sawbelliesam

The total count was in the low 70's. There was an abundance of 2-3 pounders with the biggest being 6lbs. 7oz. Very few fish bigger than 4 lbs. Many of the males were very dark and beat up, indicating that they've been up there for a while. There were a few hard females, but not as many as one would hope. The water level was lower than optimal  for my liking. Still a very enjoyable day.

Nice job. Any fleas yet ?

That is as beautiful a brown as I've ever seen. Nice job.

Never saw the joy or purpose of killing animals for the fun of it.  I hunt and fish, but with a far different mentality. I find it to be both sad and pathetic.

You must be so proud. I have harvested game and fish for over 50 years. I did so for sport as long as there was consumption. Stopping a beating heart so that you can feel good about yourself doesn't agree with me.

How ya feeling today Trouthunter?

I'm not like you.

It mounts to a rail.

Thanks Skinny. It attaches to the bottom and projects to the side.

Anybody know where I can get a quiver bracket for a Barnett Whitetail 2  ?  Striking out at every turn. I'll buy the whole assembly if that's all I can get but can't find that either. Thanks !

Thanks for a nice report. Do you have any thoughts on the bait fish situation? Reading much bait? Any sawbellies or ciscos in their bellies?

How were you able to launch in Hammondsport? Is there now a public launch? Any good lakers? Looks like they're typical Keuka lakers, 20 or so inches and skinny. Hope the Cisco's take hold.

I've got a 1989 9.9 merc.  Got it new and used it for about five years and then began fishing with a buddy on his boat. It's now time to put it back to work. It has very low hours and has never given me any trouble. I want to have it gone over and know that it's in A-1 shape. Called Seagers and they won't service anything over 20 years old.  Would love to hear some recommendations. Thanks !!!

Wouldn't be a splake as there is little to no natural reproduction of lakers in Hemlock. Seems unlikely that one would have spawned with one of the few brookies thrown in there and grown to that size in short order. I'm thinking stocked brookies.

On 1/30/2022 at 2:36 PM, bosco said:

We went out of the south end launch yesterday and it was clearly NOT good everywhere. We trekked north until we got to where this wind blown chunkiness began. There was a huge East/West crack on the north side of that, also.  So we knew we couldn’t get any further than 40 fow on this day. A couple guys that arrived after us tried spudding through, and eventually got around it, but they were REALLY determined and spudded their way almost all the way to shoreline in order to get around it. In the end, they didn’t get more than 150 yards north of where we were fishing (which tells me that either they knew exactly where they wanted to fish and we’re willing to go through a heck of a lot of extra effort to get that 150 yards…or that they simply couldn’t get any further north). Meanwhile, the snow blew and drifted hard all morning and almost completely covered the visual warnings mentioned earlier. Another guy came out later and was walking right past us in an effort to get out to where the other guys were. He, having no idea of the extra effort and precautions those earlier guys took to get out there, simply saw people out there and figured it was safe to walk straight out to them. I yelled to him to stop and trotted over to him to explain that it was unsafe and the extent to which those other guys went to get out there. He had no spud bar and decided 40 fow was good enough for him too.
 

So there’s the lesson. People here can graciously share what they believe to be accurate conditions (and we thank you) but it may not be accurate. You can look with your own eyes and perceive what you believe to be true…but even that, also, may not be true. You owe it to yourself to know for yourself…first hand. 
 

By the way….we froze our arses off but finished with just 1 fish, a beautiful 24” LLS.

I agree with you Muskie. There are a few to be found. They were not however native to the lake. It'd be nice if they took off, but I was told that the water chemistry wasn't conducive to a successful brookie fishery. Happy fishing!

The one being held in the shanty is a brown. 100%

The one on the ice is a brook trout. 100%

Anyone that thinks that either of these fish are lake trout needs to bone up on their fish ID.

Brook trout were stocked experimentally decades ago. They didn't take and were never stocked again. If that brook trout was taken from Hemlock lake, then it's anybody's guess as to how it got there. I have been a diary holder for Hemlock since the early 80's and we receive the final reports from the DEC for all of the cooperators and there has never been a brook trout reported. I'm told by the DEC that there are none present. 

Take that info and make your own assumptions.

Also, the same can be said for the landlocks. They've not been stocked for decades as well, and like the brookies they did not reproduce in that fishery.

The one being held in the shanty is a brown. 100%

The one on the ice is a brook trout. 100%

Anyone that thinks that either of these fish are lake trout needs to bone up on their fish ID.

Brook trout were stocked experimentally decades ago. They didn't take and were never stocked again. If that brook trout was taken from Hemlock lake, then it's anybody's guess as to how it got there. I have been a diary holder for Hemlock since the early 80's and we receive the final reports from the DEC for all of the cooperators and there has never been a brook trout reported. I'm told by the DEC that there are none present. 

Take that info and make your own assumptions.

Personally, I like to hold my fish close to my body for pictures, so that you can have a better idea of the actual size.

You are all over thinking this. This is an old fish that lived as long as it did because no one caught it. There's a lot of water out there. You can't catch them all, and many will never strike a lure. He just didn't get caught until he did. Again, that's an old fish.

As I stated in a previous post, that fish is older than you think. Much older. I have talked with DEC in the past about this very thing. Hopefully there will be some enlightenment regarding this fish. I'm still thinking 40ish or older.

Lakers in Lake Ontario grow bigger faster than Finger Lakes Lakers. IMO, that fish was north of 40 years old.

I fish these lakes fine with my 16' er and 10horse motor. If you fished this lake once 30 years ago, I'm impressed that you could be such an authority. Just sayin'.

Water temperature.  Yes, it's best the first week.