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FCS - Erie Canal/Port Gibson 11/9/2008

1.4K views 18 replies 7 participants last post by  jfrancho  
#1 ·
Flower City Sportsmen held an open team event today on the Erie Canal. We launched out of Port Gibson, a.k.a. "Wide Waters."

Nguyen and Pete S. (MasterBaiter) took first with an 11 lb.+ bag of largmouth.

John Franchot (jfrancho) took lunker with a 3 lb. 12 oz. largemouth.

Perry and Kase teamed up again, but unfortunately spent more time planning the wedding than fishing :fishing2:

Pete has pics of both lunker and winning bag.

Congrats everyone - nice to see Nguyen and Pete get some results indicative of their talent.
 
#3 ·
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John, thanks, and congrats on lunker.

The wind was howling in the morning, and while we had somewhat of a gameplan, it was quickly shutdown as Perry and Kase had seemed to have the same vision as us :badmood:.

We insted opted to run down to the canal and upon arrival, we realized we were safe from the wind. Baitfish hopping all over, and a bunch of awesome laydowns, we were really worked up.

As we had already mentioned post weigh-in; We caught our first 4 fish within the first 15 minutes of the day. I was throwing a Storm Wiggle Wart and Nguyen was throwing a Strike King Red Eye Shad in Sexy Shad. Fish continued to blow up baitfish all around us for just about the whole day. We continued, mostly cranking with a pretty consistent turnout of shorts, all of which came on cranks. We had our limit early on and was trying for the remainder of the day to cull out a 1.8oz fish, a bunch more shorts and a few more keepers later, we were able to cull the 1.8 with a 1.9 :laugh:.

Really happy with the way the day went considering neither of us have ever been there. The fish showed themselves to us early on and we stuck with what worked. Fish were caught as shallow as a foot and as deep as 14, slow rolling cranks seemed to get the best reaction.

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#5 ·
Nice fish guys
John, Nice work on the lunker!
 
G
#9 ·
Yeap, we ran up to one of my spot that produced all of 7 fish, 3 was good size keep 2lb class fish the other 2 was 12 dinks.

I was planing on hit the spot you guys started. The start of "wide water" into the canel. As we slowed down past it saw many bait balls, but found 2 other boats over there so, decide to run west to and work our way back.

Red crawdad pattern is what I norm do really good there with, but I had non in the box. I ask John to stop by Wall world before hand but no avail there. Also in the past Yo-Zuri stick cranks was the hot lure.

I found many half dead beat up shad floating around or trying to swim, so I knew the fish was well feed.

Congrats on the wins boys. See yaSunday on I-Ron or Lake Convic.
 
#10 ·
Baitfish hopping all ove
A lot of us reported this, but I didn't see it. Probably because Terry and I banged out about 6 runs on that windy stretch west of the launch. No weeds, but tons of rockpiles. So, did anyone toss a buzzbait into those busting baitfish? I wonder if that would have improved our bag. They might have been there, but with the chop, it was impossible to take note of it.
 
#12 ·
Just wondering. I suspect the same was going on around us, and in fact I thought I saw some blow ups, but when I concentrated on looking for them, I saw nothing. Again, hard to tell if its happening when fishing in 40 mph winds. I'm kicking myself for not throwing a buzzer out anyway.
 
G
#13 ·
Tought to cast, and I was never able to locate them when I knew they were chasing bait around. That's how the canel fishing is. Right place right time. Well feed fish wasn't hitting anything I assume big fish on the FF was Bass that just ate they share of shad.

The lure(crank) we got hit on was extact match to shad, both color and size. get out of that zone and nothing.
 
#14 ·
You know John, that crossed my mind more than once throughout the day, but the fact that we were getting bit quite well on the crank, I never felt it necessary to throw it out. That and the fact that it was DEAD calm in the canal, I normally like a little chop; Also, the way we positioned our boat, I wouldnt feel comforatble throwing a buzzbait, I normally like to fish it parallel to shoreline, cover, and structure.

After we got 5 in the boat, I thought it was time to throw jigs to find a bigger bite, but we couldn't buy a jig bite for the life of us. We continued to throw cranks, and got fish.. It was a mixed bag of sizes, and I just wish I knew what to do to get the bigger fish.. I should have experimented more bottom fishing with worms and jigs in deeper water, or a deeper diving crank.
 
#15 ·
You know John, that crossed my mind more than once throughout the day, but the fact that we were getting bit quite well on the crank, I never felt it necessary to throw it out. That and the fact that it was DEAD calm in the canal, I normally like a little chop; Also, the way we positioned our boat, I wouldnt feel comforatble throwing a buzzbait, I normally like to fish it parallel to shoreline, cover, and structure.
I totally agree with you on your methods. We were in a much windier, choppy area. I'm still kicking myself. Fish the moment, fish your gut dammit!
 
#16 ·
never heard of the flower club, sounds like a fun deal... from what I've read, you guys hit some interesting places... you got opens next fall, get a hold of me... might be interested...
 
#17 ·
The fall opens are mostly about getting out and having fun. They are impromptu, with Perry deciding where on Thursdays, depending on the weather.

FCS is just a small club, about 12 boaters. I reckon its a lot like Outcast Anglers that some of our NYBASS guys are part of. No BASS affiliation, and real simple, just a great group of guys that want to fish and share their knowledge. Since its a team format, it really does help to share your knowledge, since boaters and non boaters are rotated. There really isn't enough money in it for it to be about the money - just enough to keep it competitive.

Pete S. is working on the new website, but you can see the past results if you click the link in my sig.