneca ghost fly. We ran 4 wires, 300' copper on board, 12 colors of lead board, 3 riggers, and 600' copper down the chute. At one point there was a strange odor on the lake, never smelled it before? I realized it was coming from the Brown How'ND near the helm! It turns out Pete Collin was eating a banana. I gave him the business about bringing bananas on my boat and asked him if he had any more? I was willing to give him smoked trout sandwiches and cookies for his banana. He seemed puzzled so I reached into his cooler and grabbed the banana and threw it overboard as far as I could throw it. Two minutes later we had a double. We had a good time, but I am still searching for the big one though.

Colleen drives a boat for the first time!!

I had to fuel up the boat, so with the Reel Hooked Up Fly retied and all the necessary accoutrements for bringing Liam trolling for the first time I loaded up the bike trailer and headed down to the marina. I put the bike trailer/baby jogger in the boat so I had a place to put Liam when I needed to keep him him safe. We hit the fuel dock at German Bros. and looked at boats and we saw my friend Lynn of LC Boat Repair while they fueled up the Brown How'ND. I cruised back to the spot I lost the monster on Sunday and just ran the 300' copper with the green Church Revelator and Big Weenie Reel Hooked Up Fly. I had to keep it simple with a 16 month old on board. I knew I could get a bite with my favorite set up and my favorite buddy as my good luck charm. We made a few passes south then east and back west finally pointing her north in around 217 FOW the screen was amazing, a solid thermalcline was evident at 57-60 FOW, check the sonar pictures. Then the copper reel began to sing, Liam, FISH ON! I put Liam in the bike trailer while I turned on the video camera and grabbed the rod to film the historic event of his first fishing adventure. I didn't get very many turns around the reel, maybe a minute, check the video, when just like the last two weekends, fish off. After all the excitement and nap time passed the little guy was sleepy and Liam fell asleep in my arms in the Baby Bjorn. I put him down in the cuddy cabin to nap. I continued to fish a little longer, but figuring I should take advantage of his nap to bring the rod in and take a quick dip in the lake to cool off. I even made it back to the slip and docked the boat and rigged the bike trailer back up before he woke up. What a way to spend the afternoon, I can't even begin to tell you how awesome it was to fish with Liam, just the two of us.

Copper Rod fires

Liam sleeping on the way back to the dock

hey Brett, sorry to hear about your lower unit, you can always hitch a ride with me, just PM me. It seems after a slow year for me on Canandaigua Lake I hooked into a couple large fish the last two trips.

I remember the guy that used to work down there, not sure if he still is working but he would chase you down if you launched before he got there " Six dollars, six dollars, six dollars please, six dollars"

and now the rest of the story, (see above) for updated report

The 300' copper and the Revelator with a reel hooked up fly caught another whopper today we could barely budge her to get enough line in to get the planer board off, got about 2 wraps of copper on the backer and off she came. Reeled it in to find the treble of the tournament tied fly broke off. Unbelievable, there is a huge fish out there, to be continued....

Now back to the story, I had family visiting for the weekend and they surprised me when they asked me if we could go fishing. We went down to the boat Sunday at 1:00 pm. Now I usually like to head out early in the morning, but I figured we could get into them if I headed back to my favorite spot. I set lines on a south troll, ran the 2 wire divers, 2 riggers, and 300' copper. After about a mile, without a hit, since they were all rookies, I told them what to expect, how the rods would look when a fish was hooked and how to reel them in. Well, the instruction was just over and rigger fires down 61', as Teresa was reeling in her the rigger fish, starboard diver fires, DOUBLED UP, I helped Liz get the rod out of the holder and then she took over. They took turns with fighting belt once Teresa boated her rainbow. Liz had taken over the belt when the copper on a planer board fires. I grabbed the copper and handed it to Teresa, while Liz brought her laker to the net as their dad Mike piloted the Brown How'ND. I was going to reset the wire diver running a blue flasher with a Big Weenie IMANUTJOB, when I noticed Teresa having trouble with the copper, the drag was screaming, and I thought she bumped the star drag loose. I asked her stop reeling and I pulled some line off the reel, she had NOT bumped it. I immediately asked Liz to start bringing in the rigger rods, while I cleared the other wire diver. We had a real heavy on and I wanted all the room we could get and the ability to chase her down if we needed to play that card. We were slowed right down, going in and out of gear just to reel in enough line to get the planer board off, I barely got a couple of wraps of copper around the spool when the line went slack. I reeled the attractor and fly in expecting I just unbuttoned her, but the treble hook was broke off. After further inspection it was a clean break not knot failure, so my instincts tells me it was large laker with some serious teeth. I cannot wait to get back out there.

Above you can see the Spro Swivel where the backing is attached to the copper shortly before the breakoff

you should make time to sit with Rick and let him show you how to rig one up yourself, as he said knowing your hard work and your own hands put the line on and you tied all your knots will be invaluable to you

hey chuck, I was seeing that down temp changing too on eastside but not west side by Onanda, that sure is a nice bow, the temp 55' feet down at 63* then up to 72*, drop to 66' down and get back to 61*-63*, did see some speed variation too so down currents were ripping down the eastside maybe the ESE winds ?

