bulletbob

Lots of gas stations have them... Should be no problem finding them on the way.. just ask, some don't display them... In the Deans Cove area, if you are using worms/bobbers, you are going to catch mostly gobies these days if there is stony/pebbly bottom around.. They are ferocious, I actually gave up trying to do that fishing In cayuga , maybe you will have better luck, but in some places, you don't see anything else close to shore if fishing with worms...

Yet this very site is packed full of fishermen that live and breathe fishing tournaments of all types, and participate in every one they can with great anticipation.. Get hundreds of very good fishermen out there for days at a time, all hooking and handling a ton of fish, and you get lots and lots of dead fish.. pretty simple really. I would hope some of the "competitive fishermen" out there might re think their love to compete for a very vulnerable resource . The fish simply have few and fewer places to hide in the modern age of ultra high tech everything and are as fragile as ever.......

I know where you are coming from, I fished salt all my life... I have tried teasers when jigging lakers and it just never seemed to help much... Can't say why.but fresh water fish don't react the way salt water fish do... Fresh water fish of all species are less aggressive and more "spooky" than saltwater fish.. Salt water fish hit a teaser often more than the main jig, and sometimes you'll even get doubles.. It doesn't really work the same way with fresh water fish.. Last time out, I was watching my jig sink toward bottom on the sonar,, and I would jig it once or twice, and there were fish everywhere flying around it, but simply would not hit it, or I would get a quick little bump and thats it... If those were blues/stripers/weaks/fluke/sea bass/or any other salt water predator, they would smash it, not swarm around it and then take off.. From my experience. the teaser on a jig in fresh water seems to spook the fish more than entice them to hit/.. Others may disagree and have had better luck... Its just never worked for me in fresh the way it does in salt, so much so that I gave up trying. long ago.... bob

Understood.. I was just being a Richard head... NY just isn't a great state for crappies, outside of a few large productive lakes, and the finger lakes are not really all that well suited for them.. they exist, yes, but are in isolated pockets, and the times when they are catchable are fleeting.. Never really understood all the mania over Crappies anyway... Perch are as good or better eating, easier to find and catch, and there are a LOT more of them... Same thing with big Sunnies... easy to find and catch, lots of them and one of the best fish to eat, yet no one much fishes for them... I do... Yes I would love a lake full of big Crappies not too far from home, but not sure one exists.. the lakes i know that have Crappies are hit HARD and it was almost impossible to catch a keeper when the size limit was 9 inches, Now at 10 inches it IS impossible... I understand where you are coming from... bob

yeah, but not if only the guys "in the know" fish it right??.. Even if there are 50 guys "in the know"...

said it before.. On this board, guys will tell you boat speed, lure type and color,depth the fish are holding , water temp and depth, lake or river in question, time of day, and exact spot when discussing Trout/salmon trolling... When the discussion is about Crappie and Perch [to a lesser extent,some guys will share perch info] you don't hear much.. good Crappie fishing is tough to come by and with the new 10 inch minimum its even tougher, most guys that are in the know tend to clam up.

Here in Cayuga Lake, the SMB fishing was insane as well, for years.. I can remember fishing in early summer with my young at the time kids, with worm/bobber for big fat Bluegills,Pumpkinseeds,Rock bass,Yellow perch, and huge bass would constantly hit little pieces of washed out garden worm until it was an annoyance! they were disturbing our panfishing!.. They were everywhere, and they were big those SMB.. They were even caught in dead of winter by guys shoreline casting for Trout/LL salmon. Then one spring day I think in 2008, I saw the entire surface of the lake covered with dead SMB, Rock Bass,Perch, Carp, Suckers, Bullheads, Pike, Pickerel, even a walleye and a White Bass... I recall the dead fish were piled so deep on the beach at Taughannock Park, a bucket loader was needed to remove them... The lake at that time was already compromised by Zebra mussels, and then shortly thereafter the Goby disaster unfolded, and as a result I have not caught a single SMB in Cayuga Lake in well over 10 years.. In some areas of that lake I don't even see sunfish or rock bass any longer, in spots where we used to catch them by the hundreds... I know they are still in the lake, but probably only a small percentage of what was in the lake historically... Its not discussed here, because this site is 95% dedicated to trolling for salmonids, but between VHS, Gobies, and mussles, cayuga fish populations have been decimated in some areas.. Trout are doing fine because they are open water species and are augmented by stocking, but may other fisheries have been hit very hard, especially at the south end of the lake.. I used to catch so many big SMB there it was insane.. It got so bad, I simply stopped fishing for them in cayuga...

