Seneca South End Salmon

[ac holmes]

I did a little more afternoon fishing today and had some luck with LL's. A few little guys today but one bigger one. They seem to like the Moose look and Moose look, look alike in photo in gold and orange. This fish was at 30 feet over 100 foot bottom, 2.5 MPH over ground. I like fishing for the Salmon and do not mess with the Lakers unless I have to. My buddy was on the water today and they caught a nice Rainbow and a good brown on top lines.

[tcon]

Wow that thing is bigger around than it is long...lol beautiful fish

Tom

[PolarBear]

GREAT LOOKING FISH ....GOOD JOB AND THANKS FOR THE REPORTS

[lil' troller]

nice salmon!

[spoonfed-1]

Very well fed.

Nice fish.

Glen

[ac holmes]

All of the salmon I have been catching lately are fat hogs, but their gut is empty. Maybe they have been instinctively in a spawning behavior this time of year (although natural reproduction is very minimal I am told), and have just started to eat again. I know they are hungry the last few days. They really slam the spoons and there is no doubt about triggering the release. The fat fish I caught yesterday jumped very high 3 times...the first jump was 10 feet or so out of the water. These LL's are beautiful, powerful fish and also very fine table fare fresh out of the cold, clear water. Finger Lakes Salmon are lot different than farmed salmon that spend their life swimming around in their own waste.

[rustyrat]

Nice Andrew!

I use the mooslooks too.

RR

[Skippers Trophy 01]

Good looking LL!

They are fun to watch behind the boat when they get going for sure.

[stoutner]

Wow...a FAT HOG! Looks like a Bass

[jason]

nice fish andrew

[Splitshot115]

Well done AC

[FLXTroutman]

sweet fish, I like the color pattern on that spoon, you should try to get your buddy to take a picture of your vessel underway or trolling, I remember seeing a post in the summer of your boat at the dock, very cool looking boat, I would like to see her rigged and "working", she has a diesel engine, closed cooling system?

[ac holmes]

Yes indeed...3cyl Yanmar with a closed cooling system and an exchanger for the fresh water circuit. I have been putting a little anti freeze in overnight but yesterday went to a small heater in the doghouse. It trolls too fast at idle and it's not good to idle the diesel for long periods anyway, so I am using 2 small, Cabala trolling bags. The bags are very easy to deploy off the bow and run amidships...it takes 30 seconds to drop them in and another 30 to pull them. With the bags, I can adjust my speed exactly by tapping the throttle a bit and the engine is turning at it's sweet spot (1200-1500 RPM), under load. It is all too easy and a near perfect setup. I thought that I would need a kicker in the beginning but it is totally not needed, although it would be nice to have backup power. I suspect trolling bags would be a good option for a lot of big, outboards rigs instead of a kicker. The bags are far easier than I ever guessed once you get them setup. The Cabala bags have a float on one side of the opening and a lead weight on the bottom, so they pop open every time. I had some bags years ago that lacked this feature and they were a pain in the butt to use.

The bags provide another happy accident that I had not planned on. I have a RayMarine X-5 sport autohelm installed with cable steering to the rudder. At 1200-1500 RPM, there is a pretty strong prop wash at the rudder and just a little tweek from the autohelm is all that's needed to keep a course. I have never had an autohelm that worked as well at trolling speeds with wind and waves. In the past, my Simrad setup on two Honda 90's worked itself to death keeping a course, and the noise from the pump drove me nuts, although those Hondas were sweet and very quiet. That auto helm worked fine going fast, but very poorly at trolling speed.

TARA is a beauty and a wonderful boat to fish in. Three fisherfolk is plenty and four is too crowded in the cockpit. It is not a good choice for a charter boat (which is what I will be doing a little of next year) but I will do two guys instead of four and charge less for the trip. TARA is very slow wide open (10 MPH) but easily trailered if I want to fish the North end or another Lake. All boats are compromises and TARA seems like a pretty good fit for me at this stage of my life. It cost too much but what the hell, I don't have kids and am retired from business and troubles for the most part, and I sure did not want another project boat. I will try to get a buddy to take some pictures on the water from his boat and post them.

I think there may be something to "hot" boats and boats that do not catch fish as well. I don't know if it has to do with engine noise or electrical discharge, etc., etc. TARA is most happily a "hot" boat and I have never had such good results fishing as I have this season. I just know I am going to catch fish as soon as I get the lines set up.

Keep happy,

AC Holmes

[FLXTroutman]

damn I am more jealous now (except for 10 mph at WOT) you are fine writer sir, and obviously your fishing skills are honed and TARA is keeping you happy, good luck with your charter venture next year and keep the reports coming for us.