Sk8man

Take a look at the Boston Whaler Outrage if you can find one...safest boat on the water....and going offshore is not a problem

That is great news Sean. I know all about leaving stuff in the vehicle last time out it was my screw in 8 rod rack. Good thing I was solo I had them all over the floor of the boat.

I'll bet those currents were really ocillating a bit back when I hung up my 2 Seth Green rigs with 15 leaders each on the cables of the barge and had to cut the wire on each with wire cutters....bye bye 30 Suttons, 30 bead chains, swivels and wire connectors and 2 36 oz sinkers and 200 ft of 60 lb ss wire in exactly 500 ft of water....a rather unfortunate day of fishing

Sean thanks for the tip bud.

Great to hear things are happening there Sean and that those damned lampreys haven't done as much damage as they want to

Ryno23 is right it will be all over after 9-10AM because of the boat traffic and idiots but if you go anyway go early and jig for lakers (1 oz. white bucktail jig with 4 inch ZOOM "white pearl" plastic "tubes" or ZOOM Salty Super Flukes or Swimmin Super Fluke in White Ice and White Pearl in about 120 ft right on an angle from the "Bluff Point" toward Marlena Point (Southwest of the bluff across the lake) Drift or anchor up near any you spot on your fish finder. They were suspended off bottom about 10-20 ft. the last time I was out. make sure your jig hook is very sharp. Good luck if you go.

Guess I'm at a bit of a disadvantage with my bright white whaler.....should I spray paint it green or something?

Thanks Chuck great report. A lot of good points to think about too. I think next time out it will be rig fishing for me. It is still my favorite Finger Lakes fishing method and most of the time I can avoid the laker crowd by setting high with small spoons for the rainbows and browns and trolling faster. I may mess with jigging too though as it is also a lot of fun. Those were good lakers you got so you sure dialed them in... Thanks also for the heads up on the weed mats they can be hard to avoid with the rigs

A lot of those big browns can be in the bay itself at Sodus they often are spotted near or under a friends dock near Bonnecastle....BIG ones.

Steve's advice is right on the mark....lakers are a lot of fun especially for kids and newbies and especially on Lake O where they are huge and plentiful and the action is usually more plentiful. They may need a little assistance pulling them in too in order to guarantee success if they are little ones.

The small Hopkins will work well especially the one with the little white single hook teaser fly attached to the main hook if you have one (the one with the red thread and white feathers). The plain small Hopkins works real well if you attach either the head or tail of a sawbelly to it. Make sure the hooks on the 1/2 to 1 1/4 oz bucktails (white is most often preferred by the lakers in my experience) are incredibly SHARP otherwise you'll get hits and fish "started" but will lose many. The white 4 inch "fluke tail" or tube plastics work well on the bucktails

If downriggers 30 lb Blood Run Sea Flee mono with a fluoro leader. I wouldn't be using braid at all at that point in the season.

Good point Sean....the changes have to come from somewhere and I think that is a real possibility. The steepness of the banks on Canandaigua may help accelerate things too as well as the many of thousands of geese wintering here at the north end

Sometimes throwing it into neutral and letting your lures "flutter" down a bit and then putting it in forward works....they will sometimes hit when the lures are sinking or at the start up. Most fish will only expend as much energy as necessary when feeding but aggressive strikes may be something else again....salmon get curious and come for a look but they may have already fed earlier or at night especially under bright moonlight conditions so unless you happen to "luck out" with your lure coming close to them in the water triggering an instinctive aggressive lunge at it they just look and then go about their merry way leaving us perplexed and frustrated Just my theory of it...the specific setup may be fine.

And when you look around in the shallows for the most part it is pretty much devoid of fish. A few years ago we scouted the perch schools by sight from the boat ...not any more ...nothing out there to see but an occasional dink or sunny and not marked in the traditional spots on the depth finder so it isn't a mater of them being out deeper because of the Zebras either.

I figured it was something like a virus....many fish and mostly warm water species (perch, bass, rock bass, suckers etc.) noted last two times out .They were floating in lines out near the middle of the lake with other suspended smaller debris particles and weeds. Quite a smell in some places too. Pretty unfortunate and makes you question the general health of the lake itself these days. It is a very different picture out there than even five to ten years ago.

John Powell's "old school" info mirrors my experience and I also repaint and tape up lures with compromised finishes. I have yet to catch a steelie or rainbow on a magnum sized spoon. The smaller spoons seem to work best for me trolled at pretty high speed or as sliders too. I find the hammered silver Quick Strike #11's (if you can find them) to be particularly good at this. They also like Sutton West Rivers in brass and silver combo. Alpena Diamonds in silver (I add red spots to them by punching out red fluorescent tape with a paper punch). Small/medium Evil Eyes black with orange or green tape and silver ones with the orange lightening across them. The largest spoons I've found successful are the Northern King 28's with the orange tape (black or silver spoons) and the Pirates of similar size.