JCfish88

We're trying to make sure we avoid any trouble in case we want to check out the ice fishing action on these lakes sometime tomorrow. I know traditionally you've needed to have the special watershed permit, but this link says a permit is no longer required? http://nyfalls.com/lakes/hemlock.html Can anyone verify this? I found a downloadable 2010 permit, but am thinking it makes sense that I can't find a 2011 one if it is no longer necessary. Also, does anyone know if there's any action on these lakes? Thanks!

Quick bump - Does anyone know if the North end public launch is totally closed? On the website it said it's active until "mid-October." Does that mean you can't use it at all anymore?

Hey Everyone, Been reading lots of great stuff here and marveling at the awesome trout action you all have been seeing lately. Very cool! Anyways, my dad and I have decided that we need to get in on this trout fishing while it seems to be going well. We live right near Canandaigua and have been panfishing the lake for years. While we love bringing in perch and the occasional smallmouth, we're looking to expand our horizons a little bit. We want to give either trolling or jigging a try sometime next weekend in order to catch something big out there. We'll be launching from the North end in a standard recreational boat. With that said, I had a couple of questions in order to help prepare for the outing. 1) Would vertically jigging with the drift be a better bet versus trolling? We have one big fish rod but the rest are pretty standard spin-reels currently rigged up with 6lb test. 2) Would it be a good idea to buy any live bait - say like the large shiners? Or should we stick to spoons and artificial stuff? 3) We don't have a fish-finder, but we do have a depth finder. Are there any general areas near the North end where we could just pick a depth and start working 60ft down or whatever? Sorry these questions are so uniformed, but like I said, we're used to bringing a bucket of fatheads and can of worms out to 15 feet and hoping for a dozen perch and a 14" smallmouth on a good day. This is a whole new ballgame! Thanks