Any Luck In Upstate Ny?

[nosdog2]

Hit Silver this evening for a bit, did pretty well. Couple 33"+ pike, some rock bass, and a few 2-3 lbrs.  

The bluegill colors were liked this evening.  

[nosdog2]

Hit Silver again this morning ahead of this cold front. Another decent day.  Nothing to brag about; biggest was this 4.2.  Plus a few monster pike.  

Sorry for the upside down swimmer, strange bass. Lol

[nosdog2]

What a day to be outside..........did some fishing over at the state land.

Not sure why they go sideways when I upload from my iphone.  

[PAGreg]

I think I'm going to visit the mystical Silver Lake for the first time on Friday afternoon/evening. Spend the night in Geneseo and hit Conesus early on Saturday.

[River Dave]

On 5/16/2016 at 9:04 AM, PAGreg said:

I think I'm going to visit the mystical Silver Lake for the first time on Friday afternoon/evening. 

..........And I think I will probably see you there. I'll be earlier than you but I may still be out when you get there. I haven't been to that lake in over 20 years but I think it's time for a revisit. Sounds sacrilege to say on this forum but I think I'm going to focus mostly on pike. Certainly hope to catch some bass too but I'll be happy with just about anything. I'll be the fat guy in the blue and white Bayliner, give a shout if you see me out there (you too Farmer). 

 

[PAGreg]

Will do. I'll be in a silver Ranger Rt188 with PA registration on it. Probably have my buff on to look like a fish bandit.

I thought I'd designate some time throwing the whopper plopper for some toothy critters myself.

[nosdog2]

Despite the wind Silver was on fire today.  

If you guys target bass in Siver you WILL get pike.  

 

d**n me and my sideways fish!

[Hurricane]

Anyone fish Cayuga yet?

[PAGreg]

Well, changed my mind since the forecast looks do d**n nice for Friday. Going to take the whole day off and head to Silver. Will probably be on the water from 10-4 or so.

[River Dave]

Yea supposed to be real nice that day. See you there!

[Subaqua Adinterim]

Went out to one of the smaller finger lakes this afternoon.  Fished for about 3 hours.  Waves were crazy, two feet at times with whitecaps.  Paddled a lot to keep in place - would cast out and drift back while reeling in, then paddle forward to cast again.

Didn't venture more than fifty yards from shore. Traveled about a half mile south pushed by the wind and paddled back to the starting point by paddling a lot more distance. Caught 2 LMB about a pound each on watermelon red magic senkos t rigged weightless.  It was a good workout to catch a few fish.  Hoping for less wind next time out.

[Neil McCauley]

Some of the fish I am seeing from NY in this thread are unreal!  Who ever said Northeast bass can't be big? 

Hope the releases are being made quickly though, remember it's not even close to in season and out of season handling of the fish for any reason (like a pic) except the process of releasing it is technically not legal. Stupid nanny state shit but it has a reason- they're spawning or preparing to, stress is at a peak. Some of the males will starve protecting their nests. Go easy on em.

/rant. 

 

[nosdog2]

Well technically there isnt a "closed" season for black bass; if you a referencing the regulation where a fish may only be unhooked and returned immediately to the water, the way I read it this applies to fish during a closed season. Black bass have two seasons c&r and 12" min.

• A person may not fish for a species (even if immediately released) during the closed season for that species on a given water. Fish caught during the closed season must be unhooked and released immediately. They may not be handled for any other purpose.

"In situations where "catch and release" angling is allowed (such as for bass during the off-season in most parts of the state, or for trout in a stream designated as a no-kill waterway), the DEC fishing regulations state:

"Measuring, weighing and photographing the fish are permitted as long as the fish is not removed from the water for an extended period or handled in a manner that could cause harm. Fish may not be held on a string, or placed in a bucket, tub, livewell, or any other holding device."

I could very well be wrong, I don't claim to know everything.  And all fish I caught are handled with care and promptly released.  

[J Francho]

Region five still has a closed season. 

