fisherman777

You guys have it easy. My dad covers them (sportswriter). All 17 years of my life have seen very depressing fall Sunday afternoons (until I found trib fishing of course )

The only thing that should (and is) kept secret are trib names and locations. Other than that, this site has been great for me, especially with info on all of the finger lakes. I don't get out much with my dad so when we do go, it is nice to have some current knowledge of what's biting on what where . And one thing I have learned from this site is that just because one guy posts a trip report saying how he went out and hammered them at this one spot this many feet down on this particular one lure, it doesn't mean your going to go do exactly what he did and hammer them too. But seeing successful reports from others keeps you going back at it, even when you start to think that there are no fish in the entire lake (which happens to me a lot!). Oh and BTW, every time we go out in the summer, we usually see about five boats tops fishing the same multi-mile stretch of water. I wouldn't exactly call that crowded But I don't know; I can't seem to catch a laker for my life lately . Maybe these lakes are too crowded then.

The first fish was on a 4 inch rebel stickbait that the fish hit as we were letting out line to set up the downrigger. The second was on a rapala dt thug that goes down about 10-15 feet that we set out after catching the first one thinking we might be on to something. Nice fish Fish Junkie. Did you get a weight on it? Your alewife theory makes perfect sense. All week when we were there, we never caught even smaller fish in less than 40 feet. Last year, my dad caught another giant out of there. It really is an awesome bass lake.

Its worth it. Hopefully u brought the riggers. I'll pm u with info.

Thanks guys. Treerat, I've been fishing it since I was little on family vacations and always have done well with smallmouth but nothing like the size of these two. It was amazing. I have no idea what they are doing out that deep though. Must be following the baitfish.

Yes sir, any rocky area seemed to be productive.

A few giant smallmouth! We trolled the bluff area from 8-11 yesterday down 80 over 100 feet of water and couldn't catch a single laker. What we did catch were two of the biggest bass I have ever seen and the biggest for our boat on flatlined crankbaits ran next to our downrigger rods. We didn't get a weight on the first fish (the bigger of the two) but did on the second which was 5.0 even. Would have liked some lakers for the table but these were the next best thing! Both fish we're released and swam away strong.

I paddled through both lakes on a canoe trip last month. Both were pretty big by adirondack standards. We didn't fish 7th at all but did a little on 8th at the south shore and caught a few little smallies. Best bait I found to work in all the lakes on the trip was a little rapala. They both seemed like great lakes to fish and you should have no problems with bass but I don't know about lakers. If you have downriggers, probably just find the deepest water and troll the bottom. Good luck! [ Post made via iPhone ]

Maybe whirling disease or some other salmonid disease?

haha yeah its a really bad pic. Didn't notice my eyes were like that!

haha yeah its a really bad pic. Didn't notice my eyes were like that!

Thanks for the comments guys. I got a few fish pics from my friend's camera. This was one of the better smallies on Upper Saranac and this was the chub-like thing I was catching. Sorry, its a bad pic. I'm pretty sure this is what they were (Fallfish)

Definately. I always hate coming home

Hey guys, Just got back from my adirondack trip. A group of four friends and I paddled the Northern Forest Canoe Trail route from Old Forge to Saranac Lake, a route that went through the Fulton chain of lakes, Raquette Lake, Forked Lake, the Raquette River, Long Lake, the Raquette River (again), Upper Saranac, Middle Saranac, and Lower Saranac lakes, and Oseetah lake/Lake Flower. The trip distance was a little over 90 miles altogether and we did it in 5 days, camping out each night. After that, we hung around the Lake Placid/Saranac Lake area and climbed a bunch of high peaks. I didn't get to fish as much as I would have liked but when I did, the fishing was incredible, especially for smallmouth. At one spot below a waterfall, I caught around 30 smallmouth in two hours. The deeper lakes were really good too around deep points and big rocks. No real size at all; the biggest were around 2.5 lbs but they fight like crazy in colder water. Best baits were tiny floating rapalas and the Yo Zuri Pins minnow but I caught a few on senkos and tubes and a couple on topwater. Caught a few little pike and Largemouth as well and a bunch of these chub-like things. I think they were Fallfish? No fish pics with me; my friend has them on his camera and hasn't uploaded them yet. But I do have some paddling/mountain pics It was an awesome trip.

That's an awesome fish for Honeyoe! Congrats to you and your son

Awesome fish man. Your dedication never ceases to amaze me!

Thanks Has Been and sorry about that. I'm just so pumped to get back up there! The amount of water is simply amazing. A person could spend a lifetime trying to fish every water in the park and might not even come close to seeing them all.

What lake were you at? I'm going up in a week to do the 90 mile canoe route from Old Forge to Saranac Lake and will be doing a little fishing along the way

Also, check out around the islands and rocky point for smallmouth.

Used to fish it all the time when my family vacationed there years back. We always did well with lakers by trolling the deepest part of the lake near the Inlet area with downriggers and suttons. Also did really well with smallmouth around the arrowhead park area. Good Luck! I love that area.

I agree the largemouth population seems pretty healthy. I've caught more the past couple years than ever before while pike fishing. That makes a lot of sense. We use to just drift worms and crayfish before the gobies got here. Can't do that anymore. I think the smallie population has to be doing ok but most guys don't want to put in the extra effort to go after them. It used to be really easy fishing but now probably takes a lot more experimentation. Less guys fishing for them = less bass caught and everybody thinks the population has gone downhill. Whats really stange is that Erie and the other great lakes (and the st.lawrence) as far as I know don't seem to have the same problem with catch rates even though they all have goby populations too. I know the DEC was doing an angler diary program last year with smallmouth fishing on lake O. Anybody know the results of that?

All of the smallmouth I've caught the past three years have been inside the tribs. Back when I was younger, my dad and I would go out right off of Braddocks bay and catch smallies all day long. Its sure not like that anymore though. Good luck though and tell us how you do!

Lake O deep trolling from a kayak...just sick! And crocs are cool . I troll from my canoe out of sandy in the spring and fall but only right at the mouth. Never thought of venturing out deeper..may just have to get a kayak now.

Went out on a western trib on Monday and caught a bunch of little smallmouths, a few decent bluegill, and one gar. Most were on a yo zuri pins minnow.

The corner store near Cranberry pond has minnows now. Its on East Manitou road past the marina. I don't know if the shop next to docksiders has them.