Skaneateles Fishing Trout in Skaneateles, again..

[bobslivinski]

 I have fished for trout on Skaneateles all my life (54 years). I finally got back to fishing this year. I primarily troll copper and lead core with spoons. I have caught at least one laker each time I have been out. I am disappointed with the 2 walleye that I caught off 5 mile point and no rainbows. (I must say however, that I cooked one and was surprised at how good it taste :) 

 

 Trout have been depth of 90 - 110 and anywhere from bottom to about 60 fow. I cover a pretty good spread with my copper and leadcore. Mooselook thinfish and Williams Wobbler have been very productive this year. Blue and Silver. 

 

I was hoping to learn how to Jig for trout but until this point I have been highly unsuccessful. In other words with about 15 fishing hours, I still have yet caught a fish jigging. I have tried 1.5 oz white jig heads with white or blue tubes. Also, blue and silver jigging spoons. I use a bait caster with braided line and have no problem getting to the bottom. I also have a really good Garmin sonar new this year. Any help with what to use would be awesome.. Oh, and I should mention I only jig after the troll shuts down so that may be my biggest problem. 

 

 Since nobody seems to update much on Skaneateles I will try to update every time I go out. 

 

 

 

[thork9]

Read some topics on Cayuga section, or go on YOU TUBE ,jigging for lake trout a lot of videos.

Edited August 23, 2020 by thork9

[bulletbob]

 I have yet to catch a laker on skinny jigging myself...  I had one good one on and lost it halfway up last fall, but thats been it... I stick  to perch and bass there pretty much, as I don't troll.

I can't say why, but I just don't mark any concentrations of fish there the way I do on Cayuga/Seneca/Keuka... Guys catch them there, but personally for the life of me, I just never mark a lot of fish on Skaneateles..

 Guys catch  lakers there while  perch fishing all the time, even on worms, so its MY problem, not the lakes.. Haven't caught a Walleye there yet either.. 

Take the drive to Cayuga and jig there some early morning.. Its worth it when you hit them right. They are much bigger, and easier to find there... bob

[mako20]

 I have yet to catch a laker on skinny jigging myself...  I had one good one on and lost it halfway up last fall, but thats been it... I stick  to perch and bass there pretty much, as I don't troll.
I can't say why, but I just don't mark any concentrations of fish there the way I do on Cayuga/Seneca/Keuka... Guys catch them there, but personally for the life of me, I just never mark a lot of fish on Skaneateles..
 Guys catch  lakers there while  perch fishing all the time, even on worms, so its MY problem, not the lakes.. Haven't caught a Walleye there yet either.. 

Take the drive to Cayuga and jig there some early morning.. Its worth it when you hit them right. They are much bigger, and easier to find there... bob

When we jig on skn.
We use 1.5 oz smiling bill jig heads painted white with white soft plastic tubes lwith black fleck on them. Try trimming 2/3 of the tube fringe off the tail end of tube.

That has produced some big lakers over the years.


Sent from my iPhone using Lake Ontario United

[bulletbob]

  I use   either 1 oz or 1.5 oz white painted heads with white  bodies, various jigging spoons etc.
 

  The tackle/lures etc are not my problem there... I just can't find marks, and really don't know where to look... I typically  use that awful town launch in Scott, or the state launch at the north end...  If you can PM me with some depths to check, or a few general locations I would appreciate it.. I have done  well with jigs for  lakers at Cayuga/Seneca/Keuka over the years, but simply can't find them on Skinny... bob

[Lively1]

I've become successful jigging lakers on Keuka, with a learning curve of 8+ years.  I started using the 1-1.5 oz jigs with 4-6" plastics that work well on Cayuga and Seneca, blind jigging in the AM, and might have caught 2-3 fish in a week. I got an old Hummingbird fishfinder, which helped a little, then upgraded my fish finder to a Garmin Echo 501c, and things got a lot better. Better resolution and sensitivity. Now I could see the jig and the fish.  Be sure to use the 77 KHz transducer frequency as it goes deeper. You should be able to see individual fish on bottom in 120 FOW, and anywhere in between. You should also be able to see your jig as it falls and is reeled back up.

 

A couple of other tweaks I made for Keuka that may be appropriate for Skaneatles also..

 

1) I use a light action spinning outfit with 10 lb Sufix 835 braid which is very limp and I believe helps the jig fall easier, and has no coils/memory so you have max sensitivity.  I use 8 lb flourocarbon as the leader, about 4 feet long.  I find it easier to cast ahead of the boat when drifting with the spinning rod vs. the baitcaster ( I did use for a couple of years).

 

2) I have scaled down the jigs and baits to Northland unpainted 3/4 and 1 oz ball jigs with smaller plastics, like a 3" long curly tail or paddle tail grub. Brown in the spring and white in summer. Keuka lakers are overwhelmingly 18-20" size class, I think this is why the smaller baits work better.

 

I've found there is a 'magic hour' in the AM when I do best jigging, around 7-8 AM.. You could do six in an hour and then nothing all day after that, though may get plenty of follows..

 

My basic technique is probably like most other jiggers.. fall to bottom on a tight line, let it sit on bottom for count of ten, doink in on bottom about ten times, raise it up slowly, and then reel up to surface, and repeat.  Lately I had better results reeling quite slowly, just fast enough to get the paddle tail wiggling good. May-June a moderately quick retreive works.

 

I rarely blind jig now, I will wait till I mark a fish or three under the boat, then drop the jig. If there is wind, I'll mark fish to get the depth dialed in then motor back upwind and drift over that same stretch, casting ahead of the boat so the jig hits a little before I get over it.

 

Last tip - May into June is far better jigging than July-August. Fish bite much better and are not so deep - more like 45-85 FOW, vs. 85-130 FOW in summer.