Bo_Fish

Thanks for the replies. I hear everyone loud and clear. I'll start looking at my boat options. I found the following on craigslist. https://rochester.craigslist.org/boa/d/tracker-deep-17-wt/6648019636.html. Any thoughts? I don't know if I'll be able to put the money down for a boat this season but I should be able to get something by April/May of next year.

I'm thinking about getting a two-man bass boat (I currently fish out of a kayak) and I'm looking for advice and suggestions. I'd like the boat to be able to fish the following NY Finger Lakes: Hemlock (1800 acres), Conesus (3,420 acres), Honeoye (1,772 acres), and Canadice (649 acres). Note that Hemlock and Canadice have the following boating restrictions: less than 17 feet in length and a 10HP-or-less motor. Also note that I plan on trailering whatever boat I get. I've been looking at the following boats. Twin Troller X10. I like this boat because it's foot controlled (zero degree turn), supports a small outboard motor, and seemingly can get in those tight fishing spots. It looks very stable and comfortable. The price is a little high ($3,500) but I think I can swing it if it's worth it. Does anyone in (especially in upstate NY) have any experience with this boat? Gheenoe. This is another small-draft option that gets decent reviews and would allow for a higher HP motor than the Twin Troller X10. It costs roughly $2400. Pelican Bass Raider 10e. This boat looks good for a two-man operation and the price point is relatively low ($900). Sun dolphin 120. This boat also looks good and seems to come with more storage than the Bass Raider. I've seen this listed online for roughly $1,600. Please let me know what you think. Is the Twin Troller worth the money or should I be looking at something different?

I fished Conesus today. I launched from the north end. I started with soft plastics and wasn’t getting bit. I switched to a crankbait and the bite was on. I caught several LMB in the 2-3 lb range. I stayed in the northwest corner of the lake. I worked near the buoys and flipped docks. I wish I could say catching fish was the most interesting part of my trip but it wasn’t. I was changing lures and dropped my lure in the lake. I reached to get it and missed. I reached a little deeper and before I knew it I was in the water and my kayak was upside down. Luckily I own a sit on top kayak, the water was warm and only five feet deep. I managed to recover everything except the lure...and some confidence ?

I've been out in my kayak a few times this year. I've fished Honeoye Lake and Canadice Lake. I've had good luck with largemouth bass on both lakes (at least in terms of numbers...I've caught a lot of 2-3 pound largemouth bass). I'm thinking of fishing Conesus Lake some time over the next week. I'm looking for tips on how to fish that lake (from a kayak). Launch from the north end? Flip docks? Stick to the weed lines? I've been having luck with soft plastics on the other lakes so I'll probably start with this on Conesus. Any advice is appreciated. Thanks, Bo_Fish

I fished Honeoye on Saturday and followed the advice of @clayton86. I'm glad I did. I caught over 10 largemouth. Most of them were in the 2-3 lb. range, so nothing big, but fun nonetheless. @J Francho, I even caught a pickerel. Thanks for the tips guys. I'm thinking about trying Canadice this week. I'm not very familiar with Canadice so I'll probably start by trying to fish the first weed line I can find. I've been reading up on the Ned rig and am considering getting some Ned rig tackle. Have any of you guys tried the Ned rig? If so, any success?

I launched from the north end of Hemlock on Saturday. I tried the weed line along the east side. I threw some weighted soft plastics, crank-baits, and spinnerbaits with no luck. My trip got cut short by an unexpected phone call after 2.5 hours so I probably only fished for roughly 1.5 hours if you include the paddling. I ran into someone when I was leaving that said he usually has luck along the weed line on the west side when launching from the north end of the lake (go figure). He also mentioned that the fish jumping out of the lake are carp. I didn't realize Hemlock had that many carp. I'm getting tired of getting skunked so I'm probably going to go back to Honeoye or try the Erie Canal. I live reasonably close to Lock 32 in Pittsford. Has anyone fished there recently? I saw some threads from a couple of years ago that stated the fishing in Lock 32 fell off a cliff. Is that still an accurate statement?

I spent about five hours on Hemlock today. I got skunked. I don’t think I even got a nibble. I launched from the south end and headed north. I found a spot where the depth changed to roughly 15 feet. This looked to be the weed line. I fished this area thoroughly from east to west with a weighted (1/4 ounce and 1/2 ounce) Texas rig craw. There were fish jumping all around me. Trout? I tried some top water with no luck. I then paddled to the creek inlet at the south end. I also had no luck. I did not see many baitfish in the lake during this trip. I got a couple of bug bites for my troubles Do you have any advice on how I could improve my luck? Should I wait for the water temperature to drop to a certain value? It was about 66 degrees today. How long do you fish one area? I spent about 30 minutes before I changed spots.

