canandaigua lake

[kempie]

anybody been fishing trout on the south end lately?

[fishmaster13184]

I gave up on it, on a good day I was only getting a few some days none

[kramer93]

Got a laker on a Berkley flicker minnow off the boards and a rainbow on a copper and blue spoon 30 down 45 back on the downrigger on the 19th. Definitely slow.

[Sk8man]

The heavy boat traffic after 10 AM eeeven many week days  doesn't help matters either and everyone comes in at the same time in the evening so the launch is a zoo too....sure loses some of its appeal at this time of the year.  it is one of the most densely used recreational lakes around.  Probably one of the reasons night fishing was so successful in the past.

[fishmaster13184]

How do you night fish trout sk8? I'd be interested in trying, the lake is just over 10 minutes from my house

[Sk8man]

There are several methods but I used to anchor in anywhere from 75 to 150 ft of water often near drop-offs at the south end of the lake  just before dark and use a light version Seth Green rig (usually two of them)  (3 leader instead of 5 for simplicity) with a 20 lb test mainline and bead chains placed every 20 ft with 10 ft. long 10 -12 lb test leaders (mono back then now I'd use fluoro) and a 16 oz. sinker and LIVE sawbellies that I would catch by hanging two Coleman lanterns suspended from the 4 ft booms of my Riviera    downriggers turned sideways in the boat on each side. I staggered the two rigs so they were at different depths. This would bring bait up to the surface (sawbellies) after the bugs that would be attracted to the light and I'd use a smelt net to catch my bait. Often I'd set out a spinning rod with a bobber and cast it out away from the other line (s) and just let the bait swim around below the surface often big rainbows would hit that rig. the bait on the Seth Green would swim around at different depths and get hit and you take the leaders off one at a time to get to the one with the fish.   Sometimes when gathering the bait large fish could be seen coming out of the depths after it.... very eerie appearance with big lakers or browns looking like "Jaws"   Night fishing is a VERY different experience from other fishing...it can be very disorienting especially when people go to bed in cottages along the shorelines and turn their lights out and you have few if any landmarks to go by ....not so bad on Canandaigua as it is a small body but on Seneca it was a different ballgame and Keuka because of the "Y" nature of it.  There is no other like the experience of starting to nod off in the early morning hours in nearly total darkness and waking up to the sound of your drag screaming out with a huge rainbow or brown on the other end and you can't see where the line is going and you hoped it wouldn't get into the anchor rope (sometimes extended 300 ft ).  .  Nowadays you have LED lighting etc in boats but back then you had to watch running down your battery out there so no lights other than navigation lights or flashlights. There was a whole contingent of fishermen out there back then (largely out of what was Clark's Marina then. There may be a few guys on here that remember those times and were also out there . I know the Rainbow Kid was one of them as we have talked about it.   Many of those fishermen (guys like John Roides and John Oravec) ended up as charter guys on Lake O when the salmon were introduced and that fishing started to take off.

Edited June 25, 2016 by Sk8man

[kempie]

I fished the south end this morning and caught one small rainbow on a cheater with a Sutton 44. I also had 3 lakers and another rainbow that I lost close to the boat. all fish were on spoons. no fleas but lots of weeds.

[kramer93]

What water depth are you picking up the rainbows in?

[Sk8man]

Good going kempie. I hope to get out there after I return from Wyoming and Yellowstone in another week. Hoping the fleas won't be totally undoable by then   Thanks for the report.

Edited June 25, 2016 by Sk8man

[Ray4852]

