Thread: Western and Central lakes and bays (conditions and presentations)

Conditions ( open water,has ice, hi,low,normal water level, temperature, wind conditions, water clarity, etc)

Presentation used successfully( bobber/minnow, bobber/jig, casting (jigs, spinners, crankbaits). Trolling crankbaits, strolling jigs or live baits, spider rigging, vertical jigging, dock shotting).

Honeoye fished twice, got schooled by two other fishman. Was not catching anything but pickerel using jigs, with and without bobber watched a boat 15 yards away catch 15-20 crappie. Guys were nice enough to tell us the presentation and boat they were using. They were casting a 1/32 & 1/16 jig head with smoke curly tail grub . Picked up a few but the school readjusted to deeper water high sun( was a week ago last friday(80-85 degrees ) last Saturday went back to Honeoye same baits with slow retrieve, and caught about 30 crappie, perch, 2 bluegills, and a handful of pickerel.

Fished Sodus bay 5/3. Nothing but an 8 # pike and about 20 bass to 41/2 #. On 1/16 jig head and 2 " curly tails grub. Fished in 1 to 5 feet of water.

SANDY PONDS- Via a friend him and his partner each caught there 25 fish limit with additionally culling 25-30 smaller keepers(9-9 1/2). Caught in 4-6 feet of water around weeds. With a jig or jig with minnow both below a bobber.

Heading back down to Honeoye in about2 hrs. Hopefully will get into crappie. Thought this would provoke some interaction of discussion amongst NY crappie fisherman. Oh well, I can use it as a journal,

Well, honeoye was the same, caught around 25( crappie) a rock bass, a few large bluegill, a perch, about 5_6 pickers, and a bunch of bass. between two guys. Was a pleasant outing, in the great outdoors. 1/16 or jig head and minnow

Well, a new venture, headed to Sodus Bay, participated in a Rock Bass tournament this past Sunday. Went into, blind( without prior practice, or a developed pattern).
Basically, if I had practiced Saturday on Sodus, I would have figured out what they were hitting well and narrow down a few locations they inhabited(groups) or I would have eliminated all the area's and techniques I fished Sunday. We, (it was a partner tournament, ( best 10 Rockies brought to weight in scale. Bottom line, never developed a good pattern, one here, one there. Ended up with small limit of about 8 lbs. The winners weighted 12.2 lbs with lunker of 1.6, just a hair shy of 1 pound 10 ounces ( not a bad rock bass). Can't tell you what was used to successfully catch the rock bass, but we were throwing tube baits, jig head and grubs, beetle spins( no live bait allowed). This panfishing is a new experience and a new challenge. But at least when the day is done most species I can take home for dinner. Anyone with recommendations on how to fish for any particular Spanish species, take the time to post after reading other people's postings,
.The goal is to make every time on the water, enjoyable. Especially for those youths that has limited positive fishing experience. Remember to bring coloring books and crayons or computer games to occupy the youngsters mind when the fishing is slow. Remember our attention span wasn't very long when we were younger.

Oneida Lake- walleye fishing is hot. Buddy and friend caught 20 while culling their limit, and again on Sunday they both limited out. They fished basically 12 get of water with crankbaits.