Any Luck In Upstate Ny?

[nosdog2]

Great fish Farmer!  

[markinny]

got a couple of big lm bass in the hudson valley in the last two years.8.3 lbs. my personal best.

[ww2farmer]

Trip #15 and #16:

Last night (#15) was out for an hour and a half after work.............SLOW.........caught 4 bass  and a couple pike. Three largemouth and one smallmouth. Nothing special about any of them. Biggest was a 3.5lb largemouth

Late morning-this afternoon went out (trip #16) for about 4 hours........another grind. I caught 9 bass and another couple pike. All largemouth. The best five, were five clone 3lbers, the rest were all smaller 2lb ish range fish.

We have lost water temp........a lot of water temp. When it was on fire a week and a half ago, it was almost 10-12 degrees warmer than it is now. It's back to ice out style fishing until it warms up again. 

At least ice out fishing is more predictable. They are grouped up a little better. It seems like they moved up and put the feed bags on heavy two weeks ago, and then mother nature returned to late March weather the last 10 days, and when they pulled back.......they scattered. When I have gotten bit, it's one or two from an area and that's it.

Being a shallow bowl, Silver is fickle when the weather is unstable.

[rmcguirk]

Finally got the boat out on the water this weekend on Conesus.  Both days were slow and, as Farmer notes above, water has cooled down from last weekend.  In four hours Saturday, caught six bass and one pike.  Mix of SM and LM, with best one being a 4.67 lb LM.  Today was even slower.  Got out for about 3 hours in between rain drops.  Caught 4 bass and 1 pike.  The best was a 4.54 lb SM.

Odd, though the fishing was slow, when they hit, they hit aggressively.  They just didn't hit nearly often enough.  Here are those two.  Not sure how to rotate the pics.  

 

 

[bclark7b]

On April 21, 2016 at 10:33 PM, ww2farmer said:

I have caught 30+ lbers .............and they have been small ones compared to some I have seen.

wnybassman once battled one that was over 30lbs for what seemed like 3 hours off the back deck of my boat during a tournament that I thought was the kicker of kickers for a few moments. I should have just reached over and cut his line. I fully blame him for finishing 2nd in that tournament due to the time lost LOL.

I foul hooked one tonight that was as big as any I have ever seen, and was in danger of being spooled with 50 lb braid, so I just pointed the rod tip at it, put my thumb on the spoo, burned all the skin off said thumb, and only lost my bait and leader line .

Were you there tonight? I didn't see too many people where I was. There are 2 bass resource members who know about this area of Silver, and both have been threatened with death if they talk ..............OK maybe not death, but I will raise my voice in a stern and ill-tempered manner.

That reminds me..........I haven't heard from bclark7b in a while..........I better check to see if he's still around and that he's not talking.

Oh I'm still alive. The secret is safe with me. Things have cooled down for me. The temps need to go back up so things heat up again 

[Subaqua Adinterim]

19 hours ago, ww2farmer said:

We have lost water temp........a lot of water temp. When it was on fire a week and a half ago, it was almost 10-12 degrees warmer than it is now. It's back to ice out style fishing until it warms up again. 

At least ice out fishing is more predictable. They are grouped up a little better. It seems like they moved up and put the feed bags on heavy two weeks ago, and then mother nature returned to late March weather the last 10 days, and when they pulled back.......they scattered. When I have gotten bit, it's one or two from an area and that's it.

Being a shallow bowl, Silver is fickle when the weather is unstable.

That is keeping with my theory.  As I fished one of the smaller finger lakes several days ago, which is much deeper, the water was very cold.  It wasn't until later in the afternoon with the sun out and the air temperature about 60, that the shallower water warmed up slightly and I started catching fish in about eight to ten feet of water.

Hopefully things will warm up a little, however this cold rain may make it tough for a while.  I'm scheduled to sub in a golf league Wednesday afternoon, so maybe Thursday or Friday I will head out.

[ww2farmer]

Trip #17...............With no work today due to the rain the last few days, I hemmed and hawed about going until about 10am, knowing that I would have to be home by 3 to pick the kids up from school.

