Skaneateles Lake 5/14 PM
Guided the Hermans today starting around 2:15 pm. I felt we dodged the proverbial “bullet” today – calm water. We had just enough wind to push us a bit and keep fish hitting – at least for awhile. By 4:30 pm the wind was dead and the fishing slowed right with it. But we didn’t complain.
Bass were the ticket today with John and Eleonore landing a 1/2 dozen solid fish up to around 17″+. Green pumpkin tube jigs fished on 1/4 oz jigheads did the trick. After maybe 45 minutes of fishing, John set into a nice fish that showed silvery sides. A big rainbow! After a decent battle I slipped the net under the 24.5″ rainbow. Great fish! It was a nice female that still had a lot of eggs in her. Many of these Skaneateles fish just don’t get to spawn. There aren’t enough quality tributaries for spawning, so some rainbows here just dump into the lake near small streams or likely just reabsorb their eggs. But bigger rainbows are more common now than ever on this lake. They ain’t necessarily easy, but I’ve seen more 23″+ fish here over the past 2 years than in the past 12. And I know in the 1970s – 90s the rainbows averaged around 12″ to 15″ here. A few rockbass and perch were also in the mix today. Water temps remain cold with mid-40s on the northend and low 40s just 20′ down.