Any Luck In Upstate Ny?

[CaptainJPW22]

Had an hour to fish the Chaumont River behind my Father's house before I headed back to Buffalo. This is my childhood spot and it always produces in the fall when fish move up the river from Lake Ontario to feed. Hooked both fish on a weightless T-rigged Zoom Fluke. The Perch absolutely hammered it. Love throwing weightless baitfish plastics when the temps start to drop. The Northern came out of the weeds right were I was casting and grabbed it. lucky it was so close to shore or I would of lost it to those pesky little teeth.  

 

This Perch is getting fat for the Winter. 

 

The Northern was in about 10" of water. Decent size this far down the river. 

 

[ww2farmer]

Been a while since last report on 10/6, but here goes:

 

Sunday 10/7: The day after kbeeb374 and I went out, I fished from 2:30pm-dark, and the shallow largemouth bite was on. I caught about a dozen good ones on a spinnerbait

 

Thursday 10/11: Fished my finale regular season event in my solo angler trail on Conesus. I, was in 3rd place in the standings going in and needed 19.23lbs to take AOY IF the guy ahead of me didn't improve on his drop weight of 15.35......well he didn't, and I didn't do what I had to do either, and the guy in 2nd pulled past him and took the $500 AOY prize. Knowing I needed a big bag, I kinda swung for the fence with big reaction baits up shallow, and big jigs and/or T-rigged plastics in the grass. I caught tons off fish....the only problem was size. One cookie cutter 2.5lber after another all day, and only ended up with 14.5 lbs and a 6th place finish out of 15 boats in the tournament. Winner had 21, second had 20 (guy who won AOY), and third had 19. What a time to have my worst tournament of the year on Conesus....oh well.

 

Sat. 10/13: fished for a few hours in the afternoon on Silver with the new TRD Craw's, and finsse bulletz heads I got in off my last TW order.....they liked that, caught a bunch of good ones.

 

Sun. 10/14: Fished all day on Silver. Started with smallmouth and had two good ones early, before they pumped the brakes on me. Switched to shallow largemouth with a chatterbait/spinnerbait/soft jerkbait rotation and knocked the crap out of them. LOTS of big fish. That bite died late morning, and I headed back out deep with the TRD craw, and neko rig and continued to catch them all day.

 

Tuesday 10/16: Bought the time I dunked the boat in the water after work, and made a few casts, my boat mech. called and had me come over to install the new starter on my motor, so I really don't call that much of a trip.

 

Thursday 10/18: Held my year end classic for the top 12 in the above mentioned AOY race. 8 guys showed up. We fished 4 hours on Conesus in the AM for a 3 fish limit, moved, fished 4 hours on Silver for a 3 fish limit, and at the end added the bags together for the results. My day started off with a bang at 5am, getting a call from my sister on the way to Conesus that my father passed away during the night suddenly, and unexpectedly at home.....that really took me out of it mentally, and I just went through the motions the rest of the day. I ended up in 3rd with a combined weight of 15.5 lbs, but got smoked as both 1st and 2nd had 20+.

 

Sat. 10/20: fished Silver all day, and it was a crap show. Had big smallmouth on multiple times....they all got off, fished for hours on end for largemouth with no action save for a few decent ones in a short time around 11am. Got rained/snowed/hailed on multiple times. In 9 hours of fishing I caught 5 bass.

 

With the news of my fathers death and having to deal with that in the upcoming week or so, the terrible weather were having and going to have for the next two weeks, and me just not catching them good the last few times out, I cleaned my gear out of the boat.....I'm not going to call it a year yet, but I am close.

[Gundog]

Sorry to hear about your father. My prayers go out to you and your family. Stay strong and remember the good times.

[ww2farmer]

Thanks Gundog.

 

Now for a tournament season recap, since I am done with those for the year.

 

Silver:

 

Tournaments fished- 8

 

Wins: 0

 

2nds: 4

 

3rds: 1

 

Competitive but just out of the money finishes: 1

 

Middle of the pack finishes: 1

 

Stinkers: 1

 

Best bags: 21lbs 8oz. (2nd)

                20.86lbs    (2nd)

                18.89        (2nd)

                17.59        (2nd)

 

Biggest bass caught: 5.77lbs

 

Conesus: 

 

Tournaments fished: 8

 

Wins: 1

 

2nds: 1

 

3rds: 1

 

Competitive, but just out of the money: 2

 

Middle of the pack finishes: 2

 

Stinkers: 1

 

Best bags : 22.89 (1st)

                 18.45 (2nd)

                 17.26 (no money)

                 16lbs 11oz. (3rd)

 

Biggest bass caught: 6lbs 4oz. (tournament lunker)

 

I'd like to turn some of those 2nds into wins, but I don't know how to? What I do obviously works. I think it's my lot in life to be the perpetual brides maid...I have over 40 2nd place finishes in my 10 years of tournament fishing, compared to only 14 wins.

