hermit

Hey sounds like fun despite the wind and nice pics! The big one is nice and fat. I find it very interesting that the fish are so picky about spoons- your report, ERABBIT's, and my last trolling trip most or all fish came on one pattern. Makes me wonder if there is a magic jigging lure out there too, I use a handful of different ones but most of the time it doesn't seem to make as much of a difference as with the spoons.

Dang now that's some serious sunburn! Nice catch.

Not much new to report, same place, same jigs, caught more fish. It got HOT by 9 with dead calm conditions. I don't like roasting so I was loaded and leaving the park by 10. Worked 70 fow early, 80 after. Could've used a breeze, looks like it picked up later. Very good fishing early, they were jumping into the boat like Asian carp and I kept bailing them out. A handful of boats out there.

Thanks man! It's freaking awesome to be fishing again. You guys are great, this board rocks, have to get the fishing fix somewhere if not on the water... (Also spent some time updating the jigging info. It's a start anyway.)

Smoked Trout Hash Serves 2 hungry people or 3 smaller portions. 16-20 oz Russet potatoes (2 medium/large potatoes) 8 oz smoked trout or salmon 4 oz (3/4 C) chopped onion or to taste 2 oz (4 T) duck fat (*see note below) 2-3 eggs Chopped fresh dill for garnish (optional) Pepper to taste *lard or sunflower/canola oil is also good. You can use bacon grease but it has a stronger flavor, I'd really recommend the duck fat, lard, or oil before bacon grease. You can also get away with 3 T of fat/oil if you're trying to be healthier. Scrub and cut up the potatoes. Mine usually end up 1/2" x 1/2" x 1" or so. Put in 12" frying pan with 1 C of water, cover, and bring to a boil. Turn down heat to a gentle simmer and cook for 10 minutes. Drain water. While the potatoes are cooking cut up onion into similarly sized pieces and shred the smoked trout into small chunks. Return heat on pan to high. Add duck fat or other fat/oil. When its starts sizzling turn heat down to medium-low and cook for 8-10 minutes, turning over occasionally until starting to brown. In another pot or pan start to boil 1-2 quarts water, or prepare your favorite method of poaching eggs. Turn down heat to a gentle simmer after boiling. Add onions to the potato pan and cook another 6-10 minutes or until potatoes are done and browning nicely. Also add a little ground black pepper at this stage. Add shredded smoked trout. Stir until mixed through and hot. Poach 1 egg per person for 3 minutes. Put a big pile of hash on your plate, cover with poached egg and add fresh dill garnish if using. Enjoy! Add salt to taste if necessary, both my duck fat and smoked trout are salty so I usually don't add any extra salt. Oh yeah eat a salad or something too… I often make collard greens to go with this.

genEus, I agree with you. Sometimes I feel like trolling, sometimes jigging, and sometimes trying something new. It is true if the jigging is slow maintaining concentration can be tough and I'll often go for a boat ride. But staying on focus is a big part, I'll see guys out there either looking around with a slack line or mindlessly moving the pole around. You might get a few fish that way but it is an active fishing technique and keeping focus and keeping the jig moving will result in more fish. Funny you mention eating, I'll often put it off b/c I'm too busy jigging… or start to eat something, see a hook on the screen and put it down to drop the jig overboard. Usually end up eating on the way back to the ramp or on the way home. It's not for everyone but it can be a lot of fun. Hey I figure it's good to be well-rounded. Trolling is also good for learning the lake structure and finding hotspots to come back and jig later. As for finding fish, guff and bulletbob have good tips. I'll start looking at successful spots but they aren't always there. They might be nearby, though. Then motoring around at 5-6 mph looking for bait is the next step. If you can't find any drop a jig down and see what happens anyway, any active fish will come take a look.

Bruuuuuuuce hey man good to see you're still out there, forget what your boat looks like but say hi if you see me. Too bad to hear the bass fishing is tough I was thinking of getting into that a bit.

Hey guff, thanks for the kind words and prodding me into action. I have resurrected my old site, parts of it aren't working but the jigging tutorial is there. (Link in sig line.) It definitely needs rewriting as I wrote that in '06 I think but the gist is the same. At first glance I'd say- no longer rec a swivel between leader and braid. Not really necessary, a double uni knot works fine. I actually didn't re-read the whole thing as I spent most of the time just getting the old site running again. I'll be updating it this week I hope.

Guess I'll get to work then. Searching old posts will also reveal lots of info. genEus, that's a good start, actually. Being able to see your jig and what is happening is a big help. Do it on active fish and you're good to go. new@this- It's hard to go wrong down by the bluff on Keuka, just up the E branch. It's about 100 fow and fish are usually there. Lots and lots of hungry fish. They will average smaller than other lakes but the sheer number is very impressive and might be a good place to start. However, Cayuga fishing is pretty good right now, either up by the power plant or by Aurora out of Long Point, it looks like you're on the East side. It does take some practice. I started fishing from a 10' plastic jon boat w/ an electric trolling motor and no fishfinder. I studied lake maps and found some underwater structure in the 70-100 foot range near boat launches. Figured out depth by counting seconds until my jig hit bottom. Doing it this way was hard but I think helped in the long run. I did take a trip with John Gaulke during his first year guiding which helped a lot with confidence but mostly it was time and effort that got me into fish as I was unable to fish those locations or use the FF, etc. (At the time I was very new to fishing the lake, caught a nice brown shorefishing that year and didn't even know what it was.) Reduced to its essence, all you need to do is drop a jig down and reel it back in. If the fish are there and willing you will get hit on the retrieve. If at any point you feel something funny or a little tap, start reeling. Vary your speed, the fish seem to prefer a relatively fast retrieve, as if the "bait" is trying to escape. It's much faster than trolling speeds. TL;DR version: staying nearly vertical and being able to feel the jig is key, drop it down and reel it back in, and fish underwater structure or flats in the 60-90+ range depending on time of year. I like fishing early but the afternoon bite can be very good at times. Hopefully others will pitch in with some tips too, there are plenty of good jiggers out there! Drawing A is what you'll often see without bait around. If you see fish coming up don't let the lines intersect when the jig is falling, start reeling. Drawing B is what you'll often see if the fish aren't being aggressive. Tough fishing. Drawing C is ideal- suspended bait with fish underneath. So far this year a lot of bait is on the bottom, that's okay but makes it impossible to see what's happening. Drop the jig down in there and bounce it around anyway.

