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I present to you guys and gals my annual 2024 Keuka Lake Fishing Report. This is my 39th year visiting Keuka Lake for our family vacation staying on the east side 1 mile from the bluff. This is also my 2nd year bringing my New to Me fishing boat and 5th consecutive year in trolling the lake in august. I do fish the lake 2 more times a year for the FLTA tournaments. In the mid to late 80s and early 90s I would troll the lake with my dad mostly between Eggleston point and the bluff and it wasn’t uncommon to land an 8lb laker, and an Atlantic or a Brown on the same trip. Over the last 4 years I have seen a few rainbows get caught and 1 Atlantic. I have heard rumors or browns on the wall but nothing firsthand. See Ketchum Fish => https://ketchumfish.net/ or Reelaxin Charters => https://reelaxinfishing.com/ facebook pages for rainbow pics I can’t remember the exact summer of the bait kill that changed everything for the Keuka Lake, but it had to be around 1992 or 1993. Water Temp and Lake Conditions We Arrived on Friday Evening August 9th after the heavy rains from Hurricane Debby. There was a lot of flooding and debris on the roads around the lake. The runoffs all around the lake overflowed which left debris in and around the lake and the lake was noticeably green all week from it. I parked the boat at the state park until I could figure out how bad the debris in the lake was (pics curtesy of Ketchum Fish) Saturday morning Jeremy and I could see tons of debris floating in the lake and decided to take a trip out in the recreational boat and pick up any debris that could cause potential damage to other’s boats We pulled out 2 large trees and a pile of logs that later turned into perfect campfire wood. Saturday evening, we launched the boat from the state park and got her ready for fishing for the week. Water Temp on the surface Saturday Morning was 75 degrees and by Friday it dropped 3 degrees down to 72. The days were sunny with sone haze from the Canadian forest fires. Air temp averaged mid 70’s in the beginning of the week and low 80’s Thursday and Friday. The lows at night and early morning were in the mid-50s. Temp break of 50 degrees was 60 feet down at the cottage 1 mile from the bluff and rose a little bit over the week to about 55 feet down. The Water was GREEN all week even on Friday when we left. Fishing was best right above and right below the thermocline Location and Results We fished Sunday, Monday, Tuesday and Thursday from 5:30AM to 9:00AM and, Monday Evening with MOM, Dad and the Wife from 7pm to 8:30pm Sunday, we headed north away from the bluff on the east side, and we caught just a few fish early as we were building patterns and finding the right depths. About 6:30AM we crossed the lake from old camp Iroquois and headed towards Eggleston point to see if the runoff from the storm brought in some fish or bait. On our first pass at Eggleston point in 110 FOW we had a double one on the wire diver and one on the 70 foot rigger. On our second pass we also doubled up but were in a little closer at 90 FOW and marked some bait on the bottom and some suspended. The suspended bait was probably perch fry and the bottom bait could have been cisco’s. I wish we culled a few fish to see what they were eating but didn’t. Until about 9AM we just circled the point and continued to bring in at least 1 to 2 lakers per pass. Monday, We wanted to chase rainbows in the Hammondsport basin based on some reports earlier in the week from Ketchum and Reelaxin charters, but it looked like it was going to storm so Jeremy went back to bed and I went solo to Eggleston point and continued to bring in a few lakers on each pass of the point. I did read a report on Tuesday morning that the basin was all chocolate milk, and the fish weren’t biting so I am glad we didn’t go. Monday night I took My Wife, Mom and Dad out in the evening after dinner at Abandon Brewery for Wing Night and Ice Cream at Spotted Duck. We left at 7pm and continued to go back and forth at the point and continued to bring in fish on every pass.. We fished until sun set and boated about 10 more lakers. Tuesday again we buzzed over to Eggleston and continued to boat lakers on every pass. Bait was still present at the same location Wednesday, we slept in since you know it was a vacation! Thursday was when our luck ran out and the fish turned off. There was still fish and bait at the point, but they had lock jaw and weren’t chewing. I am guessing they were all full of feed and bait from the runoffs. There was a debris field about 100 yards off the point loaded with weeds and garbage making it difficult to fish without cluttering up the lines. Summary - On Monday and Tuesday, we probably boated about 20 fish over at Eggleston point. - The fish were probably as small or emaciated as I can remember in recent years - We did bring in a few 3+ pounders but those were the exception - This is the first year we didn’t catch any bass trolling - This is the first year we didn’t catch anything trolling stick baits. - No Rainbows this year even with bait at the point - I do wish we fished the west branch a bit as I was curious if the points over in Pulteney had bait as well from all the runoffs. - The poor class of fish could very well be because of our location as we didn't explore much this year. Spread and Patterns The spread the work the best for us this weekend was o Riggers Parked at 70 feet and 60 feet o 2 Wire Slide Divers with the MAG Ring at 150 (70 feet down) o 2x 250(50 foot) and 220(45 foot) Weighted Steel on Planer Boards o 7 and 8 Colors on Planer Boards o Best speed was 1.9 => 2.0 at the ball Best Spoons o MVP was the Moon Shine Walleye sized Wild Perch both in Glow and RV probably due to the dirty water from the storm o Around 8:30AM the fish started moving towards the bottom, so we put down at 100FOW a few Elmer Hinckley spoons on the floor that worked very well § 777 Silver § 32 Gold Hammerd o Stinger Sized UV Can’t Afford it with UV tape and a Red EYE on the cup took fish every morning until the sun came up over the hills and it shut right off o Reel Rage Electric Muffin stayed on the 250 copper’s all weekend and took fish on every trip Boat Setup I have a 1994 Trophy 2002 Walkaround that’s in amazing shape. It sat at the dock in the water all week and never had to use the bilge even with the rain Sunday. It was repowered a bunch of years ago with an Evinrude eTech 2 stroke 115. I am a lucky boy!! Most of the equipment I am using came with the boat. - 2 Cannon 10 STX downriggers with 2 dual Rod Holders - 6 Bert’s ratcheting Rod Holders - 2 Cannon Single axis rod holders (want dual axis) - Fish hawk x4 - Over the winter I purchased a Garmin 93sv uhd2 - This winter I plan on picking up a 73sv uhd for the back of the boat I will be posting a video report of the trip on my YouTube channel that has a bunch of other reports and shorts of us catching and loosing fish. flx_adventures - YouTube 20240818_170119306_iOS.heic 20240811_224958928_iOS.heic 20240812_154838951_iOS.heic 20240812_224958319_iOS.heic 20240812_234606380_iOS.heic 20240813_120226230_iOS.heic 20240813_101905247_iOS.heic 20240813_121853595_iOS.heic 20240812_230122781_iOS.heic 20240812_234606380_iOS.heic

