Gator

Hey Ray, Is it your shorts that would make the difference? If so, man up! No, seriously, there's a bunch of things this year that may have caused the perfect storm, and we have definately been spoiled lately (I'm 30 years into the game, so I remember the "boom" of the mid-80s and the bust that followed). Let's hope that this year is just a glitch on the radar and not the harbinger of something more sinister...after having listened to DEC preach disaster for years, I was kinda discounting it...but the situation seems to be the same over the whole lake, which begs the question-"where are they?" We spent most of today outside 500 fow off Sandy. Not there. Three small fish/six hours. Can't keep a fisherman off the water, though. Gator

Anyone else having a tough time out there? I'm starting a new organization: LOU've got to be kidding me, where's the salmon?!? Actually thinking about converting to blow-boating. At least that way I don't have to burn fifty bucks in fuel every time I hit the water. Yeah, I know...have some cheese to go with your... Gator

Phil, From here on out, the salmon should be sniffing around the river mouths for the spawn, if not actually running. You won't have to go more than a mile offshore; in fact, you might have an advantage trolling around the pierheads at the Genesee being so small and able to work tight. If you're in that close, you don't even need leadcore. I'd try a snapweight attached 30 ft up from a j-plug or some such lure. The depth of water would be anywhere from 15-30 ft, in general. Just be aware, they call it "combat fishing" and you'll have company. Good luck! Gator

Hey, did you get your kayak out on Friday? We were trolling Lake Ontario off of Lighthouse Point in about 60 fow and some guy was fishing out of his kayak...looked like he put one on at one point, too. It would have been perfect conditions, since the cold water blew in and the fish were pushed toward shore. Anyway, if it wasn't you, then you've got some company for trolling the big pond. Gator, Nothin' but Net

Phil, All the cool people were born this week I know that my graduate student fishes some of the area golf course ponds for bass with decent luck; I actually wet a line for the first time in Rochester near where the canal meets the Genny by UofR twenty years ago. Great spot, but when they pulled a body out not 100 feet from where I was fishing, I never tried it again (guy jumped in after his dog...dog fine, guy drowned). Hopefully you can get hooked up with some transportation soon. A man and a kayak can go a long ways around here, especially in the fall as fish concentrations build near shore. Gator

Hi Paul, We never did find out who won the tournament last month; we competed out of Sandy and we only had one decent fish that day, so we didn't weigh in. Could you post the results here? Thanks! Gator, N'BN

Not many kayak anglers around, at least by saltwater standards, ie. set up with sonar, anchor, etc... Most of the guys I've seen out of kayaks fish Canadice and Hemlock lake, the Rochester water reservoirs. These lakes have no shoreline development and are just beautiful to fish, with some good trout, landlock and bass. Lots of small places to poke around in a yak that don't get pounded as much, too. I've fished Mendon Ponds out of the kayak in the fall with good success on bass and pike. The previous post suggested Honeoye for walleye, and that's probably your best bet. Both Oneida and Erie can see the best fishing well off shore this time of year. Spring is a different matter... Post some results and I bet you'll get lots of responses. It'd be nice to see a kayak fishing community grow up around here. Gator

So, we did end up getting out on Sunday afternoon for a few hours...it sounds like kayaking with the family was a good call for the morning, from what the DEC boys said. Must have been pretty rough. Anyway, three for three. One brown, one steelhead, and one mature. All in 85 FOW off the Nose, near the bottom (220 on the wire, 2 setting). West was definately best. Good luck to all this week! Gator

Down temp was 52F on the bottom in 85 fow (105 feet of cable) and we found a few small kings, a brown, a steelhead and a laker in there between Wautoma and Lighthouse. Headed North and picked up another small king in 250 fow, then had a minor flurry of activity around 370 fow with a few decent steelies and one major rip on the wire out 180. The temp came up as we went out until we were fishing the riggers in 48F water down 80 on the cable. Most of the hits came on sliders, regardless of where the riggers were at. Out again tomorrow afternoon. Scott-thanks for the invite! Steve ended up fishing with me, though I was sure he'd overslept this morning...he dropped his cell into the drink while kayaking last night and I couldn't get hold of him. Luckily for me, he showed up at 5:30 and we had a great morning...even if nothing was over six lbs. Hope you pounded them after we spoke! Gator, N'BN