[River Dave]

I finally made it out to Silver Lake today but the fishing was tough for me. I saw a TON of fish (including several PB's if only they would have cooperated) but I could only manage a couple of two pounders and one small pike (saw some real nice pike too). Had a very enjoyable day on the water and perfect weather but I couldn't get any fish to bite, felt like muskie fishing most of the time. Run it right by their nose and nobody cared, not even the pike. I was out all day but didn't see anybody I recognized from the forum. Did any of you guys get out on Silver today and, if so, did you struggle as badly as I did or do I just suck? That is a definite possibility. Still had a great day though, I like that lake. 

 

[ww2farmer]

Dave...............she's been stingy to me this week during my after work short trips. Seems like when they are biting right now..............I'm not there. And If I can't catch them, well........... everyone else's chances go right in the toilet LOL.

I have fallen behind in my reports, so to catch up:

Trip #25..........last tuesday night. Made one lap around a usual good largemouth spot for this time of year. Caught a 3lber, and a 12"er. Ran into a buddy who wanted to show me his new graph, so I docked at his house and shot the breeze/scoped out the new graph for the rest of the daylight hours.

Trip #26, last night (thursday night) went looking for smallmouth on beds.............saw lots of empty beds. The one bed I found a fish on, I caught, a decent 4lb smallmouth. Looked and looked, and looked some more, and it was a ghost town in smallmouth love land. Headed to the docks while I still had 1/2 an hour of daylight and caught 4 largemouth, another decent 4lber, a pair of 2lbers, and a 12"er. As well as dozens of rockbass.

I expect once were done with these chilly nights, and constant north winds things will be back to "normal" soon.

I have been running on fumes the last 2 weeks. Working 70+ hours each week, not to mention the excitement of being shot (kind of) and taking a hard fall at work, and breaking my tail bone (for the third time in 10 years) while not being able to slow down and rest to heal it and my fishing has suffered. I am in auto pilot mode out there the last few trips...............if they ain't biting the way I want them to, I am not working for it.

[River Dave]

Sounds like you need a day off Farmer! I figure this has to be a busy  time of year for you, I saw guys working the fields the whole drive down and a few farms smelled like they were spreading "fertilizer". Phew!

 I saw a fair amount of smallmouth on beds in one area yesterday but didn't really fish them. Like you said most of the nests were empty. I was in several places with very high concentrations of fish and at one spot where I've never seen so many fish in one place in my life that didn't have a vending machine full of Cheerios next to it. That was amazing. With all that said I still couldn't get bit. The fish under the docks were fairly aggressive but the ones in open water were as turned off as could be. I did see some giants and, after seeing how much forage is in that lake, I see how they get to be so big. That's a real pretty home lake you have there Farmer, I'm jealous. The drive certainly blew all the carbon out of my trucks engine (close to redline climbing the hills) but it was a very pleasant day so I'll be back in the near future. Hope you recover soon. 

 

[PAGreg]

I was on Silver from 10-4. I boated 26 bass and one pike. I think I saw Dave running up the lake. I worked docks all day. I caught 12 bass from under one dock.

Largest fish was around 4 lbs. Saw 4 five plus pounders under one dock, but they were super spooky. I also saw what had to be a nearly 6# smallmouth swimming around in the open.

Being my first time at Silver, here are some of my observations:

1. The sheer number of fish I observed was unlike anything I've ever seen.

2. More pike than I've ever seen anywhere. I'm talking one every 30 yards 

3. Every fish is faaaat. 

4. People everywhere are ignorant at boat ramps, but the experience here was absurd both launching and leaving. 

Overall, I was impressed. I may make the 3 hour drive again someday just to take my tourny partner with me to experiencd it.

[ww2farmer]

Trip #27

Fished for about 2 hours after work again tonight, and it was decent.

Caught 13.............12 largemouth and 1 smallmouth. Nothing to brag about size wise, my best five would have been 17 or so lbs, the rest were all nice solid 2.5 lb fish.

[rmcguirk]

Fished Conesus Friday, Saturday and Sunday.  Weird.  Friday night, I got out with my son home from college for a couple of hours before sunset.  Beautiful night.  But, together we caught only two, a dink LM and a decent pike.  I got out Saturday morning from about 8:30-1:00.  Caught four 3 LM and 1 SM, but nothing of size.  Also caught a sizable walleye.  I don't catch many of those, perhaps one or two a year, and almost always on some type of crank bait.  This guy hit a jig and pig.  Odd.  

