Keuka Smallmouth

[SmallieFever]

Hey guys! I fish keuka Lake (Finger Lakes Region, NY)in July every year for a week straight (rent cottage). I can usually pull a decent 18+" but that's not that good considering the hours I put in there. I've tried EVERYTHING from tubes, cranks, dropshotting, jerks, and topwaters and just cant get anything going. Last year I got a 3lb 10oz , 20.5" on rooster tail and a 19" LM on shakey head but that was about it besides some small bass on top in the evening. If anyone fishes there much mid summer a few pointers would be greatly appreciated

[ww2farmer]

Where on the lake are you staying? Fishing from boat/shore? If by boat does it have good electronics?

[SmallieFever]

I stay within a few minutes ride from "the bluff"...Corning Landing, I believe.  I have a Triton FS190 w/ 200 merc.  Electronics are ok...just stock with added Fish finder up front.  

[Bass Dude]

Good thread---unfortunately, I have the same issue.  It's tough during the summer there because they move around a lot.  I can catch the snot out of those 12"-16" but can't find the big ones either.  

[SmallieFever]

The one in the pic is my best smallie out of Keuka. You should've seen the one that came in with her...probably 3-4 inches longer! The only way I have been able to somewhat consistently catch them there is evening topwaters, but usually it only yields 10-12 inchers. Would love to be on the lake around May- June for some spawners! ;D

[ProCrafter]

Our fish, in the heat of summer, will suspend and wait for cooler water temps....and or better oxygenation....not knowing the water temps....i would try two rigs...

1). a weighted, wacky rigged senko.....5 incher. chuck it where you might see suspended fish or at points near deep water dropoffs....even as deep as 30ft! the slow decent will give them the confidence to follow it and since you are away from the shoreline the little fish will leave it alone.

2). A lightweight Carolina rig.....light weight as in with a spinning rod, 8lb line using a 3/8 oz egg sinker and 2-3 ft of leader...a small 4-1/2" Green-Pumpkin Zoom lizard is my favorite up here in Washington....just drag it or cast-retrieve it either up-slope or down depending on what works.

If it is an oxygenation issue, you can try beating up the shoreline by making repeated runs up and down the desired shoreline to churn things up and wait for a reaction from the food chain....this seems to work on smaller or compacted bodies of water.

Hope it helps!

[Crestliner2008]

Not knowing this lake - water clarity/temp/target fishing depths - I'd say you were doing too much fishing and not enough searching. You have electronics on your boat. Do you know how to use them? I'm not trying to be sarcastic, just that lots of people have sonars, but don't know how to 1) set them up properly or 2) what to look for if they are set-up properly.

Fact: ...."you can't catch fish where they ain't!" Buck Perry, circa 1960.

That being said, don't worry about where the bass are. Worry about where the BAIT is. Find balls of bait on, or adjacent to deep(20' - 30') water humps (using your sonar) and you WILL catch bass. I'd recommend that, once you find some good bait balls, anchor and use 1) drop shot (do NOT over-work the quivering....deadsticking is sometimes much better) and 2) Senkos, rigged wacky style.

If neither of these presentation produce for you, I'd then - and only then - figure they are suspended for whatever reason. Even in this case, find bait and then use a wacky rigged Senko on a SLIP BOBBER, set at the depth that you find bait/bass cruising (or suspect they are cruising). Alternative presentations could be spoons or blade baits. This strategy should produce for you. Good Luck!

[Paul Roberts]

The Finger Lakes are a challenge. I remember reading a comment by Al Lindner once, paraphrased, he said that with such deep clear water and the coming and going of fronts in the region, if you could catch smallmouth's consistently in the FLs, you are really doing something special.

First, get the Sander's Fishing Guide for the FL region. These guides are VERY good (wish every state had a John Sander -a good man) and the Keuka write-up is very detailed for the SM fishing.

Essentially, the bass are somewhere in the spawn at the opener, (3 to 12 ft) then drop deep due to the clear water, boat traffic, and the pelagic food source -alewives. Many FL SM are known to move out away from shoreline structure and chase alewives in open water above the thermocline. Summer fishing can be very deep (35 to 60 feet or more) depending on where the alewives are. They tend to prefer temps a bit cooler than the bass (mid 60s), but wrmer than the trout. If you are catching lakers, you are too deep. If you are catching some browns you are getting closer. There is also fishing to be had along shallower shoreline boulder flats in summer, but is known to be predominately a night fishery. There are those that do this and topwater fishing can be really fun then.

It would definitely be worth contacting the current DEC biologist for the lake and get his/her opinions and advice. I've always found them to be very willing to help. Start by email and if it sounds good ask if you can call or visit.

