River Dave

Struggled quite a bit early on yesterday but they finally turned on in the afternoon and , in the course of a couple of hours, I was able to land two of my top five lifetime biggest largemouth including my new PB. Wow, I've never seen such healthy fish before. My plan for the day was to fish deep weedbeds but once I got there I found out there is no such thing on that lake. I'd like to say it was my superior skill set that finally figured out the fish but I think it's just a case of me still being there when they started biting. I did basically the same thing all day and didn't catch anything and then they suddenly started loving what I was doing. I only caught a dozen or so fish but most of them were caught in a two to three hour window plus I lost some fish and missed a bunch of hits so it was pretty action packed for a while there. As a bonus I even ran in to WWIIFarmer on the water. Real nice guy and knows that lake inside and out. Even gave up a few of his honey holes. Thanks Farmer! Best three fish, 5.13, 4.13, & 3.14 Got to see a gorgeous sunrise and an even better sunset so, yea, it was a good day on the water.

Wow what a day! Just got back from a great day on Silver Lake. Got to see a gorgeous sunrise and an even better sunset, had a Bald Eagle grab a fish right next to the boat and caught my biggest ever (by a fair amount) largemouth. Fishing was just horrible for most of the day but they finally turned on in the afternoon and I probably caught three of my top five biggest ever largemouth. I think I only ended up catching 10 or 12 fish but I caught most of them in about a two hour period and the size was great. Biggest fish of the day(ever) was just shy of 6# at 5.13, second biggest was exactly a pound less at 4.13, third was 3.14 and then had a couple mid to low three pounders and a few 2.3's. Just a great day to be on the water.

Just caught my PB! Woop woop! Details later.

Thanks Nosdog. I'm out here now and it's slow so far. Real slow. This is very different fishing than what I usually do (where are all the deep weeds?????) so it's tough for me to figure out. Hopefully I'll find them before the day is over but so far I cant even catch any pike. The only ones I've seen catch any fish this morning are these two guys. Came down and grabbed one right next to the boat. Just seeing that was worth gettin' up early. PS: the launch was brutal last time I was here. Long line of boats waiting to come out but then new cars kept coming and launching their boats so nobody could get out. Took me an hour to get out of the water.

Quick question for Farmer or any of the other regulars on Silver Lake. What is the best option for launching a boat on that lake? I launched at the state park last time and it was a bit of a circus pulling the boat out at that launch ( or maybe every other boater was just having an off day) so I wondered if there was a decent alternative. Also wondering how the fishing has been. Thinking about coming out on Tuesday this week in search of pike and bass.

I took the family out on the boat yesterday in the River. Spent most of the day pulling kids in the tube and going for boat rides but managed to squeeze in an hour or two of fishing. Nothing. Tried a bunch of different spots with a bunch of different lures and never even felt a tap. I am the worst when the water is warm like this, I just don't know where they go.

Try a post in the "any luck in upstate NY?" thread for advice on Silver. There are some regular posters in there that fish Silver all the time (one guy almost daily). Docks were the pattern the day I was there earlier this year. I went to Cayuga Lake on Tuesday. Struggled for most of the day and then finally found some fish in a rocky windblown point. No giants but they were stacked up pretty good in there. Ended the day with around 20 bass, 3 pickerel, and a handful of perch. Lost a big fish on a jig in 15' of water, drag was too lose and I never really got a good hookset. Total bummer because that was a big girl.

I finally got out on the upper River again yesterday but the fishing was terrible. I went to a million different spots and really only found fish in one place. Even then I could only get one of them to hit and I threw all kinds of stuff at them. I fished everything from 3' down to 20' and just couldn't find 'em, I swear I just don't know where they go in the summer. I spent a fair amount of time snorkeling and I still didn't see anything. I actually saw more muskies than I saw bass when I was in the water. No such thing as a bad day on the boat but the fishing was brutal. I'm on vacation next week and am thinking of heading to either Cayaga or Silver for a day. Hopefully that will be better than the River.

Anybody know how the pike fishing is in Silver Lake this time of year? I'm on vacation next week and was thinking of heading to either Silver or Cayaga. Target species will be bass and pike and I know Cayaga is usually good right now but I've always heard Silver is known for its pike so I'm kind of torn about where to go. PS fished the upper Niagara River yesterday but it's really slow out there now. Nobody's catching anything.

Oh boy, "how was Florida" The trip was great but the fishing certainly wasn't. We were right on the water of Tampa Bay (had a dock off the back patio) but the fishing was tough. I threw everything at them but the only thing that really worked was cut bait. We saw snook and tarpon and other sport fish but all we could catch were what I called saltwater sunnies, all different little fish. It seemed every time the fish were turned on a dolphin would show up and scare them all away. Was super cool seeing them the first day or two and then they got annoying because they killed the fishing. Saw some manatee from the dock too and that was real cool. Was never intended to be a fishing trip so the time I did get was a bonus, first time fishing saltwater like that. The rest of the summer has been nothing but chores so far. Was on vacation again a couple weeks ago but spent the week putting in new landscaping beds in the back yard so no fishing then either. Horrible week for that kind of work, felt like it was 100 degrees every day.?