[nosdog2]

Sorry to hear about your Dad bud.  

[bclark7b]

Terrible news about your dad. Sorry to hear that I'll be praying for you!

[kbeeb374]

Really sorry about your dad man.. just prayed for you and will keep praying for you and your family.

wish there was more we could say other than sorry..

[NYWayfarer]

So sorry about the loss of your Dad.

[J Francho]

So sorry about your father.

[Subaqua Adinterim]

Very sad to hear about the loss of your father. 

[rmcguirk]

Condolences on your loss.

[ww2farmer]

I only managed to get out on the water once this week after work between covering for a guy who is out sick, and having the funeral for my father.

 

I fished last night for about 3 hours....3pm to darkish.

 

It was not on fire. I fished exclusively for smallmouth, they wanted nothing to do with jigs, wobble heads, tubes, blade baits, or anything fished on or near the bottom. I ended up catching 6, three of them 4+ lbs, and 3 of them small keepers by going old school and fishing a 4" single curly tail grub on a ball head, and a tiny 3" Keitech swing impact slow and steady reeled through the middle of the water column in fairly shallow water (for smallmouth this time of year). Of the better ones, two came on the grub, one on the small swimbait. I have seen these conditions before....the smallmouth suspended near the grass lines in low to mid 50's water temps, and have done really well letting a weightless 3" or 4" senko fall painstakingly slow through them, but it was just a tad too breezy for that last night. 

 

All day wind and rain today, I'll probably go back out tomorrow for a while.

[ww2farmer]

As stated, I went back out today.

 

Was still raining in the morning, but it let up around 7:30 or so. I ended up getting on the water at 8.

 

Started with smallmouth.....nothing. After two hours of that I went largemouth fishing. Caught two on the deep weed line, a 2.5lber, and a 4-13, then went several hours without any action. Headed in shallow, caught one pike and a 3rd largemouth that went 4-9, but that was it. Ended the day looking for smallmouth again, and caught two 3lbers before I left at 4:30. Needless to say it was a slow grind for 5 bass bites all day. I am running out of daylight to do much fishing after work unless it's an early day, and if next weekend sucks both fishing and weather wise, I think I'll call it a year. It's not been a good past two weeks. Largemouth seem to have lockjaw bad, and smallmouth are an exercise in frustration right now.

[Subaqua Adinterim]

Was beautiful yesterday, so went out from from 2 til 5:30, bumbling around in my hybrid canoe.  Initially things were slow, caught one in the first hour.  Went to the other side of the lake where the wind was coming from and it was much calmer.  Caught at least 2 dozen LMB over the course of the next 2 hours and 3 SMB.  Most were small, from 1 -2#s and all were super shallow, in 5-10' of water.  Took pictures of the biggest LMB & SMB, was unable to get weights as my cheap scale was not working (at least I knew the air temp was 13 Celsius LOL) I estimate they were over 3#.  A great day, saw only 2 others out on the lake, one of the guys was coming in from bowhunting from further down the lake.

 

[ww2farmer]

With DST coming to an end this weekend, I decided to ask for, and was granted, a slightly early release from work Weds. afternoon for my last evening trip of the year. I was on the water from 3pm-6pm, and it was an ok 3 hours.

 

I caught 4 smallmouth, and 4 largemouth.....not on fire for numbers. All fish were caught ultra finesse swim baiting a 3" Keitech swing impact on a 3/16oz tungsten ball head, on 6lb line through schools of perch that were tucked up close to the last remaining green grass in 8-9 feet of water. Those perch played havoc with the Keitech baits, I donated A LOT of them in the form of bit off tails, but I was catching bass in and around them, so bait conservation was of no concern. Best 5 of the short trip were a 6-6 (largemouth) 4-11 (smallmouth) 3-12 (smallmouth) 3-7 (smallmouth) and a 3-3 (largemouth). I'll take 21+ lbs in three hours on light tackle, in 48 degree water any day. Good way to close the book on afterwork trips in 2018.

 

I have 2-3 more outings in me for sure. I'll be on the water all day this Sunday 11/4/18, and then if the weather is decent, all day Sat. and Sunday next weekend (11/10 + 11/11). Rain/snow, sun, wind or cold, I HAVE to fish Sunday the 11th. I was prodded into holding a Veterans day "last cast" tournament on Silver by several of my buddies. Should be interesting. After that it's a coin toss on if I keep fishing or not. The weather will have as much say in it as I do.

[ww2farmer]

Was on Silver from 7am-4pm today, and it continues to be a slow grind.

 

I caught 7 bass all day. 6 smallmouth, and 1 lone idiot largemouth.

