Posted by Rob J in WNY on 04-20-2003 11:38 AM:

Seneca Lake NYBass.com Get-Together Report, 4-19-03...

Happy Easter, everyone!

The “2nd Annual” NYBass.com Seneca Lake Perch Get-Together was held Saturday, April 19th, 2003. If you recall last year’s event, where some of us were introduced to some of the most furious yellow perch fishing of our lives. It was a memorable event which prompted us to do it again this year. Seneca Lake is located in the heart of the Finger Lakes Region, and is the largest of those waters at 43,800 acres.

I met up with John “Sea Jack” at his place about 6:00am, and we arrived at Roy’s Marina on Seneca Lake’s northeast shore at about 8:00am. People present for the day were John and I, Fred (OnceBitten), Jay (Labsrus), Chris (Sluggo / NY), Bobber, Jered, Chris’ friend “Gilligan” and his buddies.

All boaters were ready and waiting in the water, so we wasted no time in getting out. Bill (GANGGREEN) was so anxious that he decided to test the water by taking a quick swim at the launch docks. Oh sure, he didn’t do that on purpose, but for all intents of this report, he was up to his waist in 38 degree, choppy water, making his presence audibly known to all of us, and was quickly hauled out of there.

After a quick change into dry pants, we shoved off to find our first spots of the morning, leaving Roy’s Marina to find harsh south winds at 20mph, and three foot waves with whitecaps on the lake – a far, far cry from the 6-10mph winds forecast for the day! Fortunately, all of the boaters had deep-v boats, so navigation was still readily possible – just had to take it easy. Air temperature was in the mid-40s and skies were cloudy, with occasional sprinkles. I was to fish as Bill’s partner for the day.

As we left Roy’s Marina, we were greeted with less than perfect lake conditions, but at least Bill was dry after a quick swim.

Our first spot was adjacent to the Reeder Creek area along the east shoreline, followed by a move a mile or so to the south. Anchoring was difficult at first, because of the high winds and waves. Fishing was hit or miss, but we managed several perch and some good multi-species action, with a mix of pickerel, lake trout, brown trout and northern pike. Bill’s laker went a good 6 pounds, and a big, 4 pound brown that I had on my 4’6” ultralight snapped my 4 pound test just before I could boat it. The pickerel were, for all their annoyance, very healthy and well fed, with amazing girths.. These “surprise” species really made the day interesting and fun.

From left to right, Jered, Chris and Bobber. The shoreline near Reeder Creek is where we began our day.

Light rods and tackle were the order of the day, with 1/16 oz. hair jigs and live bait (fathead minnows) being the staple. Bill caught his bait himself, and it was some of the most high-quality minnows I have ever seen. Even when allowed to hang in the air on our jigs between runs, they were still lively when we would begin fishing again! I used my aforementioned Quantum 4’6” ultralight outfit with 2/6 Fireline and a 4 pound Vanish fluoro leader, and a 5’6” Fin-Nor setup with 4 pound Trilene XL. I also brought a 6’ baitcasting setup with a ¼ oz. jigging spoon on it. I never got a hit on the jigging spoon, but the other setups did nicely with the hair jigs. There’s no doubt that you have use subtle presentations for the best success, and that means light line and light baits. With the choppy water and wind, it was sometimes very hard to feel that we were getting our offerings down the bottom, and the perch often “teased” us with a strong bite here and there, adding to the toughness of the day.

Bill’s 6 pound laker was a beauty, and the pickerel we caught were all very high quality, healthy fish.

As we moved about, we would nail a few quick perch, followed by a deadening of action. A main fuse blowout on Bill’s boat prompted us to find Fred, who had the fuse Bill needed to get the electronics back online, and we fished Kashong Point area and northward back to Roy’s Marina to finish out our day, adding only a few perch each time. It was difficult to stay on a bite, even though Bill’s Lowrance LMS-350A graph identified the bottom-hugging perch with amazing certainty. Perhaps it was the weather and choppy water, or just bit of pre-spawn touchiness on the part of the fish. Sometimes we hammer ‘em, and sometimes we don’t.

Even though the fishing was tough, in tough lake conditions, Bill and I enjoyed some very good perch on our lines. I still can’t imagine missing out on this type of fishing every spring!

All in all, it was a tough day for the fishing. Only when we were within 10 minutes of leaving did the winds finally calm down and the sun came out, bringing the temperatures up to the predicted 60s and flattening the water. We loaded back up at Roy’s Marina at 2:00pm. Once all packed up, we headed to “phase 2” of our day – comraderie and grub at Parker’s Bar & Grill in Geneva.

Some nice perch were boated on Fred’s boat, shown here.