Hit the water about 10:30, and it was DEAD for 2+ hours. I switched sides of the lake, and about 1pm they started biting. It was more of a numbers affair today with most all the fish under 3lbs.....................except one hog that went 5-13. I caught 14 between 1 and when I had to leave at 3, as well as a dozen more pike. The bass were an even mix of largemouth and smallmouth, and with the exception of the 6lber, only another pair of largemouth were pushing or over 3lbs. The smallmouth were all 2 lb clones. Everything on a jerkbait today. The smallmouth and pike just about ripped the rod out of my hands, while the largmouth, including the big one, bit very very subtle, and at the end of a long pause. It was hard to settle in on what to do today with that jerkbait, either rip it and catch smallies and pike, or soak it and catch largemouth..........so I did a little of both, and caught a little of both.

And now, once again, terrible, unflattering, pictures of said 5-13:

[River Dave]

Nicely done Farmer! I came fairly close to hitting Silver myself today but since it was the first time in the water this year I stayed close to home and hit the Niagara River. I was only out from about noon until four and was trying out my new depth finder more than anything but I did get a fair amount of fishing time too. I hooked two bass and lost both, one small SM and one average LM so no great loss. Felt good just to get out in the boat again, waited all winter for that. Highlight of the day for me (other than just going in the first place) was seeing a bald eagle on Strawberry Island. Lotta' stuff to do at home so trip #2 probably won't be for at least another week or two. 

[ww2farmer]

trip #18, fished for about 1.5 hours after work this evening. Nice night for action in the short time I was there. Caught 9. Six smallmouth, and 3 largemouth. As well as 1/2 a dozen pike.  No size tonight. One lone 4lb largemouth for lunker, and the rest were all 2lb clones. Everything on a jerkbait once again.

[ww2farmer]

Trip #19: Fished for about 2 hours tonight after work. The first hour was spent throwing a jerkbait in a 50 yard stretch and catching one 2lb smallmouth after another............I honestly lost count at 20+...................NO size, the biggest was maybe 2.5 lbs, but the vast majority were 2lb clones. Then............it stopped, and about three casts later.............."jerk, jerk, slack line" Crap. The cops showed up and the kids all ran to hide in the bushes and under the neighbors back porch. 

Not wanting to risk the LAST jerkbait I own to another bite off, I pulled the trolling motor up and went looking for largemouth. 

It was not on fire, I caught 8 of those. One 2.5lber, one 2lber, and the rest all 12" squeaker's.................EXCEPT...............another hog. This one went 6-1. 

And once again, terrible pics of the big one:

 

 

 

 

 

[River Dave]

Dang that's two sixes and one that was just a few ounces away all in a couple of weeks here, wow! Quite a roll you're on. Hopefully I'll come out there and clear out some of those pike for you in the next couple weeks. Always heard Silver was a good pike lake but I'd like to find out for myself. I know a lot of guys hate them but I love catching pike.

[ww2farmer]

59 minutes ago, River Dave said:

Dang that's two sixes and one that was just a few ounces away all in a couple of weeks here, wow! Quite a roll you're on. Hopefully I'll come out there and clear out some of those pike for you in the next couple weeks. Always heard Silver was a good pike lake but I'd like to find out for myself. I know a lot of guys hate them but I love catching pike.

I like pike too............it's just that I have donated $70 worth of jerkbaits to them the last week.And being down to my last jerkbait and no local stores that carry them in the colors I use, I couldn't bring my self to tie the last one on tonight.

Speaking of pike haters.............

I once fished with a guy whom I "thought" was a decent human being, he caught a pike while we were bass fishing, and stomped it's head in on the back deck of my boat, and tossed it back in the water half dead. We were 3 miles from the ramp, without saying a word I trolling motored over to the nearest dock, put my rod rod down, grabbed his stuff, set it on the dock and gave him two options:

Option #1 get off the boat RIGHT NOW under his own power onto this dock and find a ride, or walk back to the ramp

OR

Option #2 , If you don't take option #1, be prepared to swim to the shore/dock.

He looked at me dumbfounded and said "C'mon man it was just a stupid pike, they steal your stuff all the time too" . So I said "option #2 it is then" and turned towards him..............he got the picture, and took option #1. I went right back out to where we were fishing and he just stood there, and he yelled "OK man I get it, I'm sorry".  I pulled the trolling motor up and left him there.