Went on my 38th week-long vacation, and this time, it's my 5th year hauling my fishing boat along. Added some excitement this year with my newly acquired 21-foot Trophy Walkaround. Most of the time, we were more into hunting exotics than specifically going after lake trout. We covered every nook of the Crooked Lake, mainly aiming for different spots and points, hoping to reel in some Atlantics or a Bow, but luck wasn't on our side this time. But when we did decide to target lakers, things started picking up once we nailed down a plan. Our best setup was 8 rods cruising at 1.9 mph in 130 fow, and here's the gear we used: - Planers - 5 color with a Smithwick Firetiger stick bait - 7 color with a Reel Rage Electric Muffin - 220 weighted steel with a Reel Rage Brown Town - 250 weighted steel with a Stingray "You Can't Afford It" - Downriggers set at 50 feet and 55 degrees, holding a Moonshine Walleye 1/2 Moon Gold Perch, and a Warrior Flutter Purple UV Alewife, both with a good 30ft lead - Wire Mag Slide Divers doing great work at 1.5 mph over 111 feet, loaded with Moonshine Walleye 1/2 Moons in Blue UV and Purple UV, each rocking a long 30-foot lead. Our luckiest spot turned out to be along West Lake Road, around 2 miles south of Switz. At 130 fow, we teamed up with my dad, and things got wild—7 fish in an hour, even scoring a double and a triple catch back-to-back. Unlike two years back, we noticed a shortage of bait this time, especially around the Bluff area. Through the week, we kept about 4 lake trout for lunch. Funny thing, all their stomachs had were perch minnows. Most of the catches were the usual 2 to 3-pounders, with a handful tipping the 4-pound mark. Those little fish must not have much of a shelf life with not much grub around. Despite the rain playing spoilsport, it was an awesome week of fun. Gotta say, that boat cover was worth every penny, keeping us dry and happy!

Did some trolling on Keuka the last few days. Did well in the mornings, for me, they didn't start hitting until about 8:30 and lasted about 2 hours. Almost all were spitting up bait.

Launched out of hammondsport at 6:30AM and trolled north along the west shore at 120ft depth. Found most fish half way to bluff in 130-140' and all 2-8' off the bottom. Went 10 for 13 in 4 hours. Hot spoon was a black with pink and purple ladderback we nicknamed "hot barbie" that took 5 fish alone. 3 diver hits on a white with pink ladderback and a couple on other black ladderback colors. Riggers were just off the bottom and diver rods were out 220-240. Shallow ran some deep diver rapalas with no luck. Best day we've had on Keuka slow trolling, but to be honest was the first time we were really serious about it.

