Keuka 11/29

[Tg8]

Had a nice afternoon tour of the muddy roads south of canandaigua as I checked onanda then the woodville launch. Had a nice chat at the woodville launch with sheriff hicks who winter fishes out of his champion quite often. By 2:10 I made it to the branchport launch. I couldn't wait to try some tackle that arrived in the mail. I grabbed two shimano flatfall butterfly jigs, 80grams is the heaviest i have jigged with and think I need a more appropriate rod for that and some deeper water. Maybe one hit on that, but couldn't be sure. The second bait I found on amazon was 6.5" shadalicious. They look like musky baits, but I figure bigger baits =bigger fish. Had a few hits on that one, lost my stinger hook. Then I switched back to a 3.5" green shadalicious, then boated 5 between 330-430. I should have gave the butterfly a shot or two at that witching hour but, their will be plenty of time for that.

[Sk8man]

Nice going on the fishing. I was wondering what the status is of the Woodville launch....is it iced in yet? You sound like me (getting excited over the tackle)   I spent the afternoon making up some home made trolling flies....I guess I won't be putting Atomic out of business anytime soon with mine   

 

 

Edited December 3, 2013 by Sk8man

[Tg8]

Yes, woodville had an inch of ice extending to 50ft+ north past the launch. I do enjoy searching for techniques and tactics to add to the arsenal.

[Sk8man]

Thanks....me too! So Onanda wasn't open?

Edited November 30, 2013 by Sk8man

[Tg8]

No, the main driveway was plowed, but the back gate was closed. The sheriff said he usually goes out of onanda after the holidays.

[Sk8man]

Ah thanks for the info.

[Tg8]

They were hitting hard by the state park Sunday. It started with half ounce diamond jig tipped with green pumpkin grub a couple hundred yards from the launch in 140. The same bait But a half ounce lighter that I caught the nine pounder with last month here. After about 3 all caught mid way or higher in the column I wanted to try the massive 6.5" shadalicious in the deepest water close by 170ft. I marked a few but no consistency and no hits. So I sought out a point to look for some larger numbers. I found them on the first point I chose. Diamond jig pulled up 4 on each cast or drop. I knew they would hit anything so I switched to the flatfall jig by shimano in hopes of catching my first with this new bait. 80grams is ridiculously heavy, especially for 120ft. It went to the bottom so fast. Popped it a few times on the bottom then guided it slowly to the bottom, and bam pulled two up that way. Then I tried some lift-reel-pause up through the water column and bam caught three more on the pause. After that I wanted to exploit their pattern of hitting at the top of a lift with a pause so I grabbed the xps version of the butterfly called the freestyle. This one being almost a third as heavy as the flatfall, I could dance it in place with a few twitches of no more than 6" right at the pause stage up the water column. I believe this is called slow pitch jigging. Basically, walking the dog vertically but at a slower pace and pause or hop at the end. I did notice that the hookup percentage on the flatfall was almost 100%. Where on the xps I felt that I pulled it from their mouths a few times.the flatfall hooked up solid as soon as they hit each time, I believe being the result of having the hooks at the opposite end of were you tie. On the xps freestyle butterfly jig you tie on the ring that holds the hooks, so it does look weird and I think they hit the bottom of the jig that has no hooks. I might tie a hook at both ends next time. I have been waiting for this extreme bite to gain some confidence with these jigs. It was a blast. I am pretty certain no matter what I threw down their would have worked but I did notice a pattern to their hits to a certain extent, so I am going with I learned something. they shut off right as it got dark around 5ish. all the action was between 215 and 445, most of the action was 330-430. I probably caught 15 to 20 all in a single area on a point crushing a massive bait ball. They even spit one of their meals up and it had an uncanny resemblance to the half ounce diamond jig I started out with. The launch water levels were fine and I was the only one launching. Such a shame with the balmy weather we had.I figured more would have been out.

[hermit]

I've tried some jigs with the hooks on short leaders tied to the same ring as the line and didn't like them much, sounds like similar results to what you had. I like regular or old fashioned style with the hooks on the far end.   I think that other style started in saltwater, maybe the fish are more aggressive when hitting them or something but it doesn't seem to work as well on the lakers.

 

80g is pretty beefy and reminds me of something, I got a call a few months ago from a guy in Traverse City wanting to know about jigging lakers and I filled him in, in return he told me about jigging kings up there.  They use real big heavy jigs like yours in shallow water, like 30-40 feet, the bigger the jig the better.  He said 3-4 oz.  When the fish start staging in late summer they go out and hammer them on these huge bright jigs... must be pissing off the kings or something as smaller jigs get ignored.  According to this guy anyway.  Something to think about trying!

 

Anyway, sounds like a lot of fun you had out there!

[bulletbob]

 80 grams is less than 3 ounces.. Minnow bait!

Guys going for Cod use jigs between 16 and 32 ounces and a foot long.. A laker would have a heart attack if he saw one of those!!!... bob

[Tg8]

Tell me about it, they look like jigging with swords. Shimano has a shallow series, that features a flat side and center vortex jig, I'll be playin with those soon. I do like the thought of finding the diamond jig to be an oldy but goody. Something about the versatility and simplicity of the design that makes it rewarding to catch these fish with. It is amazing to see the presentation varieties from the salty big pond folks.

[Sk8man]

The Hopkins lure is another that transfers well for jigging from the salt water environment.