Followed The Waves

Very nice and very exciting---good luck with everything!

Very nice!

OMG!

Outstanding! Looks like you got it.

Seneca is rockin!

Quickie report from the Derby… Fished Saturday from 5:15 AM until 6:15 PM and managed one nice laker and a small salmon. I started out jigging for a while but couldn't get anything going. Boat traffic didn't look too bad so I set out 3 rods and trolled to the north end in that mess. The north end looked pretty busy and a lot of guys were fishing pretty close to shore so I went out in the deep water and jigged up this 7.44 pounder in 138 feet of water. I made the leaderboard for an hour or two and then the 8 pounders came in and I got bumped off. It was a nice, healthy, pretty fish with just one old lamprey scar. I didn't get out until 11 AM on Sunday due to the wind but I caught a sub-legal salmon and a rainbow trolling. Wind was blowing again Monday morning so I packed up and headed south. Great weekend though---the conditions were challenging and any day on the water is a great day and it's always fun to BS with the guys back at the marina. I met Lily Friday night as he was carving up his winner. Follow the waves!

Nice fish and good dudes! Had a a nice chat with them in the marina. Good luck to everyone tomorrow and be careful if it’s foggy out there!

I can't remember if it was the Saturday morning or Sunday morning crew, but I could hear those guys hooting and hollering from a mile away.

Here is a link to a local guide who fishes a lot on Cayuga who may be able to help: Finger Lakes Angling Zone He fishes a lot out of Long Point.

WOW. I hope they've been feasting on lamprey eels.

Very nice! Do you recall the water temp? I had 40 degrees on the surface on Seneca tonight in 75 FOW.

Thanks for the encouragement and great report! I don't know where you fish but I'm hoping to get the boat opened up on Seneca this weekend, wind permitting…

Bump

Outstanding! Very nice, healthy-looking fish!

You earned it out there and thanks for the encouragement. My marina opens in two months!

As far as your presentation goes, I've probably caught 10 lakers ripping the jig back to the boat for every laker I've caught "jigging." As far as the retrieve speed back to the boat goes, I had my best luck really honking it. Once you are able to see the fish, you can probably gauge their mood and how aggressive they may be feeding and biting. If you see a line firing out of the mud on the bottom heading straight up to your jig, start honking it back to the boat like you are a baitfish swimming for your life once the two lines meet. The line going up is the fish and the other line you see going down is your jig. It's very interactive and fun to watch on the TV. Sometimes they will grab it right at the boat. I'm sorry to be a wet blanket but for laker jigging right now, Seneca pretty much sucks. I see you are based in Romulus and I wasn't sure if you were fishing Cayuga or Seneca. My boat isn't trailerable and I love my marina on Seneca, so I'm staying put for now, hoping she comes back. I bought some trolling equipment and with some pointers from our good friend Nick O, I've been putting a few fish (mostly silvers) in the boat but most of them have been on the small side. Meh...

I agree with Spoonfed on the bait. I have two Humminbird Helix 5's. One has all the bells and whistles and one is just plain sonar. I track my jig better on the cheaper sonar unit. I'd start by cranking the gain all the way to max and if you get too much clutter or noise, back it off a bit. I also have the chart speed set to max. If you are fishing for Lakers, I'd also just focus on the bottom 25 feet or so. The Humminbird has a Bottom Lock feature or I can also set the depth range manually with a high and a low. Also, turn off Fish Detect or whatever feature Garmin calls it. If you are drifting, toss the jig out ahead of the boat so that you are directly over the jig by the time the boat catches up. The distance you toss it depends on the wind speed (more wind, farther toss). Once you get it worked out, you should be able to see a 1 ounce jig in 140 FOW. Hope that helps---good luck!

Looks like it's getting worse before it gets better. Haven't caught a fish jigging all year but managed a few trolling. Still SAD!