Ha! You guys kill me! I'm trying to hook up with Steve for Saturday at least, but I do appreciate the offer, and I may take you up on it if he ends up unavailable. I'll give you some forewarning, though. Hopefully, between all of us, we can get a handle on the kings...it's not been the most productive year thus far. And if I start talking genetics this weekend, please, feel free to shoot me. Gator

Hey Joe, Hambley isn't fishing this weekend, but I might be if I can find a partner. Got to check with TripleS tonight. Gator

We fished from 330 to 450 fow from 50-80 down and 150-180 on the wires...three for three. One major, one teenager and one shaker. Quite a down-break out in 300 fow. The downtemp at 70 ft jumped five degrees as we trolled in. Didn't mark much all evening til the end, but that could have been the low light making them more active or the aforementioned break concentrating some bait and fish. Jerry's theory on the kings driving the bait to the surface proved good. Keith saw bait marking high, and we took the teenager a few seconds after that. Beautiful night. Fleas and flies weren't bad. Gator, N'BN

Just back from the great Lac Seul in Ontario, Canada...what a trip! We stayed four days with an outfit on the East side, then moved for the next five days to Silver Water Wheel (SWWL) on the South Central portion. Weather was great, fishing was hot, hot, hot, the bugs weren't bad, and our only complaint was getting nickeled and dimed to death at the first of the two lodges. For example, we were "charged" to park the car at the boat launch (the lodge was on an island) and I think we paid for the guide's gas as well as his fee. Minnows cost $200 for the four days. Ouch. Still, SWWL more than made up for it. SWWL keeps track of its fish as a management tool, so we actually had numbers for ourselves, as well as everyone else in camp. The last day alone, we had over 100 walleye that were 18"+ (topped out at 27.5") and 27 smallmouth bass better than 16" (on topwater!). Our largest pair of pike were 38". The boats were Aluminacraft 18' with Yamaha 90 hp 4-strokes and LCX-37c graphs (and we fished the same boats after dinner as we were guided in during the day). The guide has fished on the tour and knew his stuff; we learned a lot. And the scenery...well, it's Canada:) Best of all, the owner quoted us a price, and at the end of the trip, that's exactly what we paid. He even refunded our GST himself and discounted the price by the cost of our licenses, since we already had them. Beautiful. If anyone is thinking about a trip North to Sunset Country, give me a shout and I'll send you my research on lodges, prices, etc...with more details on our experience. Now, time to hit up the Big O! Gator

The biggest problem with some of the lakes around here, Honeoye in particular, is an overpopulation of bass. You can catch 10-14" fish til your arms fall off. Fishing them on beds isn't a bad thing in this lake. And bass in any lake produce more eggs than the ecosystem can possibly support...it's highly doubtful than any group of anglers is going to put even a fraction of the bass off their beds. Remember, it's only the "visible" beds that get fished. Gator

I just picked up a 17' Mr. Pike (93" beam) with a 115 4-stroke Yamaha and T8 kicker in April, and my boat only does 38 with three guys and gear. It's plenty fast. The 60 hp 4-stroke is going to be much better suited for trolling without a kicker, if that's your deal. This boat is a fishing machine. I fished Sacandaga out of a Pro Angler tiller model with a 60 hp 4-stroke last year (courtesy of John H., from another board) and that was enough to put me on Walleye Central every day for six months looking for the right rig to buy. Haven't regreted it one bit. As for the wind and waves, operator know-how is the single most important factor when a storm blows up. I wouldn't shy away from this boat based upon its size, at least not for any of the lakes here in New York. My two cents. Good luck selling. Gator

Smoke 'em! I use a Luhr Jensen Big Chief smoker (costs less than $100). The recipe: 1 cup soy sauce, 1 cup orange juice, 1/4 cup brown sugar, 2 Tablespoons kosher salt, 1 teaspoon ginger...marinade overnight, remove marinade, allow the pellicle to form for around 1 hr prior to smoking. Pepper to taste, then smoke for 4 hours. I like to use hickory chips. The fish will turn burnt orange, with brown near the edges. Most of the smokers out there will get over 170 degrees while smoking, so your fish will be hard smoked, not like lochs. Too long and you'll get laker brisquets, though. Even people who don't like trout or salmon will rave about this stuff. Gator