Another option would be to identify and talk with local anglers, or maybe better, hire a guide that you could extrapolate from. I believe Seneca has smallmouth guides. However, when I was in the area I wasn't aware of anyone who targeted smallies in summer, as the consistent fishing (needed for guiding) tends to be during the spawn and the mid-winter fishery when bass become concentrated in known certain locations.

Summer techniques to try might be what others use on alewife (pelagic) waters, strolling alewife colored jig/worms (In-Fisherman and Lindners are hot on this technique the last few years), various depth cranks, or if you mark fish high enough -topwaters! It's possible to draw smallies to the top that are 25-30ft down.

Good luck. Do some homework, there's info out there. But, you do have a challenge there. Hours of fishing is probably expected. If you do bang a good fish try to stay on 'em -they aren't alone. Unfortunately, low tech (marker buoys) don't work, unless you have 250 feet of tether LOL. A GPS would be the ticket.

[SmallieFever]

Thanks everyone for all the advice. Previous years on Keuka I would mostly fish the outside weed lines like I saw EVERYONE else doing.  I didn't catch much but I didn't see them tearing them up either...but I just didn't know what else to do.   I tried other places but didn't know how to use my electronics to my advantage.  

I DO need to use my electronics ALOT more and more wisely this year.  I will definitely look for the balls of alewives and then capitalize with senkos, etc.  Contacting the DEC sounds like a great idea as well as the Sanders Guide...which I WILL have.  

 

There is also fishing to be had along shallower shoreline boulder flats in summer, but is known to be predominately a night fishery. There are those that do this and topwater fishing can be really fun then.

These "boulder Flats" that you speak of, are they numerous or is this one specific area?    

Thanks again guys!  Keep it coming!   :)

Can't wait to get after em!!!!

[SmallieFever]

Just ordered the third edition of Sanders Fishing Guide for Western NY...I should have KVD's Bass Strategies done by the time it gets here.

[Md]

Hey man, I don't know if you saw Classic Patterns a few weeks ago with Dave Wolak at Keuka but it was a great show. He was there in late fall (around Thanksgiving) so it probably wouldn't help you too much. I know for a fact the dude knows those lakes very well and he caught some good ones. In the show he was hoping the fish were shallow (fall pattern) but 90 percent of the fish he caught were on a pumpkin finesse jig with a craw trailer as he pulled it off a ledge and let it fall into deep water. Just something to think about. I've fished Cayuga in the mid-summer and it can be super tough especially post spawn. The good fish just seem to suspend at that time and don't want to feed. Good luck!

[SmallieFever]

Hey Md, no I didn't catch that. Man, would it be sweet to find that spot or similar situation early in the prespawn.  Maybe there will be some info/maps on that kind of known structure in the Sanders fishing guide I just orderded...  Hope so.  

[Paul Roberts]

It's the Finger Lakes version you want I believe: Fishing Guide 2. Unless he's changed things around a lot. Keuka SM are covered in detail.

[SmallieFever]

Thanks again, Paul.  After a call to Mr. Sanders I learned that the Fishing Guide 2 is out of print...and likely will stay that way  :'(. He said mainly because of the lack of interest from the public and a few other things that were slowing the process of the  finishing of the new revised version he had hopes of releasing.   Soooo I got on amazon and ordered myself a used copy 8-)...so I'm back in the game!   I talked to Mr. Sanders for half an hour...man I wish I could fish with this gentleman for a season!  The amount of experience/information you would obtain from him would be unbelievable, I'm sure.  Seems like a real great guy to say the least.  

[Paul Roberts]

Awesome! You won't be sorry.

Yeah, John's a good guy. I tried to get him to collaborate on a project once a while back, but he was plenty busy on his own.

I saw the #2 was out of print and emailed him, then found it on Amazon. But you've already done that and then some.

Good luck this summer. Keep us posted on what you find. Neat fishery.

[Tuckman]

