Skaneateles 7/19

[LooseEye]

Fished Skinny w my father this morning south of 5 mile. Trolled spoons on riggers, dipseys and a 10 color core. Went 3 for 5. Riggers around 60 took all 3. Core only took one hit and a drop. One decent laker, one average laker and a pretty bow. All swam away to fight another day. #21 sutton took the most hits.

All the action seemed to be over by 9/930 and the screen dried up too.

Water temps per the fishhawk td:

Fow-Temp

10-71.3

20-71.3

30-71.0

40-68.8

45-64.4

50-55.3

55-51.6

60-49.2

65-47.9

70-46.8

80-46.2

Will try and post a pic when they come off camera. Tight lines all.

[laker taker]

LooseEye, Great report...nice job on the fish...Skinny has some beautiful rainbows!

 

Interesting Hemlock was 48 degrees at 38 feet down yesterday...and 46 degrees deeper to the bottom in at least 68 feet of water...I didn't venture farther south. What would cause this difference in the 2 lakes? Thanks Chuck

 

Ended up with 6 lakers...1 sm and a pickerel...this guy was probably the best fighting laker I have ever caught 33" 15 minutes...revived and you can see where he went!

 

 

Chuck

 

 

 

[laker taker]

Here are the pictures!
Chuck

 

 

[laker taker]

ok...

[LooseEye]

No clue what really would cause the differences in the two lakes but maybe something to do with springs?? I think the springs in skinny are ALOT deeper but I may be wrong. I was surprised by the temps as well, never took a second reading , just kept fishing!

Good job on the laker, that's a beast.

Here are a few from yesterday. (I'll add a note here in case folks get worried- we rarely use those grips on soft mouth fish and only needed them on that laker. We have found them useful when reviving fish that aren't quite ready though. They help hold on to the fish when the boats still in motion and not slip out of your hands)

Edited July 20, 2014 by LooseEye

[laker taker]

Nice looking rainbow! Today Hemlock, 48 degree water was 43 feet down...this really has my curiosity up..it is amazing how it changes...bet it is tied to the total amount of water in the lake...Skinny has a lot more than Hemlock, Seneca and Cayuga has probably has at least 20 times as much as both combined...it would seem to reason that colder water in smaller lakes would be deeper not shallower?... You may be onto something with the springs and their impact on the total volume of water.

Thanks

Chuck

[rusty1034]

Howdy all,

 

A similar report from me. I hit skinny last Wed and Thurs from about 7-10am Two riggers, one around 50, one 35, and one 7 color lead core.

 

Riggers took lots of 15"-20" lakers with small bronze stingers and needlefish.

 

The core took a 20 "? rainbow and a 20"? Atlantic. I had a small joined perch rapala on the end of that line. I also had a couple of big SMBs taken on the core.

 

The rainbow was released, as was the LL, however the LL was a floater, and ended up going the livewell. I gave it to John Gaulke at the ramp. He cleaned it there, and we saw a bunch of 1/2" perch fry in it.

 

I hope to try it again tomorrow.

 

Rusty

[LooseEye]

Very cool Rusty!For some reason the Atlantics in skinny have always eluded me so congrats on that.

Needlefish are often a go to for me at skinny as well but even those are getting harder to find in the stores. All the good spoons are seeming to disappear.

[ERABBIT]

http://www.cabelas.com/product/Luhr-Jensen-reg-Needlefish-Spoons/1164582.uts?productVariantId=2803365&srccode=cii_328768002&cpncode=35-230808888-2&WT.tsrc=CSE&WT.mc_id=BingPLA&WT.z_mc_id1=03068597&rid=40

[LooseEye]

True there are a few places online but it seems harder and harder to get them in the 2.5" size and the basic colors. Maybe I'm just not looking in the right places. The old silver with fish hologram always seemed to be the best. I've just been buying tape nowadays and doctoring up my own.

[ERABBIT]

When I get back up to Ovid I'll check in Brewers for you....maybe put a post in the wanted section on here for them also.

[LooseEye]

Thanks for the help/tips. Unfortunately I've recently moved to the Albany area so once I find a house out here the boat will reside with me and my finger lakes trolling will be limited to a few trips a year. I'm pretty sure all my favorite spoons will work well here in the dacks, on LG and Sacandaga!

[rusty1034]

Howdy All,

 

I tried it again today on Skaneateles.  It was quite a bit slower than last week.  Did one laker on a firetiger needlefish @50ish, and a 20 'bow on a pink/white stinger @35. That was between 7-8, then nothing.

 

The water was dead calm, so I went into jigging mode.  I find that the bottom schools of lakers that I mark on my ff seem to be very small, and I can usually only pull one fish up before I drift past the school. Today was no exception.

 

I found some fish in 50', and brought up a SMB using a white tube on a big leadhead jig. I found a school of fish on the bar in front of 5 mile point, and brought up a couple of small lakers.

 

I hit a spot on the east side in front of a sailboat club. I always mark fish on the bottom in this spot, but they are always deeeeeeeeep.

It took at least 30 seconds for my jig to get to the 157' where I was marking fish. On most drops I would have a fish on as soon as I reeled in the slack from the bottom. The fish weren't very big, 15"? maybe. I landed he first one , but it was so bloated I had to puncture the swim bladder to get it to go back down. The rest of the lakers from that deep I brought up more slowly, and then did a 'long line release' with them after I saw what size they were.

 

For those of you that are unfamiliar with this lake, it typically is an early bite, ending by 9 or so when the weather is nice. Also, I think this coming weekend is the old boat show, so the launch will be extra busy with the wooden boat people. When I docked around 11 a this morning, the parking lot was full, and there was a fresh pile of broken red trailer light lense from the most recent victim.

 

I picked up a couple more needlefish at All Season Sports in Pulaski the other day. I think the ones they had were mostly the #2s.

 

Good Luck,

 

Rusty

[hermit]

Nice report, sounds fun! The Bass Pro in Auburn carries Needlefish in decent colors, at least they did a year or two ago, I haven't looked this year.

Edited July 23, 2014 by hermit

[hermit]

...it would seem to reason that colder water in smaller lakes would be deeper not shallower?... 

 

 

While at first glance you'd think a smaller lake will warm up faster and have warmer water (often true for a lake-wide average), the manner in which it heats up causes what you are describing.  A lot of factors actually go into each lake's characteristics, surface area, depth, shape, surrounding terrain, latitude, etc.  But for this example what is mostly important is surface area.  Less wind to move water around.

 

With small lakes there is less mixing of the water due to less wind and wave action.  The warmer water floats on top better and creates a higher, tighter thermocline.  It doesn't mix down as far in the spring as the lake warms.  That's why you'll see a thermocline at 30' on a small Finger Lake and 60' on one of the larger ones.  Also as a consequence the surface temps of the smaller lake will be higher.  

 

There is also the possibility that some of the effects you guys were noticing were from an internal seiche, where the thermocline and bottom layers slosh back and forth over one another.  This can move the depth of the thermocline around drastically, again more so on the bigger lakes. A strong north wind for example will pile a lot of warm water in the south end, in turn driving the cold bottom water north.  The thermocline will then be very deep on the south end and shallow on the north.  Hope it helps picture what's going on...

 

Alec

Edited July 23, 2014 by hermit

[LooseEye]

Rusty- you are correct, this weekend is the boat show so best bet is to steer clear of skinny! I made the mistake of trying to launch one wekend during it, never will I again.

Alec - great info! I never really though of the effects of wind on the FL like I do lake O.

All this talk of a little pink on the spoons has me rethinking some on my color schemes, or at least investing in some pink prisim tape.