Ray4852

I still have a young heart too, but I listen to what my body tells me to do now. Anybody that takes medication and fishes in the hot sun all day is looking for trouble. I remember when I had to take the old guys off the lake early because he wasn’t feeling right. Now I know what he felt like.

Ed it sounds like your getting old. That sun will put you in the grave. Try getting out early like 6 am off the lake by 10.30. better yet take up night fishing. I'm like you now. Cant take the heat no more. Could it be old age.

SK8man I fished with 3 sawbellies per rod spaced 6 ft apart with 2 ft leads. When I found the depth the trout were at I fished with one bait. I fished with 2 rods. I was after lake trout. I hated rainbows. By the time I found out I had one on he made a mess out of everything. I set my sinker down to 70ft by watching my x15 paper machine. the other one down to 60ft and set my reels to free spool with the clicker holding it in place. Sit back and listen to some good music and wait till I hear the clicker go off on my reel. I Jig and watch the flasher now. The hell with the bait. Dead bait off a jig will work too but that mini seth rig was a big joke years ago. Its amazing now how the time have changed. I had no luck with my speed net catching saw bellies. They were to fast for me. I caught my bait with bread and tiny gold hooks. If they didn’t take the bread. I would snag the bait with the gold hook. The darker the better out there for me. Just me and the stars and the dog listening to the water splashing up against the boat. Let the sunshine boys get their beauty sleep while I’m out catching fish. Start trolling at 530 till mid morning. Go back to the camper to sleep till 4 or 5. You can get addicted to this kind of fishing. Its not meant for everybody. When I fished lake Erie steady for walleye at night. I watch the fisherman leave by 11 pm. By 1am only two of us were out there fishing. I never saw one boat on Seneca fishing at night. That lake can kick up fast at night. I liked to fish on the same side of the Sampson marina. I loved the west side off long point but if the lake kicked up it was ruff coming back 3 miles in ruff water. Good fishing off long point and Willard at night but no picnic when it got nasty. Canandaigua on the south end was no picnic when that lake kicked up too. I never caught fish at the drop off I had to go up past long point in the deeper water to find fish. Today I think they still have one guide going out at night there. Those other two guys you mentioned have been gone now since the 70s. The happy hooker charter if hes is still doing it works out of seager marina. I know this lake can be fished at night. The only difference today. The fisherman are not night people.

Canandaigua and keuka are good lakes to fish at night. Seneca is different. This lake kicks up around midnight every night. I very seldom saw night guys out fishing this lake at night. Years ago night fishing was very popular with the old timers. All you need is a little common sense and know something about the lake and you can catch fish. If you decide to try fishing at night. You are on your own. Don’t depend on somebody to bail you out if you run into a problem. The techniques they used years ago are obsolete today. Never use a Coleman lantern in your boat at night. You could start a fire. Hot lanterns burn fishing line. They draw bugs in. You also loose your night vision too. Lanterns are to bright. Your eyes get use to darkness pretty fast. You want to keep them that way. Red light in the boat is the best for your night vision. You need about 500ft of good anchor line to hold your boat in 250ft of water. You have to fish around the moon. Never fish at night with a bright moon. Start with a new moon up to almost to half moon. Bait will never come up with a bright moon. Sawbellies stay deep. Darker the better for fishing. I use 12 volt 25 amp bench lights that clip on the side of boat. These lights are bright enough to bring up the bait. Years ago we used a speed net to catch a saw belly. These stinkers are to fast for a speed net. Like I said before. Bait is obsolete today. It will still work if you are rich and want to be a nurse keeping them alive all night. That’s up to you. My choice is a jig and flasher or use a good fish finder that can see your jig down to 80ft. Once you get the bait up. The trout will be below the bait. Put the jig down to the level the trout are. You are fishing the thermocline. Lakers will still stay in their comfort zone rainbows will come up and chase the bait around. Browns like to stay in the shallow water close to the bottom were they can find the thermocline. Start fishing now up to mid august. By September the bait and trout are to deep for lights to bring up the bait. The thermocline moves down. The way they use to fish canandaigua years ago. The went up to black point and moved south by the end of season. I could never figure out why they went up this far from the south end to fish at night when I went up to vine valley to fish in 150ft and still caught fish. I never fished on the weekend. I fished during the early part of week. I hardly saw fisherman out there. Never saw them on Seneca. Boy that lake is very dangerous at night. I fished worse. Lake Erie is the most dangerous of them all to fish at night. Any lake is dangerous at night. This game is not for everybody. I'm use to the night life. I worked all my life on the 3 shift at work. Now I prefer to sleep at night and get up at 530am to go out and fish till 10 am. Screw that hot weather. I look for shade around 11am. If you decide to try it. Take a partner out with you. I took people out with me but most of them cant stay up all night. My black lab and me were the only ones out. He slept most of the time till I pulled out some food. I had to feed him too.

