hermit

Yeah I just started getting gas at the Fastrac in Ithaca, happy to see it made it here. A little out of the way but that's okay, I'll be filling my vehicles with it too- I think the better mileage makes up for the price difference.

Thanks to the Harbor Fest and Lighthouse organizers, especially Scott who missed a wedding to be there yesterday. Great talking to you fish-on, Copperliner and family (congrats to son Ryan in 2nd!), gonefishing71 and his buddy who helped me with the cooler. Zeke + Cyn, uglyokuma, thanks, got very lucky with a 9 lb 12 oz laker on a day that didn't give them up easy... except maybe for fish-on! Got lucky with first place for lakers but the real winner was Lavarock64 who landed a gorgeous 11 lb 11 oz brown for first place "other" trout and lunker by a wide margin. Awesome fish, congratulations! I had a great time talking to everyone at the weigh-in, a lot of nice folks. Landed 6 lakers plus a 3 lb salmon on a dead sawbelly 45' down on a slip bobber. Lakers were around 90-95 fow. All my lakers came before 8:30, the salmon shortly after 9, was packing it in at 11 due to gusty winds. I would like to apologize to Billy V, squeezed him a little bit between me and another boat on the outside, I thought there was plenty of room when I pulled up. Turned out fine but his board passed by 30 feet away or so. I try to be careful about things like that but it was crowded up there yesterday at times, if you thought that was poor form I'm sorry. On a similar note thumbs down to the guys in the bass boat who parked on my butt without even saying hello, if I can smell your farts you're too close- and there was plenty of room at that point. I mean they were just plain too close, period. 20 feet, come on. These guys have a history of being uncool so I just left. In short, nice day, great people, and thanks to the Harbor Fest folks!

Hmmm well with a derby tomorrow featuring a chance at 25k you might not get much help tonight! I'd launch at Long Point State Park and go south, E or W side.

Good luck everybody!

I'll second that, nice tie! And fish too

Wow, thanks Bob! Good to hear you're also back on the water this year. I'll PM you. idn713, I do take Paypal and the website (second link in signature) will also do regular credit cards via Paypal, when you go to check out it takes you to the Paypal site and there is an option for a credit card. I can also try to meet you in Ithaca sometime though I'm only in town a few days a week. I can't deliver too far as it's just too much in gas but I'll do what I can for you guys. I know the shipping sounds like a lot but it's better than most places. Thanks all.

I almost got a ticket once for running an electric trolling motor but like you said I don't think it's a high priority for them. Had no idea I needed to register the boat, it's a 10' plastic Coleman Crawdad jon boat. DEC officer was nice and let me go with a warning but said if he saw me again he'd give me the ticket. I never took it out again w/ the motor as I'd also have to get a new title and didn't want to bother with the paperwork. For what I was doing oars were fine.

Rods are a good stiff bass rod usually, you want enough backbone to feel a 1 oz jig when you bounce it, too mushy and you'll miss hits. Depending on model med-heavy to heavy. See what the specs say on your rods. 6'6" or 7' although I've heard some guys say they prefer shorter and longer. A lot of hits (most) will come when you're reeling in so it's not a deal breaker if you have something a bit lighter. Preferred, well by some, I prefer it because I can't afford downriggers and wire dipsys, also my motor is loud when trolling, and like the light tackle. Can't speak for others but it's just another way of fishing that works. Plenty of folks trolling out there. If you're set up right the fleas aren't too bad same as Ontario like you said.

Ed good to hear you're back in business... good luck, it's a beautiful morning!

Ha, well slightly different question but that is funny. I edited mine, was asking about the electric trolling motor.

I have a question about the lifejacket rule- if I'm using my electric trolling motor to stay in one place what's the take on that? Lifejacket or not necessary?

Nice fishing guff. I came up with a bullhead once.

Hi Jim, Welcome to the site. Taughannock is a great park and you'll be there at a good time for fishing. Your Navionics will be a big help, look for shelves and humps in the 80-100 foot range North of the park. You shouldn't have to go too far but the fish do move quite a bit at times, so checking out areas up towards Little Point and up near AES (the power plant a few miles up on the East side) is a good idea. The launch is well protected and you should have no problems there. Have fun and fire away with more q's if you have them.

