Skaneateles Lake 5/12
Got out on the lake with my friend Capt. Craig Nels today. We always have a lot of fun on the water when we go fishing together and today was no exception. We met each other before I started guiding back in my Bass Pro Shops days. The weather started out misty and cold – we could see our breath. Can’t say I’m surprised after living most of my life in Central/Western NY.
The plan today was to fish Craig’s style and patterns for a bit then do some of my stuff. Water temps ranged from a chilly 40 to a chilly 46! We started working a large point with sandy areas and scattered rock near deep water that Craig likes to fish. After about 20 minutes or so I had a hit. I made another cast into the 25’+ water with my tube and hooked a good fish. After a twisting, strong fight Craig slid the net under the 28″ laker! My best Skinny laker to date! It probably weighed around 6.5lbs. Not a fat fish. I released it unharmed. We worked some more areas and Craig caught a very nice smallmouth around 18″ long. A rock bass and another smallie were also landed.
We tried another area I like with nothing to show but a big perch around 14″. We then hit one of my favorite areas and Craig scored on another solid bass using one of his favorite Oneida Lake tactics. I like fishing hairjigs and tube jigs on this lake and over the next few hours with them we each landed 15″+ rainbow trout, another 1/2 dozen monster perch as well as some smaller fish, bass and a bunch of lakers ranging from around 16″ to 20″. Fish got very aggressive later in the day. The wind probably helped.
Craig wanted to check out another couple areas. He has a Humminbird Depth Finder with GPS and side-imaging which is an awesome! I rigged up one of Craig’s favorite tactics – a dropshot set up and got into another nice laker – maybe 22″ or better. Craig’s pretty psyched about the upcoming weeks on both Skaneateles Lake and his home lake Oneida. I can’t blame him – we’re in for some great fishing! Check out Craig’s Guide Service and website at www.empirebassandbeyond.com/ As a side note, it was a lot of fun cruising up the lake at around 40 to 50 mph in his Ranger Bassboat. It tops out around 70 mph! There’s no problem getting to where the fish are….