Aug 30,
2010…12:00pm-4:30pm.
This was another great day for dock fishing. The air temperature
was 88-90 degrees, the wind light from the SW and bright sunshine.
This absolutely drove the fish way back under the big platform docks.
It also sent the water temperature to a scorching 81-84 degrees
in some places. Never the less, the largemouth bite was on. In some
cases 2 or 3 fish came off a single dock. We caught 17 total ranging
in size from 14 inches up to nearly 4 pounds. The best 5 fish, rough
estimate, weighed 14+ pounds. All were caught on the Salty Sling
from docks around Chautauqua Institution, Maple Springs and Greenhurst.
These last few days have been amazing with conditions for this technique
being just right, calm wind and bright sunshine. |
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Aug 28,
2010…11:30pm-3:00pm. Light and variable winds today
with a water temperature of 73.2-77.9 degrees and a bluebird sky
kept the dock bite alive. Even with two bass tournaments fishing
the lake we still managed 10 largemouth with the same Salty Sling
skipping method. The biggest was a 3+ pound largie. We fished docks
above and below Prendergast Point, Mayville and Bemus Bay. The only
really clear water is in these areas. Everything else is stuck in
“pea soup” algae bloom. |
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Aug 27,
2010…11:30pm-2:30pm. This was a trip for the 6 year
old grandson. Nope, not bobber fishing, he’s better than that.
A little ultra-light spinning rod and reel rigged with a yellow
grub on an 1/8th oz jig head. We went to a really nice dock and
he basically cleaned it out catching 3 rock bass, 1 sunfish and
a perch. Ok, “they’re not big enough”, he says.
Hmmmmmmmm. So we went to a REALLY good dock. I skipped the bait,
a Salty Sling under the dock for him, gave him the rod and bang
a 14” largemouth. We repeated this process at this dock and
a few others and managed to catch 9 more and lost 3 others. None
were very big but he had a blast. The water temperature at the start
was 73.2 degrees and ended at 75.4 degrees. The wind was from the
SW at 5-10 mph and it was sunny and bright. |
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Aug 21,
2010…7:00am-12:00pm. The water temperature was back
up to 74.3 degrees and warmed to 78.9 degrees. The wind was from
the south at 10-15 mph. What was forecast to be bright and sunny
turned out to be very overcast most of the day and kept the air
temperature in the low 70’s. This was a muskie trip so we
started above the Dewitteville Point on the 15 ft weed line casting
Mepps Muskie Killers, Rapala perch jerkbaits and large spinnerbaits.
We had plenty of company along the weed line with some trollers
and others casting. For the time we were there no one even got a
fish to rise to the baits. We moved down to Midway Park and fished
the weed line up to the Viking also with no luck. Changing tactics
we trolled from the Viking to Mission Meadows zig zagging from 12-20
feet depths but that didn’t work either. The wind picked so
we ran south to look for some calm water and some largemouth. Maple
Bay was the stop and there we caught 13 largemouth, the biggest
being and solid 3 pounder, on 6 different docks using a Venom Salty
Sling. |
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Aug 20,
2010…6:30am-11:30pm. Light NE winds left the lake
flat for nearly the entire trip again today. With the last few nights
of cooler air temperature the water temperature was 72.6 when we
started and climbed to76.2 degrees by the trips end. The air temperature
was 64 at the start and 75 by noon. Hoping for an early topwater
smallmouth bite we started off the Mayville area with a buzzbait,
and a Spit’n Image. There were some fish working the surface
but none would take what we offered. Since the largemouth had been
active around the docks we fished a Venom Salty Sling around docks
the rest of the trip at Lighthouse Point, Whitney Bay, Mayville
and Maple Springs. In all we caught 12 largemouth and lost 3 others.
Of course all the lost ones weighed right around 5 pounds each.
HA! Yeah Right! |
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Aug 12,
2010…7:00am-12:30pm. Light NE winds left the lake
flat for nearly the entire trip. Water temperature was 74-78.2 degrees
and the air temperature was 72-81 degrees. Our first stop was on
Warner’s Bar fishing topwater baits, a small spook and a Spit’n
Image. Even with the great conditions there was no action. We made
the run to Greenhurst and fished some shallow rock piles but came
up empty. The next move took us to the Crib where we fished a topwater
and then jigged the outer weeds with a Berkley red shad power worm.
