Fishin With Phil

Nice Fish! I can't wait to catch one of those! Phil

Yeah, I can get used to the crappie thing. Tasted damn good. I don't ever hear about too many eyes comin through the ice at Conesus though...

Fished the north end of Conesus this afternoon. A little slower than last week. Thought I had a nice bass on the bluegill jig but after playin her for awhile I saw Spots! 15'' Crappie! Beat my 13''er from CA to make a new PB. Ended up gettin another one but not as big. A few dozen bluegill ended out the day. No pike. Did hear lots of hootin and hollerin though... Nice day on the ice. Phil

Finally got out for the first time this year. Still only my 3rd time ever on the ice. Fished the North End with Steve the "Fishin Foool". Caught about 20 keeper gills and got a nice bass suprise on the jiggin rod. Awesome day on the ice! Thanks for the tips and the awesome food Steve! Phil

Nice bass Waylander!

We will have to set up another trip sometime soon.

Nice pic Stan, but next time turn the boat a little to the left before snappin it I miss that lake. Phil

There are also free launching spots along the west end south of the bridge about a mile? I have launched there twice and it is a short paddle to the commerant island and docks behind houses. The bust luck I've had has been around the docks. Welcome to the sport of kayak fishing. The most important thing for new kayak fisherman (besides safety) is to keep it simple. For a more kayak friendly place to fish, try Hemlock lake. There are no big boats and it is mighty purdy. Another tip: paddle into the wind after launching and use the wind to propel you back to where you launched. This way you don't have to worry about getting too tired paddling into the wind on the way back. It also allows you to work new water. Just watch out for the dredded wind change. Use this site to guage the wind http://www.wunderground.com/cgi-bin/fin ... uery=14607 use the hourly tool. Feel free to ask me more questions about fishing and rigging your kayak. Good luck! Phil

Nice fish. I have to give that lake a try.

No worries man. I've been pretty busy. Next week sounds good. Lemme know Phil

Well we tried two brief outings. No love from the toothies. My 62 yr old dad had a tough time fishing out of a kayak and could only last a little over an hour. We tried from shore a little too. All I got was a bass. It was still fun fishin with him again and am looking forward to fishin the California Delta on his nice boat in August. Phil

My dad is coming from CA this week and really wants to catch his first muskie. I told him we have to travel far, or be incrediblely lucky, but we can hope for the next best thing... Tigers in Conesus! So I decided to do a little scout trip. Had to drop the gf at work so didn't get on the water til abuot 9. The breeze was already goin steady so I used it to propel my drift over the weedy flats in the north end. I was workin a spook and on the third cast I saw the boil. I fought the instinct to set the hook immediatly and waited for weight. After a good fight pulled up this guy... Nice fish, but not what I was searchin for. I was throwin a big firetiger mepps hopin for some toothy ones. Had a decent one follow it and worked the lure under my yak, but no hit. I was workin the lure really fast over the weeds when I felt like I hit a brick wall! It took me a second to realize it was a fish. He was fightin really hard, but no match for my heavy stick. After a couple minutes I see him. He was a big big pike! I have never seen one that big. Get him close to the yak and kinda scared of what I am going to do when I get him on my lap! Just as I had him a few feet from the net, he shook his head on the surface and threw the hook! If you heard someone yelling around 10:00 it was me! I normally loosen the drag before netting anything big in case they want another run, but I forgot. Still probably would have thrown it. Oh well! I bought minnows but it was tough to fish with them with all the weeds. The best rig I could think of was a 1oz. striper bucktail tipped with a shiner. I would drop this in the holes but no love. I put it in the holder 4 feet under the yak and it didn't get hung. While workin the spinner I notice it gets a few ticks and look and see a decent sized pike hittin the minnow. He was really smart and would not hit the hook and jug, just the minnow. He ripped it off the jig and took off. I thought of usin a stinger, but realized I would get snagged too often. After a couple hours of no love, I decided to try shallow. I figure bluegills on bed have to be esay prey right? I put on a bluegill sized spinnerbait and headed over to the west end and immediatly picked up a nice smallmouth in 3' of water... Nice fish, but not what I wanted. A little later workin the drift I get hit hard in 4' and thought it was another bass... wrong! I get him to color and see it is a pike! Just as I get him near the boat I am near a dock and had to push off with my net and just grabbed the fish with my hand and pulled him in. I was wrong about it bein a pike. It was a tiger! The markings on his back are very similar to the ones on mine from poor sunscreen application the last 2 times out... Once in the boat I put him in the net to keep him from jumpin out. Not huge, but as my first ever tiger, I was pretty stoked. He measured around 20'' Took some pics and let him back in. Fished another hour and called it a day. All fished released. So now when my dad gets here, I'll have an idea of how to target these guys. Hopefully get a biggun. Look for us on our blue kayaks in a couple days. Thanks again Waylander. Phil

