SwedishFish

Launched this morning from the state park at 6:25. Stayed on the East side in 90-120 feet of water. Lots of marks 50 to 75 feet. Couldn’t buy a bite though. Ran a rigger and a diver and a lead line. Tried spoons and flies and even a x rap. Changed speed and still nothing. Cut across and fished back north up the west side. Marked less fish but had one hit on the diver running 55 ish in 70 feet on a green and silver flutter spoon but didn’t hook up. Then the lake got too rough for my little boat and my boys started getting wetter than they wanted to. Ah well. Still nice to get out on the water.


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1 minute ago, ANGLERSS said:

There is no public launch in Hammondsport since the motel closed his.

  Well I guess that makes the choice easier!

Thanks for the Reply AnglerSS! I'll let you know how I do!

First of all I want to thank you guys for your past help! It's always appreciated!  Now I want to ask for your opinions for my trip to Keuka this Saturday. I'm an 1hr 10 min Drive to the State Park  (Branchport) and a 1 hr 20 min drive to Hammondsport. I'll be launching a small boat with limited range. I'd like to troll/jig for Lakers and Salmon and maybe trout early (6-9ish) and then warm water game fish for a bit after the bite dies down. I've only fished Keuka once on a friends boat and we launched out of Branchport. We were perch fishing in the fall so very different trip. Which would you launch from if you had to make the choice given my range is probably limited to 3-4 miles with my small boat with good conditions.

South 

On 3/10/2020 at 10:32 PM, Reel Doc said:

Swedish Fish,  I'm not sure it matters what direction you go just stay shallow and fish should find you.  For me the lines off the big board out to the side of the boat outperformed the chute line at least 3 to 1.....but as mentioned above, first time fishing in such shallow water since my college days casting from the discharge at Milliken.  Good luck Saturday.

Thanks Reel Doc! I appreciate the advice!

Beautiful Fish! Going to make the drive from Rochester this Saturday. Will be my first time fishing Cayuga. Planning on launching a small boat out of Taughannock. Any recommendations on going north or south from the launch? I'll try staying shallow based on your guys success!

Did they sell or did it fall through?

Three of us braved yesterday's rain and wind to try and find some perch in canandaguia yesterday. We put in at a private launch in cottage city around 8:30 am. Lots of rain and lots of wind. Found some schooling around there in one of the usual spots in the 18-24' depths. Water temp was 63. Bite was on and off until 11:30 when it died completely. Since we had the lake completely to ourselves we motored around and tried a few spots with no real luck. Tried the floating island and marked fish but only caught a few right at the 22' depth. Finished up the day with 40 or so keepers between the three of us. Cold and windy but Beat a day at work. Here's a pic of some as I was sharpening my filet knife. The largest here measured close to 13".

Pm sent

Is lot 11 still available?

 

SwedishFish I don't want you to think I was criticizing your boat or the size of it as that is certainly not the case. Especially so as I spent 22 years in a 13 ft. Whaler that ventured to the middle of Lake Ontario more than once

Sk8Man... Don't worry about that! I was not at all offended. I KNOW its a small boat and not designed for what I'm doing with it. I am definitely pushing the limits and I should probably dial it back on the trolling until i pull the trigger on that new boat! Or at least just pull a diver or two like I have been. 

I'm just always looking for better ways and more productive fishing. That's how I found you guys!

Which BTW this forum is amazing. Lots of Kudos to all the guys (and girls) of the forum for sharing all their knowledge. So many people willing to help and share what works for them. I've learned a ton. Its like an apprenticeship program on a fishing boat without the seasickness...

And that's crazy. I've been on a few small whalers but never out into the big O...

 

Safety first fishing second

I totally agree!!

Thanks!

-Steve

SwedishFish, you have a PM

(Personal Message -Look at the top of the page for the envelope icon)

Replied... Thanks!!

Get a good fish finder and learn how to use it. I catch fish out of "temp" all summer long. Fish marks when you can, and fish temp when you have no marks.

Zack... I do want to... Workin' on a bigger boat first. Fell into the "cheap boat" trap a few years back. Learned my lesson and won't repeat it twice.