Today I got out from 7:30-12:00.  Fishing was still slow but I managed five, four dinks and the following, my personal best at 5.86 lbs.  Not the greatest pic but you get the idea.  

 

 

[ww2farmer]

Trip #28

I fished from noon-4pm today.............I wouldn't say it was on fire, as I have better expectations of what "on fire" means, but it was good.

Caught 23 largemouth, and 6 smallmouth.

Best five were a mix of the two at : 4-9 (LM), 4-4 (SM), 4-2 (SM), 4-2 (LM) and 3-14 (LM)

[Hurricane]

Anyone fish Oneida yet this year?

[zmankane24]

Went out to conesus yesterday had an okay day caught this guy

[ww2farmer]

Falling behind in my reports again but here they are in order:

trip #29 last Thursday night. Took the kids out for there annual Rock Bass fest and they caught a bunch. I made a few random casts to smallmouth I saw on beds and caught a half dozen of them. One good one pushing 4lbs, the rest all 2 lb clones.

Trip #30...........last night (Sat. night) went scouting things for my annual trip with BR member Ben (bclark7b). I caught 4 largemouth, and 4 smallmouth before I was satisfied I had enough stuff to put him on.

Trip #31................the annual bclark7b and ww2farmer May Silver Lake comedy show came to town. We started off the morning fishing for largemouth in the backwaters, and it was slow. We both caught one decent 3lb up there, and I had a first in all my years of fishing............I foul hooked a 14" largemouth on a frog. Out to the lake we went and looked for bedding smallmouth...........we caught those in good numbers for about two hours. No hogs. but a couple upper 2lb to low 3lb range fish. It was quite the show we put on. Some out of town bass club decided to hold a "paper" tournament today on Silver, and EVERY boat in the field was parked on a 100 yard area trying................key word trying.........to catch bedding smallmouth. We just zig zagged between them seemingly catching them at will all the while these clowns hauled water. Several times we caught decent ones that those guys were working for and gave up on. I was very amused at how inept they were. We kind of "ran" out of the smallmouth bedding area and the holiday boat traffic was picking up, so to escape that we went back to the backwaters and caught a bunch more largemouth. Then we went to lunch.

After lunch.............I ran right to a smallmouth on a bed that I was saving for Ben, because it was bigger than the average 2-2.5lbers we had been catching all day. I pointed the bed out to him, he pitched to it, got bit.............and it broke him off. So much for saving that fish..........BUT.......I told him lets go try something else for a while and come back to this fish later. IT WILL bite again in a while. We kinda junk fished around the lake for the next 2 hours or so catching random largemouth here and there. Finally as I literally pulled the TM out of the water and said "lets go back back and try that smallmouth again" Ben sticks the biggest fish of the day..........a 4.5lb largemouth. We made that the 2nd to last cast of they day................stopping back on that bigger bedding smallmouth. Ben made one pitch to it.................this time with my rod to assure no break offs LOL.............and caught it on the first cast. It wasn't a giant, but a nice upper 3lb range fish, and a good way to end a 10.5 hour day in that miserable heat with back to back nice fish on consecutive cast's (all be it 3 miles and 10 mins apart). We pulled the boat out just as thunder starting rumbling and headed for home.

Not an "on fire" day but we caught lots of bass........

[ww2farmer]

Trip #32 Tuesday night. Was out for about 2 hours after work.............just a pedestrian kind of not. Not terrible, not good. Caught 6 largemouth, and a bunch of rock bass

Trip #33 This afternoon-early evening. Rained out today at work, but thunder and lightning and wind kept me off the water until about 3pm. I fished for about 4 hours once things settled down. It was decent. Caught 19 bass (17 largemouth, 2 smallmouth) a couple pike, and more rock bass. Best five this evening were a 4-11, 4-1, 3-9, 3-7 (sm) and a 3-5........fish are looking really beat up and post-spawnish........I have not seen a "fresh" looking bass in a few trips now.