bulletbob

I fish several times a a year in salt water.. Either on party boats for bottom fish such as sea bass, hake, porgies, flounder, blackfish[tautog] etc, or on my own 18 foot boat for fluke, bluefish, stripers etc.. Depends on whats around, time of year etc.. Mostly at the NJ shore.. I usually go alone as most people don't want to take the 225 mile ride each way, or don't want to spend the money.. anyway, i thought perhaps there might be a few guys that live/fish in the finger lakes region that would enjoy these ocean/bay trips now and then... Party boats fares are about $70 including pool, plus whatever gas we use to get there and back, or if I take my boat, its gas, ramp fee and bait.. Probably a $50-60 bill each to trailer a boat down.. Thats usually a May -Nov type thing.. Party boats do sail all year btw, if you are tough enough to fish on the ocean in 20 degree weather... In any case, I am just seeing if anyone in the area would like to do some salt water fishing.. The fish are bigger, stronger and WAY better to eat than what we have up here... Thats why Wegmans gets $20 for a whole 1 1/2 pound Sea Bass, with the head, fins,gills still on!... I don't stay down there, I leave candor around 1 am, get there around 5 or 6 am,, fish and then come home.. Its a long tiring day, but its a lot of fun, and some of the very best eating fish you can imagine.. Just putting it out there.. PM me with interest, and we can talk about it... bob

Hope I can get out there once more before we get into another brutal winter.. I would love to try the north end around the state park.. Haven't fished there in years. Thanks to all that shared, and helping me realize i was simply being lazy, and not expanding my search for active fish. I won't make that mistake again... I hope.. I have 3 boats, but can't get to them as the area in my yard where they are is oozy soft DEEP mud, and my 4 wd pickup sinks down to the axles, and just spins all the tires, when I make the attempt.. I believe I need to rethink my "boat storage area"... duh.. Oh well,, maybe I can get one of them out of the mud before July hits.... bob

It would seem to me they would have to go where thier food is most readily available -wherever that is.. Food is foremost.. Just look at the Finger Lakes.. Lakers by nature area bottom fish.. salmon, rainbows and browns are stream fish.. Smallmouth bass are a fish of rock bottom streams.. Pike are weed dwellers.. Yet ALL of these fish are turned into open water fish at times in the fingers -- they might be 75 feet down over 150 fow, because thats where the bait is.. We have all caught bass while laker jigging near bait, FAR from the rocks/ sparse weeds/docks/structure they should be relating to by nature.. Some of us have caught Pike as well while laker fishing, with the closest weed 1/2 miles away,,, Why?.. They were relating to their primary food source. usually sawbellies in the large Finger Lakes... Food WILL trump habitat and temperature preferences, at least some of the time... bob

Actually I feel better knowing I was just fishing the wrong area.. I need to STOP assuming fish will always be in the same spots I always used to catch them. Can't catch fish that aren't where you are fishing... bob

Never thought about the fact that they may have moved due to the spawn.. I know they spawn a lot later at Keuka than they do on Cayuga.. In Cayuga most of the fish move away from the north and south ends of the lake and go to areas between Myers and Sheldrake, with a majority near the park. I suppose they might move in keuka during the spawn as well ,... I dunno, either that or I just suck at fishing.. Just NEVER saw such empty screens as long as I have been jigging lakers , at least 20 years. Not even 1 chaser today... Our friend Copperliner has told me the area he did well at, and it was nowhere near where i was... Maybe next time... bob

Was out today from 6:15 am till 11:30, jigging near the Bluffs. All depths from about 80 to 150 FOW. Never had a touch, and saw almost NO fish at all.. A stray scratch on the FF screen every 20 minutes or so... Keuka was for years my absolute best "go to" lake for lakers.. Nowadays, I can't even get a hit there .. haven't caught more than one or two on any given day last few years.. It must be me, as other guys are getting a lot of lake trout in Keuka.. i simply am having trouble understanding how I have gone from always catching a ton of lakers there, to seeing none at all on the screen and not getting even a hit.. Saw no bait either.... I have not launched from the south end of the lake, and its been years since I have launched at the state park in branchport.. Any ideas??.. Am i just fishing the wrong area by staying within a few miles of the Bluffs?... I used to see incredible screens all around that area, now i am waiting for a half hour to find one suspended mark, and for all i know, I am dropping the jig down on a carp or something... I also see very few boats there anymore as well.. There were couple guys in close to the shoreline either bass or perch fishing, but I was all alone fishing for lakers on a gorgeous 70 degree day... never saw another boat jigging deep around the Bluffs today. Getting really discouraged about fishing Keuka these days, as I simply can't figure out why all of a sudden, i started getting skunk after skunk , fishing the same techniques, lures and areas I used to catch dozens of fish at... Sorry for the rant, but I am really perplexed after jigging over 5 hours without even a hit.. I was going to go to Cayuga which is less than 1/2 the distance, but historically, Keuka was always hotter for me this time of year for lake trout so I took the ride,,,.. Not looking for spots or anything.. just let me know if the Bluffs are the wrong place to fish Keuka these days.. Any help would be appreciated... bob