On your dipsyrod you should use steel line hooked drive toy to your dipseydiver then about a 3 or 4 foot leader rule of thumb 3 times your line out to depth for lakers fish the bottom as close as possible 40 foot and deeper at about 1.8 mph good luck

Any steel line you would recommend? I stopped in Cabelas in Cheek-ta-Vegas on Friday and was lost in the fishing section for a while....

And does anyone run a snubber of your diver? I have gone back and forth sometimes using it and sometimes not.

Thanks britty

-Steve

 ...I used a temperature gauge to locate the thermocline, which is much more exact than trying to find it on a fish finder. The key is to locate that band of water where the water rapidly goes from warm to cold. Of course this is not a concern this time of year the fish could be anywhere even as shallow as 5 to 10 feet deep.... Caught quite a few form 1 to 5 pounds as well as the occasional SM_Bass and even a pickerel

Npike...I've tried to adjust my fishfinder to pick up the thermocline but never could quite figure that out. Do you use a temperature gauge built into your fishfinder or is it a whole separate unit?

I didn't realize you're trolling with an electric motor and a quite small boat. This could be dangerous. I had a narrow 12' boat with a 4 horse early on and got swamped by a large wave. It filled the boat with water and ruined the day to say the least (nearly capsized us). Hemlock is not a large lake but it can wipe up a bit when a north or south wind starts blowing.

You might consider a 14' boat? Or at least a wide reasonably - deep 12' boat. Just thinking about safety?

Yes Safety is definitely my #1 concern when I'm out in the boat. Its one thing to row it around a little pond in the summer. But when It's loaded with (1) 185# Adult (1) Huge deep cell marine battery,trolling motor, poles,anchor, etc... its loaded! I really watch the wind and don't even try to go out in any chop. Its just not worth it!

And that North South wind that can pick up on Hemlock is no joke... I was caught out in it once a few miles from the launch. By the time I made it to the launch a few waves came VERY close to breaking over my transom. Not fun.

Thanks for all your suggestions and concerns!

-Steve

Frogger.... Sounds like a plan.

I'll have a 6hp Evinrude for sale soon if anyone is interested.

Frogger. I'm interested in the 6 if it's for sale.

Ric66 - Yes I've been out when a north south wind picks up. It's crazy how fast the lake gets rough and the waves start capping. Never fished canadice but I've been thinking about it since it's almost the same distance and my hemlock luck has been ZERO. Thanks for the suggestion and set up. I'll try the north end when I go.

I believe the rigs at Sutton's are around $179 all set up...all you need is the leads and a 2 lb sinker which he carries as well...sounds like a lot but believe me worth every penny...I was also out on hemlock this past Sunday caught 3 Lakers...biggest was around 7 lbs other 2 were around 12 to 15 inches...all caught on the bottom

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That sounds like a good price for what you get. I guess I'll plan a trip out to Naples for the next week or so. I gotta find out his weekend hours since work keeps me tied up during the week. Maybe just to grab some spoons and glean a little fishing wisdom if not to buy the rig. And awesome on the 3 lakers! 

Fishing Hemlock with Seth Greens can be a good idea but I think you'd want to have a bigger boat/motor setup as they create a bit of drag especially if you get something big on or hung up on something and I think the electric motor would be really struggling and using a lot of juice just trying to trollwith it as well. Good way to fish but could be taxing and perhaps even unsafe with your current setup.

Sk8man... Yes the size of my boat and trolling motor are very limiting. I am definitely pushing this little skiff beyond its limits and try and be very aware of the safety whenever I'm out in it. To be very honest I NEVER intended to take this boat out on any lake. I built it with my little boys partly to honor my Grandfather (A WW2 paratrooper who spent 50 years of his life after the war building and repairing and sailing wood boats!), partly because I love all things water and I have semi-decent woodworking skills and partly because I love fishing! I mostly take it out in one of the ponds in Mendon or other small bodies of water with any or all 4 of my little boys. I have to be very aware of the weather and wind in this thing especially on any unprotected waters and don't take the kids out on any big waters in this.

I have toyed with the idea of grabbing an older 2-4 hp 2 stroke since thats what this boat was designed to carry. It would be nice to get that 90lb deep cell marine battery out of the boat! 

 I did buy an older 17' penn yan a few years back and did a lot of restoration and repair work but cut and run when I saw the problems with the inboard and I/O were gonna lead me down a never ending path of spending money. Maybe in a few years I'll jump in and buy another boat. I do have the plans for a nice 16' fishing boat that I'm eventually going to build. Along with another kayak and canoe....... Until then I'll keep trying with what I have.

