rmcguirk

Tough weekend for me on Conesus. Wind was brutal at times both days, and even in "protected" spots and with my drift sock out, it was still pushing me across the water pretty fast. In five hours Saturday, I managed only two LM, one of which was decent, at 3.25. In five hours on Sunday, nothing. I got one pike hit at the boat and a few pecks from what felt like sunnies or rockies, but no bass. Depressing. On Sunday, given the constant wind direction, at least in the morning, all the boats were stacked up on the west side of the lake. The only consolation is that I was around a lot of other boats and didn't see anyone catching anything. Cold consolation.

Tomorrow morning? Given the changes in the weather, I've got no idea what to expect. I've got pretty much everything rigged, from a frog to moving baits to bottom baits. Thoughts?

Of course, every day fishing is a "good day." But as to catching success it depends on the lake I'm fishing and the time of year I'm fishing. Mid summer, where I keep my boat, if I get over 10 fish in a typical six-hour weekend day (before boating traffic gets too crazy), its a good day. I very rarely get skunked (though it did happen in a three-hour trip this past Saturday). And, since my lake is pretty good for size, if I catch 10 a couple are likely to be in the 4lb range, which I consider quality fish. (I'm not counting the pike, though they can be a blast to fight.) The lake I typically take my kayak out on is more of a numbers lake. A good day there is well over 25--I've had days where I had to leave because I ran out of plastic. But, catching over a 2lber there is much more rare.

Fished Conesus Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Weird. Friday night, I got out with my son home from college for a couple of hours before sunset. Beautiful night. But, together we caught only two, a dink LM and a decent pike. I got out Saturday morning from about 8:30-1:00. Caught four 3 LM and 1 SM, but nothing of size. Also caught a sizable walleye. I don't catch many of those, perhaps one or two a year, and almost always on some type of crank bait. This guy hit a jig and pig. Odd. Today I got out from 7:30-12:00. Fishing was still slow but I managed five, four dinks and the following, my personal best at 5.86 lbs. Not the greatest pic but you get the idea.

See above for reports from my two days this weekend on Conesus. Some additional info on Conesus that wasn't in those reports: 1. Water temp: It was 48-49 in the north part of the lake and up to 53.5 at the south end on Saturday. I stayed mid-lake on Sunday and it was 50-51.5, depending. That was surprising, as I always thought that the north and particularly the north west on the Finger Lakes would warm up the quickest--and my experience was that, too. 2. Water clarity: A bit murkier than in years past. At most, 4 feet of visibility, but at that depth, you can only see distinct things on the bottom. Need to have about 3 feet to actually see things moving around. 3. Depth: All the fish I caught this past weekend and last weekend were in 3-5 feet. 4. What's worked best for me so far: Not surprisingly, a lipless crank bait (red). So far, they've preferred it ground against the bottom. A swim jig in a bluegill pattern (a confidence bait for me anyway) on a steady, slow retrieve. Chatterbait in a bluegill pattern. Just get the blade thumping along the bottom. Ned rig crawled along the bottom. 5. What hasn't worked for me: Surprisingly, and disappointingly, I have not been able to get a jerk bait bite going, and believe me I tried to force feed it to them this weekend and last weekend. A single dink pike is all I've gotten on that so far. I was on Honeyoe two weekends ago in my kayak. Information is therefore a bit dated. But, knowing both lakes pretty well, I'm willing to bet that its a couple of degrees warmer than Conesus, that bass will be up shallow, and chewing. My experience on Honeyoe is number and not size.

Got out again today for about 4 hours this morning. Gusty west wind made it tough, but I stuck to the west bank and made it work. Fishing was better than yesterday, though still not great. Caught two decent smallies in my first 10 casts (both a hair under 3LBs), and I thought it was going to be on. Didn't catch another one for over an hour. Managed 7 bass total with 5 LM and those first two smallies. Big fish was a 4.6LB LM. I consider that "decent" and better than staying home, as I don't have Farmer's high expectations.

Gotta tell ya, if you would've asked me to predict how I was going to do today given the time of the year and the weather, my guess would've been good to very good, with a chance of outstanding. Shows what I know. Was on the water from 8-2:45 and caught only two bass. And they were both dinks. The only comfort is that I was around any number of other boats all day and nobody was catching anything. I tried everything that usually works in the spring. None of it did. The two dinks I did catch were on the Ned rig. I did see a fair bunch of fish shallow, but they were not biting. Tomorrow's another day...

Finally got the boat out on the water this weekend on Conesus. Both days were slow and, as Farmer notes above, water has cooled down from last weekend. In four hours Saturday, caught six bass and one pike. Mix of SM and LM, with best one being a 4.67 lb LM. Today was even slower. Got out for about 3 hours in between rain drops. Caught 4 bass and 1 pike. The best was a 4.54 lb SM. Odd, though the fishing was slow, when they hit, they hit aggressively. They just didn't hit nearly often enough. Here are those two. Not sure how to rotate the pics.

That's a stud fish! Nice job!

You kill me. A 20lb bag in four hours is a "decent morning." Got out again on Honeyoe for another three hours from about noon till 3:00. I thought I'd zeroed them in yesterday and I'd be able to find them easily. Not so much. Managed only six bass and two pickerel, and nothing of any size.