Hey guys, For anyone interested I opened the jig store this morning. Currently have 1 oz. ball and Erie jigs on Mustad Ultrapoint hooks for a buck apiece, $11 / dozen. There is time to get them before the Lighthouse Derby. More stuff coming in the next few weeks, I hope. Thanks, Alec http://deepwater.cayugafisher.net/index.php

Happy birthday!

Thanks Big Dave, lots of guys doing it guess I just talk a lot though. SOG, if you check the website in my sig I wrote up a lot of info, still needs work but it should get you started... pretty much 1 oz jigheads and flukes or swimbaits, white, baitfish colors, green. The jigs I use have 4/0 hooks. Or check out the long Keuka thread a week or two back for a tube rigging method with trolling sinkers. Spoons work but not as well in my opinion. Drop it on the fish and reel it in, most hits come on the retrieve, it helps a lot if you have a trolling motor or light winds, you want to be pretty vertical. Ideally you will get to watch the action on the FF, seeing your jig fall and fish come up, then reel away... bang fish on! If you have any specific questions fire away in the FL section plenty of guys will help.

Too bad I don't have cable to watch OTW. WillCFish, have you tried jig heads with soft plastics? Maybe the fish down here have different tastes but I've tried blade jigs in the past with mixed results, around here the best producers are lead heads with various soft plastics- tubes, swimbaits, flukes, they'll outfish jigging spoons almost all the time. Similar to what you're saying though, the vibrations drive them nuts...

Wow dude great fish! Wind sucks...

Well I should have mentioned I was jigging with white and green soft plastics. In general those are very good laker colors so you're on the right track with the one it sounds like. Last time I was trolling, maybe 5 weeks ago or so, a Green Dolphin or Green Gator spoon was hot for me, I forget which one I have. Also green/white flasher fly combos should work. I used to do pretty good on the Michigan Stinger Dirty White Boy too. Where you are is good, also between Sheldrake and the boy scout camp should be a good troll. Anyone else with trolling tips?

What it says... a bunch of running, biking, swimming folks will be there Sunday morning. Starts at 8 AM but I bet it'll be busy long before then. Part of rt 89 will be detoured starting at 7. As far as I know the park will be open but beware...

In a nutshell... today rocked. Yesterday : bad fishing :: today : good fishing. Tried some new this year stuff which didn't go so well. Picked up some crayfish from Bear last night and went looking for drum this morning. No go from 5:45-6:45 outside the weeds. Thought maybe I was fishing too deep for so early as the bass were splashing on top again, so I went up the lake on the West side looking for lakers. Fished lakers 7:00-8:15 and they were making up for yesterday's fast, they were on the feed this morning. Went 5/6 in the first twenty minutes. It slowed down a bit but was steady after that. Crossed over to AES to try for drum again. Again nothing from 8:30-10:00. Tried real shallow inside the weeds, out deeper past the weeds, and even in holes in the weeds... nada. Saw one fish in 5 fow but I think it was a carp. Saw some big muddy carp feeding areas. Tried to catch one of them with the crayfish but they weren't having it either. Kind of surprised I didn't catch a smallmouth. Guys I've talked to who target drum do so at night- one used crayfish the other alewives. 10:00-11:00 went out a little deeper and finished off the morning with more lakers. Sky cleared around 10:30? and chased me away. Can't take that sun after years doing landscaping and a few rounds of heatstroke. Lakers were still biting pretty good for that late in the morning, got a handful. Awesome laker bite today. Overall it was a great morning but I wish I'd caught something on the crayfish. I've only caught two drum, nearly a third in Cayuga out of five attempts so it's to be expected. The first one was down by the golf course / Stewart Park one spring when I was going for carp and was a complete accident. Hope the lakers stay fired up for everyone this weekend! Oh yeah all lakers were 72-82 fow, slightly shallower on the west side.

Good karma right there- next time you're in a jam no need to worry! Sounds like a fun few days too.

Yeah, you're right, three is miles better than nothing... just been spoiled I guess, Cayuga has been fishing very well for the last few months.

Marty, yeah I had a couple productive hours last weekend, made a few jigs at last. I'm going to send you an email in a bit. Tough trip, like the pics though! Let's blame the moon as FLXTroutman was hinting at I'm thinking the afternoon was probably better... but I fish when I can not always when the moon says I should!