reerok

So it sounds like a bit of shallow and slow fishing even with the cooling water? My buddy drives the boat and fishes fast so I'll make the most of each dock. But he likes to stay on the outside weed edges and throw spinnerbaits to the edge and wind it back. If that holds true this trip any thoughts for how to fish the outside weed edges? Throw a worm/senko/cut-tail into the weeds? Your old back boat drop shot trick? Thanks J!

Any tips for fishing Conesus this time of year? Heading out Friday for the day. Do buzzbaits work over the weeds? Worms around docks? Jerkbaits on the outside weedlines and drop offs? Drop Shot on the drop offs? What's produced for you in this time of year? -Nathan

A stingy Conesus day after the rain and cold front. The DS trick picked up the only fish of the day, a chunky little 2 lb. Thanks for the tips and I look forward to fishing this lake more. Hopefully I'll bump into you out there some day.

He's a giver! Haha. He really is one of the most generous humans I know so I think he just likes to give his friends and family the room on the front. Thanks for your idea. I will give the DS a shot if we fish the deep weeds.

Awesome idea! To confuse the situation further, he controls from the back of his Ranger with the remote dongle (no foot pedals). For some reason he likes fishing off the back. But I guess your idea could still work from the front of the boat. I'll just have to retrieve rapidly so the long line doesn't slip beneath him and/or the boat. I could use casting gear with a higher retrieve rate and heavier weight to get down to depth quicker...

And he's just as happy catching pickerel as bass so it works great for him. I'll just try to keep up by hitting high percentage spots as he zooms us past them.

Unfortunately I won't be in charge of the boat. And my buddy insists on fishing fast only. He covers water with a spinnerbait 98% of the time no matter the conditions. I probably can convince him to steer us to the outside weed edges but slowing down is pretty much off the table.

Then I'll have to hit them in the head with the heavy tungsten!

The docks just north of that point are where I picked up both bass, one a 3.5lber. I'll look a bit deeper along the outside weed edge. Tomorrow is supposed to be cooler and wet so I'm guessing the fish may be a bit funny. On that lake with not a lot of structure I assume they lock down in the healthy weeds?

Hi J, I got to fish Conesus last week for a few hours during the bluebird skies and lovely stable warm weather. I was expecting a strong fishing day but it was stingy. Fishing through the slimy, broken up weeds and grass was tricky. The few green bass I picked up came off of docks with TRigged cut tail worm. I'm heading back tomorrow (weather permitting) - should I be fishing the deep weed edges instead? Thanks from the 585, reerok

Those are some nice, fat largemouth! Is that what you typically target on Honoeye? I just sold my Tracker when I moved to Rochester so I'm land based too. I have a friend with the big Ranger. It's definitely big enough to fish 3 out of so I'll see if he'd be open to having you join us. You know the lakes better than me so it would be equally beneficial! Hopefully the high, muddy water doesn't kill the fishing this weekend. I'll break out some thumping spinner baits and loud rattle jerk baits and see. -Nathan

Hey J, I've been following your posts for years and didn't realize you're a fellow 585er! I'm excited to be in smallmouth heaven. We were aiming for Conesus and possibly Seneca but I may steer us towards Honeoye instead. Let me know if you ever want to geek out on fishing. I have a garage full of bass gear that's ready to get some use. Thanks! -Nathan

Hello fellow Bass-heads, I just moved to Rochester, NY and am excited to get on the water a few days this coming weekend. Does anyone have any reports on which of the Finger Lakes are fishing well at present? I know the water is really high right now due to all the rain. Are any of the lakes in better shape than others? We have a 21 ft Ranger and are willing to drive wherever to get to good productive water. Thanks for your input! -reerok

My home lake has typical clarity of about 1'. Drop shot is easily my most productive presentation and I'm targeting largemouth only in a manner similar to what you're describing - weed lines and also rocky banks. It doesn't make a lot of sense to me either for all of the reasons you've mentioned but it simply works. And better than anything else on this body of water. I do use scent so that likely helps. In your situation I'd be super excited to try it.

True. But not the MEGA imaging version, right?

