cinnamon fish

4 minutes ago, Sk8man said:

The 30 lb SeaFlee is related to keeping the fleas off and is only the mainline which you leader off of with fluoro 8 to 10 lb or so. Rainbows do what they do regardless of whether it is 30 lb or 8 lb test and it still ends up being a lot of fun. In the old days before fleas you could use 8-12 lb main lines without  any problems but these fleas changed all that. All I ever used on Lake Ontario from the 70's till the arrival of fleas was 12 lb test and it withstood kings up to 32 lbs just fine on decent reels. Keeping fleas off i s now a primary task whether Fingers or Lake O. I have used the Sea Flee on riggers for about ten years or so and it helps a lot but nothing is totally "flea free"  when the fishook variety is real thick.

Les, I really like the part about the 12 lb test withstanding kings up to 32 lbs.  Must've been a 35 pounder that broke me off, lol.  I love fishing light line, and in the summer, light leaders in combination with SeaFlee or something similar.

Any season for me in my 18' but only when there's light wind out of the south.

Incredible fish, congrats!!

Anybody have a pic of the results from today?

On 7/27/2023 at 4:58 PM, RodBuster said:

Does this tournament have multiple categories????

This one just pays out the top 3 heaviest fish, no categories.

12 hours ago, suttontroller94 said:

Another great year in the books! Thanks again to everyone for participating aswell as our sponsors!!

Thank you Bobby, the Margeits and everyone involved who make this tournament the best run tournament on Cayuga Lake each year.  All the effort that goes into organizing it so well is hugely appreciated!  I was thrilled and surprised I managed a 3rd place finish with a 29 lb box, especially given the weights from previous years.  Conditions were tough out there with the weed mats and fleas out of control.  Congrats to the winners and big thanks to the sponsors too.  Also a great hang with folks at the weigh in.

2 hours ago, T-Rok said:

That lake has more alewives than any lake I have ever seen. Also the only lake I have ever been where I  looked at the sonar and they are 40 feet thick from bottom to top and so many the fins are sticking out of the water like bunker pods and it looks like it's raining for up to a quarter mile. Disease is nature's population control. Would think that it would benefit fishing as well as there is less bait in the water. 

Agree... except the dead bait is still in the water, rotten and caught in floating weedmats everywhere.

Thanks for the review.  I have been using the regular Sunline Supernatural mono line for several years and I love it.  It does have less stretch than most mono lines.  I'm bummed to hear their new No Flea line wasn't very effective.  But also not that surprised I guess because the fleas are so relentless right now.   I bought a spool of 30 and 40 and waiting for it to arrive in the mail.  I'll probably try the 40 first and see if maybe it's a little better than the 30.  But yeah, they both have pretty low diameter for the strength.  That's another reason I like their line.  I've been using the Blood Run 30lb flea line and it's pretty good but I don't like how slick it is and have had knots pull out a few times.  But there aren't many options these days.  I'll report back after I try the Sunline 40 lb No Flea.

4 hours ago, 13owhunter said:

We spoke at the dock.  I got there a couple minutes before you.  I started setting lines in around 100 fow straight out from the channel.  Landed a 2 yr old king before i could get the 4th rod set.  Fish hit a glow green alewife spoon 40 foot behind a slide diver out about 175.  2 minutes after i got my 6th rod set we landed another 2 year old king on the other slide diver out about 200.  Same spoon.  Kings were around 150fow.  After that we had a steady pick of steelhead between 100-180fow.  I believe we caught 5 or 6.  One on the slide diver that ripped a whole lot harder than a 5# fish should, 2 or 3 on the rigger with mag UV spoon, one on a sliding cheater with orange SS spoon.  Clean meat rig on a 300 copper off a board did nothing.  Same as a FF on a 200 steel.  Fleas were a bit of a pain.  Was excited to try some new "no flea" line and it worked terribly.  Ill post a review of it at some point.   Nice morning to be on the water!

