Skaneateles Skaneateles Lake 7/2/15

[BenFishin]

Sorry this was last week but still figured its better late than never! 

 

Last week my dad and I got out on Skinny and went 2 for 10! Lots of hookups that seemed to be very heavy fish, but all but two shook the hook a few seconds into the fight! Got some things to try next time we go out, but any advice on keeping fish on the hook while using a full leadcore would be appreciated.

 

Anywho... we had fun trolling around just south of the state launch in about 50-70 ft of water on 7 and 9 color rigs and caught two smallish lakers, one 17 and one 19 inches. 

 

Then the lake calmed down a bit and we pulled the leadcore up and got into some awesome smallmouth action in the north end, all on surface poppers. What a riot!!

 

The lakers seemed to like green and copper spoons, michigan scorpions. 

 

[315angler]

Thanks for the report! Hoping to get out there this weekend myself.

Mostly small ones, but there are definitely a few big lakers in there!

Sent from my iPhone using Lake Ontario United

[Sk8man]

Good report. As for the hookup problem.... I switched over nearly all my spoons to SINGLE siwash salmon hooks years ago to decrease that problem and I seldom if ever have hookup difficulties. The other thing is that you have to periodically examine each hook point on your lures for sharpness and sharpen accordingly. It could be the angle the pic was taken of the two lures but the bottom one doesn't look sharp to me. Also the trebles are pretty large which can assist the fish in working two of the hooks against the one that has them hooked with their mouth pressing on them....another reason I favor hardened stainless single hooks as they penetrate easier and deeper in general.

 

Another factor with the leadcore may be the fact that at certain speeds the leadcore may be whipping up and down in the water column in such a way that the fish is having difficulty actually grabbing onto the spoon as it is pulled away from him/her (want to be politically correct ) Rainbows have soft mouthes too so if it happens to be them and they are "lip hooked" they are on briefly then off.

Edited July 9, 2015 by Sk8man

[BenFishin]

Thanks for the advice! I think my hooks are pretty sharp, those spoons were brand new that day! But anyways I am probably going to replace as many hooks as i can with singles soon. Anyone have suggestions on brands or sizing? Also any suggestions on hook sharpening methods or how-tos?

We had a bit of redemption on Thursday 7/8/15, went back to Skaneateles lake and trolled the same locations with the same spoons and went 5 for 5! I think maybe we were just not bringin em in fast enough, keeping pressure on them. Its tough with the weight of the leadcore line dragging.

We got 5 lakers, 3 keepers and two shorts went back to the depths! Good day on the water when none of the hookups get off!

Edited July 10, 2015 by BenFishin

[Bigfoot]

I used to have the same problem with the MI stinger scorpion hookups. I would lose way to many fish and almost all of the bigger ones.

Now I land almost all of them. The standard hooks are JUNK! I replace them with a quality hook like the Owner ST trebles. End of problem.

[Sk8man]

Bigfoot makes a good point....we can't assume that hooks right from the package are all sharp or that they are quality hooks.  I have used Mustad Siwash stainless steel salmon hooks from sizes 1/0 to 3/0 forthe various sized spoons ranging from small ones (use 1/0 medium use2/0 or large use 3/0 in general but it depends on the spoon so I sometimes go  out of size category to keep weight of spoon fairly constant). As far as sharpening I there are any ways to do it (electric hook sharpeners, manual ones etc.) I have always used a fine fileto do it and I sharpen them on three sides going from the bend in the hook direction to the point tip and get them so that they "catch" on your finger tip. Not very scientific (old school dude) but it works.

[BenFishin]

Awesome thanks bigfoot and sk8man! Gonna hafta get some hooks and a sharpener and do some upgrades!

It seems theres never an end to the gear... 🎣

Edited July 11, 2015 by BenFishin