Ruff Rider Sodus Live Report 2014 Aug 8-10

[skipper19]

The water has been clear and any bites have been on spoons without flash mostly...Black or purple little flash from ladder sticks like the 42 second pattern...carbon 14 and geezer from moonshine.

Cent frum my notso smart fone

[TOP SECRET]

Fleas are not filter feeders. They are predators that feed on other zooplankton.

They may not feed on phytoplankton, but they do feed on the zooplankton... perhaps it somehow upsets the balance in the lake. I know when I grew phytoplankton and rotifiers for fish breeding, there was a very delicate balance. Without enough rotifiers, the phyto would explode in growth, then crash in a matter of days.

[skipper19]

I wonder if the fleas irritated the fishes gills...like smog does our lungs. Maybe they avoid concentration of the fleas. Hmmm....

Cent frum my notso smart fone

[Silver Fox]

So as I lay here unable to sleep, a new thought has begun to formulate in my brain...

While my buddy John was reeling the king in today and I was standing on the swim platform waiting to net it, I was amazed by how clear the water was and that I could see the fish nearly twenty feet down. This clear water was reaffirmed when we reeled our dipseys in and I could see there flash much deeper than normal.

So here's my hypothesis...

Every year we get a large outbreak of water fleas. These large populations normally crash after an upwelling. This year they have been worse than I can ever remember and for longer than I remember. My thought is they are filtering the water to an above normal clarity. This is putting an extra spook on the fish both from increased light penetration and boat traffic.

When the fleas start to disappear (seemed they were finally starting to die off this weekend) and the plankton has a few days to recover, fishing will return to normal for August.

#1. Fleas started showing up 3 weeks ago. (3-4wks late)

#2 not much west wind to keep that Niagara plum on our side heading east.

#3 numbers wise, kings have been absent all year.

#4 you guys think to much ........

[john1947]

the perch crave fleas.From a old timer standpoint the kings come in and lay on the bottom during the day.Its best early and late but you can get them irrated to bit midday.Everybody used spoons draging the bottom till the mussel came.Dodger flies also were used.I only had my combo down 20 minutes before I had a king on at 200pmsunday.Now if I had some helpers we would have done alot better.As soon as i get my pictures back from myson Ill show you what the old days were like.

[tiogafishaddict]

Just one of those years. We really won't know if this year class is bad until they run. Is why I love the water and mother nature. Some of the few things humans can't control very well

[stoutner]

#1. Fleas started showing up 3 weeks ago. (3-4wks late)

#2 not much west wind to keep that Niagara plum on our side heading east.

#3 numbers wise, kings have been absent all year.

#4 you guys think to much ........

 

 

Ha Ha!!! So True. When the fishing sucks as bad as it has it leaves you a lot of time to think

[skipper19]

Ha Ha!!! So True. When the fishing sucks as bad as it has it leaves you a lot of time to think

Ok... I thought to much..hack hack. ..cough. ..sneeze. ..I really hate pollution. .don't drink the fleas either!...wow...yuck!😨

Cent frum my notso smart fone

[Shaye D Winds]

So as I lay here unable to sleep, a new thought has begun to formulate in my brain...

While my buddy John was reeling the king in today and I was standing on the swim platform waiting to net it, I was amazed by how clear the water was and that I could see the fish nearly twenty feet down. This clear water was reaffirmed when we reeled our dipseys in and I could see there flash much deeper than normal.

So here's my hypothesis...

Every year we get a large outbreak of water fleas. These large populations normally crash after an upwelling. This year they have been worse than I can ever remember and for longer than I remember. My thought is they are filtering the water to an above normal clarity. This is putting an extra spook on the fish both from increased light penetration and boat traffic.

When the fleas start to disappear (seemed they were finally starting to die off this weekend) and the plankton has a few days to recover, fishing will return to normal for August.

Nick,

I am not an expert on LO by any means. Oh I really enjoy your live action posts. what do you use for a camera for video?

As for the clear water, I fish Lake Champlain for Land locked salmon and we have noticed with the clearer water we have done better with a lot less flash. We have begun to take a stealth approach. Less trash in the water and longer leads. Lite-bite slide divers work well as does a single spoon 50-150 behind the ball. some guys still run flash and catch fish but the big fish seem to be really shy. Leaders are flourcarbon and kept as light as the individual angler feels comfortable.

You brought up as interesting thought. We do not have fleas yet.

[TOP SECRET]

Hey Shaye, I use a gopro for my video.

I may need to try a stealthier approach this weekend to see if it makes a difference...

[skipper19]

Hey Shaye, I use a gopro for my video.

I may need to try a stealthier approach this weekend to see if it makes a difference...

Yes! Definitely! See post #76..not a guarantee but an observation (first need to find fish!). Also noticed big paddles and meat were washing. Got more hits on meat run clean on a twinkie rig.

I was getting a kick out of the evening you went to watch the movie on the silver screen! I thought about how many times I said the sonar looked like the drive in screen in January! Lol!..bet it was good to watch something more entertaining on a screen that day!😉

Cent frum my notso smart fone

[Shaye D Winds]

Nick,

 

Thanks for the camera info. Just ordered a Gopro. Looking forward to some interesting shots.

 

Good luck on the water and keep the reports coming.

 

Don

[chowder]

We ran slide divers w/ very, very long leads + core & copper off the boards on Sat out of Port Bay w/ out any more results than our rigger presentations. Hopefully things will come together by the end of the week.

[john1947]

the lake did a flip flop,cold water inside.Have to wait till it calms down enough to see how far out the warm water went.bet there were some 8 footers  offshore here,

[TOP SECRET]

the lake did a flip flop,cold water inside.Have to wait till it calms down enough to see how far out the warm water went.bet there were some 8 footers offshore here,

Yeah would be a great couple of days to go offshore! Hopefully this moves some green water in as well!

[Silver Fox]

That warm water will be right back on shore with this blow!

[TOP SECRET]

Well here's a picture of one of the steelies we caught this weekend and the size of the alewife it had eaten.

We couldnt believe it actually scarfed something so large down! Yet I never seem to have much luck on mag spoons, go figure!

[Sk8man]

I once had a 22 inch brown with 9 sawbellies within his mouth throat and stomach on Seneca Lake....I kid you not. The tail of one sticking out of his mouth along with my spoon

[CVO]

We caught this brown off of I - bay this spring

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