Got out today, finally, in my yak on Honeyoe for about three hours. Started out a little too deep, 8-10', and didn't get a sniff. Moved shallower and the party started. Caught 15 bass and one sizable pickerel. The bass were mostly the typical Honeyoe rats--about a pound, but aggressive and willing. I did get three decent ones, each around two pounds, though I didn't have a scale, as I go light in the yak. About everything I brought worked. The Ned rig caught the most, and one of the better bass. But, a red lipless and a swim jig caught better fish today. I plan to repeat tomorrow.

Finally, some stable spring weather in our area, warming into this weekend up to 64 by Sunday. I don't know about you, but I'm more than ready to be on the water again...

Generally speaking, I'll have all my regulars rigged and ready to go, depending on the time of year and conditions. And then I'll have a wildcard rod with something different rigged. Whether the fishing is good or bad, the wild card rod will get its fair share of casts.

Most of the friends I have taken fishing don't really fish often, so I have to supply pretty much everything, from rods to tackle. Generally speaking, they get to use my lower-end gear. Fortunately, no one has broken anything yet. But as to lures, I don't buy expensive lures anyway, as experience has taught me that the pike around me seem to know expensive from cheap. At bottom, though, if I have a guest out, I want them to have fun and catch fish, and I'd rather lose a few lures than be a bad host or lose a friend. However, if that "friend" was a constant moocher, he probably wouldn't get out too often. As someone above said, though, I've reached the age where I've weeded most of those people out of my life...

Nice healthy looking smallies. Guess they came through the mild winter in fine form. Two non how did you catch them questions: what was water temp? And were all the hold-over weeds in the shallows from last summer gone?

DVT all the way.

I'm a big fan of Ribsters for drop shot and Swimming Ribsters for a trailer on swim jig.

I've got the 6'9" MLXF. Great drop shot rod. Light and sensitive but enough backbone to reel them in (pike are an issue in my area, and I've caught some pretty big ones on that rod). I don't love the rod for applications where I'd have to punch the hook through plastic and then through bass jaw, but perhaps that's just me. If I was looking for one spinning rod to do everything, including wacky rig, tubes, shakey head, etc., it would not be the MLXF, I'd probably go with the medium powered model. BTW, St Croix in their bargain room has some great deals on new but discontinued rods. Just put in an order for a Rage 7'1" spinning rod for $89 delivered. Not expecting it to be quite as nice as my Avid, but for that price it seemed like a steal.

Thanks. I meant the modified Albright, too. Appreciate the response.

Looking at a new Rage spinning rod. On my spinning rigs, I generally run braid with a flouro leader. I've never used micro guides before. Is it your sense that the connection knot (modified albereto) will come through ok? Thanks.

Haven't been out in a couple of weeks. Will be on Conesus tomorrow. Given the weather we've been having, have the weeds died back back on WNY lakes? Is it full on jerkbait and lipless crankbait time? One of my favorite times of the year, other than knowing what's right around the corner...

Nope. The opposite. Good product.

Yes, yes it did. Sucked all weekend. Friday, got bass skunked. Thought I was going to get entirely skunked but a late pike came to the boat. Traffic on the lake was unbearable and it chased me off by 2:30 or so. Saturday was much better, with a number of 2lbers and a 4lb kicker. Had to shut down by 11:00, though, as I was hosting company. Sunday, again, was tough. Only three bass came to the boat, and none over 2lbs. Traffic on the lake all weekend was a zoo. Separately, I didn't grow up with a boat and this is only my fourth year owning one, so I'm always concerned I'm violating some "unwritten rule" about sharing the lake. Here's my issue from yesterday: I pulled in to work a weedline. Wind was coming out of the south, so I was drifting north with the wind. I had my drift sock out and was using my TM to keep me where I wanted to be relative to the weedline. When I first pulled in, another boat was working south towards me. They were at least 100 yards away when I pulled in. For 20 minutes or so, we moved towards each other and then they turned around and started working north again. About 10 minutes after I pulled in, another fisherman pulled in behind me, less than 30 yards, and was working north as well. He was moving faster than I was and soon was within no less than 15 feet of me, where he stayed for a bit before driving off. The questions: Was I in the wrong for working north towards the other boat? In such situations, how much space should I allow? And, when we get close to each other, is there a right of way or something like that? Was the guy who pulled in behind me and came quite close to me in the wrong? And, if he was, how should he have handled that? Thanks for thoughts. Rick

I generally avoid spinnerbaits on Conesus too, unless I'm having a bad day and just want to maximize my chance of just getting on some fish--meaning pike. Instead of spinnerbaits, I like using swim jigs. You'll still get too many pike, but I have much better luck with them than spinners.

Same for me, which made me doubly glad I made a point to get out early yesterday on Conesus. Planned to do a little top water, and that worked for an hour or so. Picked up a few and had a few more blow ups before that fizzled. Went to a swim jig and got another one. Moved on to a wacky rigged senko and picked up a pair on back-to-back casts, one of which went 4.1. (If you can believe it, those were my first and second wacky fish of the year.) That died out and then picked up a couple on a soft plastic jerk bait on a weighted swim bait hook, which provided some viscious strikes and lost another nice one boat-side. Last bite was about 10:45. And then that was it. Didn't get another sniff. Got off before the rains came, fortunately.