Keith (N'BN), Steve (Triple SSS) and I hit it up for walleye Saturday nite. I was 0/2...lost a nice fish in the weeds while flipping Senkos for bass early...but Steve banged two decent 4 lbers, and Keith managed one about the same. All came within a hour of "true" dark (~8:30 on) on jig heads tipped with a leech in 17 fow. The lake was flat as glass after the storms all day and there wasn't anyone there when we arrived at 5:30. The yahoos came out to play later though; we almost ended up like a bug on the windshield of a party boat cruising around after dark. Sounded like more than a few pops had been consumed on board...we got the, "WTF, that's a boat!!" when they got within about 30 yards of us and finally saw our mooring lights. Course, Steve waving his arms in the air and shouting mighta been their first clue... Disaster averted. Off to Lac Seul Friday, so this is likely my last post for awhile. Good luck and tight lines to everyone. Gator, N'BN

Talked to a couple of anglers as we were getting on the water and they indicated the bass were scattered, off the beds, and our best bet was to fish fast (ie spinnerbaits) off the points in 4-7 fow. They had a slow day, though, overall. So, we went North, fished 4-7 fow and ended up catching a few on plastics. Nothing on top, nothing on a spinnerbait, hardbait, etc.. An hour before dark, we went to the South end to jig for walleye in 20 fow. Lots of bait coming in at dark, but no eyes for us. Post-spawn transition period. Go figure. It was a gorgeous evening, though, and the company was good. Maybe they'll cooperate next time. Gator (N'BN)

It's too early in the morning to fall out of my seat laughing!!

And don't feel too bad about that skunk on board...we suffered the first ever on the "new" boat (3 1/2 yrs old) on Saturday. Not even a release. There were only two of us and the one guy had never fished the lake before and we only fished a couple hours and the sun was high and the wind and...I could whine and make excuses forever. Truth be told, we just didn't figure 'em out. Like Jeremy says, though, most of the time with a little experience you just learn to dial them in. You see certain conditions year after year and you know what to do. Then, when you think you've got it figured out, there's that big fat skunk crawling you-know-where again. The only thing for certain is that it'll all change before the next time. Good luck in the islands. Hope you hammer them snot-rockets...I've got another ten days til I leave for Lac Seul. That's about two more trips on the big pond, by my calendar. Gator, Nothin' but Net

heh, heh, heh...I'm still giggling over the thought that all these little guys will be big guys soon (and a seven lb king is only little in comparison to some of the others out there...Keith H. and I were thinking how they would compare on a fly rod). Nice to keep things in perspective, though. We've got one of the best fisheries on the planet; never know what she's going to give you from one year to the next. Enjoy! Gator

What's with all the cookie cutter kings this year? I lost count of the number of fish/releases we had, but the 150-170 fow range was just littered with 3-6 lb fish. Most of the fish came on the riggers between 55-60 feet down; could just be that the copper wasn't running where the fish were, but they did ocassionally take a hit. In fact, the only teenager came in 70 fow early on the copper, so it was worth running, but after a couple of 2 lb'ers on the copper...shoulders were aching. NBK, frog, "old" blue all produced. Speed was fast 2.5, currents were ripping to the east. Good luck this week. Gator

I'll add my two cents...boat control is key, and it's important to keep your line vertical so you're not "dragging". Also, your best bet is to use a superline (ie Powerpro in 12 lb test break strength...nice and thin!) with a fluorocarbon leader (6'). It really makes a difference in detecting strikes. Start off of the points, like bulletbob said, in 50 fow and look for bait balls or active fish. If you don't see them, they're still there, but more likely to be close to the bottom. Move out as necessary. Last weekend, the biggest fish were suspended, so watch your graph on the drop...the fish may come up to meet the jig. We prefer 1 oz roundheads with plastics or Deady Dick spoons (1 oz, also) unless it's rough. Then we move up to 1.5 oz saltwater type white striper jigs. Keep at it...it is really an art form, and skill shows with this type of fishing. But it is the most productive way to get lakers that I've ever found. Gator

Weak. Very weak. We couldn't find 'em. A few bucketmouths in <10 fow, but no walters, no panfish...weak. Great evening to be out, though. Temp=62F, weeds everywhere out to 20 fow. We could see our jigs in 16 fow. Couple other guys didn't appear to be doing much on the bluegills, either. Empty beds near shore. Gator

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