Sk8man

Good point there. This website contains some of the best information you'll find anywhere on salmon and trout fishing. A lot of the information focuses on equipment and technology advancements that aid people in being successful fishing. People now heavily rely on technology in general to solve problems and "enhance" their lives and the Internet and smartphones have created a great learning environment, but it also has drawbacks especially for inexperienced novices viewing information and assuming that the technology solves everything and can make them an "instant expert". When reading some of the posts on here it becomes pretty obvious that what is often missing is the actual experience fishing and learning to fish by learning the habits and differences among species the many different techniques and methods employed to catch fish. There seems to be an expectation that the learning curve can be totally eliminated by the purchase or use of some electronic device or piece of equipment or vicarious information....no time or effort needed....problem solved. The purchase of the latest greatest technology or lure paint scheme or newly developed line is suggested to be the solution to not catching fish. To the person looking at the information here who has not spent the actual time learning to acquire the basics of fishing I would suggest you are making a huge mistake assuming that any of these aids is "essential" or "needed" to catch fish. Spend time experimenting without reliance on the technology and view the devices as aids or additions to your fishing arsenal and truly appreciate the basic experience of figuring out the fish and their behavior. In the long run you will become a much better fisherperson and will not be subject to "panic" when the technology breaks down out there. I do own a Fishhawk X4D and a decent fishfinder w/GPS and love them both but if they break down I'm not screwed out there either without them.

OR #8 Spros

I believe that has been the policy since the 1970's as the beach opens up....

Amen.

North end docks aren't in yet Cdga just checked.

As of a few days ago docks weren't in at the north end of Canandaigua just the handicapped dock available. Not sure about south end yet.

10-12 lb good quality fluoro (e.g. not Vanish if you want to keep your tackle) on riggers, toplines etc. You can go heavier on the stuff that is run deeper or bottom oriented stuff.

I think you can take that info to the bank You won't be sorry.

A respectful discussion of different opinions and perspectives never hurts anyone and a thread of this nature can benefit everyone if they have an open mind, tolerance for differences, and an openness to new information. This is the place to do it. Hopefully we will all learn a little from it in the process. Regardless of opinion or whether trib or troller we are all in this together and hopefully for the betterment of the sport.

Try the size #9 on the chart if they have them https://www.jannsnetcraft.com/Content/downloads/sizing_chart.pdf

I guess I was focused on the "egg snatchers" in particular. There are obviously many different motivations for the activity and breaking laws or regulations but with the caviar situation greed is at the basis of it and as long as there is financial benefit deriving from the activity and perhaps for some just the motive of "personal power over the system" by breaking the laws the cultural change aspect will not occur.The "rewarding" aspects need to be removed from the equation These behaviors take on their own life once "reward" of some type occurs and these folks aren't going to respond to the things that law abiding folks do. This is also true of many gun issues when criminals and legitimate gun owners are compared.

In view of all that has been said here we are left with the fact that the illegal activity on the tribs is an enforcement issue Staffing of officers and seasonal priorities combined with a lack of effective penalties once the perpetrators are caught. Judges and perhaps prosecutors do not seem to either realize or perhaps fully appreciate the end results of this activity on the fishery. It seems much like divorce proceedings mixed in with the arraignment of serious offenders where the judge may be thinking "why am I dealing with this "mickey mouse" stuff ((e.g. fish or game violations) when I have these more serious matters to contend with and limited time (case backlogs etc.) to deal with. It seems that even when these violations are very egregious and highly publicized the people committing them are let off with a slap on the wrist at best and especially in light of the caviar prices in NYC or other markets.....a small fine is nothing to them and part of "doing business". As with the divorce court situation there should be a special court set up to deal with these commonly occurring situations taking them out of the domain of the regular court system and with special sanctions, and a central court location in the middle of the state requiring presence and travel to it by the perpetrators, forfeiture of all property involved in the offense if convicted including vehicles etc. as can occur in drug situations, and across the board enforcement with no plea bargaining allowed. Just a thought

I would think best bet for varied species may be Cayuga right now. Check the weather though as you may have different wind velocities and directions at either end of the lake and possible low water launch conditions at Taughannock and Dean's Cove depending on type and size of boat.

Browns love the little ones.

One of the guys my son and I know who is an accomplished fisherman was out a few days ago and trolled all day with nothing to show for it. As cdgn troller noted the lake can be very fickle. With that said the lake is also changing like some of the other Finger Lakes (e.g Seneca) and maybe for different reasons when you look at the specifics. Some things are worth noting however such as the surface temperature of the lake was 38.2 -39.4 yesterday wherever we went while perch fishing and going from place to place out deeper as well. This suggests that fish will not be congregating in any warmer water whether vertically or horizontally finding warmer water anyplace so bait and fish are probably spread out all over the place so you won't see a whole lot on the screen and many will be hugging bottom because it is still 39 degrees or so down there and they may be more difficult to see on a depth finder. Canandaigua Lake is a major "rainbow" lake in terms of targeting and those fish are usually hard to find this time of year as many of the spawners are in the streams still or in transit back to the lake and unavailable to trollers. Brown Trout especially the larger ones are often in the shallows and even shallower than folks may be trolling and bottom oriented feeding on "whatever" they find or at night as the bait isn't in yet or congregated. The patterning for the Finger Lakes and Canandaigua in particular is quite different than Lake O at this time of the year where browns are all over the place and even more surface oriented. The water temps need to come up a bit before the action kicks into gear. The increased clarity of the water is also a factor for many species. There are certainly fewer fish of many species out there than in the past for a lot of reasons and not the huge hoards of bait extending from the bottom to surface in 100 ft or more of water in evidence.. Just my take on it.....