I'm anxious to hear your review of the Sunline "no flea" line... were you running the 30 or 40 lb?  I purchased a spool of each this morning.  Fleas are real bad on Ontario right now so that was a hardcore test you put the line through.  Appreciate any comments on the line, thanks in advance.

If anyone has Quick-Strike flutter spoons in good condition they might want to sell, I'm looking for more.
Thank you

Reel Rage Watermelon spoon caught me a 15+ pound rainbow on Canandaigua... Highly recommend folks buy some!

1 hour ago, salmoseine said:

 Wow... Gambler sure knows his LT. He nailed the age of the big laker 2 yrs ago when caught!

Impressive!  How old would you guys guess the 15.15 rainbow was?

1 hour ago, Netbender aka-Superhawk18 said:

Just curious, how many entries this year?

One of the guys in the derby committee told me, not yet official, but approximately 259 entries this year.

Love hearing about these monster/record fish!

2 hours ago, TROUTMAN 87 said:

Mike Where are you having it mounted?

The derby has Ric Cleveland/Flint Creek do their mounts.

Yeah, that's truly nuts!

9 minutes ago, Trouthunter said:

MIKE DID ANYONE TAKE A SCALE SAMPLE WOULD LOVE TO KNOW THE AGE OF THAT FISH AGAIN GREAT BOW I DID HOOK A MONSTER RAINBOW YEARS BACK OFF THE CONDOS SO THERE ARE BIG BOWS IN THERE

Harvey, the derby committee told me they were planning to contact the DEC about finding the age of the fish via a certain bone in the fish, similar to the rings on a tree.  That's what they did 2 years ago when the 29 lb laker was caught.  But I guess they have to time it with the taxidermist doing his thing.  So, might be awhile.

37 minutes ago, salmoseine said:

 

I recall a ~19 lb rainbow caught in Seneca Lake in the late 1950's, early '60s. It won the Louis A Whele Genesee Beer fishing contest for the year, and is the largest bow that I know of from a Finger Lake (I've since misplaced /lost the documentation), and can't recall the exact year. That contest ran yearly for nearly 50 years, including both warm and cold water fish catagories.  The Naples Creek 10+ Club still lists the 15 lb 5 oz  as the largest from the creek, with a 14 lb 15 oz bow second, but certainly a larger bow is possible.

 

 

 

Very cool to know, thanks so much for sharing!

45 minutes ago, Sk8man said:

You know Mike that 1962 article may be the fish I was thinking of and as a kid seeing the fish in the ice chest my memory may have been messed up all these years it probably is the 15 pounder noted in the article; the time frame is about right for the one I saw. Regardless of records your fish is a very special specimen and something to behold. You accomplished something that the rest of us Finger lakes fisherpersons  have tried for but never achieved and you can be very proud of that.

Thank you, Les!  I'm still in shock that I caught it.  Probably will be for awhile.  Means a lot to me you guys saying such nice things.  I've learned a lot on this site, and from fellow fisherman in the area, and my dad, thank you guys!

43 minutes ago, salmoseine said:

It certainly is a very special fish and a great story/details of the catch. To the best of my memory and information I have, it's the 2nd largest Canandaigua bow ever and the largest taken from the lake... the record Canandaigua bow dates to 1962, taken from Naples creek (see article below). I believe it to be the largest/record bow taken from the lake. The previous largest bow from the lake (again to my info/memory) was caught in 1973, weighing 14 lbs 4 oz. Congratualations on a great achievement!!!

 

 

Thanks so much for sharing this knowledge and article!  Sk8man tells me he knows of an 18 pound rainbow also caught in Naples Creek when he was in high school.  But if I really caught the largest rainbow from the lake, not creek, that would be amazing to know.  And hearing multiple times Canandaigua is known for the largest rainbows in the finger lakes, I wonder if the fish I caught could be the largest rainbow from any finger lake?  Doesn't matter too much, but sure would be cool to know.  I think the derby committee may be looking into it as well.  And they might have the DEC investigate the age of the fish too.

