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Was out today from 6:15 am till 11:30, jigging near the Bluffs. All depths from about 80 to 150 FOW. Never had a touch, and saw almost NO fish at all.. A stray scratch on the FF screen every 20 minutes or so... Keuka was for years my absolute best "go to" lake for lakers.. Nowadays, I can't even get a hit there .. haven't caught more than one or two on any given day last few years.. It must be me, as other guys are getting a lot of lake trout in Keuka.. i simply am having trouble understanding how I have gone from always catching a ton of lakers there, to seeing none at all on the screen and not getting even a hit.. Saw no bait either.... I have not launched from the south end of the lake, and its been years since I have launched at the state park in branchport.. Any ideas??.. Am i just fishing the wrong area by staying within a few miles of the Bluffs?... I used to see incredible screens all around that area, now i am waiting for a half hour to find one suspended mark, and for all i know, I am dropping the jig down on a carp or something... I also see very few boats there anymore as well.. There were couple guys in close to the shoreline either bass or perch fishing, but I was all alone fishing for lakers on a gorgeous 70 degree day... never saw another boat jigging deep around the Bluffs today. Getting really discouraged about fishing Keuka these days, as I simply can't figure out why all of a sudden, i started getting skunk after skunk , fishing the same techniques, lures and areas I used to catch dozens of fish at... Sorry for the rant, but I am really perplexed after jigging over 5 hours without even a hit.. I was going to go to Cayuga which is less than 1/2 the distance, but historically, Keuka was always hotter for me this time of year for lake trout so I took the ride,,,.. Not looking for spots or anything.. just let me know if the Bluffs are the wrong place to fish Keuka these days.. Any help would be appreciated... bob

Can't comment on trolling at night, but I would tend to doubt it.. I can say for certain however that lakers DO hit jigging spoons painted with flourescent paint.. The kind you have to shine a light on.. Paint a few heavy jigging spoons with it.. Get a good strong flashlight on it for 15 seconds or so and send it down to your marks.. they WILL hit at night.. However its a big pain in the butt.. You must reflash the lure every time you bring it up as light effect doesn't last long at all.. I would bet a cyalume stick on a jigging spoon would draw hits as well, and last longer.. The question is .. "why bother?... Just go early in the AM, get your lakers, and leave early... bob

Guff.. You mentioned "perch minnows"... Are you talking about generic small minnows the size that would be used for perch fishing , or actual baby perch?... I have been having awful fishing for about the past 2 years on Keuka, and really don't know what the problem is.. Years ago, if I caught 3 or 4 I was ashamed to report because everyone else was catching 20 or more... I had a few 30 fish days there in the past.. Now I get skunked regularly.. Last time there in May I never even had a hit.. I couldn't even feel that bad, because I talked to several other boats and no one had more than one... Something bad has happened in that lake in the past several years, or I simply don't know how to fish it anymore.. I used to hammer lakers in the fall there.. Might try again in October/November before I write it off.. Like Hermit I spend more time fishing for Walleyes these days, but still love Keuka laker fishing, and hope it comes back strong. bob

Used to catch 12-14 inch rock bass in Cayuga regularly in spring/early summer for years,, One day I caught over 100 rockies of all sizes there.. Then about 7 years ago there was a huge die off of bass, pike, perch, sunnies, rock bass, suckers, bullheads, etc, and I never caught another rock bass in the lake. Not sure they even exist in Cayuga anymore.. Sunfish too.. The Gobies have decimated some of the panfish species in Cayuga from what I have seen... bob

Lots of bait on the east side, but you are right, not a lot on them from what I could see on my screen and I do have a good FF- Garmin 500C.. When I moved across the lake to the west side i saw more big marks on the bait pods, and it was calm enough in the shelter of the coves to stay on them long enough to hook up twice.. I always run right across the lake right to the east side without even checking the west side.. I think I will break that habit for a while... bob

While I am sorry you guys didn't do well, it makes me feel better knowing I wasn't the only one that found poor fishing in that area on friday.. I might have seen you guys out there as I was in the same area from 6 till about 11, when I crossed over to the west side and lucked into those fish. There were several boats jigging that stretch . That steady south wind didn't help... Personally, I always have trouble and never do very well when there are whitecaps on the lake. Both fish I caught were on the lee side of Taughannock Point. The rainbow was caught north of the point as the morning's south wind was dying down in fairly calm water, and then the wind instantly turned around to the north at one point, and I went south of T point to again fish on the lee side.. It worked out.. There were fish and bait on both sides of the lake, it was just easier to stay on them for a while on the west side in the coves north and south of T point. I had my old 18 foot Starcraft, and it does not have a bow mounted trolling motor yet.. I should probably get one on there... bob

I have found a deep water jigging lure that I think will add a lot of silvers.. Jigging is great, but lets face it, its mostly lakers and once in a blue moon you luck into a salmon, brown or rainbow, but still its 100 to 1... I will do some more experimenting, but don't want to say much right now, as there are just too many lurkers, and I prefer at this time to keep this within the community. If this works as well as i thought when I discovered these lures and bought a few online, I will let the members here know what i found via PM... bob

LL had lamprey marks.. rainbow had a lamprey on but the bastard got off when I was finagling the grab around the gills.. That SOB eel is lucky i forgot my net.. If I had it, and got that eel in the boat, it would be on the bottom in about 5 pieces getting shredded by the goby hordes....

