hermit

Hey I didn't realize that you guys were in 2nd, congratulations. Nice chatting with you and thanks for the info about the other derbies. Big fat brown too!

Hey gonefishing71, if your boat has the juice I'd suggest getting up to AES. If not, consider heading up to Long Point and going just North to in front of Aurora. The shoreline from Myers up is pretty steep compared to some other places. I don't jig there, maybe some do, so I can't really say, but in general underwater flats are easier to fish. There's a little area just North of Myers that may be good but like I said I've spent barely any time jigging there. If you're concerned about the wind (like I am), in fair weather there is usually that S wind early, and then it often switches to the N mid-morning. I'll head N early w/ the S wind and then return either in calm or w/ the N wind. That helps keep the bounce factor down. This site is useful for lake weather info, it's down by Ithaca but you can see the wind patterns. http://www.cayugalake.cornell.edu/ Even today, with forecast light southerlies all day, there was a period of calm / light northerlies before the S wind picked up again. I'm always happy to answer any questions if you've got them.

Launched Taughannock both days. All jigging. Friday: Took a friend out. He's new to fishing the lake, done some small stream trout fishing before. Buzzed up to AES. It was a steady pick, but T's lack of experience really showed, he only hooked one out of the 10 or so hits he had. Some were just little taps but he had a few good grabs that could've been caught. Good enough for him though, a 6-7 lb laker and the biggest fish he's caught (so far!) I managed 6 I think but was focusing on getting him fish. He's just got to work on the setting the hook reflex. A day of fishing aggressive fish will cure that in a hurry, maybe next time. Got a few over on the West side. 55-75 fow. Too much bait, not enough hooks, definitely better screen last week. Headed in 10:30. Saturday: Fished solo. Today I was all over mid-lake. Surface temps 65-69. AES first for a few, then N a bit for a couple more, then decided to make the run to Sheldrake. Should've waited an hour as the S wind gave it one last blow before dying. 2' whitecaps are a bit on the bumpy side for my tin lizzie. Saw a lot of fish, caught 1 before deciding to head back S. Back to AES. Picked up another 2. Wind died. So did the bite. Back to the W side at Interlaken Beach and points S. Worked my way down to Kingtown Beach picking off a few more. Managed three between 10 and 2 pm for a total of 8 or 9. I tend to lose count after six or so. Biggest was 28.5". Never saw a good enough screen to stay in one place for too long. Still a lot of fun, checking out water I haven't fished in a few years. Mostly white, some green paddletails on 1 oz jig head. 50-65 early, 70-90 later.

Fantastic fish! Did you measure it by any chance?

I found out the Wegmans brand sunscreen I was using has a few potentially nasty chemicals in it. Might save you from skin cancer but give you cancer anyway. I came across this info and went and bought something that sounds much safer. Greenstar in Ithaca had a lot of them. http://breakingnews.ewg.org/2012sunscreen/best-sunscreens/best-beach-sport-sunscreens/ You can go through the list of "good" ones or search for the one you use. Seems like a lot of sunscreen has things from known carcinogens to endocrine disruptors. Just something to think about...

Well at least you didn't get skunked! Have a . Good luck tomorrow if you're heading out.

Thanks all, it was a fun morning and a bit of luck with the big one. All released. The fatty took a few minutes of me holding it boatside but swam away just fine. Upgraded that funny drag reel to a nice Shimano and that fish made it worth it. Smooth and adjustable, quality counts. Alec

Nice going good to hear the evening bite was on!

Launched Taughannock. Bit of rain at first but the fish were biting at Kingtown Beach and North of AES. Great morning, hot bite before 7:30 but was catching fish until I left at 10:00. 70-85 fow. White and green the usual. Saw lakers stacked 120' but didn't fish them. Put 10 in the boat, lost a few. The one in the pic put up a fantastic fight. Hard to take a good pic by yourself but this is one of my top 2-3 lakers ever, a solid 34" and thick. Size 13 shoe is over 13"... for fish pics wish I had small feet! Unfortunately my deck is rotting out and needs replacing, so it's a bit loose- lost a 18" lamprey below which will start stinking up the boat soon. Might prod me to replace the deck. Only two lamprey today.

Nessie!!

Sounds like a real good day. Up past Rocky Dock is also where I found the most fish Weds. 60-75 fow worked for me for jigging. Fri went out of Dean's and did well there too but not as many marks or bait on the screen. Some eels and fat lakers, couple 30".

Hey guys, really good to see you yesterday. I changed my handle a while back when I decided not to go back to school for meteorology. Anyway, good to hear you're fishing more too, spending a morning on the water is hard to beat. Alec

So you will be running a dipsey and a leadcore off the kayak? Hard to know what to say without more info. It might pull a bit to the side with the dipsey especially if it's set to run out to the side. Two could balance you out. Or troll in a big circle. On the core rod you can run spoons or sticks. Figure roughly 5' for every color. A deep diving crank is an easy way to add an extra 10-15' of depth to either the dipsey or core, though switching between a stick and spoon on the dipsey you might have to adjust the release screw. A black/silver crank is usually a good starter. Spoons- Stingers or other favorite brand in Dirty White Boy or Kevorkian, are two more in addition to the good advice above. Also take a look at some reports for more spoon recs. Billy V writes up a very detailed report. Alec

If you are fishing by yourself I would recommend leaders around 8', or the length of your rod. That's what I run and netting fish can still be a bit awkward at times, longer leaders solo would be tough. Alec

Big Dave you're probably right. It's done well for me over the past 8 years or so, I guess I can't complain it finally broke. And I still landed the fish so no hard feelings there.