Nice fish! My dad is comin out from CA this week and I'm going to try to get him his first pike. It's nice to know there are some nice bass there in case the pike don't hit. Phil

I had my girlfriend drop me off in the dark at the state fishing spot in Riverton. I launched around 5:00 A.M. and drifted, paddled, and fished 10.5 miles to Red Creek in the canal. Here is a map. Down in Riverton is a really cool stretch of river. It is not too wide, and the current is swift and creates lots of eddies. These eddies looked fishy, but I didn't get any hits. The current pushed me along between 1 and 2 knots and was a good speed to work some casts. I also drifted live bait. Found a 25' deep hole in one of the bends and trolled against the current for abit but again no bites. About a mile downriver I got this guy on a minnow. I decided to try a worm harness. I had to paddle a little faster than the current to keep the blades spinnin. A little downriver I got this guy. I didn't think he was legal at first. But he measured 16''. Not huge, but I was still excited as he was my first ever legal keeper walleye and I decided to keep him. I worked my harness back upriver the same spot and immediatly got this one. He was a little bigger at 18''. They fought harder than I expected. That spot did not yield any more so I kept on down the river. I got this guy ahile later. He was also 16''. Also got some rockbass. Tried a lot of things but what they wanted was a 3 hook ventilator worm harness with a nightcrawler with a 3oz. bottom bouncer. I paddled just faster than the current when goin downriver, and really slow goin up. Out of the 4 I have caught there only was was on an upstream troll. Made it to the canal and red creek at 5:00 PM and on the water for 12 hours. It was a whole lotta fun fishin the river. I saw beavers, otters, birds, wooducks, and walleye. I can't wait to do it again. Phil

Nice fish Solgrande!

I'm thinkin it would be hella fun to launch just north of avon and paddle and drift all day and have my gf pick me up at black creek or the canal. Does anyone know of any spots to launch a kayak around there? There is a launch at Honeyoe creek, but that might be a little too far south. Any spots around the I-90? Anyone fish the river around there? Phil

Solgrande is that an A's hat in you avater? If so way to go. I love the A's.

Yeah. Thanks again for the tips. I went to Gander and Dicks but could not find those lures. I guess I will have to order some. Here are some pics and a better report... Got this dude on a nightcrawler. It was cool hearin him croak. I like these fish. I am not used to river fishing. It seems a little harder. There are so many damn snags in the river that it makes it tough to get into a rhythm. The wind was howling with the current the whole time as I trolled upriver planning to drift back. Around the bends I realized the wind shifted and was now facing the current. This stopped any drift. The wind finally died and I got into a rhythm paddling backwards slowly downstream workin a spinner harness on one rod and a jig on the other. The eye came a little upstream of the Jefferson rd bridge in 11ft. on a worm harness. Wished he was bigger. I worked that area most of the rest of the afternoon. I saw more fish on the sonar there than any other spot, but no more love. Got the smallmouth on a floatin rapala just upstream of the bridge. Nothin special so I did not shoot a pic. Many people were fishin Saturday. All the boats slowed down as they passed me which I appreciate very much! Thank you. Only one wake went over my side. Guys were tellin me the eyes were hittin a few miles upriver. They told me this as it was gettin late and I opted against headin up there. Just downstream of the bridge I saw somethin flappin in the water. I picked this guy up with my paddle and we hung out for a while... Poor guy was shiverin pretty bad. I dropped him off on the bank and he flew off about a half hour later. I hope he makes it... Saw some cool otters too... The river is pretty cool to fish. Maybe next time I will try below the falls at the island. Thats if I can find a spot to launch nearby. Hope you enjoy this boring report, Phil

I launched at Black Creek around 2:00. The wind and current were goin pretty good so I trolled crankbaits upriver. Got up to the bends in the river and tried lots of things, but only got a sheepshead. I tried slow trollin a worm harness and got a 13'' walleye. Ended the day at 9:00 with a smallmouth on a rapala. Not as good fishin I was hopin for, but still a great day on the water. Phil

Nice! Sounds like fun. No eyes yet?

Google Art's Bait Shop. It's just a bit north of the lake. He didn't have pike minnows last time I went though...

Sounds like fun. Thanks for the report. Keep em comin. Phil

I have a chance to fish for a bit on saturday afternoon. I would like to catch walleye. Would not mind catchin bass or pike though... Can fish until dark, but not after. Cannot leave the Rochester Area. Am I better off tryin I-bay or the Gen at Black Creek? Or maybe the Gen around the canal? I'm leanin towards the river as I imagine the bay will be kinda busy Sat afternoon... I'm also thinkin those annoying rowing kids with their oblivious coaches that like to haul ass by my kayak in their aluminum boats will not be there because it's a weekend... What do you think? Any tips on how to get them? Thanks dudes Phil

Ok. Sounds good to me.

Sounds like I need to try this lake out... Is there a place I can launch my kayak and park nearby? Phil