Canandaigua Fishing

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Had a half day trip with Dylan and his Grandfather. Started out trolling and they weren’t jumping on the lines. Ran a stretch that produced an average Laker and a quick turn produced a couple nice rainbows. Decided to take a break from trolling and did some Jigging. Dylan had alot of grabs but just couldn’t keep them glued. It was a little different story with his grandfather. He has fished this lake for many more years than myself and it was educational to listen to his strategies over the years and fishing the different seasons. He had a good feel for the jig and landed a few great Lakers.  The last one he landed was every bit as big as the one that won first in the derby for me.

Got a little later start this year than last as the weather has been less than great.  Fished a bit in April with typical early season results and patterns. Rainbow action has been slow going but looking like it’s picking up now.  We have got fair numbers of fish each trip but there not coming easy! Weather patterns just keep switching with plenty of cold fronts and low pressure. Nothing I dread more on Canandaigua lake than a cold front. Did not fish the only Avon Anglers tournament this year but there was a 21+lb Lake Trout caught for first place. Thats one impressive fish on any of the Finger Lakes. We fished the Seneca Lake derby with fair results. Caught fish but nothing worthy of the board. Strong North winds brought very chili 38-39 degree water covering the North end of the lake. We eventually got into some Salmon and Lakers down near the Dresdin area as the temps got up in the mid 40’s. The following weekend was the Canandaigua lake derby and that was a different story. Went out with my son and we had a general idea where the fish were and we were hitting decent fish of the start. Our first fish was a Laker just over 7lbs but held the board until midway through Sunday. After boating several moderate size Lakers we had marked some good fish tight on bottom and decided to throw some jigs at them. We both landed one pretty quick when the strong South wind had blown us in shallow. We got down to 40ft off water and my son said we were marking tons of fish! I was a little reluctant to believe him but just as he finished saying that I was hooked into a large fish. Couldn’t budge him from the bottom and the wind was just pushing us away. Didn’t take long and I pulled the hook. Decided to try this spot Sunday morning early. Woke up to severe thunder storms and decided to sleep through them. Hit the water about 11am and by 11:30 we were running a very good fish in that I felt should hit the board. The healthy Laker tipped the scale at just under 9 1/2 lbs and ended up taking first place in the division.

What an amazing weekend of weather!! Originally had two 1/2 day trips planned for Saturday and Sunday. Started with Joel on Saturday who grew up on Canandaigua Lake and now resides in Haiti. He had lots of fishing stories from the fifties through the seventies before he moved. We started around 7:30 and put a small brown and a rainbow in the boat pretty quick. started hitting lakers and more bows pretty consistant after that. Lakers ran pretty small up to 3-4lbs but the bows were great and ran up to 5 or so with some pretty spunky fish. Got most of the bows on sliding cheaters and lead cores with cranks and spoons. Joel was pretty happy and decided he wanted to go back out Monday.
Got out Sunday at 7 with Christine and her husband Mike for his Birthday. Fish were active right from the start. We hit a brown as soon as the lines went in and it was pretty steady from there. The rainbows were hot and Mike and Christine really wanted me to target them. Sliding cheaters with spoons were hot and with some really big bows. Took a shot off the rigger on the cheater and had a huge bow on with Christine on the rod. This bow jumped at least three times and she could barely move it! A few minutes more and the line lightened up quite a bit. When she reeled it in there was a 3lb Laker on the main line and the Bow was gone. Getting towards eleven thirty and the end of the trip and we got a screamer on the rigger. Mike landed the 8lb bow which ran some drag a couple times and Mike decided a full day would be in order. I don’t remember the final count but they released over nine by eleven am.
Went back out with Joel on Monday and as soon as I set out the first Lead core we had a fish on. Not for long and this turned quickly into a trend. We dropped the first 3 fish we hooked. After that we landed 2 lakers and lost a nice Bow. A short while later we had a great rip on the rigger. Joel grabbed the rod and imeadiatly said this is a heavy fish! He did a great job bringing in the fish which was as fat as any rainbow I have ever seen. Lake trout bite for me has been a little slow and the one female I did look at was droppin eggs. Joel told me to take the next rip and sure enough I lost the Bow on the second jump. Bite was slower on Monday but still a solid day with some great fish.

The last 2 weeks have produced some excellent Rainbow action. Large Bows up to twelve pounds have been pounding spoons shallow out over deep water. Looks like October will be a great month for fishing. Ihave the boat docked at Seager Marine for the rest of the season and should be running trip right through mid November.

