Canandaigua canadaguia Flea report south end

[Rainbow Kid]

Starting at 745-sh,on the East side,..the duck weed and floating grasses/weeds made me divert to the west side for the NB troll.

   68 surface temp...decent amount of marks right on bottom 100-125' FOW   No hitters as I had the big boy sinker bumping right thru'em.

   Up past Cooks point I stayed 95-100 on the drop-offs and marked alot of bottom huggers in groups and few few 45-50 suspended fish...only saw a small group of bait 25 fow off Cooks.

   No strikes,..side pole and Float with 5 deep ..4 on top.

Pulling the heavy line in first,..it felt like I had a towel hanging of a leader.

   Once I had most of the topline in,..125'..here was the problem...Tons of fleas...!

Talk about a task to clear this junk off tiny Seven strand wire ( like 10 lb mono)

  The Dacron on the float,,,not as bad,,but still a pain,...

        2nd trip of the year,..no Bite.!!....Nice view of Bear hill at Vine Valley,..but that's all!

              Maybe sit this one out till August,..they may thin out by then,..hopefully!!

                         RK

  By the way,,the 1st mile was a bit murky/muddy from all the stinkin Rain...it cleared up to green water past Cooks Pt.

[Sk8man]

Thanks for the report Jim....pretty discouraging though. It looks as though this will be a season for "jiggers only" on Canandaigua and Keuka.  The fleas were there but not real bad yet on Cayuga yesterday northern section. It sure does take a bit of the fun out of trolling though. It may be Fall before the water cools enough and the flea levels go down again. Guess the recreational boaters and sail guys will be having the lake mostly to themselves....it is really a shame.

[Lively1]

Was on Keuka this morning and it is flea city around the bluff and up the east arm. Tried jigging, lot of marks but no biters.

[On the Hook]

Thanks for the flea update on Keuka. I will on vacation there for 2 weeks starting 7/18 and may have to pack my jigging gear just in case. It's my least favorite way to fish but better than cleaning fleas off the downriggers and trolling lines.

[Rainbow Kid]

Thanks for the report Jim....pretty discouraging though. It looks as though this will be a season for "jiggers only" on Canandaigua and Keuka.  The fleas were there but not real bad yet on Cayuga yesterday northern section. It sure does take a bit of the fun out of trolling though. It may be Fall before the water cools enough and the flea levels go down again. Guess the recreational boaters and sail guys will be having the lake mostly to themselves....it is really a shame.

Hi Les,

sure would be interesting to find the reason the bite is OFF when the flea is all over.!

 I was wondering,...how do the fish keep the fleas from getting into their Gills.? Is the hugging bottom a function of Survival.? Seeing the fleas seem to be in the warmer section of the thermocline.But not in the Lower.......Maybe the fish have a clue as to the Density of fleas (seeing they are super Tiny!) and when the fleas get thick,..they are Forced to cooler temps..?

 Your thoughts and comments Greatly appreciated and Welcome!

[Sk8man]

I too have wondered about the fleas getting into their gills etc. I've also wondered if they actually eat them too whether inadvertently or on purpose. I think it is possible that they locate to avoid them too as you say. I do know that the fleas are distributed erratically within the water column which is probably why on large bodies of water like Lake Ontario some folks  find them thick while others thin or not at all and it may depend too on WHERE in the column you primarily fish or set your lines. It would be interesting to know whether they actually concentrate just within the thermocline layer as it often travels up and down in the column. Unfortunately I'm not a fisheries biologist so like most folks and you I am  curious about them and have more questions than answers. I do also know that when the temps decrease in the Fall the fleas seem to decrease radically and then disappear so there is definitely some type of relationship with the water temps or ranges of temps.

[Rainbow Kid]

Agreed,

          I hate to hope for a Lake cool down after the worst Winter ever!...But there is a definite relationship to the fleas and temps...

  Just wish they would go away...They must raise hack ona downrigger cable too!!

        Thanks for the input!

[kempie]

I wonder if you guys are using sea flea line from blood run tackle on your downrigger poles? this works pretty good on the fleas. I went back to wire cable from braid on the downriggers. I also run more copper lines and wire dipsey's which also help. we can't fish the way we like anymore because of pests but we can minimize the problems they cause. I think our biologists need to do some research to see if or any damage they are doing to are fisheries.

[Sk8man]

Here is what they looked like last year on the downrigger wire at Keuka I've used the Sea Flee 30 lb for the past three years and it works great.

[Benson2x]

On the north end they were bad on east side at beginning of July but have seemed to have let off for some reason.  

[lakebound88]

Seneca was just as bad. The riggers were releasing themselves in twenty minutes or less...

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