You gave me a couple magnum heads. I bought 30 more from capt John

Capt Johns magnum bait heads are the best heads I have ever used. All I do is stick the meat in the head. No fussing around making it spin. You could add a little herring oil to the plastic to give it a natural scent.

I have a hard time getting the 3rd rod down in the water. 2 is more than enough for me. If I take another guy out with me we fish with 3 poles for two guys. We still end up with 30 fish days. You have to be pretty good to fish with 6 poles on Seneca. The weed pods will kill you. A good jigger can out fish all of us with one pole.

The last time I bought a case of sawbellies was 4 years ago. Narbys up on lake Ontario sold me a case for 40 dollars. I still have enough now for a couple of years. I looked on the internet. I found a case for 95 dollars now. Boy they want to rob the fisherman today. This old boy knows how to out fox all of them. You cant teach an old fisherman new tricks and they wont screw this guy. A dollar for a piece of bait is outrageous. You can use the skin off of your trout and catch fish with the bait head.

bait was cheap before the DEC got the best of the bait dealers. I think 4 dollars for a dozen is plenty for a fisherman to pay today. They rob us now. 20 years ago I could go out on a good night in June and catch 500 sawbellies. Now I buy them. Plastic is cheap. Natural bait is better. Frozen sawbellies fall apart on a set of gang hooks. A piece of good brine bait will last for hours.

Seneca gang hooks are an old finger lakes tradition along with 32 oz sinkers and heavy cowbells dragging heavy gear along the bottom of the lake with a hand line. Yes they do work and catch fish but the times have changed. Today we can fish the same way with lighter gear and use 16oz of lead to fish down to 200ft on bottom with better bait. Have you priced a dozen of sawbellies. I couldn’t afford to fish with live bait today. A dozen of sawbellies wont last me 2 hours of fishing. The sawbellies I buy wholesale are much better and one slab of meat with the right brine mix will last me for hours before I have to add new bait to my bait head. Add a little pro-cure herring oil to the bait will help catch more fish too.

Seneca gang hooks are outdated. They are a pain to tie up. We have a better system now to use bait. I like capt Johns magnum bait heads. I use pearl, white and green bait heads. I tie them up with 30 lb test line with a 2 ft lead off a small dodger. I use one hook only. Instead of using one whole sawbelly with the gang hooks. You can use one side of the bait and put it in the plastic head. I buy my bait. I brine them too. The store bought fish have a little brine to them but they need to be a little harder. http://www.michiganangler.com/Meat_Rigs.htm

We don’t want to shut this thread down. The more we talk about it, we might get the law passed. Its hard getting the message across to some people. You have to drill it into their heads till the message sinks in. moderators please keep the thread going.

I think we need the state government to change this law. We should get a petition started now and give it to governor Como. He changed the fishing rod limit for us, I’m sure he can get this law changed for us too.

No way a fisherman is going to fish out this fishery. Seneca perch are very prolific. You will never catch perch in clear cold water. Water must be cloudy to catch perch here. The best fisherman on this lake is the cormorant. They do a lot of damage. I watch them during the fall. They flock up heavy off long point. This bird can dive down 50ft to get a meal. Perch fishing is a winter fishery. This lake is very hard to fish because its a north south lake. A little wind on this lake makes fishing very hard to do. You cant feel them bite down 50ft when the wind is blowing 10 mph. When you see them elbow to elbow fishing off the Sampson wall. I sit in my car and have my hot tea and laugh at these people. Its like going to the circus and watching the lions and tigers play.

I think 25 fish limit per angler is a good days catch. We have people that want to take out 100 perch and more and sell them for profit.

Very sad story. We can blame the father for this tragic accident. He didn’t have any common sense. He had no right to take a young boy out on thin ice. No ice is safe this year.

I keep honey bees. Mites kill bee hives. I haven’t lost a hive in 3 years. Mites are terrorist. If you cant control them. They will kill every hive.

I don’t think our wineries are causing the problem. They are using better less toxic pesticides today compared to what they used 40 years ago. I blame the hog farms for the agriculture run off. The lake that concerns me the most is canandaigua .