Mikeyman104

Bullhead fishing with a bamboo pole is what started it all for me. Hook, sinker, bobber and a couple feet of line on the end of a stick and when the bite wasn't happening we'd play in the mud and dam up the small streams running off the fields into the creek. Life was good those days. 

Thanks for the trip down memory lane there  but as other have said the mouths of creeks after a good warm rain was always the ticket. My Grandfather always use to say, if the worms are out, the bullhead will be biting. He'd also say that once you started seeing trout lilly's blossom, then they'd be further upstream. 

Crazy the amount of water in the lakes rights now. My buddy sent me these pics last night from Emerson on Owasco. Water is just crazy high

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Went out yesterday with a friend and found some good bait out in 60-80' but only managed to get 1 steelhead on a dipsey out 140' in 80 fow with an orange mag spoon. Not much of a report, but hope you all have better luck! 

Not sure it gets any better than that 

I know I'm a but late posting but was able to get out the Saturday of the tournament. Got a late start out of Samson, but fished from about 11-6 without moving a rod. I had no expectations going into it so I wasn't overly disappointed.

First ran over to the west side of the lake and marked all sorts of bait. Couldn't believe the amount of bait in that lake. Wind picked up and me and my 16 footer ran back to the east side outnof the waves. Absolutely nothing over there where I was (south of the launch). Decided to try back over in the waves on the west side and it was rocky for me.

One question I have for folks is how do you fish for suspended fish? Mark them and make adjustments? I usually drag bottom with gambler rigs for lakers but couldn't get a good game going between the crazy contours and waves of the lake. I was literally watching my rigger ball bounce of the bottom and didn't feel like losing gear so I was just kinda winging it for suspended fish.

First tournament is in the books though so ain't mad at it! Glad to see other folks do well!

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Excited for the weekend! Not sure if I'll be able to fish all days, but I know I won't catch anything at home.

I've been watching the wind reports and the east wind for Sat/Sun should be interesting. I'm actually glad about it cause launching solo out of sampson with a 16' boat I'm thinking I won't get beat up as much staying on the east side of the lake. I wouldn't call myself a fair weather fisherman, because I've  gone fishing out of the boat in rain/snow/hail, but I guess I might be a fair-wind fisherman? 

Fishing wise, east wind probably isn't the best, but I'll be pretty pumped if I don't get skunked. 

Noob launching question: I plan on launching at Sampson and I'm sure it'll be crazy that weekend. How's the parking there? I'm assuming there's a launch fee but couldn't find it on their website? 

4 hours ago, Fishstix said:

Cowbells in a zip lock.  Rigs wrapped around Foam swim tubes  from the dollar store. Set the hooks in the foam then I use a nail to hold the Snell end.

Same here. Use those same pool noodles for rod holders in my garage to. Drilled about 6 1" holes in a 3' section of noodle and then made a slit down one side of the holes so i could push the rod into them. Then drilled the whole thing to a wall. Works great. Those noodles are actually super useful for fishing storage ideas, but my daughter gets upset that i keep stealing them on her  

Just signed up for this. Never fished Seneca and have never done a tournament before so looking forward to it!

Went out today and couldn't find any browns but the lakers sure wanted to play. Ended up going 7/11 in 90fow on the east side. Most hits came on a green death trap and green spin n glo. Even had my first solo double and figured that was a good note to end the day on. Largest of the day was 7lbs

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I run a 16' and ran into the same issue last year. Was running electric riggers off the starting battery and drained it within a day. Wired them up to the same battery I use for my trolling motor and no issues since. Run a 12v trolling motor with ipilot and even with the riggers hooked up to it I have yet to run it dead.

I did this cause I posted something similar last year and thanks to the recommendation of folks on here I haven't had an issue since.

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Went out of Emerson the last two weekends. First week was shakedown where I came up empty other than realizing I needed a new bilge so replaced that and everything else went smooth.

4/18 trolled the east side of the lake without seeing much until getting to the southern portion. Got 1 brown on a board with lead core down about 30-40 over 60 with a wonder bread spoon. Also hooked what looked like a decent walleye but shook the hook near the boat. This fish hit the same spoon but in about 40 fow. Overal nice to get out and cooked the brown for the in laws who were happy with the fresh fish.

