Help With Bows and LLs

[BenFishin]

As of recently we seem to have lakers dialed in fairly well, I'm wondering if there's something we are missing as far as getting into something silver. We fish mostly Cayuga and Skaneateles lakes and have a couple riggers, assorted leadcore, and planers as well... most of the time we fish the evenings but on weekends can manage early morning stuff. Any hints as far as rigging, prime locations, depths, temps etc would be very helpful! 

 

 

Heres a picture of the only Finger lakes Bow we have ever managed to pull, it was an accident but it was a beautiful accident!

[Nautitroller]

Read the topic in finger lakes discussion, "help with browns on Seneca", great tips in there from guys that have it dialed in... goes for Cayuga as well.

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[alex1young]

I'm no expert but small spoons and higher speeds work well for me.

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[SteelieBum]

As of recently we seem to have lakers dialed in fairly well, I'm wondering if there's something we are missing as far as getting into something silver. We fish mostly Cayuga and Skaneateles lakes and have a couple riggers, assorted leadcore, and planers as well... most of the time we fish the evenings but on weekends can manage early morning stuff. Any hints as far as rigging, prime locations, depths, temps etc would be very helpful!

Heres a picture of the only Finger lakes Bow we have ever managed to p

Mm okull, it was an accident but it was a beautiful accident!

Sent from my C811 4G using Lake Ontario United mobile app

[SteelieBum]

As of recently we seem to have lakers dialed in fairly well, I'm wondering if there's something we are missing as far as getting into something silver. We fish mostly Cayuga and Skaneateles lakes and have a couple riggers, assorted leadcore, and planers as well... most of the time we fish the evenings but on weekends can manage early morning stuff. Any hints as far as rigging, prime locations, depths, temps etc would be very helpful!

Heres a picture of the only Finger lakes Bow we have ever managed to p

Mm okull, it was an accident but it was a beautiful accident!

Sent from my C811 4G using Lake Ontario United mobile app

[Bobber]

I agree...smaller spoons, 2.5-3 mph, 55-60 degrees over deep water.

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[Skidplate]

Just my opinion but like previously posted smaller spoons faster speeds longer leaders or drop back and turns just keep lines running right dont know how to explain that but what I do know is Laker fishing is not silver fishing if u take the time to look up topics on here you find what ever you are looking for

[bandrus1]

How do you guys run light leads during flea season

[lakebound88]

I never get fleas on leaders, only on the vertical lines, but I prevent that using heavy main line in thirty to 40 lb ghost line with bloodknots to flouro carbon leaders from 8 to 15 lb test.

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[BenFishin]

Thanks guys for the help, will definitely do some more searching around too. Pretty new to the lake fishing game, a lot of this information is kind of cloudy and either difficult to find or just confusing for whatever other reason. Hopefully I can get onto some more species as I learn some of the different techniques!

[bandrus1]

I never get fleas on leaders, only on the vertical lines, but I prevent that using heavy main line in thirty to 40 lb ghost line with bloodknots to flouro carbon leaders from 8 to 15 lb test.

Sent from my XT1080 using Lake Ontario United mobile app

I figured but wanted to ask

[Sk8man]

For Finger Lakes silvers - 30 lb Bloodrun Sea Flee line does a great job of keeping the fleas off downrigger main lines (verticals).  One of the main things to do when fishing specifically for silver fish (rainbows, landlocks and browns) in most of the Finger Lakes is to fish specifically for them in your setups and place your lures at the top of and within the thermocline and that is usually where you'll be marking them. The lakers will most often be locating below it in colder temps (but not always). As already mentioned use small to medium spoons often run back quite aways (50 ft or more) from the boat and stagger them some further than others and don't be afraid to locate some above  where you are marking fish because when the sun is up especially they will be looking upwards (eyes located forward and up) so lures may present as "shadows" of wounded bait near surface. The shallower you run your lures in the water column the further back they should be run from the boat or on boards or outriggers to the sides. These species often feed on smaller alewives and minnows of various types and that is why the size of the lures matters.....they may be more prone to hit medium sized lures as the season wears on and the size of the bait increases. It seems as though the bait is staying shallower this year than years past for this particular time of the season but normally the bait will head deeper by now and may appear as big clouds or distinct "patches" spread along the bottom with lakers often located near it. The silver fish may be anywhere in the top layers of the water and often cruising the deep waters near the surface or with browns in particular a few feet off bottom near deep drop offs where the thermocline intersects it so they may respond to attractor combinations (spinneys or flasher/fly) set a few feet off bottom as well as the solitary spoons run way backup in the water column. You'll notice I didn't mention specific water temps as not everyone is able to monitor this at the ball and the currents (and the thermocline) in the Fingers especially Seneca and Cayuga tend to ride up and down and around major structure changes differently than Lake O where the bottom and depths are more constant andthese fish are often found outside of their "preferred" temp ranges. As far as spoon color goes copper colored, brass and silver combinations work well as do orange or red ones....for me at least blue seems to attract lakers and smallmouths but not silvers As mentioned already trolling speed is important and often  speeds of 2.5-3.2 mph are effective especially when doing "s'; turns and changing speeds one way or another  (slowing down or speeding up)  and outside lines will often take hits on turns. I'm always messing with my speed .

Edited July 21, 2015 by Sk8man