Thanks for the info ww2farmer. You just saved me from wasting some time. I'm going to Fish Hemlock this weekend. I'll (try to) follow the advice of J Francho and fish a weighted Texas rig craw away from the shore . I'm looking for bass but it wouldn't bother me if I hooked one of those dang pickerel If I catch anything worth reporting then I'll post a picture on this thread.

One more question. Should I target creek inlets or creek beds when Fall fishing the Finger Lakes? I thought about doing this on Saturday but decided against it.

Sounds good clayton86. Let me know about the way points. I launched from the north end of Honeoye today. There were a lot of dead walleye and perch all over the north end of the lake. Anybody know what's going on? I caught one lmb today. About 2.5 lbs. I'll take that over getting skunked. It was windy today and it finally felt like Fall.

I spent a couple of hours on the south end of Hemlock this evening. The weeds were thick. I fished a weedless senko but had trouble punching through. I feel like I was scaring the fish away with all of reel jerking I did to get the senko through the weeds. Have you had better luck with the north end of lake or the south end? Rich, I hear you about too much stuff. I did end up getting a small lightweight Trailex trailer for my kayak. I will say that loading and unloading the kayak is trivial with the trailer. I didn't like car-topping a 90+ lb. kayak on top of an SUV by myself, which is why I got the trailer.

J Francho, Do you anchor when fishing in your kayak? I recently installed a YakGear anchor trolley on my Predator13 and the first time I got to use it was this past weekend. It seemed to do the job and allowed me to set my position and direction quite easily. I bought some chain and a 3 lb anchor from Wal-Mart. I attached the anchor and chain to a diving reel, which I use to drop the anchor and reel it back it in. RichPenNY, FYI, I installed a Humminbird Helix 5 Chirp GPS G2 depth finder on my kayak. It's got more bells and whistles than I know how to use but the install was pretty easy. I did get lucky in that the transducer for that depth finder is made for the Predator13. I'm not sure if you fish out of kayak but I thought I would at least let know about my rig. Eric

Thanks for the welcome Darren! I'm looking forward to learning from everyone on the boards. ww2farmer, you hit the nail on the head. I'm happy to catch three fish regardless of their size. I am a novice so I am looking for a body of water that will allow me to learn and practice (and catch a fish every once and a while). It sounds like Honeoye might be a good lake for that. Do you recommend any other lakes for someone like me? J Francho, thanks for the advice. I might to try to work in a trip to Hemlock this week. Is there a reason you avoid Honeoye after early spring? Also, same question to you as ww2farmer, do you think Honeoye and Hemlock are reasonable lakes for a novice to get started or should I consider a different body of water? Any advice is appreciated. Thanks, Eric

Hi, I live in the Rochester, NY area and I'm new to bass fishing (at least on a regular basis). I recently bought a fishing kayak and I've made four Finger Lakes trips: one to Hemlock, one to Canadice, and two to Honeoye. All of my trips were between mid-August and last weekend. I was skunked on my first three trips. I had some success on my most recent trip to Honeoye Lake (this past Sunday in 85 degree weather...which is hot for this area at the end of September). I caught three LMB with Zoom baby brush hogs...in the shallows...under cover...opposite from the mid-morning sun. I fished them weightless whereas my first trip to Honeoye Lake I fished them with a weight. I also worked the east side of the lake whereas I worked the west side on my first trip. Going forward, I would like to spend the rest of Fall practicing on Honeoye Lake and Hemlock Lake. Honeoye Lake seems like a good lake because it's where I first landed some bass and it seems to have a reputation as a good fishery. I want to practice on Hemlock Lake because of the scenery and because I can't believe there aren't some bass in the south end of that lake. Does anyone think this is a bad strategy for someone getting started? Some questions. 1. Does anyone have any advice on how to (kayak) fish Hemlock Lake and Honeoye Lake? I think where I struggle the most is where to go once I get out on the water. Do I hug the shorelines and fish the weeds with soft plastics? Are there weed lines that I need to find in these lakes? 2. Is the north end of Honeoye Lake (Sandy Bottom) the best spot to launch? 3. Is the south end of Hemlock good for bass? It seems like it should be a good bass fishery (from all of the weed-beds that I saw) but might not be known as one because of boating restrictions. Is this correct or am I missing something? Any advice is apprectiated. I hope to hit Honeoye Lake this Saturday morning. Thanks, Bo_Fish