This is my 3rd year bring my fishing boat up to for our annual (36) family vacation week on Keuka Lake! We had some great weather, delicious local foods and some great fishing! As usual I stopped up at Fishy Business and picked up a few spoons, advice on where to fish as well as my purchase from last year that he had still waiting for me that I left accidentally while loading firewood. Thanks Gerald! If your fishing Keuka make sure you stop up and get some honest advice and pick up some tackle from fishy! That watermelon northern king was HOT! Thanks again I fished out in front of the old green barn by the bluff for 4 mornings from 530am to 8:30am in various depths but the best was in 110 fow. The troll was really slow at 1.7 mph and the thermocline was at 60 feet. We marked a-lot of bait which after cleaning a few lakers for breakfast ended up being tiny perch. Last year we didn’t mark any bait so this was good but I would of like to see more diverse bait fish and not the perch. Running that slow allowed me to run 2 cowbell rigs down low just 5 foot of the bottom and then set the upper 4 rods at 35 and 55 feet down. Didn’t have any luck in the under 55 foot column even though we were marking fish there. Our best spoons were custom copper UV Reel Rage spoons that were painted and shipped super quick (thanks Scott) on the 5 color led core. We left them on both side all week and went 16/24 and a small mouth on those alone which would of made for a great week. We also brought in Thanks Brian at Ketchum Fish Charters for the led core suggestion. I honestly wouldn’t of brought those rods if you didn’t suggest it.. The watermelon norther king UV was also hot all week set at 40 feet down stacked bring in at least 2 lakers every trip The hammerhead aluminum watermelon UV cowbells with the gambler watermelon glow and one I made my self were on fire all week ring in 4 lakers per trip easy.. I also hooked up with tenatureboy and shared some intel as he was out on the bluff too. Hope mine was helpful.. yours was.. thanks.. Thanks for all the advice it made for a great time..

I took a 1/2 day on Thursday and decided to hit up lady Keuka since I was going to be there Sunday for the FLTA and wanted to test a few spots. Launched from the state park in the dark and shot down to the hammondsport basin and had lines in by 515 out in front of snug harbor. I immediately picked up 2 small Lakers down 80 on green NBK stingers behind spin doctors. I shot up to the bluff after about an hour of nothing and put out some watermelon cowbells with some homemade spin n glos and got 2 more in about 30 min. I then pulled up and hit up the state park and picked up 1 and 1 miss on cowbells. loaded up the boat and drove back home and was back to work by 1pm.

The skinny silvery thing was about 3.5" long. The itty bitty ones were spit up by a bass I caught. They were about a half-inch long. I think the bigger one might be a small sawbelly? These were from Keuka.

Planning to get back in to trout fishing the finger lakes after a several year hiatus and was hoping to get some recommendations on some good trolling spoons to start with?

Long story short this is my 2nd year trolling for trout and this the second year I brought my fishing boat up to Keuka for our annual week long vacation (this is year 35 spending a week on the lake with my family. ) my old man had a fishing boat in the 90s and we always had good luck trolling for trout Using Bradstreet a On Jenson Moocher flashers on Keuka until the mid 90s when the lake dried up hard and all the bait fish just disappeared. I stopped up at fishy business on the way and bought some firewood and a watermelon spoon to add to my arsenal and fished 5 days in total from 6am to 8:30am right out on the bluff to the green barn and caught on average 4 fish every trip. my first mate Jeremy joined me on every trip! My speed going south was 2.2 and north was 2.4. I even took my old man out with me twice during the morning and he brought in some fish. The good news is there seems to be some life starting to show in old lady Keuka. The bad news is all the fish were tiny and only a few were keepers. I didn’t keep any btw. Considering last year I didn’t know what I was doing and didn’t catch anything I feel this was a successful fishing trip! Here are some pics

Short version-You might lose gear trolling near one of these. They're for a DEC study. Everyone else probably knows this but I didn't find any posts. First time out on Saturday and noticed a buoy out in front of the Bluff and thought "Someone is using hotspot buoys here?" Thought I steered clear of it but lost a spoon while passing by, too far away to read the small print message that I later found out included the word "away." The Association put out this helpful warning about orange buoys in February, but the DEC must have decided on using yellow as well- https://www.keukalakeassociation.org/Orange_Buoys_on_Keuka_Lake.pdf "Anglers, please be aware that if you are fishing within 150 feet of these buoys, it is possible that fishing gear may get entangled in equipment used to anchor the buoys to the bottom." Orange_Buoys_on_Keuka_Lake.pdf

G'Job DEC! We trollers can now target lakers, lakers….. or lakers. Rainbows, browns and salmon are as rare as hen's teeth! Plenty of bait though (sawbellies, NOT your phantom ciscos). No fun! No interest! Lakers only..... and you did it DEC! Rethink your stocking plans or you'll lose fishermen support, license income, charter guys, etc. Sawbelly counts rise and fall from time to time. Always have. You panicked last couple years, and started talking about your bs cisco theories (yawn). You shoulda just waited for the sawbellies to resurge (it only took 6 months) then re-stocked the game fish. Please.

Here's what a Naples-made Sutton 44 & 71 spoon looks like after getting hooked on my jig Saturday. Falling-apart brittle. Couldn't tell if the mono they were attached to was ever part of the copper wrapped around the whole mess. At least I got to learn that people love these 44 spoons.