Clarkie

Nice old copper rig.... However it's not a Seth Green Rig.. The Seth Green Rig used a heavy weight on the bottom and multiple leaders.. When old Seth himself fished it, it was used with bait.. Eventually, spoons replaced the bait, at least on a day rig... Until 30 or 40 years ago, Seth Green rigs were commonly used with short leaders and bait, usually at night.. I can remember when there were 100 or more night lights off Hammondsport on a summer night.. It was as much a social event as a fishing trip..

You can't fix stupid... However, arrogance can often be tempered with a ticket and a hefty FINE.. Good luck getting this goober in line...

Without an electric, I would go with the 1.5 ounce lures and hope for calm water... Vertical jigging becomes problematic with a drift...At depths of 100 feet or more, the line angles out away from the boat quite quickly...You might manage, but you'll need to reel in and reset often to come close to holding bottom... You'll probably catch some fish, but if you intend to do a lot of jigging, you need to consider installing an electric. Good luck and keep us posted.. ....

I'd start around 100 feet and work out to 140 until you find fish. We have been catching most of our fish within 20 feet of the bottom. I use metal lures on Keuka, such as diamond jigs, Buckshot spoons and Kastmasters, from 3/4 oz. to 1.5 ounces. One ounce is a good starting point..My go-to lure is a one ounce silver diamond jig with a treble hook. Unless it is unusally calm, you need an electric motor to maintain a near vertical presentation. You want to be fishing as close to straight down as possible. I generally drop the lure to the bottom, reel up a crank or two and then snap the jig upward and let it flutter back down. Most strikes come when the lure is dropping. Dropping the lure to the bottom and then reeling it up fairly fast works, but it is a lot of reeling and I think it is more effective after the water warms and the fish are more spread out in the water column. Last time I fished Keuka my partner caught two that way..However, we caught 38 by keeping the lure near bottom and snap jigging.

You are right about the 30 years, Ray.. It was in the early 80s that we were catching 20 to 30 LLs and browns per morning on Keuka casting hair jigs on light spinning gear. That was fun... I have a picture taken the morning that Bruce Davis caught the NYS record ( for then) brown just off Cold brook on a hair jig.

I use a medium light 6 1/2 foot graphite spinning rod with 15 Lb. braid and a 10-15 foot 10 pound test flourocarbon leader. My buddies favor level wind gear, but I prefer the open face spinning outfit and they seldom outfish me. I feel it is important to have a light enough rod to jig one handed without fatigue. The rod should be stiff enough to give a good upward SNAP to the lure..Many fish hit the lure when it is fluttering down after the snap.. My bread and butter lure is a one ounce silver diamond jig with treble hook. The trebles complicate releasing fish, but give me a much better hookup ratio than singles. You can buy the diamond jigs for less than $2 apiece at www.jigsrigsandstuff.com on Glen Avenue in Corning...

Twenty to thirty years ago, Landlocks were common in Keuka.. It's been a long time since I saw one from there... If you are targeting LLs, Seneca and Cayuga are the lakes to fish..

Good news, Delilah... What kind of panfish ?? Any crappie action ?..

They have been catching lakers from the docks at the Village Park in Hammondsport. When I launched my boat there last week, I saw 3 guys land 4 trout in the short time it took me to launch. When I returned to shore a little after noon, there were 5 or 6 fishermen there and I saw them net a couple more.

Hopefully the $15 is just another nasty rumor.. NEGATIVE rumors always seem to spread fast.. I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

We only kept 3...We each had a 3 pounder in the box for supper, then I hooked an 18 incher that had the spoon in his gills, so he went in the box too.. I like a laker fresh now and then, but I feel they don't freeze well. I canned a few last summer but was disappointed with them..Not nearly as good as the canned northerns that have provided my fish patties for years.. It sure is fun catching those lakers on the light gear we use for jigging, though..

Keuka certainly is hot for numbers of smallish lakers. When I was launching my boat there were guys casting from the docks at the Hammondsport Village Park. I saw them catch 4 lakers while we were launching, and when I came back in a little after noon, they were STILL catching fish. My partner and I jigged for 4 hours in 135-140FOW about two miles north of H'port near the east side.. We marked fish constantly and had nonstop action. Two of us landed 40 lakers and also missed lots of strikes and lost lots of fish. My hot lure was a 1 oz. chrome diamond jig, but my partner did almost as well on a 1 oz. brass Kastmaster. Nothing big..Our biggest fish was about 4 pounds... It seemed like it took longer for the jig to drop to the bottom than it did to get a strike after you got down there. My wrist is sore..... ....

As far as the size of the trout go, Keuka has never been noted for big fish. I have fished it since the mid 1960s and have caught exactly one lake trout in the double digits. That was a 16 3/4 pounder I caught in 1975. I also know several other young fellows like myself that have fished the lake for 50 years or so and have never caught more than 1 or 2 fish over 10 pounds. NUMBERS, yes.. One day a couple of years ago two friends and myself landed 52 lakers in 4 hours vertical jigging. Keuka is a good place to catch LOTS of fish, rather than BIG fish. In my memory, 18-22 inch lakers have always been the norm in Keuka. with a 5 or 6 pound fish being a nice fish, and anything over 8 or 9 pounds being exceptional.

In the mid 1950s, night fishing was a standard method of fishing for Finger lakes trout. I can remember when there were literally HUNDREDS of lights on the water on Keuka near Hammondsport on some nights. Special gas feuled lights were extended over the side of an anchored, or drifting boat. The lights would attract sawbellies. The fisherman would dipnet the sawbellies to use for bait. Often they would cheat a little by stunning the bait with M-80s or dynamite caps, weighted to explode several feet under the boat. Take note that it was and still is very illegal to get bait in that fashion.. ... Once bait was obtained, it was fished on special gang hooks on multiple leader Seth green rigs, with 3 to five leaders. Most fishermen held the line in thier hand, rather than using a rod. Leaders on bait rigs were shorter than those on regular day rigs, usually two to four feet rather than the 10 to 15 foot leaders used on day rigs for trolling spoons. If bait was slow in coming, many guys jigged with flutter spoons on short leadered seth green rigs similar to the bait rigs. Typically, you tried to fish about 50 feet under the boat, to intercept trout that were working up into the bait school suspended under the night light. The largest lakers and rainbows of the season were usually caught at night, on bait. Some people still night fish at Hammondsport and probably other places, but rather than use Seth green rigs, most fishermen now use regular spinning or level wind tackle with sawbellies and slip sinkers.

Thanks, Guys..I'll pass the info along to my buddy...

Bump

One of my fishing buddies caught a tagged smallmouth from Keuka opening weekend... Does anyone know about tagged bass on Keuka or the other Finger lakes...?... Does DEC do this or would it be a private deal, such as someone tagging fish for thier own info or a fishing contest..?.. It was a yellow harpoon type tag near the center of the dorsal fin with some numbers on it.. The fish weighed 3.3 pounds..

A friend of mine is interested in buying a quantity of solid copper wire for pulling copper " the old way".. He prefers solid copper .030" dia. Does anyone know a source for this wire..??..