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Checked launch 2 days ago. It was 100% ready to go. Park folks are good about keeping it going unless big snow comes. With this weeks warm spell should be pretty much devoid of snow. Doubt the Branchport arm will freeze this year so may be possible to boat fish all winter. Wish I could use it because am sure I would do well jigging for lakers. Unfortunately my boat is at Stivers marina getting $1,600 worth of repairs done to the motor. Ouch! Not the after Christmas present I was expecting.

One of the reasons I like them is that after a long day of fishing I don't have to stop at the ticket booth to pay (assuming I get there before they open in the morning) on my way home. Also I usually use it for boat launching but if want to have a family picnic, etc. you can get in for free. Good deal, especially for $40. Looks like deal is up at midnight tonight.

Guess they actually call it cyber Monday.

Can get $25 off if buy on computer today. (black Monday)

DtD - I have found that when the wind is blowing out of the south you can most often find the wind speed at the end of the bluff (east side) has about half the velocity as it does at the Branchport end. The wind coming from Hammondsport tends to spilt at the end of the bluff but the wind heading towards Branchport picks up speed and that leg of the lake acts as a funnel magnifying the velocty. Bottom line - less south wind at the bluff - usually.

Hi freshwater - I know your topic on this post is about trolling but you might want to consider jigging for mostly lakers. It is a super cheap way of fishing and is definately effective and one heck of a lot of fun. A good fishfinder($200), decent rod, and an medium expensive reel and you are in business. A good jig setup with a few good plastics ($7) is all the terminal lure you need. Maybe Pete Collins will chime in and tell you how he got his REALLY cheap setup that caught a pile of lake trout Friday. Also if you go on Hermit's web site you can get the jigging low down and buy some really good jigs., etc. But if you want to learn the tactics FAST a trip with guide John Gaulke would make a good combination Christmas, birthday, Father's day present.

Was finally able to get my son out on Keuka(been away at college). Had good bite again at the tip of the bluff between 10 and noon. 7 LT landed. Lots of marks on the screen in 70-130 fow but wind came up and bite lessenned at noon so moved out. Hit Branchport end (85-105 fow)between 3:00 and 5:30. Good number of LT marks here too and ended up with 8 more. White ice 1 oz tube jig got most of them. Leaves close to peak. Beautiful!

I fish the north end of Seneca out of Geneva a lot for jigged Lake Trout but was wondering if anyone could give me any tips on casting for northerns up there. I am hoping the toothy critters have recovered some from the population crash a few years ago. Questions would be 1- what depth to concentrate on 2- any part of north end that is better than another 3- what are best casting lures to use 4- is there a decent population at north end now? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks

AWESOME

2 of us hit Keuka jigging yesterday also. Checked out the very north end (Branchport) early. Not much there. Last year starting in early October the bait, then the LT moved into the shallower water (65-90 fow) at the north end. In the month of October boated anywhere from 12 to 26 LT on 5 trips. LT not there yet though. Moved to tip of the bluff. Boated 11 LT between 9:30 and noon (90-130 fow). Very little wind and a beautiful day. Leaves just starting to change. Can not beat Keuka in October (mighty tasty fish biting, leaves showing all kinds of color, mostly fishermen on the lake, life is good). Normal white ice tube with treble hook adaptation did the damage. All 6 fish gutted were females with eggs. Add me on to the list of guys not unstrapping the back of the boat before launching.

Thanks much!

I think this power boat race is coming to the north end of Seneca this weekend. Does anyone know how it will affect fishing? 1- Is Geneva launch closed (I imagine it is) and for how long? 2- How much of the lake is shut off for fishing over the weekend and for how long?

hermit- Would like very much to go out with you on Keuka sometime before freeze up. Just looked at my calendar. 2 weddings, Ithaca College graduation, family reunion, and opening of rifle deer season all in the next 2 months so will have to be during the week looks like. Will be in touch. Good news is the bite just gets better and better in the same 2 months and beyond.

semperfi - Glad you connected and like treerat said, you will be an expert after next year. The Keuka LT population is HUGE as Billy Facillo (car dealer) would say. Think most guys agree that the Keuka LT, although smaller in size, are some of the best eating in the Finger Lakes area.