Hey good luck Chris! I've always heard good things about Oneida but I've never fished it. Haven't fished ANYWHERE this season so far. Brutal year. Hopefully I'll have more time this Fall.

My buddy sent me a pic of him standing with KVD so I guess you can meet them. They were posed in front of KVDs boat down at Anchor Marine so either my buddy is a stalker or you can take pics with them.

I guess this is the first ever catch and release event so they have guys in the boat with them weighing the fish and then letting them go right away. They are launching from Anchor Marine on Grand Island. I took that picture down by the foot of Sheridan Drive in Tonawanda, I work right down the road from there.

I think the Elite series guys are on the River now. I saw 8 bass boats with two guys per boat but the guys in the back aren't fishing. They are all together by Strawberry Island. I wonder if that's them.

We've done a week on Cayuga the last couple of summers and loved it. We stayed up at the north end (west side) by Union Springs on Kozy Kove and the docks there were real good. That's a big dock lake anyway but the Kozy Kove docks are known for being particularly good I'm told. There seems to be local tournaments there every weekend and those guys will show you where to go. I ignored the crowds for most of the week and did my thing in the shallow weeds without a ton of success. By the end of the week I followed the packs of bass boats out deep and hammered 'em the last couple of days. They were out over the weeds in like 15' but this was early August so it may be different now. Perch colors seem to work particularly well there and stay away from big swimbaits if you don't want tons of pickerel.

Heading to Florida later today, wish me luck! No idea what to bring so I loaded a little Tupperware container with a little bit of everything and will see if saltwater fish like bass lures. Won't get to actually bass fish but hopefully get some snook or small tarpon. I'll be happy with anything I get. Never caught a saltwater fish before.

Upper Niagara River last Friday. Almost impossible to take a selfie with a muskie. ?

Good luck Jigger, go get 'em. Stratos the moss hasn't grown this year yet so you're safe for now, not sure about later. The upper river chokes with it and it all floats downstream toward Fort Niagara but I don't know how bad it gets down there. OK FINALLY got a decent day of fishing in. This was really only my second time out this year so it felt really good to be back on the water. Hit the upper River as usual and did pretty well, caught 14 bass and one toothy critter. Broke 3# a half dozen times on both large and smallmouth but never broke 4# today. Big bass award was a tie at 3.7 on a smallie and a largemouth. And finally the big fish of the day. It's not a bass and it probably weighed more than 3.7#. Yea buddy!

Nice one Chris, looks like a pretty spot too. Love days like that. Sounds like you loaded up at Cabela's. My turn soon. Going to try the River tomorrow if this wind lays down. Love those carp Jigger.

Oh cool, just saved me some money. Thanks!

Is the Pit Boss basically the same as a Beaver? I have a few bags of Pit Bosses, can I just use those instead of buying Beavers? I bought a pack of Chigger Craws the other day at Walmart but the whole bag of goodies spilled in the parking lot. I thought I got everything but the craws were missing when I got home. It was really windy so I bet they blew away before I noticed. I think I will probably hit Cabela's on Tuesday afternoon for my shopping spree. Looking forward to it.

I don't get mine until Tuesday but maybe I'll see you there lol! My mom got me one for my birthday and my shopping list is very similar to yours. Chatterbaits and beavers top the list with some jigs and craws not far behind. I hear a lot about the DT Rapalas, is that like the old "countdowns", is it a sinking rapala? Ned rig supplies will also be on my short list. Won't have my new tackle yet but still hoping to hit the River on Monday. I have vacation next week so I'm hoping to be on the water Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday. 'Bout time. NICE walleye! Dang I can't even remember the last time I saw a walleye like that caught from shore. That's killer!

Way to go Chris, I will definitely have to try the Ned rig this year. I wouldn't have thought you could fish that in the current but I was obviously wrong on that one. Certainly not the first time I've been wrong. Hey John did it look like the smallmouth were spawning up in 18 mile Creek or are they finished? I would think half the smallmouth in the Lake are up there right now. Was it crowded with kayaks up in the creek or somewhere else? It is definitely the new thing, I see more and more of them every year. Used to be just a few old nature lover tree hugger types paddling around but it has just skyrocketed in popularity the last few years and everybody is doing it now. I never thought about it back then because people only used them for rapids and stuff but I can guarantee I'd get one if I went back in time to my early 20's. We used to rent rowboats and then I eventually bought a big inflatable raft with oars. A kayak would have been so much better.

Good luck today Chris. I'm jealous, I'm stuck in a 100 degree factory for the next 12 hours. Ugh. Let us know how you made out. Nice day out there so far.