Pete Collin and I headed out around 5:30 am into the north end in the dark. We set up around Pelican Point in 195 FOW. We had good screen with fish from 40'-150', I set 2 wire divers with blue dot spin dr and blue bubble fly and a blue chrome/glow 8" flasher and nuclear glow fly. 2 riggers were set at 45' with chicken wing and 55' suttons 44. Pete ran his 12 color with a copper mooselook on a planer board and I ran the 300' copper with a green revelator and a reel hooked up fly on a planer board. We made quick work of two skipper lake trout off the copper and the the reel hooked up fly. After resetting the copper, by 6:45 we hooked up again on the copper. Pete had a good fighter on and kept the nice rainbow buttoned. Actually the hen was hooked with both hooks set well and Pete and I figured full moon fever. Then we had a lull, we kept working the eastside, as far north as Cottage City. Then turned back south working out to the deeper water eventually getting over to Onanda Park and Point Rochester. We had switched up the wires to green rotators since the copper set up was working better than any of the other colors. We even did a custom tape job on a spoon as we were approaching Onanda. We set that spoon at 66' and drank a beer trying cool off as it was 11:00 am and already quite hot out. As I was removing the side curtains trying to increase the breeze we saw the 66' rigger rod slacked out and bouncing, FISH ON, but when I get to the rod she got off. We turned and reset, then I lowered the starboard diver rod to 245', one minute later, wham, FISH ON, I grabbed the rod and would you believe, she got off. I told Pete lower the port diver to 245', and then wham, FISH ON, Peter grabbed that rod and then fish off. Pete said jeez, I thought it was just you, Mike. Both divers each took another shot and we both dropped those fish again by 11:45 am. The set ups were purple divers with 8" green paddle with iron duke fly and 8" blue paddle with Pete's custom "skippervisor" fly. We worked north past Danny's place asking for some help with our buttons and even broke out the fish tie hoping it would help us "knot" something together. As the boaters and pwc's came flying by we decided to give up and began the process of bringing in 6 lines. I do love the three rod rule rule even if I always seem to get most bites on 300' copper. The copper is always the last rod in and as I was retrieving the board and tossed it in the boat I began reeling the the 300' of copper line when whump. It felt like I had hooked that pontoon boat and the pwc that had just gone by us close enough to read his registration numbers. The copper had hooked up again. I began the slow fight, we must have moved almost a mile before I had seen the last 100' marker, still had not seen the fish yet and I knew it was getting close when, slack, another fish unbuttoned. I could not believe it, I felt quite dejected after the long fight not boating that fish. We collected our thoughts and figured the fish were just not hitting aggressively and not staying buttoned. The picture of me in the fish tie is after losing the copper fish putting some gear away. I hoped to get a good fish picture with the tie for ERABBIT but alas it just was not meant to be.

my friends used to use "minnow crack", but I can't remember where to get it or what it really was called, other than that, a very large cooler so they can swim around, and ice cold water with lots of bubbles, perhaps even some salinity

GOOD LOOKING LURES THERE MATE

hey nick, good to talk to you today, NOW SEEING THE PICS YOU GOTTA HELL OF DEAL DUDE, THAT POOR MAN'S WIFE MUST REALLY WEAR THE PANTS

a recent report stated the lake level near the launch was very low, depending on your boat you may want to opt for the north end launch, check recent canandaigua posts for the specifics, you could even pm the poster and find out what kind of boat he launched.

here is a discussion of you question

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=35015

If this is new to your program look for a used Sub Troll in good working condition, better pricing, I run one I bought in the off season for around $285 from Sub Troll. The new fishhawk x-4 is a great product but more money. I have the old fishhawk with the old probe too and a newer Sub Troll is way better. If you can afford it the new X 4 Fishhawk is the way to go though.

In the north end near Seager Marina, there is a rock jetty that runs parallel to the city pier which is the man made jetty where the man made outlet is that runs to the city waste treatment plant. This outlet helps the effluent from the water treatment plant run downstream to the outlet that eventually becomes the Erie Canal to Lake Ontario. The rock jetty is very exposed now compared to what it was in the spring time due to low rainfall in our area. The level is controlled by the city to allow the effluent its natural course downstream. In the winter months they will lower the lake level even more which will make the Woodville launch that much more worse or treacherous for boaters. I used to haul out November 6,7 and with a 23' Sea Ray it was bad, I was docked at Smith Boys Marina for 4 years and hauled myself out the last 2 years and it was tough hauling out of the Woodville ramp in November so I would think from here on out it will only get worse down there unless we get some rain. Just think they rebuilt the North End ramps for you to use and they ONLY charge you $8 or have an Empire Pass until Labor Day then I think it will be FREE again. Plus the fishing will pick up after it gets colder at night so says some old timer I talked to today, but he doesn't have an internet connection just a banjo and sits down in Kershaw Park.

nice fish there erabbit, that tie must be a good luck charm, I have on in the closet I may have break out for my next trip

what was going on there that you could not use a boat launch?? Let alone they would tow your vehicle and trailer away, what a shame. Lake Trout Capitol of the World, my arse!

I saw signs about hydroplane racing but I think that is in September, so yet another weekend to avoid Geneva.

Pete, excellent storytelling, we all can relate to the words in your tale.

nice report, welcome aboard, glad to see the bite on in afternoon/ evening

good report Paul, I know your busy so thanks for posting, sure hope the bite picks up as the nights get cooler

Way to go Gambler, Tessier, and 33canuck that is the fish of a lifetime

I called Hills Valleys Streams to inquire about getting some flies and Spin Drs since I was going to be traveling south this weekend. The owner told me they could ship to me also, so I called back the next day and got a guy named Mike on phone. Turns out Mike is AKA Iron Duke, we talked fishing and he set me up with some great flies, they came UPS today, ordered Wednesday at 5:39 pm and arrived Friday in Canandaigua at 1:00 pm. Great service and he set me up with Big Weenie's which have they give the best names, I'manutjob is one funny name. Some great ATOMIK colors I didn't have too, very happy with the help Iron Duke. Good luck Dan and Yvonne you certainly have a top notch employee helping customers.