What a difference a week makes. 15 on a solo trip a week ago versus 1 in the cooler yesterday and I had my daughter and son along to help. Not near as many LT marks yesterday either. Have they moved towards their unknown spawning area??? Who knows. Still bait in Belhurst area but few LT marks. Good news, my daughter hooked these 2 monster perch (on LT jig) which will make some mighty fine eating.

Semperfi - In windy conditions (actually most of the time) while standing in the back of the boat I cast down wind far enough such that the jig ends up under the transducer as it nears the bottom. Takes some timing but works really well. From shore today I also saw a flat bottom boat with a generator and lights on it and railings around the front. Wonder what is going on?

I have found that the majority of the LT can be found in 90-120 fow and within the bottom 20 feet right on into January on Keuka. I don't troll but as evidenced by LT chasing jigs off the bottom, I imagine they will rise up to a trolled lure if they see it above them. Keuka water is really clear so they can see quite a distance above them. Have seen them start to come off the bottom when the jig was still 50 feet above them.

Hope you see this before you head home semperfi. HOT BITE AT THE BLUFF. Did not get to the end of the bluff until 2:30 today. By 4:30 had 10 LT. LOTS of LT in 75-115 fow just barely off the tip of the bluff and they were HUNGRY. They just love those white ice tubes and the attached treble hook did the hooking job. Note that NONE of the LT did not make it back to the wild because of the extra hooks. Lots of suspended fish so you can see them on your ff. Just dropping the jig to the bottom and then reeling in gets many of them but watching on ff and reeling just before the jig and fish meet (as MOB above said) works even better. GREAT FISHING. However the best thing believe it or not was watching a BIG eagle chase and dive bomb a seagull. That was one mighty lucky seagull because the eagle gave up after 3 tries. Amazing sight. Let us know if you get into them semperfi.

Forgot to mention. A bait needleworks well to assist with getting the sinker up inside the tube (tight fit). Also a Fish Handling (puncture proof) glove is a good thing to have. Just rigged up 4 for Seneca but with a 1/0 hook (bigger trout).

Used to have a lot of problems keeping Keuka Lake LT (smaller size trout) on a normal jig. Cut "damn, another one got off" rate (drove me wacky) by at least 50% by inserting a 1 oz trolling sinker up inside a white ice tube and attaching a no. 2 sharp treble hook to tail end of sinker with a split ring. Catch most of LT on the retrieve. Might be worth a half day trip to Bass Pro in Auburn or Gander Mountain in Rochester. Not sure if local bait shops would have the necessary ingredients. Also, a LOT of the time a majority of the LT are hugging the bottom so you do not see them on the ff screen until you drop the jig (also see on the ff) and it gets near the bottom.

Good all day LT bite in Belhurst area 8:30- 4:00. Ended up with 15 on solo trip with 6 of them from 27-31 inches. Chartreuse tube jig in 75-115 fow was what the doctor ordered. Board member Pete Collin and his friend were the only other boat in the area for most of the day. Lots of LT on the ff as the jig dropped to the bottom.

One last thing. It does not take a lot of south wind to make the Branchport end pretty wavey and hard to jig. I have found that the wind velocity is usually about half as high at the bluff area under the same conditions. Let us know how you make out.

Couple of thoughts: On the tail biters. It drives me wacky to have that happen. If I run into this I switch over to a tube with a treble hook adaptation. Hermit has a great picture of the rig under his "Shad jigging spoon for sale" entry. A NO. 1 SHARP treble at the tail end of the tube works good for larger size LT. I may get a few less hits but my actual hookup rate REALLY increases. On the lookers only problem. I have seen a lot of this on Seneca this year. More than other years it seems. The only suggestion I could give is that sometimes the LT will go from lookers to hitters at some point during the day but maybe only for a short time. This seemed to happen on Seneca this year at say 1:00 to 4:00. Makes for a long day but can be worth it sometimes. But as lavarock says, when they finally decide to cooperate it more than makes up for the "lookers only" syndrome. And if you are watching the LT on the FF screen as they attack and then slam your jig it doubles the fun and the excitement. Your girls would be begging you to go out again I bet.

Hi MOB - I know you have done well on Keuka this year from your previous posts. Just for the heck of it was wondering how many LT have been brought to your boat this year while jigging?

semperfi - On my above post I wrote "south". Should have been "north". Another one of those senior moments I guess. - Al