fisherman777

Also, check out around the islands and rocky point for smallmouth.

Used to fish it all the time when my family vacationed there years back. We always did well with lakers by trolling the deepest part of the lake near the Inlet area with downriggers and suttons. Also did really well with smallmouth around the arrowhead park area. Good Luck! I love that area.

I agree the largemouth population seems pretty healthy. I've caught more the past couple years than ever before while pike fishing. That makes a lot of sense. We use to just drift worms and crayfish before the gobies got here. Can't do that anymore. I think the smallie population has to be doing ok but most guys don't want to put in the extra effort to go after them. It used to be really easy fishing but now probably takes a lot more experimentation. Less guys fishing for them = less bass caught and everybody thinks the population has gone downhill. Whats really stange is that Erie and the other great lakes (and the st.lawrence) as far as I know don't seem to have the same problem with catch rates even though they all have goby populations too. I know the DEC was doing an angler diary program last year with smallmouth fishing on lake O. Anybody know the results of that?

All of the smallmouth I've caught the past three years have been inside the tribs. Back when I was younger, my dad and I would go out right off of Braddocks bay and catch smallies all day long. Its sure not like that anymore though. Good luck though and tell us how you do!

Lake O deep trolling from a kayak...just sick! And crocs are cool . I troll from my canoe out of sandy in the spring and fall but only right at the mouth. Never thought of venturing out deeper..may just have to get a kayak now.

Went out on a western trib on Monday and caught a bunch of little smallmouths, a few decent bluegill, and one gar. Most were on a yo zuri pins minnow.

The corner store near Cranberry pond has minnows now. Its on East Manitou road past the marina. I don't know if the shop next to docksiders has them.

My friends and I have been hammering them the last couple weekends in the creeks out of braddocks. They are there, you just have to keep at it. Its most likely not your smell on the lures that's preventing you from catching Pike because they are more of an "ambush" type predator. I have my best luck on mepps aglia #5's, big spinnerbaits, x-raps, and rattletraps in open water. As the water warms up, don't be afraid to retrieve lures a little faster and more aggressively. Keep experimenting and you will eventually catch fish. Also, how late are you getting out? In my experience, Pike seem to be really turned on early in the morning and later in the afternoon towards sunset. Once the sun gets high they are more difficult to catch but still possible (they just move to different areas). Consider trying live minnows under a float as well; some of my best days ever happened because we couldn't get a bite on artificials so we switched to minnows. Good Luck!

There was an article about this in Fly Rod and Reel a few months back. The lakers in these lakes are causing native bull trout populations to collapse and from what I read, little damage is being done through recreational fishing to lower laker numbers. It said the only effective method to really cut their populations is gill netting which the guides out there are completely against.

Thanks for the welcome Muskybob

Name: Corey Location: Rochester Home Port: Boat Name/Type: I fish for: PIKE, Lakers, steelhead, browns, salmon, bass, and anything else ================== Hey everyone. Mostly been lurking around for a month after being registered and haven't posted. Sorry about that haha. Otherwise, from what I've seen, this is an awesome forum! Been trolling the finger lakes and lots of adirondack lakes with my dad for a few years now and also fish the big lake occasionally and primarily the tribs. But pike fishing is my main passion! Hope to learn a lot more from this site. Thanks!