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Avon Anglers 2nd annual "Smallmouth Bonanza" on Conesus Lake is in the books. This is also the 2nd of three "Iron Man Tournaments" they hold in the fall. And the "Iron Man" part lived up it's name today!!
After last weeks tropical upper 60 degree temps at Honeoye, this week it was a tad different. At blast off today, they said it was 22 degrees, combined with flurries in the air and a stiff north west breeze, it was downright brisk!!! I am not sure what the wind chill is at 63 mph, but I am sure I don't want to know
Water temp was 49 degrees.
My dad and I started on a point in the southern half of the lake working the 10-15 foot depths just off the deep weedline. I was dragging tubes , while he was casting and working the tube. After a few drifts, we each had a fish or two in the boat, and a couple other missed bites. That action slowed on us, so we ventured (drifted) to a traditionally more productive stretch. It took nealry an hour to drift to this area, hoping to pick up fish along the way, but it didn't happen. We were a little worried the fish didn't want to play with us. But once we got to the "good" area, we put some mighty fine smallmouth in the boat in short order. We drifted this stretch several times before the fish seemed to shut down on us there. About 2 1/2 hours into the day, and we had most of our eventual weight.
As the day went on, the sun decided to pop out now and then, making the near freezing temps somewhat more tolerable. But the nicer it got out, the less the fish bit. We caught several more smallies throughout the day, and may have culled once or twice more.
We did not weigh a single fish during the day (used a balance beam) so we really had no idea what kind of total weight we had. I knew I had one smallie that was between 4 1/2 and 5, but thought we'd be lucky if our total was pushing 19 pounds or so for our 5 fish limit. Well, the big one was just where I thought it was, at 4.89 pounds, but our guess on the total was slightly off at 21.38 pounds!! WOW!! My dad and I took 1st place and lunker honors.
After last weeks tropical upper 60 degree temps at Honeoye, this week it was a tad different. At blast off today, they said it was 22 degrees, combined with flurries in the air and a stiff north west breeze, it was downright brisk!!! I am not sure what the wind chill is at 63 mph, but I am sure I don't want to know
Water temp was 49 degrees.
My dad and I started on a point in the southern half of the lake working the 10-15 foot depths just off the deep weedline. I was dragging tubes , while he was casting and working the tube. After a few drifts, we each had a fish or two in the boat, and a couple other missed bites. That action slowed on us, so we ventured (drifted) to a traditionally more productive stretch. It took nealry an hour to drift to this area, hoping to pick up fish along the way, but it didn't happen. We were a little worried the fish didn't want to play with us. But once we got to the "good" area, we put some mighty fine smallmouth in the boat in short order. We drifted this stretch several times before the fish seemed to shut down on us there. About 2 1/2 hours into the day, and we had most of our eventual weight.
As the day went on, the sun decided to pop out now and then, making the near freezing temps somewhat more tolerable. But the nicer it got out, the less the fish bit. We caught several more smallies throughout the day, and may have culled once or twice more.
We did not weigh a single fish during the day (used a balance beam) so we really had no idea what kind of total weight we had. I knew I had one smallie that was between 4 1/2 and 5, but thought we'd be lucky if our total was pushing 19 pounds or so for our 5 fish limit. Well, the big one was just where I thought it was, at 4.89 pounds, but our guess on the total was slightly off at 21.38 pounds!! WOW!! My dad and I took 1st place and lunker honors.