I live right smack dab in the middle of the Finger Lakes region and have put in many a summer day chasing the brown bass around Keuka. The smallies on Keuka will usually be headed out deep after the baitfish by the forth of july, but you can always find a few hawgs in shallow eating crayfish early in the morning, there are a few spots on Keuka that hold smallmouth year round, my favorite spot is the large cove in front of willow grove on the far northeast side of the Penn Yann arm, which has a large rocky flat that always has few big smallies roaming it early in the morning, and once the sun gets up they just pull off in the middle of the cove and suspend over deep water. The bluff is another spot that holds bronze year round. In fishing the bluff the best thing you can do is idle around it from about half a mile down on each side and around the tip in about 8-10ft of water and memorize/mark the spots where you see patchy sand/rocks breaking up through the weeds. Many of these spots are only as big as a boat but if you return there first thing in the morning and make long cast over these spots with soft jerkbaits, there is usually a hungry smallie hanging around lookin for something to eat. Once the sun comes up these smallies pull out deep but can still be caught, if you go out in front of that bouy on the very tip of the bluff in about 15-35ft of water and start making passes in that area you should find fish on your graph. The bottom is solid huge rocks down there out to 40ft and I dropped an aqua view down there last year and you can see packs of smallies that will just scare you. As far as lures go, the best bait I have found for any smallmouth in the fingerlakes is a zoom fluke, and all you need is white. When those smallies go out after the baitfish, Ive pull them up to the top over 100ft of water on a fluke. The other bait I rely on is a green pumpkin zoom fat albert on a 1/8(shallow water) and 1/4(deeper)  jighead, somedays you have to fish it really slow, but sometimes they wont let it get to the bottom. My secret tactic that I use on Keuka when nothing else seems to work is to make a very long, very high cast with a junebug yum dinger rigged wacky on 8lb test flouro and then just let it sink, The key is for the bait to make a big splash a long ways from your boat, the fish will swim up to investigate and just cant seem to let that dinger wobble on by.I have no idea why they like junebug so much on a clear lake like Keuka, but all 5 fish that I weighed in on my last Keuka tourny were caught this way. I use this tactic as often in 30ft of water as I do in 8ft. Dont forget about the huge largemouths on Keuka either, when they get to hiding around the docks grab a flippin' stick and a jig and go to war!

Good luck!

[roadwarrior]

Welcome aboard!

Suggestion:

Please break you posts up into paragraphs

so the old farts (like me) can read them.

8-)

[Paul Roberts]

Tuckman,

Great post. Thanks for sharing.

And welcome!

[SmallieFever]

Tuckman- Great post!  Thanks for sharing, that's some good stuff right there    It will definitely come in handy.

Paul- I got my book yesterday and I'm very pleased.  Between the info on this site and in the book I should be well on my way to some Keuka bronze backs!

[Paul Roberts]

SF, do keep us posted.

Gotta comment on Tuckman's post again: That's some really good clear water info right there. There's a lot behind those words.

[Tuckman]

Glad to help guys...I like to think of myself as a shallow water jig fisherman who grew up in the wrong neighborhood and had to adapt, lol ...I love having all these great smallie lakes around and its allowed me an extensive chance to learn clear water, but man, the winters up here are just killin me, I just cant stay off the water that long (Tennessee might have a new resident soon! )...One other lure that me and my brother started playing around with and started to see surprising success on Keuka last year was a Little George, but that dang little george is a heartbreaker; those fish love to spit him out before they get to the boat 8-)

[SmallieFever]

Tuckman-  

Any word on the launch sites on Keuka or Seneca? I was wondering if there is ice built up around them...If we get an unseasonably warm day, I just might have to get out there and see what I can stir up

[Tuckman]

lol, I just drove over the canal to Seneca in Watkins Glen about 15 min ago an its still frozen to the bridge, but you can launch right in town(Watkins) by the new hotel year round, the warm water outlet from cargill salt is only about 100 yards from each launch and if you hit it right this time of year you can have a field day in there, Im talkin smallies, largemouth, landlocks, everything sits in around that discharge, if you try that out make sure you anchor a long cast away. Toss an BPS enticer smallie jig with a zoom tiny chunk all around the current, and if that fails a jerkbait fished real slow might work. To tell you the truth I havn't had the chance to fish the ice out season as much the last 4 years cuz' Ive been gone off to college, but back when I was in HS we used to sneak in through the cargill plant and throw jerkbaits from shore to get our early season bass fix in, and we could see schools of largemouths just cruisin in the warm current...I launch out of Penn Yann for keuka and that will be frozen for a few weeks I'm thinkin. Theres a chance Branchport is opening up now, but we might need a few warm days first...you go out there now give that hair jig a try. If your out on either of the lakes after the water hits 45-50 get out a Zoom Fat Albert and toss it on flats and run it so it just kicks up dust on the bottom...Man, I might have to get out there real soon myself! 8-)

[SmallieFever]

Tuckman- Thats sounds like a sweet set up by that discharge!  You ever fish the power plant discharge up in Dresden?  Should be the same kind of situation especially in the early season I would think...

[Tuckman]

Dresden is awesome as well...Ive never hit it after ice out but i bet its better then the WG Cargill plant with all those wood pilings in around the outflow...It is also one of the few places on seneca that holds largemouth year round, we've done good pretty there in the summer before...I havent been up to Dresden in a few years, but my buddy hit some huge bass in there on the beds last May, including a 5.5 largie, which is moby dick as far as seneca is concerned...we get a few of these warm days they are callin for an I might have to get the boat out of hibernation tho 8-)