Had to make myself feel better about getting skunked again. Landed this nice 15-1/2" brown on an ultralight with a little panther Martin on my lunch break.

Yeah that was a big bummer...Hate losing gear. Especially expensive gear!!!  I really stayed with the flys and should have probably switched over to spoons. I was surprised that I was hitting bottom as well. I think its the #1 but I do have the o ring on it which causes it to dive deeper. I was bumping bottom with anywhere between 250 ft and 280ft of line out on the line counter. My GPS pegged me at 2-3 most of the time but its just a app on my phone so who knows. I marked a few fish but my depthfinder/fishfinder is a downscan imaging el cheapo by lowrance not really meant for what I'm trying to use it for! 

 

 Cool looking rig BTW.

   Thanks! Built it a few years ago with my boys. Its really meant to row around on a small pond/lake. I'm definitely pushing it to its limits!

Thanks for all your help and advice! 

So I made it out Saturday morning. Was on the lake at 7:45 launched from the south end. I was suprised at how shallow and weedy the south end was. Set up in 80' of water and ran a dipsy diver about 250 ft back until it was bouncing off the bottom. Ran a 15ft leader with a spin doctor and a green fly. Basically exactly what nautitroller described. Ran up and down and across with no luck. Ended up hooking lots of weeds and leaves and must have run across a branch or log because I ended up snapping my leader of 20lb Floro leaving my spin doc and fly on the bottom of hemlock! [emoji22]. Not the best fishing but still a great morning on the water. Saw only one boat and they caught a 12" rainbow flatlining stick baits along the shore.

I used to fish Hemlock and Canadice a lot. They can be tough lakes to fish if you don't know some secrets. Like some one mentioned, the seth green rig works very well. You drag a two lb weight on the bottom with 30lb line. The rod needs to be stiff to handle the weight of the lead. Then you have leaders at various points on the main line, say about 7 to 10 feet apart. I used 3 lures per rod but you can have as many as 5 lures. This way you are fishing one rod that has lures at different depths. One trick I learned with downriggers is to run towards shore off a point, let the rigger ball hit the bottom and then move out to deeper water.

Hemlock doesn't always give up a ton of fish but it is a trophy lake. I've caught a 12lb lake trout, a 9 and a 8lb walleye, and the biggest rainbow I've ever seen that broke my line and my heart. It looked like a tarpon coming out of the water.

Good luck!

Ric66... Thank you for breaking down the Seth green setup for me! Would you tie in a swivel to the main to attach the leaders too?

I want to try it but I keep thinking about the insane tangle of lines that seems inevitable to me! [emoji51]

I've heard of and seen big fish taken just not by me. But it's a Great Lake even when it isn't giving up fish!

Here is a cheap option, http://www.cabelas.com/product/Cannon-Mini-Troll-Downrigger/738095.uts?productVariantId=1208181&srccode=cii_17588969&cpncode=42-156235842-2&WT.tsrc=PPC&WT.mc_id=GoogleProductAds&WT.z_mc_id1=00055799&rid=20#BVRRWidgetID

I am thinking about whether I want to mount these relics I got several years ago. I don't troll. Do not think I will ever troll but just had to have them. They are solid, made of aluminum. I never used them.

I am thinking about letting them go so the future garage sale has more space. I also thought about making them into man cave art. Get some feedback from people on LOU and then you can PM me if you are interested. The guy I bought them from said they worked fine - just got tired of doing the manual thing.

They come with 2 10lb balls.

Thanks for the suggestions! I've looked into the mini troll. I'm a believer in you get what you pay for but also try to not spend all my money on new fishing gear! After reading the reviews I was kind of turned off on it. Except I've owned cheaper gear that has worked great for years. Plus it's small and mounts easily. That plus a 4lb weight are Not a huge investment to start fishing with a rigger. So as you can see I'm undecided!

You might want to think about a Seth Green rig...with Sutton spoons and troll around 1.8 and you'll get some decent lakers

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Looked into making a Seth green rig. Has anyone figured out how do do it without making a mess and tangling all your lines!!?? I do have to pick up some Suttons.