Good to be back on the water regardless

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Ended up going to owasco last Friday 11/6. First year with riggers and never fished this late in the year so wasn't really sure what to expect. Greeted by a chilly morning with more chop than I was expecting, but boy it turned out to be a beautiful day.

Me and a buddy ran a couple of riggers and two inline boards for most the day but was pretty slow going. Got one laker 60 down over 80 and a pretty steelhead on an inline board with 5 colors of leadcore and a Rapala on it. Laker thought some cowbells and gambler rig looked good that day. Buddy kept the laker for dinner but we released the steelhead. Sounds like spoons are more common in the fall, and tried some for a bit, but I threw on what had worked in the summer for me.

Definitely a learning experience but was just happy to get out in great weather. Was weird getting a bit of a sun burn in November [emoji38].

Came home and put the riggers away for the season, so just wanted to say thanks to all on this site for the posts and comments. Would have been completely lost without following this site.

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Was thinking of traying to get out this weekend too. Do folks still use riggers this time of year for around creeks and river mouths or is it more boards? Heck, can you cast stick baits around them and pick up fish? I have never fished this time of year down there, but was thinking of giving Owasco a go if water levels allow a launch. 

Got out for a bit this morning. Greeted by stronger winds than I was expecting, but picked up a handful of good keepers with a couple perch hitting 12".

Also got a surprise with a beast of a bowfin that weighed 7lbs. Was hoping it was a smallie, but it was a heck of time fighting it with ultra lite tackle.

Just west of the islands again but a bit closer to the channel this time.

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8 hours ago, sandwick50 said:

What depth of water do you typically find perch this time of year?

The ones I got on Sunday were in about 14.5 FOW. 

3 hours ago, Pequod1 said:

I was there last week and the fishing was similar. One thing I noticed is when I switched out the fatheads for bigger plastics and  pimples, I caught bigger fish.  Maybe I was lucky but I’ll be there again today and use the artificials. 

Yeah, I could see that. Some of the fat heads were pretty good size and they seemed to get some better quality fish. 

One thing I found interesting was that one of the larger perch I cleaned had a smaller goby in him. Make sense that they eat them, I just had never seen it before. 

Went out yesterday in front of the islands and boy what a beauty of a day. Once you found the right spot, there were tons of perch in there hitting the fatheads, but had to catch about 10 smalls to get 1 good one. Either way tons of fun because once your dropped your bait in the water you had a fish. Heck, was able to get a picture of some dinks hitting my split shots at the surface there were so many. Good day all around.

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Spent the day on Otisco. Was fortunate enough to get my first muskie. Tight lines for your trip this weekend

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Last I was there, which was probably a month ago and it was still warm, I could only find a couple of lakers down on the bottom around 90 FOW. We launched out of emerson and at the time the booth was closed and we didn't have to pay anything. 

Dan, I'm in a similar situation as you. Currently got a 16' but am looking to upsize eventually too. Due to this, I keep an eye out for cuddy's and such and saw this one: https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/391070011880426/. It's outside my budget and is a bit older style than you were looking for, but newer motor and kicker would make me feel more comfortable on the lake. Best of luck on the search! 

Nice brown! That's a pretty fish 

Think that's the same boat I reached out about on craigslist too [emoji38]. Nice rig and glad someone from LOU got it. Best of luck and glad you're getting back out there

Thanks guys. I’m glad there’s positivity out of it! 
 
here’s the new Grady!
 Terrible pic but it’s what I’ve got so far. I feel like that guy who’s trying to sell a boat and posts terrible or no pics lol 
 

3 hours ago, nasc620 said:

Book with Captain Paul Corbett he has Irish hammer sport Fishing in Clayton also. I have fished with him many times he is top notch.


https://irishhammerfishing.com




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I second this. Irish Hammer is a great boat with a great captain. Corbett is the man 

12 hours ago, Gill-T said:

I fish with clothes on mostly. 

Anyone else catch the "mostly" there? lol

Make sure you got sun screen on the right places then