Another Keuka Killing

[Pete Collin]

Hello All,

The last time I fished with Guff, we totally got skunked. It was blowing hard and cold rain oozed into our goretex. What made it worse is that it was my suggestion. It was calm and rain free from where I called Al and talked him into trying Seneca. He was skeptical, but we went anyway, and fishlessly shivered for several hours. That was back in May.

Yesterday was the antithesis of that trip: Sunny, warm, gorgeous day, and the fishing was on fire. He and hermit set a high yardstick two days before with their 60-something fish catch. Nothing will kill a trip faster than expectations. But everything worked out. We didn't even get an early start - arriving at the bluff around 9:00 AM. Never mind that i woke up at 2:30 AM and couldn't get back to sleep. It just felt much more relaxed than setting a ridiculously early alarm to have all your lines in the water at first light.

We had great sport with the sonar graph. The trick of cranking up on fish you see chasing on the screen worked wonders. That anticipation of a strike is the jigger's analogy to a bird hunter walking up to a pointing spaniel. We'd watch suspended blips turn into lines streaking sharply up towards our falling jigs. When the two got close, we'd start on a fast crank - toes curled, leaning forward, arms cocked, eyes glued to the converging lines on the screen, muttering,"Come on, baby. Take it. Take it. Come on....HAH! THERE HE IS!!!" If the first fish missed the strike, there was often a second or even third banana that would bitye right after the shakeoff (don't get me started on bananas).

So we stayed out the whole day. There was no reason to leave. The feed had few lulls, and aboard Al's boat we neither sweated nor shivered. The lakers averaged much bigger than my previous trips. Plenty of 24 and 25 inchers, Al got one that went 26. I carried my little counter/clicker, so we celebrated the passing of the 20 fish mark, the 30 fish mark. Poking our way along the shore on our ride back to the launch, we brought the count up to 47 - My second greatest two-man catch on the Fingers. It's hard to write a unique story about jigging the Bluff, because there is a certain amount of sameness to trips that you make there. The high fish count, the smallish fish size, the great natural beauty. But fall on Keuka is just one of those things that make you glad you live in New York.

Pete Collin

www.pcforestry.com

[DtD]

WOW, Pete good deal.....My wife and I were at the launch around 10:30 and she was blowing and we chickened out. Went to Woodville instead and had a lovely day with the wind much lower and pretty slight afternoon. Fair number of marks on the screen, but a slow bite. The 9 pounder was a welcome surprise.

Question.did the wind subside on Keuka as well ? Kinda wish we had tried to stay.....just so she could have had some more fun. Great show that Bluff.....and I bet we try again before the boat goes up. Dave

[panfisher]

Pete Collin.... great story ! And it is really nice fishing the fingers, particularly Canadice, Canandaigua, Keuka.......well, heck, any and all of them this time of year, especially in light to no wind conditions, which make it easy to fish. Usually with such wind conditions, this time of year, "something in the air" (weather and seasonal biologic) seems to coincide with great fishing...... Unfortunately for folks that have to be at work, usually it is not on their weekend or day off ! Good go....

[Pete Collin]

DtD,

Yes, the wind did lie down some later on. It got to be pretty stiff around the time you checked the launch - I wouldn't have wanted to motor 6 miles into it. But the fish actually bit the best when the wind was hardest.

Any pix of the 9 pounder?

[FLXTroutman]

good job Pete, funny how sometimes when the wind is blowing and and the water is rolling the bite is on vs. bluebird skies and calm seas provides negative fish, hey Dtd what did you get bit on for the 9 lb'er?? trolling or jigging?

[guff]

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.

[DtD]

Yup......the 6 mile ride to the bluff in that wind was the decider....would not have been in our younger days. ( we deer hunted in a remote area of Pittsburg, N.H., sleeping way off road, in a ' 64 Beetle, with the stars out the rear winda, and a 1/4 inch of frost on the inside in the morning)....no deer , but a really fun time )

Pete, I did not get any pics of this one, but it was colored as a wild one and a spent female of 29.5 inches. Had the poached head, collars and cheek meat for lunch today.

She came on a Billy Alex.....1 oz. jig with an upgraded #5 mustad that he was nice enough to send my way. The shaker was a sparkly lime green as I recall, 3.5"( ? ).....and the best part...the FF view of the two tries at the shaker before the hook up. The reason so many of us jig, I suspect.

The filets came out a beautiful pink at 2 lbs, 6 ozs. ea. I'm talking a fine, lightly smoked dinner with the visiting Family on Thanksgiving.

Pete, FLX and Ruff, I hope we get the chance to jig together some time. Have fun....put on the vest and what do you do with the laker spawn ? Dave