Hi. Last year, I bought a boat and got a slip in Braddock Bay and fished it for the first time(I fished the Finger Lakes, Sodus Bay, and Lake Ontario primarily before).. The first few weeks or more(fishing 2-3 times per week), I had no luck. Finally, my buddy and I found we could catch a few pike in Salmon Creek and near the parkway bridge at the edge of the water hole there. Later in the season, that didn't work anymore for us-- even though we saw other fishermen in boats right next to us pulling in fish after fish... When asked how many, I recall one fisherman saying he already caught 40 pike that day-- and they came out after us... we still don't know what they did differently...
This year, I thought things might reset, but when we went out Saturday morning, there were half a dozen boats around us, and I saw most of them pulling in fish after fish... This time near the tree on the north/west side of the mouth heading out to the lake. No one in my boat caught a thing, and only one of us even got a strike...
So, we're wondering what we're doing wrong? I've had thoughts that it might be scent-related, so I got some fish attractant stuff at Walmart to try to mask any smells that I might inadvertently put on my lures(reading online, this seems to be the only legitimate use for these 'attractants'; masking versus attracting). I don't have high hopes that is the cause, and generally would love to hear any suggestions-- general pike/walleye/bass suggestions are welcome, and even better if they're Braddock Bay specific.
For those that aren't aware, Braddock Bay is a very shallow bay off Lake Ontario west of Rochester, NY. Most of the bay is 4-5' deep, with one hole that I know of that goes down to about 10'. There's lots of weeds(on the surface or about 1-2' down), which makes fishing in much of the bay very difficult to say the least-- which is why I generally try to fish the holes(generally near the weed edge, as much as I can see)....most other people do too, from what I've seen...
Any tips/suggestions/etc. are very welcome. Thank you.