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Fishing Keuka lake for the first time


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I will be fishing Keuka lake for the first time next weekend.  We will be staying near the south end near Hammondsport.  Is there a place to launch down on the south end of the lake?  I only saw that there was supposed to be a launch by a hotel there but did not know if that was still available or not.  Also, any tips on where to start fishing?  I plan on trolling for lakers/trout. I have a 19' starcraft with riggers/dipseys, leadcore etc.  I usually troll for walleye on erie and any help is greatly appreciated. 

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Honestly, just troll when you hit depth and keep going. If you want to make a run, the north east side at the bluff where the lake splits is the hot area for many i believe. I fish Keuka maybe once or twice a year. But we fished the entire lake a few times. The south end has always been good. Spoon bites can be great, fish the t cline and you will find nice small mouth

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It's a narrow lake, so fish 80-110 if you want to keep rods moving and have less chances at losing gear on a shelf. There's a few sudden drop offs, being unfamiliar to you, playing it safe would be a good idea. If you have a good chart that can help. Fish the marks on the screen, set your releases semi lighter than normal, lead cores in all colors work good.

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Run small spoons that are gold n perch colored on 5-7 color lead core, try 30-50' down on riggers. A mag dipsy down the chute 300' with a Sd and iron duke UV extravaganza fly 15' behind the dipsy. If you want, early am try hugging the shore line with bright colored sticks, those Lakers are always hungry in that lake! Good luck!

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If you run a flat fish,quick fish,twin minnow on copper or lead core ticking bottom in 45-55 fow pretty sure you're going to find Lakers just have to give your line a good yank every so often to remove junk from the hooks if it's working right you will see the action in the rod Lakers like it slow 1.7ish and definitely run a top line and I would recommended a double joined bait because of the speed for Lakers a double joined will still have some action at that speed.

Just my opinion not familiar with that lake

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Keuka is an interesting body of water. It is actually like fishing three different lakes in a way as the "y" shape of it is very significant in terms of wind direction, wave action and underwater currents.  It is this fact that can make it difficult to figure out sometimes but also can be a strength as depending on the wind you can usually fish one branch or the other depending on the direction/speed of it.  As mentioned you can fish the Hammondsport end (both sides) quite readily after leaving the launch and running lures near shore and way back (jointed Rapalas in orange, silver. perch or gold work well with a couple large split shot placed about 3 ft up helps keep them down a bit as well as deflecting weeds) in the early morning hours before the sun gets high can be productive  for the occasional rainbow, brown or landlock and sometimes lakers that have been in there feeding at night.  One of the best spots for suspended lakers is right out front of the "bluffs" (where the "y" separates) and usually there will be lakers stacked in there but they can be fussy about hitting too. Further west adjacent from the State Park launch is the deepest point in the lake and around it can be lakers.  Across from thethe bluffs angled on the south east side is Marlena Point and out along there in 100 ft or so are usually bottom oriented lakers.  Another good area for the lakers is out in front of Keuka College in the middle of the lake in 80-120 ft on bottom. Careful with downriggers riding bottom as there are a couple of significant snags out there too :lol: .  You may wish to stop by Fishy Business or contact Fishy for an update on the fishing as he is very much "in the know" when it comes to that lake and is a great source of information and he can clue you in to particular tackle that has been effective. He is located at 3737 Pepper Road Bluff Point NY (607) 368-2306 or (315) 719-3673  (closed Tuesdays)

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For those who jig all species but the lakers are hard to come by. We fish almost every week, and between my buddy and I we have only one brown to our reord. No rainbows and very few salmon This jigging not trolling. Good luck it is grat fishery.....jk

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