Bill and I wound up boating about 15 perch, the largest going probably just over a pound. Fred’s boat (fishing with John and Jay), boated several good perch. We never heard how well Gilligan did, but while we enjoyed the rest of the afternoon at Parker’s, we got word that Chris, Bobber and Jered were nailing the perch out on the lake still! At last word, they had 75 boated and the fishing was hot. Tony (TONY ON ICE) dropped in to say hello to us at Parker’s, and, as usual, had us listening intently and laughing along to his amazing fishing stories.

And so, another NYBass.com Seneca Lake Get-Together is in the books. It’s always a fun day to fish with good friends, familiar and new, and although Seneca didn’t offer up her best to us, absolutely none of would have missed it. Again, it’s the power of the internet and the willingness of ardent anglers which makes it possible.

My deepest appreciation and thanks go out to Bill for taking me out on his boat once again. I know you have been waiting a LONG time to enjoy a day on the water, Bill, and it was, as always, a pleasure to spend a day on the water with you. Thanks also out to Fred, who, as usual, organized the plans for the day.

Tight Lines…

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Posted by Frank J on 04-20-2003 11:53 AM:

Rob please fix pic so it doesn't allow the page to be wider than the top.

Thanks bro!

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Posted by Rob J in WNY on 04-20-2003 12:25 PM:

There.......lowered the widest pic to 550 pixels wide. Still looks good on my system (screen resolution 1024x768). Hopefully won't pose problem for 800x600 users.

Let me know if this is good for ya, Frank, as it will set a precident for all my future image embedding.

Tight Lines...

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Bass Fishing in WNY - A Personal View
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Posted by Frank J on 04-20-2003 12:57 PM:

quote:

Originally posted by Rob J in WNY
There.......lowered the widest pic to 550 pixels wide. Still looks good on my system (screen resolution 1024x768). Hopefully won't pose problem for 800x600 users.

Let me know if this is good for ya, Frank, as it will set a precident for all my future image embedding.

Tight Lines...

all good!

Posted by GANGGREEN on 04-20-2003 04:04 PM:

A few additions.

As always I had fun. Yeah, I got wet and did stupid things with my boat as usual but none of them were life threatening. One of these days you bumpkins will realize that I play the fool just to amuse you.

By the way Rob, I counted when I got home and we had 19 in the box. None of them big but they made a nice snack last night and will provide at least one or two more meals for my family. One of my brothers was down for the holiday with his family and the perch were a hit. Thanks.

As Rob pointed out, we did about as well as we could considering the conditions. Fred and I both moved off the semi-productive east shore to fish the west shore at about noon and payed for it with less productive fishing and worse lake conditions. Oh well, live and learn.

Fred (Once Bitten), Jared and I also got out Friday afternoon for a couple of hours. The lake was even worse Friday than Saturday so we made the 25 mile trip to Watkin's Glen with Fred's boat to try to avoid the wind. We were unable to totally get out of the wind but Fred found us some fishable water with waves pounding into a series of bluff walls. The three of us ended up taking about 15 beautiful landlocked salmon, a gorgeous rainbow that Fred nailed, a big pike that I took and a pickerel or two. It was a thoroughly enjoyable trip with two nice guys considering that conditions were far less than perfect.

As usual the get together was a success. Hopefully Sluggo will post the results of his trip and his secret to success. Maybe he just had the beer goggles on and the perch in his box looked like 75.

Posted by wnybassman on 04-20-2003 07:57 PM:

Glad you guys did OK even thought the weather was not at its best. I know the wind absolutely howled at my house Friday night, in fact it kept me awake for a portion of the night.

Sorry I couldn't make it, but I did manage to get a ton done around the house and boat during the day on Saturday.

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Posted by HugeFish4 on 04-20-2003 08:56 PM:

Rob, as usual excellent report. Holy Mulit-species angling Batman! Terrific!!!!!

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Posted by Bassin Dude on 04-21-2003 06:55 AM:

Nice report Rob!

Too bad the weather wasn't a bit better.

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Posted by Sluggo / NY on 04-21-2003 08:45 AM:

Rob J, Fred, Bill...

Sorry we missed you guys at Parker's! We were having so much fun once the wind let up that we couldn't force ourselves to leave! We did make it there for the second seating around 5:00 and were joined by Jered, Tony on Ice and Fred, who made a return appearance. We actually had a decent day, considering the wind and waves we had to contend with for most of it. We ended up with around 90 perch, the largest weighed 1#15oz. on my "ofishal" scale at home. Bobber gets credit for that one. As usual, we had a great time and enjoyed having Jered along! Again, I apologize for missing the more important part of the outing! Hope to do it again soon! Good Fishing, Sluggo (Chris)

Posted by BuckShotJon on 04-21-2003 10:21 AM:

Great report as usual Rob

Sounds like you guys had a good time. Wish I could have been there. See ya all at the next getogether when that one is planned.

