42ND ANNUAL CANANDAIGUA LAKE TROUT DERBY June 3rd & June 4th 2023

[salmoseine]

Some quite impressive trout for a small, 2 day derby. Largest LT: 14.15 lbs. Largest RT: 15.15 lbs, Grand Prize winner, a Bow!!  Largest BT: 11.30 lbs. 

[Reel Doc]

WOW!!  Some great fish there!!

[MikeyP]

Yikes! Can't believe the size of the trout in that lake! Nice going guys.

[Frogger]

Wow ser is right!  What a showing! 

[salmoseine]

And to think the 2021 Grand Prize derby winner was a Canandaigua Lake all time record LT... 29.25 lbs. The previous lake record was 26 lbs 6 oz, ~60 years earlier. 

Edited June 7, 2023 by salmoseine

[cinnamon fish]

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!
 

Edited June 5, 2023 by cinnamon fish

[Frogger]

Freaken awesome! Nice going! Congrats!

[whaler1]

Absolutely fantastic!!

[troutman10]

Way to go, Congrats! That's a beauty. This is a great spot with alot of help like you say. I've narrowed the curve with everyone's help here as well.

[Bo Hunter]

Congrats Mike, what a pig!!

See you Sunday 

[TROUTMAN 87]

Which is prettier,the Rainbow or Finn? Very nice fish Mike.

[Seneca Slammer]

Wow! Nice Fish

[Crestliner]

I saw that big Hen in downtown Naples spawning about 2 months ago!!!! NIce Fish Congrats

[salmoseine]

3 hours ago, cinnamon fish said:

 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!

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!!!

 

Edited June 5, 2023 by salmoseine

[cinnamon fish]

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]

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.

[salmoseine]

25 minutes ago, cinnamon fish said:

I wonder if the fish I caught could be the largest rainbow from any finger lake?

 

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.

 

 

 

Edited June 5, 2023 by salmoseine

[cinnamon fish]

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!

[cinnamon fish]

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!

[brucehookedup]

Nice job beautiful fish

[Sanitarium]

Congratulations Mike! Thanks for sharing!  Heck of a fish! Fishing solo to boot! Well done! 🍉 🎣 

[Trouthunter]

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

[cinnamon fish]

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.

[Fishstix]

What a beauty. and thanks for the great story.   congratulations !.

[kempie]

In 1946 a friend of my dads Earl Crane from Hornell caught a 21lb Rainbow in Keuka fishing alone at night with a seth green handline rig. that was the new york state record until it was broke by a fish from lake ontario in I believe 1982.