We had a few bites but no hook ups. WE finally moved in on some
docks in Burtis Bay and Maple Bay. Using the power worms we caught
6 largemouth and lost 3 others. |
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Aug 11,
2010…6:30am-12:00pm. With a bit of a cool down last
night the air temperature started at 71 degrees and the water temperature
was at 74 degrees. The wind was from the south at less than 10 mph.
We began by drifting the deep humps in the Mayville area using tube
jigs and road runners tipped with live crawlers. One drift yielded
and nice 25 inch walleye that took the mellon pepper tube jig. We
made a few more drifts but could not get anymore takers. We used
the same techniques down the SW shoreline but again no fish. The
sun was up, hot and bright so we moved to docks in Bemus Bay and
Whitney Bay. We used Berkley Heavy Weights, skipping them under
the docks to get 6 largemouth bass. |
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Aug 9,
2010…4:30pm-8:00pm. Winds from the SW at 10-15 mph
and water temperatures at 79 degrees made the start of this trip
difficult at best. We used the wind to drift ledges in Mayville,
Mission Meadows, Viking and Warner’s Bar with tube jigs and
worm harnesses but could only pick up one silver bass. |
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Aug 2,
2010…6:30am-12:30pm. A strong 10-15 mph south wind,
partly cloudy skies and a 68 degree air temperature greeted us this
morning. The water temperature was 74.3 degrees to start and rose
to 78.2 degrees by the trip’s end. We began using the wind
to create a drift across some north lake humps and up a step drop
starting in 20 feet coming up to 10 feet and the weed edge. We were
dragging, tube jigs and Road Runners tipped with either a crawler
or a 3” GULP leech. The first drift produced a nice 3 ½
pound walleye. It took the Road Runner and leech. The next drift
brought up 2 perch, both on the Road Runners. With no more action
on a few more drifts we moved to Mission Meadows and use the same
techniques to get one small smallmouth. We then moved to Bemus Bay
and fished the docks protected from the now stronger south wind
and caught 6 nice largemouth skipping soft stick baits under the
docks. |
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July
30, 2010…6:30am-2:00pm. FINALLY!!!!! A cool down.
It was 61 degrees and the lake had a slight fog. The water temperature
was still 74.3 degrees and did climb to 77 degrees by the end under
partly cloudy skies. The wind was very light from the SW. We started
on Warner’s Bar fishing tube jigs in 10- 15 feet. There were
lots of pan fish bites, but no cooperative bass. Once the fog cleared
we moved to the upper end of the lake and fished Berkley Heavy Weight
soft stick baits around docks and shallow weeds. 5 largemouth took
our offerings, with the biggest being a 3 pounder. The wind picked
up to an easy 15 mph SW making that type of presentation very difficult
so we moved out to the deeper ledges at Mission Meadows and the
Viking drifting tubes and worm harnesses up the drop-offs. This
took advantage of the windy conditions. We caught 5 smallmouth.
I guess the only way to describe them is, we were fishing in the
maternity ward. HA! Never the less, 5 bass are 5 bass and they were
fun to catch. |
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July
22, 2010…7:00am-12:30pm. The water temperature was
up to 75.2 degrees and climbed to 79.7 degrees and the morning progressed.
Air temperature was in the mid 80’s. This was another morning
with a light wind to begin the day, this time from the north. We
began along the outer weed line of the Mayville flats casting for
muskie. We could find no takers so we moved to the secondary point
at Dewitteville where we raised one fish but could get no hook-ups.
For those of you interested in finding garfish we were surrounded
by 20+ gars in 7-10 feet of water feeding on the surface. It definitely
was an amazing sight. Our presence didn’t seem to bother them
at all. After giving up on the muskie and seeing all the garfish
entertainment we moved down the shoreline to Mission Meadows where
we fished for muskie and smallmouth. We hooked and boated one 2
pound smallmouth but never saw another muskie through the trip.