While it's nice to think someone might want my old website info, what chowder said is true- lots of folks have posted very helpful info over the years. (Including me as "whetherman". And I'm a bit embarrassed to be asked direct questions that others could answer too.) I know of several people who are better at jigging than me and I don't know that many people, I'm sure there are plenty more out there. Plenty of good advice right on this page too. I've tried the Shimanos and caught fish for sure. Though for most of my fishing which is on Cayuga and Seneca, 98% of the time it's a jig + soft plastic combo. The only times I use spoons are when I'm drifting fast in a breeze, trying to get down deep like 150', or if nothing is else is working I'll drop a spoon to see what happens. On Keuka I like Bomber Slabs. jusgrinnin- How deep are you fishing? I checked out the "Real Image Vertical Jigs" and it looks like they go to 3/4 oz which is the low end for around here. They'd work though, trollers use similar skirt style flies.

I had the rear treble come out of my favorite Rapala just as I netted an Atlantic on Cayuga. There is a little loop of wire that goes in the back of the lure, which I still have. It looks like it would be pretty easy to stick it back in and glue it. Anyone done this before? A good glue or epoxy to use? I know some glues melt plastic and others may be too fragile to withstand shock so I don't want to use the wrong stuff. Thanks, Alec

Hi guff glad it helped. I don't know of any copies online, not to say there isn't one- I had one case that I know of where someone stole the info and posted it on their own site. So it might be out there in unauthorized form. I might do it up as a simple text document or e-book at some point, It'd be cool if it were still useful for folks instead of sitting around on my old computer. I like to do some trolling in the spring until the fleas and weeds get bad, then mainly jigging the rest of the summer. The variety is nice and I'm trying to learn different areas of the lake. And I love catching salmon. Alec

No trolling expert here but I've had a decent pick in the top 30 without boards the past few weeks with dipseys and deep running sticks. Maybe just a tough morning. I only have inline planers and they're a pain, I don't like using them.

On Seneca, good areas are the flats up at the North end and near Sampson, or anywhere else there are underwater flats from 50-120 fow. Sometimes they're on drop-offs but that's another post. Spoons can work very well but often pick up mussels depending on what's on the bottom. I've done better on Keuka with spoons than jigs. Most popular are 1 oz jigs, sometimes 3/4 or 1.5 with soft plastics in shades of white. Or chartreuse. Sometimes darker colors. You can either jig the fishfinder and play video games or use it to locate fish. Find some bait or hooks, preferably both. Drop it down, jig it around, and start reeling. Like Swingingflies said a lot of the hits come on the retrieve. On the FF you'll often see them chase it up. Sometimes they're tight to the bottom and you won't see them until you start reeling. Good luck, when you hit the right spot at the right time you'll know it!

Ed I'll do that sometime, thanks. Good to be back guys. I had a few minutes to play with it yesterday. Took tigerhunter's suggestion and tied off to the biggest oak I could find, figure that's about what the salmon felt like. j/k it was a good fish but not huge. I found the drag did eventually loosen up under tension, but if I then relaxed it would loosen even more. So that's not exactly ideal but better than I thought. Might take it back anyway. I've heard good things about the Curado but can't swing that at the moment. Might check out the Abu Garcia. My mistake, I had it set for jigging and didn't check it when putting it out. I use Daiwa Sealines for my other trolling reels, I'm not really set up yet for three but I like the new rule. A

Hey Pete, yeah it's me. I got hit with two chronic health conditions which led to serious physical issues with nerves and joints. You name it I injured it- back, knees, achilles tendons, shoulders, wrist etc. Spent the last three years battling back. Anyway, not being able to adjust the drag with a fish on is unacceptable for an $80 reel. It's the first baitcaster I've owned so I'm hoping to get a sense of what's normal before I go back to BPS. Has anyone else had this problem? Have a great holiday everyone! A

Hey all, been away for a few years, nice to be back fishing again. I have a question about baitcasters. I got my first one, primarily for jigging, but used it as my third trolling rod this week. I hooked a beauty salmon and wanted to ease off the drag, but it wouldn't do it. I spun the wheel to no effect, and finally lost the fish on a big jump just behind the boat. I'm sure the heavy drag led to this. After the fish was gone, I had no problem adjusting it. The reel is a BPS Extreme, about two weeks old. It seemed to be a decent reel. What's with the drag? Is that normal? It sure would be nice to be able to adjust it while under load! Thanks. A

Hey Scott I might give this a go.

Fishing is very good. Summer rain doesn't affect it as much as other times of year in my opinion. If you're fishing out of Myers I suggest going North, also just my opinion.