Sk8man

Congrats Justin and thanks for letting us know the story behind catching it. Truly a remarkable fish

If you have money to burn take a look at the 31 ft Whaler

They do on the Fingers I've had a number of them do it over the years. Usually when they are caught high up in the water column.

I think she still had that smile throughout the ceremony Mike You know that was big in her world!

The fish should receive a trophy for outlasting his peers from the dinosaur age

The baitfish base has been gone for some time now and the lakers have b een feeding on perch and whatever else they can find and those items don't contain the fat or oil levels that lead to predator growth. That likely will not change anytime soon without a rich baitfish base. They have been trying to stock some Cisco's in there but who knows how successful that will be, or how long it might take to rejuvinate things If successful. The depletion of bait is at the heart of the problem but also the invasives have added some problems as well. I used to fish Cold Brook at the hammondsport for rainbows for many years and that stream isn't even a shadow of what it once was. At one time the state record brown came from that end of the lake as well and a long time ago we used to get quite a few at night at Keuka. They just don't seem to be making it in the lake anymore and same for the Landlocks. Even the perch fishing has taken a huge hit there. I'm sure a few exceptions may exist and maybe some of the "locals" may have more specific info. Even the ice fishing there was spotty at best this year.

In days past I even caught rainbows jerking copper out from the college and on the Branchport arm near Gibson's Landing. The fishing for browns was good at the Hammondsport end and landlocks moved throughout the lake and most of mine came off boards out deep or Seth Green rigs. Other than a 22 inch landlock through the ice at the Penn Yan end while after perch I haven't caught a silver in the last few years there or seen any caught.

Nice going Kev and great pics. Holy smoke last time I saw your daughter she was a little biddy thing...time going too fast bud.

I was told they didn't stock the lake this year either.

You have the right spirit Ahab

At Geneva there was until about 2018 or 2019.

X2 and fishing over 50 years of that derby.

And it is but also the only one I have heard.

Roof of the mouth and a sure way to tell

Mike summed it up real well. They are a fishing family that has figured out the missing pieces to the puzzle (repeatedly) Congrats Rich Great pics Stan and thanks again for your honesty and diligence.

Good point. Even the best cameras aren't the same as the human eye which interprets color differently which is why when you take a pic of a stunning landscape or sunset it never seems the same or good as when you were viewing it. The human brain also "fills in" missing pixel information during perception. The analogy with a camera only goes so far and in many respects is inaccurate in terms of process.

The DEC staff were there for many years and did the measuring and Identification and they bailed out a couple years ago from the process and apparently the Sessler owners of Samsen weren't real cooperative or excited about having a weigh station there.

cool pics Mike.

The color chart and the Go Pro examples possibly should not be taken as "gospel" though. First of all there is actually no such thing as "color" as "objects". Light is broken out in wavelengths and these wavelengths are what is perceived as "colors" by the human brain in our case. It is a perception and not an entity in itself. The brains of different organisms perceive, interpret, and respond to light wavelengths in different ways. A lot of the stuff you see in the way of charts is based on HUMAN perception by the human eye and interpreted by the human brain. Human eyes and brains sample only a limited amount of the total spectrum of light (e.g. we do not directly see UV rays and others). Other organisms with different eye structure, brains, and perceptual systems see and interpret differently than the human eye and may respond differently as well to what they perceive in the light spectrum. Why I am saying this is that a lot of assumptions are often made in terms of other organisms or animals about what they "see" and what they actually respond to so we have to take the common charts with a grain of salt as most are based on what WE see. The Go Pro video is a good example of this. If a deer looked at it it would appear all shades of grey so how about a fish viewing it as they are thought to see UV rays? I'm not trying to be a PIA or smart azz but it is food for thought and a caution that we may be oversimplifying things by making assumptions.