Can't comment on trolling at night, but I would tend to doubt it.. I can say for certain however that lakers DO hit jigging spoons painted with flourescent paint.. The kind you have to shine a light on.. Paint a few heavy jigging spoons with it.. Get a good strong flashlight on it for 15 seconds or so and send it down to your marks.. they WILL hit at night.. However its a big pain in the butt.. You must reflash the lure every time you bring it up as light effect doesn't last long at all.. I would bet a cyalume stick on a jigging spoon would draw hits as well, and last longer.. The question is .. "why bother?... Just go early in the AM, get your lakers, and leave early... bob

Guff.. You mentioned "perch minnows"... Are you talking about generic small minnows the size that would be used for perch fishing , or actual baby perch?... I have been having awful fishing for about the past 2 years on Keuka, and really don't know what the problem is.. Years ago, if I caught 3 or 4 I was ashamed to report because everyone else was catching 20 or more... I had a few 30 fish days there in the past.. Now I get skunked regularly.. Last time there in May I never even had a hit.. I couldn't even feel that bad, because I talked to several other boats and no one had more than one... Something bad has happened in that lake in the past several years, or I simply don't know how to fish it anymore.. I used to hammer lakers in the fall there.. Might try again in October/November before I write it off.. Like Hermit I spend more time fishing for Walleyes these days, but still love Keuka laker fishing, and hope it comes back strong. bob

Used to catch 12-14 inch rock bass in Cayuga regularly in spring/early summer for years,, One day I caught over 100 rockies of all sizes there.. Then about 7 years ago there was a huge die off of bass, pike, perch, sunnies, rock bass, suckers, bullheads, etc, and I never caught another rock bass in the lake. Not sure they even exist in Cayuga anymore.. Sunfish too.. The Gobies have decimated some of the panfish species in Cayuga from what I have seen... bob

Lots of bait on the east side, but you are right, not a lot on them from what I could see on my screen and I do have a good FF- Garmin 500C.. When I moved across the lake to the west side i saw more big marks on the bait pods, and it was calm enough in the shelter of the coves to stay on them long enough to hook up twice.. I always run right across the lake right to the east side without even checking the west side.. I think I will break that habit for a while... bob

While I am sorry you guys didn't do well, it makes me feel better knowing I wasn't the only one that found poor fishing in that area on friday.. I might have seen you guys out there as I was in the same area from 6 till about 11, when I crossed over to the west side and lucked into those fish. There were several boats jigging that stretch . That steady south wind didn't help... Personally, I always have trouble and never do very well when there are whitecaps on the lake. Both fish I caught were on the lee side of Taughannock Point. The rainbow was caught north of the point as the morning's south wind was dying down in fairly calm water, and then the wind instantly turned around to the north at one point, and I went south of T point to again fish on the lee side.. It worked out.. There were fish and bait on both sides of the lake, it was just easier to stay on them for a while on the west side in the coves north and south of T point. I had my old 18 foot Starcraft, and it does not have a bow mounted trolling motor yet.. I should probably get one on there... bob

I have found a deep water jigging lure that I think will add a lot of silvers.. Jigging is great, but lets face it, its mostly lakers and once in a blue moon you luck into a salmon, brown or rainbow, but still its 100 to 1... I will do some more experimenting, but don't want to say much right now, as there are just too many lurkers, and I prefer at this time to keep this within the community. If this works as well as i thought when I discovered these lures and bought a few online, I will let the members here know what i found via PM... bob

LL had lamprey marks.. rainbow had a lamprey on but the bastard got off when I was finagling the grab around the gills.. That SOB eel is lucky i forgot my net.. If I had it, and got that eel in the boat, it would be on the bottom in about 5 pieces getting shredded by the goby hordes....