Second Chance 22

I can't disagree with anything you say.

My boat has stickers all over it that say it's a "21" , but my registration clearly says its a "20". Maybe it's time to upgrade or move.

Nice ride. However, this "21 footer" is not 21 feet long, so you will have to wear the PFD's during the required period. A 1989 trophy 2159 is only 20.67 feet long. Sorry.

How are you fishing the rapalas? Are you running them off the riggers or off of dipsies?

Taylor's Pond was last stocked with Kokanee in 2001. NYSDEC does not believe any remain there.

New York quit stocking them several years ago due to budget cuts.

Recovery operations continue on the southern end of Owasco for the gentleman that drowned this weekend.

I recommend that anyone fishing avoid the southern third of the lake. There are numerous agencies involved, with many boats searching- from the West shore to the East shore. Some are dragging the lake, others have underwater cameras, and there are divers down. They are asking that anyone trolling stay at least 300 feet from them, which is almost impossible given all of the activity in the area.

How long would they have to sit at the launch to have anglers bring in the 300 or 400 fish needed for their analysis to be accurate? Would it be a representitive sample of what's in the lake, or just of what we can (collectively) catch?

Because NYSDEC fisheries biologists DO work Memorial Day weekend checking fish at the Sampson and Geneva weigh stations during the National Lake Trout Derby, they avoid having to set nets in Seneca. They wish there were similar opportunities for data collection on the other Finger Lakes, but unfortunately they just don't exist.

They set nets in Cayuga and get the data they need when they collect laker eggs in the Fall.

It's too bad that something couldn't be done with the dead fish, but without the data acquired from the netting, DEC would have no idea how many fish to stock.

The nets were set in deeper, colder water. I don't believe then intended to catch any bows or browns.

Interesting article.

For the record however, the state record lake trout was caught in lake Erie by Jesse Wykstra on 8/9/03- it weighed 41lbs. 8 oz (source: NYSDEC website).

Various members of the Finger Lakes Trollers Assn. used to take a side trip each year to Erie around the third week of June to hunt trophy lakers- almost every one on the trip would take at least one laker between 20 and 26 lbs.

Skaneatles doesn't produce many large lake trout, they don't have the feed to grow quickly, however some are caught each year the range into the mid 20's.

Seneca's claim to "lake trout capital of the world" I think is based on both size and numbers. Six hundred and sixty five fish were weighed in during this year's NLTD (mostly lakers).

I heard second hand that the recent DEC netting on Canandaigua revealed that the baitfish population has collapsed. The word has it that the fish 95 fish checked contained no bait.One fish had two five inch lakers in its stomach and another only contained a lemon peel.

Makes me wonder if I'm using the right bait.

I don't change hook sizes. The replacements are size 4 for the scorpians which are nearly identical to the original ones. I rarely change the hooks on the other size Michigain Stingers as I haven't had hook related problems with them (I do replace used hooks that aren't sharp any more). Hope this helps.

I used to loose way to many fish on Scorpian Stingers.

Now I replace the stock hook with an Owner ST-36 "super needle point" and I have to find other excuses when I lose one.

My only complaint is that I haven't found a source to by them in bulk, buying them 6 at a time at Bass Pro is making someone rich.

We were as shallow as 40 and as deep as 120. You might say we were "exploring".

I believe the spoons name is "orangasm". It sometimes works for landlocks, this is the first Brown I ever caught on one.

Your description of the green can location is great- sounds like you may have learned the bottom contour there the way I did. If my geography is correct, it's north of Levanna and South of Carr's Cove

Fished near the Silos on Cayuga's North end on Wednesday- weeds were horrible. Weeds are the result of increased water clarity due to the zebra mussels. This has resulted in weed beds in deeper water (great for pike).

About lake source cooling. Weeds are a problem on Seneca and the other Finger Lakes which have no lake source cooling, but has plenty of zebras. Also, Lake Source Cooling releases 54 degree water into the lake, so the released water is "warmer" in the Winter, but it is actually releasing cool water into warmer water this time of year!!!

Launched out of Dean's Cove this morning at 4:30. I have never seen the lake so flat.

Fished the top 30 FOW with inline boards from the Cove to the Green Can. Took one nice Brown -6Lbs. 4 oz on a stinger about 20 down over 110FOW.

Lots of weeds made for difficult fishing (at least with boards). Water temp on top was 58 degrees.

Saw a loon-always a good sight.

Results include 12lb lakers, an 11 lb brown and a 10lb 'bow. http://www.laketroutderby.org/index.html

South Shore Marina's tourny is June 20 and 21st. Details, including entry blanks, can be found on their web site: http://ssmonowasco.net/tournaments.html

Again this year I will be skipping this derby. Fishing Barney's and the National Lake Trout Derby on sucessive weekends is just to much- wish Barney would schedule his derby one week earlier. By the way, I heard a reliable report today of a twelve pound Brown caught recently by a shore fisherman by the lighthouse near Stewart Park.

The best place to catch Keuka landlocks could be............Dresden. Many of NY's landlocks move downstream. Any that travel too far down Keuka outlet would eventually end up in Seneca. (or occasionally even Lake Ontario).

It would be interesting to see would happen if the Keuka landlocks were fin clipped with a unique clip.

I suspect that Keuka's hungry lake trout have a greater impact on the rainbow fishery, since the rainbows are much smaller when they enter the lake than the stocked landlocks and browns.

47 boats participated (5 perch)

1st Tom Michell Jr. , Jeff Paige 8.13lbs $489

2nd Tom Michell Sr., Carl Smithover, Frank Jeffery 7.60 lbs. $326

3rd Steve Labarr, Steve Wright, Spencer Morrison 7.45 lbs. $244.50

4th Jeff Kilbury, Ron Laverde 7.39lbs. $163

5th Ethan Sleeman, Craig Sleeman, John Wilbur 6.57 lbs. $81.50

Lunker: Labarr and crew $163

Cash Draw B Petko and Rex Ward $163

Reminder, tomorrow's the day. (Sunday)

There was a large run the week between Christmas and New Year's. They ran some more towards the end of January. March has been warm and a lot of spawning has taken place. About the only thing that has yet to run are the rubbernosed trout.

Avon Anglers has open trout derbies scheduled on Canandaigua for April 11th and April 25th. Details will be posted on their web site later this Winter.

The stamp will be required on designated Trout and Salmon waters. So on say Lake Ontario, which will undoubtedly be designed a trout and salmon water, all of the fishermen on the water will need the stamp-even if they are fishing for something else such as perch or bass.

When I fished out of Sampson the week before you did the surface temp was 60 degrees- and it was 60 degrees 70 foot down. I don't think most people without a temp probe realize just how long it takes for these lakes to lose their warmth.

We trolled from south of Sampson in 90 fow until we reached the Officers Club and took exactly nothing. Turned out towards deep water and took a 6 lber on the turn in 120 fow. Trolled back to almost Lodi point and took about 25 lakers. All but four were taken on the same spoon fished within a couple of feet of bottom- three of the exact same size and color spoons caught exactly one fish while the one just of the bottom caught 20 or so...

Never did find any "off" fish. Hope this helps.