Keuka Weds 07/09/14 Nothinnnn

[jb235]

Gents/Ladies....I fished Keuka this morning solo ( Sk8man  claimed he had a Honey Do List )....I left our hoist at 8:30 on the Branchport arm and headed  north of the bluff towards the state park concentrating on the east side...I actually marked fish this time out,much more than in the past 2 weeks.I threw out the thermocline rig and began trolling 2.0 marking fish in about 90 feet over 110 bottom..kept the thermocline deep with various spoons and speeds and not one hit in 4 hours..I continued north to the park then over to the east side and headed south..NOTHING I trolled between 90 and 150 marking fish varying depths..I then jigged for an hour marking fish on the east side just south of the park in 90 feet of water on drop offs that I repeatedly drifted back over and over hoping as I was marking fish..I then headed back empty handed..did a few honey do list items of my own at the lake place then disgusted..went to Fishy Business did what any outdoorsman would do..bought more hoping to better my oppurtunities..actually had 2 reels run with blood Run flea for downriggers..fleas werent to back today on my gear. A great day out anyway..Not many boats only saw one other fisherman.

 

Jim

Edited July 9, 2014 by jb235

[areyounuts]

Thanks for the post. Have family coming this weekend and they would like to go to the Finger Lakes fishing. Been trying to decide either Keuka or Cayuga. You helped me decide. Looks like T-Falls. Odd the bite seems so off at Keuka. A lot of posts of slow days.

[Sk8man]

Good report Jim and the puzzle lives on...what the heck is happening out there....just about everyone is saying the same thing marking but not biting. I'm wondering if they are possibly feeding primarily at night ....

 

I think you'll be happier with the new Sea Flee line from Fishy's ....I'm loving my new roller rod from there last week.

[Nautitroller]

Just an FYI the salvation army tournament is this weekend both days on Cayuga lots of boats but it is a BiG lake!

Sent from my C771 using Lake Ontario United mobile app

[Ricbme]

Last several years I average 4 fish on hour.  This year less than 1.  I've had three 4 hour trips with only one catch per trip.. Best day so far was when I took out 2 grand kids and we still fished sawbellies, boated 6 in 2 hours along with several misses.  It's gotta be the murkey flood water stired thins up.  I fish the west branch.  Crazy year so far for sure.

[Gator]

Lots and lots of fish came up through the ice this year...

[Sk8man]

Gator make s a great point....we tend to think in terms of unlimited supplies of fish in the lakes sometimes but not so...fishing pressure sure can change things around pretty quickly.

[floatfisher]

Besides the trout and trolling, are people catching any of the warmer water species?  I am headed there tomorrow with my son and wanted to try out jigging up a couple lakers, then switch to smallies and pan fish (really anything to keep him occupied).  Any word on the bass/pickerel/pan fish catches?

 

Thanks!

[Great Lakes Lure Maker]

I've had days like that this year on Keuka. I fished it 3 times before our FLTA tourny there. 2 of the three we caught fish, one was a skunk and there were plenty of hooks on the screen. There was an impressive weigh in there. Mike burt aka Iron Duke caught some nice 13 lb lake trout. Keep at it! Our best action last few trips out was at 3pm. Oddly enough the moon was rising around 130 pm. I'm guessing that has something to do with it. I generally watch the moon phases, and I believe there is some relationship with it. 

 

 

Moon table If your interested....

 

http://aa.usno.navy.mil/cgi-bin/aa_rstablew.pl

Edited July 10, 2014 by Great Lakes Lure Maker

[Nautitroller]

I concur on the moon phases, I am worried about this weekend if it is clear at night this weekends fishing will be tough! Bright moon.. especially before sunrise fish feed at night!

Keuka is loaded with Lakers, if the bite is off is off......

Sent from my C771 using Lake Ontario United mobile app

[Ray4852]

Have you ever tried fishing at night with a full moon. hang a light over the side of boat to draw up bait. Bait will never come up. Its the same when you troll during the daylight hours. Trout go deeper to look for deep bait. You can still catch fish but you have to work harder for them. New moon is the best time to fish up to the half phase. 

[guff]

Richme has a good point I think. The flood that tore up Penn Yan a few weeks ago was really concentrated in the Keuka Lake watershed now that I think about it. From the parking area just east of Branchport you could look down the length of the west branch. It was like chocolate milk as far as you could see. We have had several storms since then and Sugar Creek (by Branchport) was brown again this week.  Keuka lakers are used to super clear water most of the year. It makes sense that the dirty water might affect their appetite. Just a thought.

[guff]

PS: The lakers were biting like crazy on the north end of Seneca yesterday.

[laketrout6]

I spent 2-1/2 hours searching for a concentration of lakers on thurs 7/10. Searched from H'sport to a mile northeast of the Bluff and didn't mark more than 50 on the fishfinder.

Talked to a gentleman at the ramp at noon as we were both taking out and he said they'd been jigging since sunup and had one hit and took one keeper. He said they found lots of fish in the 60-70 foot range along with lots of bait. Wondering if the sawbellies are still in shallow spawning and the lakers are lurking close by ( spawning should have been over last month). I never went in closer than 100 fow .

Of course I should have known better than to even attempted fishing lakers this week with the full moon. After fishing Keuka for 54 years you'd think I'd learn LOL!

[Dick]

Keuka is always hard after a major discoloring. This one has been bad for along time. The underground springs are usely packed. try the Chatue Dugas hole,

or the cut going toward it from the state boat launch about half way there. good clear water pours in to it.

Dick B.

[guff]

Hi Dick - Just curious, how do you determine where the underground/underwater springs are?