Skaneateles Lake 5/24 PM
Got out for a few hours (3.5) for a quick “catch ’em and eat ’em” mission out on Skaneateles Lake. Despite good fly-fishing water temps, I left the fly-gear at home and just grabbed a few perch setups as well as some hair jigs. I had some halfway decent perch action – usually after the spawn there’s a week or two of good fishing before fish scatter. I caught plenty of small males but managed to get a few nice females and enough fish to make it worth my while. In one area the lakers just wouldn’t leave my perch rigs alone and I had lakers hit for nearly 3 or 4 casts in a row and they pretty much destroyed my perch rigs. I thought maybe they were keying in on perch eggs but in the one laker I kept there was a nice 6″ perch in its stomach! A few of the lakers were the oftentimes emaciated Skaneateles fish – they would make Keuka anglers feel good about the plumpness of their fish! The one I kept was in reasonable condition.
I had a hit and felt some good weight and figured I hooked a good laker or rainbow, but nope – it was a sucker! The sucker hit my perch jig. I was pleasantly surprised at the good battle. While stream fishing I never thought a whole lot of the fight of suckers – compared to steelhead they don’t do much. (Redhorse have always been another story. They are a strong fish!) So that was interesting. Water temps remain around 52. I even saw a guy paddleboarding today. No wetsuit but at least he had a lifejacket on. Yahoo season will soon be in full swing.