Sk8man

For starters the "transition" referred to is a complex web of factors rather than a simple development of a water temperature thermocline layer. Fish have never been just located in the thermocline layer either whether "old days" or not. This term transition has been used to refer to a whole bunch of environmental changes which affect the fishing at different points in the year....not just June. The reason the thermocline layer becomes important as it is setting up is that the water becomes more dense within and below this most rapid change in temperature and zooplankton and phytoplankton cluster within it along with all sorts of other microorganisms. Baitfish feed on these necessary resources and thus tend to be found associated with this layer but certainly not all located within it. Much of the bait is also returning to deeper water from the shallows or has already returned from spawning and it has dispersed and redistributed within the lake both horizontally and vertically. Many of the gigantic pods of bait seen earlier in the Spring are now broken up into clusters of smaller pods and redistributed over large areas of the water.As summer goes on some bait is found suspended while other bait is clustered very near or on bottom. Fish that have been feeding on them in the shallows during the Spring are moving into deeper water as it warms considerably and they follow the baitsfish distributions when they can locate them and once the thermocline sets up fully they are often but not always found within it but this usually tends to vary by species - often rainbows steelies, an ocassional brown or Atlantic may be above it and usually lakers are below it and deeper into summer the chinooks may be where you'd expect to see lakers in the 42 plus degree water or even mixed with them in the same water sometimes. The "magic 50's" in water temperature referred to is anything but magical and the same thing with the charts on "preferred water temperatures for different species" These are "correlations" assumed to be associated with fish behavior and may or may not hold true for a given fish or species or at a certain times of the year.. These are not hard fast rules of behavior as fish will often be found outside these arbitrary preferred temperatures especially when in search of prey and they may be way outside their expected temperature ranges when doing so. Often they are found near the bait clusters you see on depth finders. . The fact that fish may be found at these temperature ranges rather than specific temperatures per se may relate more to energy expenditure factors as it takes more energy to travel and chase prey and roam the lake in water either colder or warmer than a medium range of water temperature and the food resources may be temperature sensitive to this range as well and locate there. Wind velocity and wind direction exert major control over water temperatures, the thermocline layer, and in turn the distribution of food sources and fish behavior and it changes the underwater current patterns. Storms seem to put fish off the normal feeding cycle and it is thought that things like barometric changes can influence fish behavior as well. The weather patterns in June can be pretty varied and this may adversely affect the fishing even in certain areas of the lake rather than others. In short, there probably is no easy or uncomplicated answer to the original question (s) but season after season the lakes do go through some significant changes in the month of June.

Between that and the condition some of the state park roads and marinas our state is in large part an embarrassment and that is our tax dollars at (not) work

That is one of the things that didn't work for me on my TX44's. I went back to the standard setup on them

Paul

And he has the Popeye arms to prove it (from reeling it in)

Another great example of generosity and the thoughtfulness of the fishing community to provide vets with appreciation for their service to our country. A hearty "thanks" to all involved on behalf of fellow vets everywhere.

Great report Mark Glad you finally had a chance to get off the road and out there after them

I rest my case Mark

Nice going on that eye Mike

and "He's the most intereting man in the world"

Cool Kevin...I used to fish the smallies that way on Seneca and Canandaigua Outlet heck of a lot of fun. The green frog popper with black spots was irresistible to them

Good luck to you and Theresa this season Nick. Man I've never seen Arney's that flooded in all these years.

It would seem that if you leave the skin on and the fish is considerably over the minimum length when you fillet it leaving the fillet to be larger than the minimum length you shouldbe OK. You can't dispose of the rest of the carcass or entrails anywhere near or on shoreline though. I think the main concern is to be able to identify the species and that it meets the minimum length requirement.

Regardless of the actual number of entrants and the poor fishing for many entrants the new committee is to be commended for paying out the money and honoring their commitment to the derby. It was the toughest derby I have ever fished in terms of results out of the more than 40 of the Seneca derbies I have fished. Seneca is in a questionable state right now and I'm sure that the increasingly difficult fishing over the past few years was a large component of the decrease in entrants. I also think that the committee may need to look at the advertising component to see what else can be done to entice people to fish the derby from this point on. Those of us that fish the Finger Lakes would be well advised to become more involved in doing whatever we can to support the derby as well (e.g. notifying anyone we know that might be interested or on our email address lists etc. The derby is a wonderful family bonding experience (e.g. many families and friends camp at Sampson etc.) and has a number of positives attached to it aside from just catching the fish or the prize money. I certainly hope the derby continues into the future and the lake recovers and returns to more productive fishing....but in both regards patience and understanding will be required. One of the revelations I had this time was that possibly the playing field may have been leveled a bit and lady luck may have a bigger role now in the derby because despite all the fancy gear, very knowledgeable fishermen using the latest techniques, you still had to somehow run across an interested fish and when thing are thin out there everyone may be a little more dependent on luck being the deciding factor so the person in the little rented boat or kid fishing with his Zebco may have an increased chance of pulling it off

Look where 58 degree water intersects with the bottom especially where a dropoff occurs.