guff, no problem at all. I am getting it back together, just being a bit slow about it.

Ouch that sucks...

That last pic with the kid is fantastic- great smile, beautiful rainbow.

Hey guys well I wasn't going to be posting many reports but it sounds like you like reading them. Hope it's helping someone out there. gonefishing there was one other boat I saw jigging, wondered if it was you, guess not today. Good luck when you get out. t9, I did try jigging to a couple of suspended fish down 25 or so. One turned out to be a laker the other followed my jig around a bit but never took a whack at it. Got to give the salmon hunt a break until I rig better rod holders for the big dipsys.

Excellent day today, did very well early up by AES. Mornings on the water are one of my favorite things ever. Not many boats there? Slow start but after the sun came up I got it going. Lots of short strikes. Some fish would hit it 3-4 times on the way up and not get hooked. One I would've seen hit the jig but it was directly under the boat, not expecting that one. Got 10 in the first few hours then went and did some bass fishing, something I'm not very good at. Landed one 1 1/2 lb or so smallie which was good enough for me. Fished about an hour. Unweighted salt and pepper tube. Finished up with a little more jigging, picked up 2 including a 32" beast as the last fish of the day. Had to go by 9:30. It's been consistent up there for me for several weeks now. 60-72 did the trick. I'm sure the bite is as good or better out of Dean's but I have a hard time making the trip with good fishing closer to home. Another beautiful morning.

Great fishing, good to see a jigging report. That's a beautiful spot.

Fishing for sturgeon is a big no-no! They are protected and there is no open season. Other than that congrats on some nice fish.

I know a guy who used to run rigs like this, seemed to work okay for him but I never tried it myself. Seems like the best option I'd think you'd want both lures behind the dipsy. Or try skipper19's rig and be sure to film it and post the results....

Okay thanks everyone for the ideas. ddubs3 I think the top is decorative (and hides the edge of the side panel.) It's not very sturdy and is curved on the bottom so attaching anything there would be hard. Might go with Ray's idea but use aluminum like Longline said. I do want the holders to be removable. I would rather alter the bench like some of you were suggesting than the side of the boat though. I'll post a pic when I get it figured out. Hmm if I used a 2x4 I could use a spade bit and drill a small depression for the clamp so if it slipped it still couldn't go anywhere. Alec

AES is the power plant about 1/3 of the way up the lake on the East side between Myers Park and Long Point SP. Used to be called Milliken Station. Good fishing area especially when they are generating power, the outflow attracts all sorts of fish. The sawbelly guys supply the area bait shops, they use a skiff and net a truckload of them at night just offshore at Taughannock, used to see them regularly when I dipped my own bait.

Hi guys, hope to get a few ideas of what to do. I have a small boat and need better rod holders. Been using clamp on Downeast holders, which hold okay, but are cracking the top of the rail, not sure if you can tell in the pic or not but it's starting. I've been using a piece of wood under it recently but it didn't help, the cracks started after that. Also used the blue rope tied to my rods just in case one of them lets go. Obviously need a better system! What would be a good way to mount holders that go out horizontally? Bolt something to the bench? Actually that would be hard as it's full of foam. The PVC one works fine but is vertical. Cheap/homemade would be good, my budget right now is very limited.

Up at AES. 5:30-8:30 lifting lakers from the depths. Very good fishing. 65-75 fow. Then I put out 2 dipsys and a 7 color core looking for salmon. Spoons all around. Got one dink salmon and two more lakers between 8:45 and 10 trolling from AES N. I do okay on the salmon early on and always seem to have trouble after about this time of year. More practice needed. Two spoons I like didn't get touched, all three rips came on one dipsy rod with something green I haven't fished before. Can't do anymore trolling until I get better rod holders, the clamp on Downeasters are starting to crack my rails even with a piece of wood under them. 10:15-11 jigged up another laker and headed home out of the heat and sun. Also fouled a lamprey which never let go of the laker despite a good fight with several big dives for bottom. Netted them both, when they came out of water the lamprey finally let go. Man those things can really hold on. Beautiful morning with a light fog to start. AES was generating again. Saw the sawbelly suppliers leaving the park when I got there first thing. added pic 5:45

Nice going, I spent a little time looking for salmon this morning with a dink to show.

Good info guys, thanks for bringing it up troutman10. I was going to put away my trolling stuff, I've used FF before and didn't like it but I'll try the heavier mono instead. I'll be aiming high for silvers so it should work out.

RR, so are you not letting them out more than 150' in that case? Thanks, Alec

Very cool. He'll remember that a long long time. My grandfather gave me my first taste of fishing way back. Got me into my first "big" fish, which we thought was a medium sized pickerel or something but it wrapped around weeds and I eventually had to break it off. Still remember the excitement even 25 years later. Wish I could have fished with him more, nobody else in my family has the bug. Thanks Pop.