I fished a couple more hours and when I got back to the ramp, his truck was still there, so he evidently had yet to find a ride, or had't walked that far yet. 

I have not spoken to or seen him once since. He used to be a regular at my bass tournaments too, and he hasn't shown up since that day to those either.............and if he did, I wouldn't let him in.

If he wanted to keep and eat it......fine..........but to abuse it and toss it back like garbage burned me to no end, and I loath people like this.

 

 

[Subaqua Adinterim]

This afternoon I went out to one of the small finger lakes. Thought it strange that there was no one parked at the north end boat ramp as on a Friday,there are usually at least 6 to 10 vehicles with trailers there.

When I got to the south end canoe/kayak launch and carried my canoe down to the water, I found out why.  The wind was gusting straight down the lake and there were some crazy waves and whitecaps.  

I put my gear in the canoe and sat in my truck listening to the radio and eating all my snacks for a few hours, hoping for better conditions.  It started raining a little around 3:30 and then it stopped after a few minutes.  After the rain stopped, the wind calmed down a lot and I launched.

Probably should have turned around and drove home right after I first got there; however, I had to try,and right after I started fishing at 4:00, it started pouring.  I got soaked, I kept fishing until 6.  Didn't catch a thing, got 3 light hits on the shakeyhead set up, probably bluegills, and that was it.

Headed for home around 6:30 after loading up and it felt good to have the heat blasting in the truck.  Sometimes there's a reason no one else is on the lake 

[ww2farmer]

Trip #20.............I didn't even get to the lake until 7pm, and had time for one pass through a pre-determined largemouth spot.

It was a good pass

I only caught 6, but those six were a 5-14, 4-11, 4-8, 4-4, 3-15, 3-10

And now for my daily installment of terrible pictures ......

The 5-14

 

[rmcguirk]

Gotta tell ya, if you would've asked me to predict how I was going to do today given the time of the year and the weather, my guess would've been good to very good, with a chance of outstanding. Shows what I know. Was on the water from 8-2:45 and caught only two bass. And they were both dinks. The only comfort is that I was around any number of other boats all day and nobody was catching anything. 

I tried everything that usually works in the spring.  None of it did. The two dinks I did catch were on the Ned rig. 

I did see a fair bunch of fish shallow, but they were not biting. 

Tomorrow's another day...

[ww2farmer]

18 hours ago, rmcguirk said:

Gotta tell ya, if you would've asked me to predict how I was going to do today given the time of the year and the weather, my guess would've been good to very good, with a chance of outstanding. Shows what I know.

Tomorrow's another day...

And that day............was  today...........and it sucked LOL

Trip #21. Found my self with about 4 free hours this afternoon between tacking my wife to brunch, and going to dinner later. 

The kids were all playing at the cousins house, and my wife and mother-in-law went to visit grandma in the nursing home. SO I went fishing.......on mothers day, and didn't get in trouble. LOL

I should have took a nap.

I caught 6 largemouth, one 3.5 lber, one 2.5lber, and the rest all 12" rats.

 

[desmobob]

Today was too windy for me to have any fun fishing, but I used the wind to my advantage: it kept the darn black flies off me while I took the snowblower off the lawn tractor and mounted the mower deck.  After mowing the lawn, I got out my new Daiwa Ardito travel rods (7'MF and 7'6"MHF) and my new Lew's BB2 Inshore reel and headed outside.

The rods are surprisingly nice for the money, and what I feel is just a little on the stiffer side of their ratings compared to the Kistler KLX rods I generally use.  I really like them.  They are a little bit heavier than my KLX one-piece rods, but not too bad at all.  They seem plenty sensitive, but only some real fishing time will tell the real story.

When I mounted up the new Lew's reel, I started it off with two of the four centrifugal brakes set on.  I was throwing a light weight; about 1/4 oz., and the reel fluffed up a little during the cast.  I switched to a 1/2 oz. weight and decided to turn on the other two brakes and work down from there.  Since all four brakes were on, I threw a mighty cast, thinking the cast would get choked short by the full braking.  