 

The pattern was....fish something until your about sick of not getting bit...then throw it a little more for a lone bite. Put that down, pick something else up and repeat the process.

 

The six smallmouth came on six different things, in 6 different areas, from 6 different depths of water....and it was a bite an hour for...you guessed it....6 hours.

 

Smallmouth #1, a 2lber came shortly after I started on a 4" GYCB hula grub fished in 15' on a 1/2oz football head.

 

Smallmouth #2, a 3.5lber, came an hour later in 7 feet of water on a ned rig 

 

Smallmouth #3, a 2.5ber, came on a 4" Keitech swing impact slow rolled over rock/grass in 9-10 feet of water.

 

Smallmouth #4, a 2.75lber came on a tube dragged in 18' feet of water over a point.

 

Smallmouth #5, a 12"er rat keeper, came on a drop shotted GYCB shad shape worm in 22 feet of water off a tire.

 

And Smallmouth #6, a 2.5lber came from 25 feet of water on a 1/2  oz blade bait.

 

The lone largemouth, a 4lber, came on a swim jig in 4 feet of water

 

That's a solid pattern there LMAO

[NYWayfarer]

This weekend was a mixed bag of weather. Saturday had crazy temps, wind and rain. Sunday was a better day with calm winds, sun and highs near 50 degrees.

 

I made my way down to the Hudson river and they had the d**n open. A lot of water, cold mountain water, was spilling over into the part of the river I fish. The current was strong, stong enough to move some trees that had fallen into the river further down from where they were last time I was there.

 

My usual spots were not producing due to the current so I started walking further down the river to find some current breaks. First one I found I cast a jig and when reeling it back got a hit relatively close to shore. A few more casts produced a Smallmouth Bass that weighed over a pound. Another one over a pound shortly after that then a big Yellow Perch. Things died down for a bit and then I got my last fish, a Smallmouth that weighed exactly what the second one I caught weighed. I think I caught the same fish twice.

 

I took the day off Monday and went fishing despite the much colder weather and threats of afternoon rain. I walked to the same spot and nothing was biting there. I walked further down the river to a bend that had a large current break that was causing a small whirlpool. There I cast my jig and caught a Smallmouth Bass.

 

 

Got another one shortly after that, roughly the same size.

 

 

Overall this weekend was better fishing than I could have hoped. Always glad to get anything in November up here especially from shore. I did get a sad feeling after throwing the last Bass back as the reality sunk in that this was possibly my last fish of the season. With the shorter days I won't be able to get out until next weekend and the temps are expected to be near freezing. Snow is predicted after Veterans Day here.

 

The other sign that the season might be over for me soon was an actual sign. They replaced the "No Swimming" signs on the shore with "Danger keep off the ice" signs...

[ww2farmer]

Well, I'm done for 2018.

 

This weekends weather is garbage. I cancelled the tournament I was going to have on Sunday, cleaned my gear out of the boat and winterized it after work today. It's going into storage soon.

 

Fishing has not been good the last 4-5 weeks, and neither has the weather. I can't remember a more cold, wet, gloomy late Oct.-early Nov. off the top of my head.

 

Since the week after Columbus day, I'm not sure the sun has shined more than 2 full days, and I'm not sure we have had more than a 1/2 dozen days above 50 in the same time. Same goes for rain....it's been wet.

 

We completely bypassed the 50's in water temps. It was 61 on October 18th, and 47 on Halloween.

 

Oh well, it was a good, fun year. 

[clayton86]

Anyone out yet? Gonna go scope out some spots to get out for the first time in 2019.

[ww2farmer]

Other than peek under the cover of my boat yesterday to make sure there were no critters in it, and give the jack a few cranks up to let any melting snow water a quicker exit out the back...I haven't even thought about fishing much yet. My new Garmin graphs just came yesterday, and I got some more Dobyns rods that I ordered at a buddies house that need to be picked up, but it's still at least  few weeks away for me before it gets going for good. Silver is always slow to thaw, and slow to turn on the way I like to fish after the thaw anyways.

[clayton86]

We’ve got a tournament on silver June 1st I’m kinda pumped for I’ve always caught giants on that lake it’s why got me into this swimbait game 

[J Francho]

The Dump is opening up.

[newyorktoiowa57]

Was inspired to go to a local pond today after watching the classic but sadly it was still ice :(.

[Subaqua Adinterim]

On March 15, 2019 at 8:58 AM, J Francho said:

The Dump is opening up.

Maybe I'll venture down to Empire to see if the usual cast of characters is fishing by the bridge and try my luck next week.  Good to see activity on the Upstate NY board again.  

[clayton86]

Checked some creeks the other day they are opening up what ice is left is all broken and just wedged in blocking off the water and drifts from going out to the lake. Had two days in the 60s since then though hopefully be out fishing by next weekend I’m itching to bad