Got out with my son today on Cayuga lake. We started early and launched at Deans cove headed south past long point. We picked up an 8lb Laker pretty quick in about 250 FOW on a cheater down 25ft. The fish had the biggest lamprey eel i’ve seen on the finger lakes. Picked up another laker not much after on the rigger set at 40ft. switched everything to shallow spoons and had non stop action for quite sometime. Put several more Lakers in the boat up to eleven pounds with one small salmon and a small Rainbow. Water color was somewhat poor and cloudy but the fish didn’t seem to mind.

Guided several trips over the last couple weeks. Fishing has been good to excellent! I did back to back half days on Wednesday the 6th. The A.M. trip was Jeff, his son Joe 11yrs old and nephew. Joe picked up the jigging quick and put some great fish in the boat up to 8 lbs as I recall. The following trip was with Ed and his 2 grandchildren. His grandaughter was fourteen and she put fourth a great effort and went non stop the entire time we were out. She had at least 3 good grabs but they were just hitting a little short. I was really pulling for her. Ed ended up putting 2 nice lakers about 5lbs each in the cooler. I think the highlight for Ed’s grandson was watching the fish get cleaned. He was nine and that might just be a little young for this kind of fishing.

  My next trip was with Charles and Bill from Maryland. We started off trolling of Bristol Harbor and had a quick hit from a nice Bow but it came unglued. Not long after we doubled up on Lakers and good ones! The trolling bite shut down as fast as it started and we switched to jigging. The bite picked up fast and several nice lakers were boated up to 12lbs!

The next morning I was out with T.C. and his 2 grandsons from Texas. These boys were 15 and 16 I think and they were alot of fun on the boat. They dont fish very much but their hearts were in it! The younger of the two, Cameron, was on fire. He had lakers pull so hard he was sure the rod was going to snap. As I recall T.C. and young T.C. both landed 2 nice lakers each and lost a beautiful rainbow that grabbed the jig on the drop and just exploded out of the water next to the boat.

The last trip I had was yesterday morning, Friday the 15th. This was a Birthday gift for Dan from his wife and he was accompanied by 2 co-workers Doug and Vinny. We started a little earlier than my past few trips so I through out the trolling gear first. We had a double right off the start. One on the wire and a drag screamer on the rigger. Both hit SD fly combos down about ninety feet over 125. We boated one of the two at just under 8lbs. We had 2 more hits. One laker and one Rainbow of which neither was landed. switched over jigging and the bite was solid again. Being that it was Dan’s birthday it only seemed appropriate he boat the lions share of the fish and thats the way it went. I believe Dan hooked and landed the first then Vinny boated 2 nice Lakers back 2 back. It was back to Dan after that with 3 more nice spunky fish that ran some drag and to wrap up the trip it was a double with Dan and Doug on the rods. At the end it was nine fish in the boat and one kept. Fish ranged from 5 to 8lbs.

I had a morning trip planned to Seneca today with some friends to fish in a league. 4:45am as i’m just starting to get ready my wife tells me that she thinks her water broke. 13 hours later my wife delivers a beautiful healthy baby girl. “Jordan Caroline” Fortunately I did not have much booked this week so I’ll get to help them alot at home. Lots of trips next week and some days with multiple trips. Should be a busy week.

Fishing has really picked up over the last few weeks and jigging has been great! I did a half day trip today with Chris. Things started a little slow but we hit a nice rainbow and I quickly switched everything over for bows. We put a few more in the boat pretty quick and decided to run further north and check on my favorite laker spot. Chris had never fished with a bait caster before and it took him a few minutes to get the hang of it. We went into serch mode and I spotted a nice pod of lakers hanging just off bottom in 110 feet of water. We both dropped at the same time and both had strikes on the retrieve. Unfortunately Chris’s broke off but I handed him my rod and he landed that one as I re-tied his. After that he had a good feel for it and he was boating them on his own. He certainly seemed to enjoy the vertical jigging.

Had my state inspection today and with the new boat I can now take 3 people. For now I would like to leave the rates the same so 3 people can still go 1/2 or whole day for the price of 2. I will be pre fishing the Canandaigua Lake trout derby the next day or 2 and I am booked on Sunday but as of now I do have Saturday open. Don’t hesitate to call if your interested.