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July
21, 2010…6:30am-12:30pm. Winds today were light from
the NW to start and built to 10-15 mph by the trip’s end.
Water temperature was 74.2-77.5 degrees. We started in 18-20ft over
a school of smallmouth and caught a nice 3 pound fish on the first
drift using a 3 1/2 ‘ melon pepper tube. That was to be the
last cooperative bass in that school. 3 nice size perch took the
same offering on several of the following drifts. We trolled worm
harnesses over the same area without a strike then followed the
wed line down the lake toward the Bell Tower zig zagging from 20ft
into 12ft and back out. We attracted a few bites but no hook-ups.
We moved to Mission Meadows and used the same technique there without
success. Lastly we moved to some docks below Prendergast Pt and
caught one largemouth to end the trip. |
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July
20, 2010…12:30pm-3:00pm. This was a last minute set
up and a creative late start but it worked out just fine. We had
a 10-15 mph SW wind and a starting water temperature of 76.4. It
was very cloudy and had a forecast for possible T-storms that never
showed up. The deep water bite on the Mayville humps only produced
several nice size perch. We fished light tackle, drifting GULP earthworms
and 3” leeches across the humps to get the fish. Wanting some
bigger fish we moved to some docks in the same area and used Berkley
Heavy Weight soft stick baits to catch 3 nice largemouth. Through
the rest of the trip we caught more sunfish and perch over shallow
weeds. When you take kids fishing they don’t care what they
catch, just so they DO catch. |
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June
19, 2010…6:30am-12:00pm. Water temperature today
was up to 72 degrees when we started. Wind was S at 5-10 mph. It
was partly cloudy and T-storms were forecast for later in the day.
We started with a very quick top water at Warner’s Bar the
moving the Viking and Mission Meadows all with no fish. We ran to
the other side of the lake above the Bell Tower fishing the 10-15
foot ledge with tubes but could get nothing to bite. We then ran
to Mayville and fished some available docks using a soft stick bait
and caught 6 largemouth, the biggest being a 3 ½ pounder.
By now the storm clouds we starting to form so we ran back down
the lake to Prendergast Point and fished some of these docks the
same way. These docks were shallower and held no fish. The storms
started moving in so we headed back to the ramp. By the end of the
trip the water temperature had come up to 74.2 degrees and the wind
had completely shifted around to the WSW and picked up considerably. |
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June
18, 2010…7:00am-3:00pm. Clear skies, 60 degrees and
wind out of the WSW at 5-10 mph greeted us this morning. The water
temperature was still low at 61.3 degrees. We started Warner’s
Bar with top water and flukes but could get nothing to respond.
We headed up the lake to Mission Meadows fishing tubes in 10-12
feet but could get no takers. We could see the fish suspended so
we tried weightless soft stick baits also getting nothing. We ran
south down the lake to Maple Bay (Smith Boys) and there caught 5
sub-legal bass, a combo of smallmouth and largemouth. All these
fish were caught on soft stick baits. At least there were some signs
of life. We fish shallow areas below Cheney’s Point but could
only catch rock bass. We next ran across the lake to Colburn, directly
in the wind and tossed spinnerbaits hoping to find an active fish.
NOPE! Not convinced that we couldn’t catch those suspended
fish at the upper end we ran back up the lake to the Viking. There
we caught another VERY small smallmouth. We continued the drift
moving closer to the weed line and caught a nice 4 ¾ pound
smallmouth. We followed the weed line all the way back to Mission
Meadows fish both deep and shallow and managed one very nice largemouth
around 4 pounds and another small smallie to end the day. |
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June
12, 2010…6:00am-11:00am. This was one tough day!
We had water temperatures starting at 63.4 degrees and rising to
69.7 degrees by 11 am. Winds were WSW at 5-10 mph. With these conditions
catching fish should not have been a problem. We started on the
Mayville flats using topwater baits, buzzbait and tiny torpedo.
The only thing that took our offerings were 2 perch and a sunfish.