Sk8man wrote to me privately and I responded and this is most of what the weekend looked like for me...  
Saturday morning I drove the boat all the way up to the north end and had 2 big fish break off early. Not sure what they were.  After that I slowly trolled my way down the lake and caught 11 lakers to 6 pounds, 4 rainbows to 4 pounds and 1 big yellow perch but nothing worth weighing.  Sunday morning I decided to stay on the south end for a bit and that rainbow was the first bite I had about 6:30am approximately 1 mile north of the Woodville launch on the west side.  45 feet of water approximately 20 ft. down... on one of my little 3 way swivel rigs.  8 lb mono mainline to a very small 3 way swivel, bottom eye to a 5 ft light line with a 3 oz weight and side eye to a 6 ft 10 lb fluoro leader to a reel rage watermelon spoon. Similar to a Seth Green rig, but only 1 spoon and very small swivels and lighter weight to stay higher in the water column.

Hard long run right away, dumped 3/4 of my spinning reel then jumped 4 ft out of water off in the distance.  Knew it was big but too far away to tell how big.  After that, steady pressure, a few shorter runs and inched him closer over about 15 min while he stayed near the surface.  He went deeper near the boat but thank god he was tired by then and I got him up and netted him.  Barely fit in my net, 36.75 inches.  Also, lucky it was early morning before the wind picked up.  

What a thrill!  I have to thank guys like Les and others on here who have shared so much valuable information that I've absorbed.  I've been fishing my whole life but grew up mostly fishing saltwater with my father and I only became addicted to fishing the finger lakes in the past 8 years or so.  I feel so overwhelmed and thankful that I found this fish of a lifetime.  I just love the mysteries of what lurks in these amazing waters!
 

Well said guys!  I love the event and challenge.  Even a modest Rainbow brought me $1500 one year and I think it's up to $2k now.  Love to find one of those big landlocks.  Good luck to all fishing!

2 hours ago, Trouthunter said:

NO SALMON TAKEN OR NOTHING THAT MADE THE BOARD WHATS UP

Bear said he only had one small salmon come into the weigh in.  Lots of rainbows and some browns.

1 hour ago, TROUTMAN 87 said:

How about the FLTA tourney results from Keuka Lake held yesterday. Thanks in advance.

There were 3 ties!

Results Keuka 5/7/23
1. Allen Reeser 3LT 8-11
2. Bob Furlong 3LT 7-10 T
3. Mike Stark 3LT 7-10 T
4. Brian Ketchum 3LT 6-12
5. John Evangelista 3LT 6-7
6. Scott Baldwin 3LT 6-3 T
7. Scott Bodine 3LT 6-3 T
8. Corey Teribury 3LT 6-1
9. Kevin Brown 3LT 5-15
10. Jim Teribury 3LT 5-14 T
11. Dave Terwilliger 3LT 5-14 T
12. Brett Curtis Provisional

Lunker: Allen Reeser LT 3-6

Points as of 5/7/23
1. Brian Ketchum 147 (3)
2. Bob Furlong 140.5 (3)
3. John Evangelista 139 (3)
4. Scott Baldwin 138.5 (3)
5. Jim Teribury 135.5 (3)
6. Mike Stark 132.5 (3)
7. Dave Terwilliger 129.5 (3)
8. Kevin Brown 126 (3)
9. Scott Bodine 83.5 (2)
10. Allen Reeser 52 (1)
11. Nick Overacker 50 (1)

12. Mike Rollo 47 (1)

13. Jeremy Turner 43 (1)

14. John Gilfert 42 (1)

15. Doug Lott 41 (1)

16. Brett Curtis 39 (1)

17. Anthony DeSalvo 39 (1)

Large Fish of the Year
Lake Trout 8-11 John Evangelista 4/30/23 Seneca
Brown Trout
Rainbow Trout 4-2 Jim Teribury 4/16/23 Canandaigua
Landlocked Salmon 3-2 Brian Ketchum 4/30/23 Seneca
Large Catch of the Year
Nick Overacker 24-4 4/30/23 Seneca

So great!