Canandaigua and keuka are good lakes to fish at night. Seneca is different. This lake kicks up around midnight every night. I very seldom saw night guys out fishing this lake at night. Years ago night fishing was very popular with the old timers. All you need is a little common sense and know something about the lake and you can catch fish. If you decide to try fishing at night. You are on your own. Don’t depend on somebody to bail you out if you run into a problem. The techniques they used years ago are obsolete today. Never use a Coleman lantern in your boat at night. You could start a fire. Hot lanterns burn fishing line. They draw bugs in. You also loose your night vision too. Lanterns are to bright. Your eyes get use to darkness pretty fast. You want to keep them that way. Red light in the boat is the best for your night vision. You need about 500ft of good anchor line to hold your boat in 250ft of water. You have to fish around the moon. Never fish at night with a bright moon. Start with a new moon up to almost to half moon. Bait will never come up with a bright moon. Sawbellies stay deep. Darker the better for fishing. I use 12 volt 25 amp bench lights that clip on the side of boat. These lights are bright enough to bring up the bait. Years ago we used a speed net to catch a saw belly. These stinkers are to fast for a speed net. Like I said before. Bait is obsolete today. It will still work if you are rich and want to be a nurse keeping them alive all night. That’s up to you. My choice is a jig and flasher or use a good fish finder that can see your jig down to 80ft. Once you get the bait up. The trout will be below the bait. Put the jig down to the level the trout are. You are fishing the thermocline. Lakers will still stay in their comfort zone rainbows will come up and chase the bait around. Browns like to stay in the shallow water close to the bottom were they can find the thermocline. Start fishing now up to mid august. By September the bait and trout are to deep for lights to bring up the bait. The thermocline moves down. The way they use to fish canandaigua years ago. The went up to black point and moved south by the end of season. I could never figure out why they went up this far from the south end to fish at night when I went up to vine valley to fish in 150ft and still caught fish. I never fished on the weekend. I fished during the early part of week. I hardly saw fisherman out there. Never saw them on Seneca. Boy that lake is very dangerous at night. I fished worse. Lake Erie is the most dangerous of them all to fish at night. Any lake is dangerous at night. This game is not for everybody. I'm use to the night life. I worked all my life on the 3 shift at work. Now I prefer to sleep at night and get up at 530am to go out and fish till 10 am. Screw that hot weather. I look for shade around 11am. If you decide to try it. Take a partner out with you. I took people out with me but most of them cant stay up all night. My black lab and me were the only ones out. He slept most of the time till I pulled out some food. I had to feed him too.

[Ray4852]

SK8man

 

I fished with 3 sawbellies per rod spaced 6 ft apart with 2 ft leads. When I found the depth the trout were at I fished with one bait. I fished with 2 rods. I was after lake trout. I hated rainbows. By the time I found out I had one on he made a mess out of everything. I set my sinker down to 70ft by watching my x15 paper machine. the other one down to 60ft and set my reels to free spool with the clicker holding it in place. Sit back and listen to some good music and wait till I hear the clicker go off on my reel. I Jig and watch the flasher now. The hell with the bait. Dead bait off a jig will work too but that mini seth rig was a big joke years ago. Its amazing now how the time have changed. I had no luck with my speed net catching saw bellies. They were to fast for me. I caught my bait with bread and tiny gold hooks. If they didn’t take the bread. I would snag the bait with the gold hook. The darker the better out there for me. Just me and the stars and the dog listening to the water splashing up against the boat. Let the sunshine boys get their beauty sleep while I’m out catching fish. Start trolling at 530 till mid morning. Go back to the camper to sleep till 4 or 5. You can get addicted to this kind of fishing. Its not meant for everybody. When I fished lake Erie steady for walleye at night. I watch the fisherman leave by 11 pm. By 1am only two of us were out there fishing. I never saw one boat on Seneca fishing at night. That lake can kick up fast at night. I liked to fish on the same side of the Sampson marina. I loved the west side off long point but if the lake kicked up it was ruff coming back 3 miles in ruff water. Good fishing off long point and Willard at night but no picnic when it got nasty. Canandaigua on the south end was no picnic when that lake kicked up too. I never caught fish at the drop off I had to go up past long point in the deeper water to find fish. Today I think they still have one guide going out at night there. Those other two guys you mentioned have been gone now since the 70s. The happy hooker charter if hes is still doing it works out of seager marina. I know this lake can be fished at night. The only difference today. The fisherman are not night people.

[kempie]

I was getting the rainbows off of sliders which are leaders 15ft. 10lb fluorocarbon. I was in 130'to 100' of water with my downriggers down 95' and 85'.

[chuck527]

We went out of the north end this morning and did pretty well. Lots of chunky Lakers hanging tight to the bottom early. We did get 3 or 4 that were suspended later. Every fish we caught came off the riggers today. Best depth was 73 but we got a couple at 105 and the biggest of the day at 55. Boat traffic was insane when I came off.