Fish are fish and they do what they want when they want.. Sometimes they just don't hit period-even when conditions/weather/time/temperature are perfect... Many years ago, I caught 26 Walleye, all legal size,]orl] standing on the same rock at 3PM in the afternoon, on a very sunny, warm early September day, in maybe 5 or 6 feet of water... those Walleye had NO business being there at that time of day, in that kind of bright sun, in water that warm and shallow.. Yet there they were, and would hit ANYTHING I threw at them, large or small, instantly.. Never happened before that wonderful day, never happened again... I don't really understand fish, and I have been at this for over 60 years, since I was a little kid... Every single time I think I have it all figured out with ANY fish, they make a monkey out of me,,, As the old saying goes, "thats why they call it fishing, not catching"... bob

I would use hardwood dowels as the others, but have found NOTHING as strong as plain old JB Weld...Hard as a rock,and seals perfectly.. Paints over easily as well...

also, they can be disgusting to eat once the water warms up,, I find them inedible in some lakes, and quite good in others.. They are a LOT better to eat in spring than in summer in a lot of places.. \ I can't say where it is, as it would get hammered relentlessly if word got out,but I know of a small public lake that regularly gives up truly massive bullheads of to 3 pounds-18 to 20 inches... Not a numbers type of pond, never caught more than 2 or 3 in a day, usually one or none,but the ones in there are the biggest I have ever seen in NYS.... bob

Another tip... Use dead minnows, dead sawbellies or cut bait from suckers ,chubs etc. or pieces of store bought shrimp instead of worms.. The little sunnies and 4 inch perch tend not to bother those baits as much... Some places its not a problem, but in some spots the sunnies. perch, shiners, etc, etc will drive you crazy... they don't bother cut bait as much as worms and bullheads love it...

I was an ASE master auto tech for many years.. I had to work on every conceivable oddball car or truck that came through the door.. A LOT of what I did was stuff I had never touched seen or even heard of.. You made calls, got specs, tech literature or in later years, computer files, took your wrench in hand and did the repair.. I guess I am just getting old.... In any case, there ARE guys out there that would be happy to do the work, might just need to do some searching... bob

I understand that.. However, there are millions of those motors still out there, and most parts are still readily available. If I have no trouble sourcing parts, neither should a professional repair shop... I do almost all repairs on every motor I own, and the times I have tried to get help from a "real pro" have been a financial and operational disaster.. I can understand parts availability issues I suppose, but not ineptitude , indifference,or price gouging. I mean seriously, a lot of know nothing mechanics" like me can get through most outboard repairs on a motor from the 90's, but a trained outboard mechanic can't?? I don't get it... bob

I only troll a few times a year typically in spring at the south end of Cayuga Lake.. I would like to try trolling streamers this spring, but don't know that much about it.. I have trolled hair/ maribou jigs before and caught fish on them... What are a few good patterns, and what hook size ??.. Is the Clouser pattern a decent starting point?... White?... Is any weight added such as a split shot to get them down a few feet?... Any info would be helpful.. I don't use planers, riggers etc, just out the back of the 14 foot boat a couple hundred feet back... any helpful information would be well appreciated.. I always catch a few fish on plugs/spoon/jigs, but feel the right type and size streamer might get a me a few more fish at certain times... bob