We moved to the south shoreline and fished the weedline ledge above
the Bell Tower first using a tube jig and then slow trolling worm
harnesses. Both methods yielded nothing. The last stop was the weedline
ledge in front of Mission Meadows and then the Viking using both
the previous methods. Again these produced no fish. Talking to a
few other boats we found that we were not the only one’s struggling.
Nice day, no fish….Oh well, there’s always the next
trip. |
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June
10, 2010…6:00am-11:00am. With the cold front that
rolled in 2 days ago the water temperature dropped 10 degrees. It
was 62.4 at 6 am. The wind was WNW and very light at the beginning.
This shut the fish right down, at least for me. I could only manage
one 2 ½ pound largemouth on a white fluke and two smallies
on a melon pepper tube. All the fish caught came for the upper end
of the lake. By the time the trip ended the water temperature had
come up to 68.7 degrees. Still far from the 74 degree temps that
kept the fish active. The wind picked up to the forecasted 15-25
mph by 11 am so it was off the water for me. It figures the weatherman
would get it right when the forecast was bad. HA! |
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June
1, 2010…6:00am-2:00pm. The water temperature today
started at 71.3 and ended the day at 75 degrees. The wind was W
at 5 mph to start so we made the run to the Mayville flats. It was
overcast and at times had a light rain. The water was clear. We
fished a white fluke and a tiny torpedo. The tiny torpedo got the
first strike on the 3rd cast and produced a 4 ¾ pound largemouth.
From there we caught 8 more largemouth and one smallmouth on the
first drift. No fish was less than 2 pounds. Most were 3-4 pounds.
We made a second and third drift and picked up 3 more largemouth
and lost 4. The wind increased and the fish shut down so we headed
to the southwest shoreline and just kept going with the wind fishing
the white fluke. By the end of the trip we had boated 7 more quality
largemouth and lost 5 more. Not a bad day for a rainy, windy day.
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May 29,
2010…11:00am-4:00pm. With the late day success of
Wednesday we decided to try other areas in the same time frame to
see if we could repeat our success. Water temperature was still
72-75 degrees but the wind was NE 10-15 mph. We headed south to
fish the lower end. We first stopped below Cheney’s Point
and fished the 3-5 foot shallow shoreline with no success. We moved
to Maple Bay above Smith Boys Marina and found plenty of action
on shallow largemouth catching 16 on that stretch. We continued
our drift all the way to Lakewood Bar but only caught 2 smaller
largemouth. All the fish were caught on a white fluke or a soft
stickbait. By now the wind had kicked up to 15+mph giving us a very
bumpy ride back to Long Point. |
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May 26,
2010…11:00am-3:00pm. The weather finally started
to cooperate and warm things up. The water temperature was 72-74
degrees today with the wind NW at 5-10 mph. The water remains very
clear at this end of the lake. The idea for the day was to see if
we could catch fish later in the day. We fished the Mayville flats
using a white fluke and caught only one largemouth. We moved to
the bay above lighthouse Point and found several smallmouth still
on beds. We caught two of those and 3 more largemouth. All were
taken on the white fluke. We worked around Lighthouse Point into
the next bay and caught 2 more smallies and a largemouth. The wind
picked up making the fishing uncomfortable so we headed back and
ended the day. |
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April
21, 2010…2:00pm-6:00pm.
The wind was WNW 10-15 mph. The water temperature was 53.2 degrees
and the water was slightly stained because of the rough water.
Air temperature stayed right around 58-60 degrees.
The run down the lake to
Lakewood Bar was a bit cool but doable. We fished fire tiger colored
crankbaits in 7-14 feet of water. Only one nice walleye and one
perch took our offering. We moved down the lake to the crib and
caught 2 smallies and another perch. The wind picked up putting
the lake in white caps so we made the run back up the lake to
Victoria point. There we dragged tubes and Gulp leeches to no
avail. We did the same technique on the outside of Warner’s
Bar again without a bite. Finally going behind Long Point into
calmer water one more perch made it to the boat. Not the kind
of day we were looking for but as I’ve always said “that
why they call it fishing, not catching.”
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