Hi Tom, Maybe console was the wrong term but I meant at the steering column. I have a '99 Tracker Pro Team 175. It's a big heavy boat for a 9.9 to push around but it's great to fish out of. When I pack light and am alone I can get 11+ mph. But with a fishing partner it's usually 8-9. I currently have a Humminbird Helix 7 DI (gen 1) at the steering column. I plan to move that up front to the bow/TM. I want the SI at the steering column so whatever I get will be stern mounted. I have two 12v batteries. One for the starter and TM and one for electronics. I have no brand allegiance with sonar - just looking for the best value for my specific needs. Thanks Tom.

Thanks ia. That's helpful perspective. The Elite 9TI does look good. The Humminbird 9 MEGA SI looks amazing but it is a few hundred over my original $1000 threshold. Does anyone have any thoughts on biting the bullet and spending a few more bucks for the better imaging?

Thanks for the input. Do you recommend as large of a screen as possible specifically for SI purposes? As in SI is easier to read on a larger screen? Screen size is one thing but image quality is also important which is why I ask.

If you had $1,000 to spend on a brand new side-imaging unit for the console of your boat, how would you spend it? I fish a 9.9 HP limited hill-land reservoir (flood control but almost no current) with 1800 acres for LMB (no smallies in it). It actually fishes fairly large (40+ miles of shoreline) since it's 9.9 HP only. The lake has a max depth of around 30' but has little to no offshore river channels, humps, or other structure. It's a bit of a bowl with dirty water (typical clarity is around 1'). So that means I'm looking to have some very good side imaging to find subtleties that might hold bass. Any thoughts from you side-imaging and live-charting users? Thanks in advance, reerok

I think between your logical deduction and the responses from Tom and Portiabrat, it's mostly covered. I mostly fish the drop shot horizontally (like you - cast and retrieve) in 2'-12' of water along bluff walls, rocky transitions, and point edges. With that in mind I find myself using a 1/8th or 3/16th most of the time depending on wind. I love being able to maintain bottom contact but too much weight does get me snagged in the rocky bottom. If I'm power-shotting I'll usually start at 3/16th on a dead calm day and go up from there. If I'm power-shotting through emergent grass, I'll use 3/8th or even 1/2 depending on the thickness of the grass. But it's not very often that I find that to be my best approach to grass.

Has anyone bought a TW gift card at the discount during this current sale then turned around and used it already?

Some good advice above. I fish drop shot all day at times and typically don't have issues with line twist. Although I do re-tie my leader or hook regularly. I fish drop-shot more horizontally and around cover and drops and am always looking out for nicks in my flouro leader. But for me it's almost always 10 lb braid to 7-10 lb flouro leader (depending on water clarity). One of the more important notes to people new to drop shotting is this: DO NOT SET THE HOOK. I lost more fish at the beginning of learning this technique by setting the hook like a T-rig worm. When you feel the bite, simply reel down and lift. A quick hard hook set is a recipe for missing or losing a fish. Regarding shaking or not, let the fish tell you. Try both and remember which works and repeat. There are days where dead-sticking is the only way to get bit. Other days a full shake gets the action. Usually it's somewhere in between although typically skewing towards less shake/action. Good luck, Mike!

That makes sense - I just haven't seen it clearly listed anywhere. Thanks Rich!

Thanks 12pound. I understand there's double qualifying regularly. I guess I should have been more clear that my question really is who is next in line for this spot in the Classic. Is it the 2nd place finisher in the event (provided that angler has fished all the required Opens to be eligible too) or is it the next person in line in the Elite AOY or something else completely?

As you probably know, one way to qualify for the Bassmaster Classic is to win one of the Bass Opens events. As long as the angler has fished all other events in that Opens division (North, South, Central as of this current season) they qualify for next season's Classic. I've always wondered about what would happen if an angler won one of the Bass Open events and was either 1) already qualified for the Classic via the Elites AOY ranking, or 2) the angler didn't fish the other Opens in that division. Not only did one of these exceptions occur on the recent Bass Opens Northern Division Event #3 at Douglas Lake, but both actually occurred. Ott Defoe won yet he's already qualified for the Classic via his current #5 ranking in Elite AOY. And he didn't fish the James River Northern Open event so he wouldn't get the invitation that way. Therefore does anyone know what happens with regards to the Classic spot allotted to the winner of this event? Does it go to the second place in the event (Hunter Shryock in this case) or does it simply disappear? Thanks all! -reerok