Skaneateles Lake 4/30 PM
Got out on my own for around 4 1/2 hours starting fairly late – by the time I was fishing it was 3:15 pm. Only two other trailers were in the state lot at Skinny today when I arrived. I tried a bunch of different areas – some that I hadn’t fished in a while, just to see what was going on. My main target was perch but I was fishing a method that is deadly on this lake’s rainbows and other species – hair jigs, tube jigs and also some perch rigs.
I caught perch in a bunch of areas. Mostly quality fish but no slobs. I wasn’t looking to load the boat today (I wasn’t in the mood to spend a lot of time filleting – I just wanted enough fish for a few meals) and that’s what happened, I only nabbed around 10 perch. I gladly would’ve taken a few more, but didn’t get into any great concentrations. I spent a lot of the day casting hair jigs in hopes of some rainbows. Despite very favorable conditions I never contacted any rainbows or salmon today. I landed two nice 20″ to 21″ lakers and lost one. I also caught a nice smallmouth bass and had another follow. No sign of any walleyes. Water temps ran from 39 to 43 or so. The lake is still very cold. I could see bottom in around 28 FOW today! That’s damn clear! A little more wind would’ve helped the fishing but overall it wasn’t bad.