Jon

Posted by black lake bass on 04-21-2003 12:27 PM:

hey rob awesome post .... maybe i'll be there next year ....

al bowmansville ny wny

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Posted by Charlie on 04-21-2003 04:56 PM:

Nice pictures and some good looking perch... Tell me, do you eat those puppies or throw them back?

In the UK (20 years ago) I used to eat the pike and throw back the perch, but I hear they make great eating! Also whats your receipe ?

Tight Lines!
Charlie

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Posted by wnybassman on 04-21-2003 06:28 PM:

Charlie, perch are about the best eating there is!!!

My simple recipe.

crack one egg in a bowl
add some flour
mix
add a little milk or beer
mix more
keep adding flour or milk/beer until you have a batter consistancy
dip fillets in batter
dip fillets in bread or cracker crumbs
deep fry or skillet fry with olive oil
eat

Posted by Rob J in WNY on 04-21-2003 06:39 PM:

Charlie,

Indeed, we had a blast out there!

I haven't eaten fish in a long time (since I lived in Colorado), until this winter! However, the ice fishing bonanza I was introduced to this past winter had lead to many meals of tasty sunnies and bluegills.

I have 15 VERY good sized perch in my freezer now, filleted and ready to prepare.

I didn't really have a recipe for panfish fillets prior to this winter, as keeping any fish was just something I didn't do (because I only targeted bass). Ice fishing changed all that, as one of the most rewarding conclusions to a day out on the ice is the meal which follows.

The recipe I use is the old mainstay, derived from several meals with Noel (wnybassman). Simply whip an egg or two with some milk and white flour, making the consistency between being too runny and impossibly thick. I also add plenty of black pepper at this stage. Toss the fresh fillets in and let them wallow in it, then remove and coat with a bread crumb brand of choice, and place immediately into the hot fry pan with about ¼-inch of oil in it. Fry for just a couple minutes per side - golden brown.

It's possible to fry up a huge meal in just 20 minutes from freezer to dinner table once you get into a groove with it. Serve with cut lemons, tartar sauce or ketchup. Just about any vegetable will do, but greens seem to go the best, such as green beans or fresh asparagus, drenched in butter.

I didn't keep any of the fish from our outing this time, mainly because we didn't really get into them like we did earlier or last year. I gladly donated all my fish to Bill, who made a very long trip to fish, and allowed a place for me on his boat. Plus, spring perch are his absolute favorite target.

Tight Lines...

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Bass Fishing in WNY - A Personal View
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Posted by Rob J in WNY on 04-21-2003 06:39 PM:

HA!

Noel and I were typing at the same time! LOL!

Tight Lines...

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Bass Fishing in WNY - A Personal View
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Posted by wnybassman on 04-21-2003 07:18 PM:

Rob, we have a "knack" for doing that

Posted by labsrus on 04-21-2003 07:18 PM:

I had a good time fishing last Saturday.

Many thanks to Fred and John for allowing me to share the boat with them.

Even though we had rough weather, we were able to land a batch of perch. There were enough perch filets for a meal, notice I said were!

We were also lucky enough to catch a few other fish, from pike to smallmouth bass.

Thanks again, I plan on attending the next NYBASS get together.

Jay

Posted by Jered on 04-23-2003 12:45 PM:

Yum!

Hey guys, thanks as always to the boaters that came out. Without you, we'd be stuck on shore waving. I had a blast out there, nearly falling in the water several times because I was laughing so hard. Despite the wind, rain, and cold, it was a great day.

Sluggo and Bobber kept us on fish all day, dragging the anchor wherever the wind took us. We finally hooked onto something solid underwater around 1pm, and stayed on a school for a good 2 hours or so, right up until we realized we were the only ones still fishing. At that point, we figured 60 - 70 in the well, and Bobber topped off the day with a HUGE Perch, had to push the 2 pound mark. Some others stayed close to us, including a grandfather with his boys that finally got into a school of fish after an hour or so. The kids were pretty psyched when he started pulling them in 2 at a time! The fishing was so good in fact that we almost didn't even come in for beer. Then Sluggo realized that it sould be sacreligious to do so, and we were on our way. What really threw us for a loop was when he drank something other than Bud and ordered Apricot Wheat.

After our tasty beverages and a late lunch, I headed home with about 15 Perch, and so far they have cooked up quite nice. Great to see everyone as always, looking forward to the next one. Anyone up for an early Bass season get-together?

Posted by Sea Jack on 04-23-2003 06:57 PM:

I just got my cable link back up and running, a shot modem.

Anyway, great report Rob, I had a great time on the water and would like to thank Fred for another great day. Jay, Fred, and I were pretty much around fish all day. Pick up one here and a few there, but just never got on a good school.

Parker's wings were very good, and that's from a Buffalonian, and I finally got to meet Tony On Ice. It was only a few days ago, but it seems like ages since I've been fishing . . . I'll have to take care of that tomorrow.