Keuka Lake out of Penn Yan 6/2
It was great getting out with my friend Eric, whom I hadn’t fished with since last winter. We set up on Keuka Lake hoping for some bass action. Eric fished an 8 weight fly-rod and I went with the conventional gear. This way we get to see how effective the fly-fishing is compared to the gear. We worked some shallow rocky/sandy flats and had some action not long after we set up. Eric went through the areas we fished with the flies first. I twitched superflukes and Rapala X-raps, occasionally casting a tube jig. Eric worked some prototype “Jailbait” patterns I tied up. These flies were originated by a smallmouth guide down around Virginia to resemble and fish like a fluke/sluggo bait.
The results were pretty much even with the flyrod and gear – though we didn’t knock ’em dead. I hooked 3 smallies and landed 2 and Eric landed 2. Eric also had some nice(20″+)pickerel and rockbass on the jailbait. The smallmouths were all legal fish – probably 13″ to 15″ or so. I was hoping for some of the 17″ to 19″ fish that Keuka has – but we didn’t find them. Originally I’d planned to do a few passes in each area and work deeper on every successive pass. This plan was lost in the shuffle! 😉 I’m sure the big fish were just deeper. I should also mention that the water was pretty stained up from all the heavy rain we had – each point with a creek had off-colored water. I’d forgotten my spinnerbaits and deep cranks- which would have been a good call. Rattles on the tubes would have helped too.
Eric had a strong tug off a point and I then hooked a good fish momentarily. From the way it hit and came back and was fighting I’d have bet money it was a very solid salmon.
We did some jigging for lake trout and they were scattered all over Penn Yan. Water temps are in the mid-60s on the surface, but don’t be fooled. In 35′ of water it’s still a cold 48 on the bottom! We each had some hits and momentary hookups but nothing in the boat. We set up at the north end and both worked streamers for pickerel. The fishing was good, but the fish were all small “finger shredders”.
I decided to take a last ditch run over to the bluff area to catch some (hopefully) grouped-up lake trout. Didn’t mark much, but we fished anyways with spoons and jigs, covering a variety of depths. The water here was very stained and didn’t look good at all. Started heading back up the lake and we worked a few clearer areas without action. We then set up at the College. We each were lamenting the slow lake trout bite when we each hooked up and lost fish. Pay attention guys! As it got dark I started getting the gear together while Eric still fished. As I had stuff prepared to leave Eric hooked and landed a laker! Guess we’re staying….We kept fishing and were both getting hits and nearly hooking up – this was past sundown and getting into the night fishing realm! Guess it’s time to use the “glow in the dark” power twitch baits! Very nice way to end the day….