The thing with jigging is this.. It can be really tough when the fish are scattered... However, when you find concentrations, it can be more productive than trolling.. However, trollers usually catch more and more varied species than us jiggers.. It is a LOT more fun per fish however.. To me, trolling deep is boring,, Yes you catch fish, but with the trolling tackle, and moving boat, It always felt to me like reeling up a wet blanket... I do like flatline trolling because you can stop the boat and play the fish.. Thats just me.. When I lived in NJ, I didn't troll in salt either, and sometimes if you didn't troll you went home fishless.. Once you get a 10 fish day on jigs, you might get 2nd thjoughts about trolling...... maybe .... bob

I got out at dawn and fished HARD all morning.. Not a touch ..fished from Myers north to about 1 mile north of Taughannock on the east side, and about a mile north to a mile south on the west side.. Not even a touch from a laker.. Caught one perch about 9 inches on a big laker size jig... Disgusted, i was about to let my last drop down at about 11:15.. Was finishing up maybe 1/4 north of the park and was disgusted and ready to call it a day.. Saw a bait pod suspended maybe 30 feet down over 70.. Saw a nice arch above the bait and started reeling, not expecting anything.. Bang!.. nice 20+ inch rainbow surfaces... oops,, NO net.. Left it home like a jackass, something I haven't done in decades.. Sometimes idiots get lucky, and I hand boated it,,, Fished another 1/2 hour without a touch, and again was about to head for the ramp.. Now I was south of the park in about 75 fow, and again saw a few slashes,, Reeled straight up, and I got whacked hard.. Knew right away it was a really nice fish.. I got almost spooled a few times, as i had to give ground or that 8 pound test would have broken.. After what seemed like 20 minutes, I got her up, and I was sick over not having a net,, Big landlock , jumping, rolling, sounding right straight down every time I tried to hand boat her.. I got really lucky I guess, the hooks held, and after about 4 attempts, I had her exhausted and was able to grab her across the gills and get her in the boat.. 26 inches, big around as a football, and 8 pounds.. I haven't caught a keeper silver in several years while jigging lakers, most shorts, and follows ,,, i was positive I was destined to get the skunk, but as it turned out, I was happy with only 2 fish today... btw, I have eaten Cayuga rainbow trout several times, and always thought they were terrible.. Nasty, rotten, oily, soft and fishy.. This one was firm and very sweet to my surprise... It was as firm and mild as a perch... I wasn't expecting that.. Talked to other guys today and it was slow jigging for them as well.. . It was nice to pull a rabbit out of the hat for a change.. lately, i have not done well in Cayuga... Tried some fishing for big Bluegills, Pumpkinseeds, and Perch with worms and mealworms, something I have loved to do for years.. Looks like that type of fishing is all over.. Cleaned out by Gobies instantly, even worse than last year.. Can't even take my 3 year old grandson fishing for sunnies due to the damn Gobies... Gonna start learning Cayuta Lake for panfish.. I hear its good there for perch, crappies, Sunnies, etc... bob

I have been stuggling past few years, not just the past few trips.. Went out on Keuka in May, never had a hit, and caught one at cayuga about 3 week ago, had a few hits.. Troller on Cayuga did fantastic, so it was me, not the fish.. there are a lot of lakers out there, because the trollers are catching plenty, and some guys have great days jigging, but from what i gather, I am not the only one that doesn't seem to be catching as many as I did a few years ago... Might just be i am getting old, and don't set the hook as hard and fast as I did at one time.. At 62, that hard and fast thing is fading away... bob

The bigger the water the bigger the Sawbelly.. they can grow to 10 inches in the Great lakes, and to about 15-16 max in the marine environment where they originated. In the ocean,they have a lot more food, a lot more space, and a lot more critters that like to eat them.. Those massive schools of Alewives we see on our fish finders would be decimated in minutes by a couple hundred bluefish, not to mention the stripers and weakfish that pick off whatever the blues don't get.. Actually one good size whale would do an even better job than the blues.. They love herring and herring like fish.. Our local FL sawbellies, are the lucky ones.. bob