Well, it seems that when I opened the side cover to activate the other two brakes, what I actually did was turn off the two that were already on.  Having no brakes on, coupled with my major league cast, gave me a major league, all-star, MVP overrun.   I worked on it for quite a while and finally had to cut it out.

I should have just braved the wind and gone fishing!  At least the lawn is mowed....

Tight lines,

Bob

 

[PAGreg]

I headed to Cayuta (Little) lake on Saturday. Was surprised to find the parking lot full when I arrived. Once I got out on the lake, it was apparent that nobody was fishing for bass. So, I had the few docks all to myself and managed a decent amount of fish from under the sparse docks. Threw in a few bonus fish between docks on the jerkbait and wasn't a bad day.

[rmcguirk]

5 hours ago, ww2farmer said:

And that day............was  today...........and it sucked LOL

 

Got out again today for about 4 hours this morning.  Gusty west wind made it tough, but I stuck to the west bank and made it work.  Fishing was better than yesterday, though still not great.  Caught two decent smallies in my first 10 casts (both a hair under 3LBs), and I thought it was going to be on.  Didn't catch another one for over an hour.  Managed 7 bass total with 5 LM and those first two smallies.  Big fish was a 4.6LB LM.  

I consider that "decent" and better than staying home, as I don't have Farmer's high expectations.   

[Scorchx1245]

Anyone hit conesus, or Honeoye lately thinking Monday honeoye, and Tuesday conesus.

[rmcguirk]

8 hours ago, Scorchx1245 said:

Anyone hit conesus, or Honeoye lately thinking Monday honeoye, and Tuesday conesus.

See above for reports from my two days this weekend on Conesus.  Some additional info on Conesus that wasn't in those reports:

1.  Water temp:  It was 48-49 in the north part of the lake and up to 53.5 at the south end on Saturday.  I stayed mid-lake on Sunday and it was 50-51.5, depending.  That was surprising, as I always thought that the north and particularly the north west on the Finger Lakes would warm up the quickest--and my experience was that, too. 

2.  Water clarity:  A bit murkier than in years past.  At most, 4 feet of visibility, but at that depth, you can only see distinct things on the bottom.  Need to have about 3 feet to actually see things moving around. 

3. Depth: All the fish I caught this past weekend and last weekend were in 3-5 feet. 

4.  What's worked best for me so far: Not surprisingly, a lipless crank bait (red).  So far, they've preferred it ground against the bottom.  A swim jig in a bluegill pattern (a confidence bait for me anyway) on a steady, slow retrieve.  Chatterbait in a bluegill pattern.  Just get the blade thumping along the bottom.  Ned rig crawled along the bottom.   

5.  What hasn't worked for me:  Surprisingly, and disappointingly, I have not been able to get a jerk bait bite going, and believe me I tried to force feed it to them this weekend and last weekend.  A single dink pike is all I've gotten on that so far. 

I was on Honeyoe two weekends ago in my kayak.  Information is therefore a bit dated.  But, knowing both lakes pretty well, I'm willing to bet that its a couple of degrees warmer than Conesus, that bass will be up shallow, and chewing.  My experience on Honeyoe is number and not size. 

[bclark7b]

finally had a bit of success today. in an hour and a half i caught 6 with the biggest being 5-2. everything else was under 2. looks like this week is going to be a little warmer so i hope to start having a little more success.

[ww2farmer]

Trip #22............fished for about 2 hours after work tonight from 6:30-dark. Went looking for smallmouth with the jerkbait.............found 4 of them, but the biggest only about 2.5lbs................the largemouth however liked it. Caught 8 of those, with the best five being 4-14, 4-7, 4-3, 3-12, & 3-10

[Scorchx1245]

Went to Canandaigua lake Tuesday and killed them! All seem to be super shallow, and normally Canandaigua is a poor bass fishing lake. Water was around 48 degrees. Good Ole jig and Colorado blade spinnerbait.

[ww2farmer]

Two reports rolled into one:

Trip #23........last night. Fished for about 2 hours. SUCKED............caught 4 largemouth. A pair of them were decent 4+lbers, the other 2 were a 2.5lber and a 12"er

Trip #24............this morning. Fished for about 3 hours .Almost sucked. Caught 3 clone 3lb largemouth, and five 2-2.5 lb smallmouth.