Kensico Struggles and an Incidental Catch

2893 Views 17 Replies 8 Participants Last post by maximus10k, Oct 20, 2003

Mark G

Discussion Starter · Oct 18, 2003

Got out with Ronnie Bass Stalker on Kensico today. We fished the Rye Lake side all the way to the Rt. 22 Bridge. The bass were not cooperating. In fact, they were not present at all. Ronnie cranked up one sickly lookign largemouth that looked like it survived a harrowing experience with a huge pickerel. Speaking of pickerel...a mammoth one came out of nowhere to snatch Ronnie's senko, and promptly sawed his braided line in half. All I saw was a red flash as it took off.

A while later Ronnie's lipless crank got nailed by an overly agressive yellow perch. All the while we are seeing the sonar go crazy in 60+ feet of water with baitfish balls and large fish below them in 40-60 feet. Nothing doing trying to catch them. We threw everything at everything and got nothing else until a fish surfaced right near us. Ronnie was qucik to grab a rod with a Hopkins spoon on it and threw right at the blowup. As the sponn fluttered he got a hit and soon reeled in a healthy Lake Trout! For those who don't knowm Lakers are rare in these parts, as they require deep, cold and clear lakes. They are rarely found south of...well, Canada really. We are lucky to be able to support a population in Kensico. I have hooked into them, but never landed one. Ronnie had never caught one either, until tonight.

This Lake Trout saved our miserable day!

So the Laker saved our otherwise miserable day. We were really disappointed by Kensico today, and the last few fall outings. Fish were nowhere to be found, and while the trout seemed to be enjoying chasing alewife schools all over the reservoir, we were not equipped for it.

Laugh of the day came when I jokingly hypothesized that the bass had not moved up shallow yet and Ronnie replied, sure they have...from 90 to 89 feet.

Mark

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1 - 18 of 18 Posts

HugeFish4

· #2 · Oct 18, 2003

Wow...what an interesting catch. Sorry the day was not more productive. Never caught a Laker before...looks almost like a brookie in that picture.

BassMiesterNJ

· #3 · Oct 18, 2003

That fish would have made my day today, lol.

Nice.

JOHN G

· #4 · Oct 18, 2003

that is a helluva picture!!! definitely saves the day and quick reaction by Ronnie....

Mark: what sonar are you using right now? was it on Fish Id when you saw that stuff on the screen, or was Fish ID off?

might have been a bunch of lakers following an alewife school, again, very interesting!

congrats to you guys for getting out there on a rowboat in that mammoth water at this time of the year......

got_A_way

· #5 · Oct 18, 2003

Thats a real beauty. Congrats! :beerchug:

JOHN G

· #6 · Oct 18, 2003

hey Bob: never got a chance to say, sorry about at the Whaley get together, you not finding the place right away and then having to fish by yourself there, Next season, I will get you on there at a very good time and give you a real good tour of the lake.......

Now: to Ronnie and Mark: how would you like to take all those spoons and everything and throw them at the balky fish on Maho this coming WED???

water should be relatively empty as all the participants in Scul's big contest are not allowed to fish it next week.... I will call both of you guys on MON to see if we can make this happen...

I will essentially be throwing you from one tough lake to another, but, I would love your input and expertise in trying to come up with something over there right now

Let me know if you can both swing that day!!

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Jighead61

· #7 · Oct 18, 2003

John,

Since I didn't make it this past Wednesday (the tree incident), count me in for next week.

Ronnie

basseracci

· #8 · Oct 18, 2003

Mark G,

There are HUGE lakers in Kensico, Gilead and Gleneida...Some have been weighed in at the mid teens !!! Forget about Canada, they ain't rare here in our backyard by any means thanks to stocking programs...

On May 2nd this year we had a 6lber and a 9.6 lber while fishing for smallies on Kensico with jigs...I am just surprised you found him showing his face on top...But at dusk, it is wise to have a spoon tied on for any snipers like that...

Sounds like you guys salvaged an otherwise bad, bass fishing day and you worked for it...That is a very far row...Better get some Ben-Gay for today...

Mark D

Jighead61

· #9 · Oct 18, 2003 (Edited)

The Kensico Curse !!!

It was a pleasure to fish with Mark again. I recently put a boat on Kensico and Mark was kind enough to join me and give me the grand tour. I also had the pleasure to meet two other great guys....maximus10K and Res Dog . Mark and I met with them later in the morning and spent a considerable amount of time fishing together.

This is the third time I'm fishing Kensico and I'm extremely dissapointed with the results. I've never experienced such horrible conditions on any other reservoir, I'm almost convinced there are no bass in this lake !!! I even rowed all the way to the bridge (route 22) where everyone says is the best part of the lake. We fished everything including the large weed flat which I was sure would save the day. It was amazing, there was not a single bass in the weeds, we fished the center, inside edge and outside edge with every lure under the sun....nothing....zero....NADA !!!

The water temp varied between 57.5 and 59.0 throughout the day. An interesting observation was discovering the
thermocline at precisely 25 feet on various parts of the lake....an indication that the lake has not turned over completely !

JOHN: I was using the Lowrance X 87. I always use it with the Fish Id in the OFF position. I'm certain all those fish on the screen were trout in 60 feet of water. I was vertically fishing my spoon in front of their noses....watching it all on the screen....but they were not interested.

I will wait until mid November and give Kensico one final shot with the hopes that it will redeem itself as a prime bass lake !!!

Ronnie

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Jighead61

· #10 · Oct 18, 2003

basseracci said:
Sounds like you guys salvaged an otherwise bad, bass fishing day and you worked for it...That is a very far row...Better get some Ben-Gay for today...
Mark D

Mark, I must have easily rowed 5 miles yesterday. You can't image the pain I'm in today....not even the Ben-Gay and a half bottle of Advil is doing any justice. Even my fingers hurt as I'm typing this reply.

I keep trying to tell myself I'm no longer 20 years old and can't continiue to go on these loooooong rowing missions but you know what it's like, you will do just about anything to catch fish.

Ronnie

basseracci

· #11 · Oct 18, 2003

Guys,

When I heard that Stalker, Mark G, Res Dog and Max were all going out to the east side and heading west on Kensico, I thought for sure that the fish would have been waiting at the boats waving the white flags in a surrender...Guess it didn't happen...I can't believe it...The day looked perfect...

The bastards can't hide forever...Maybe we will find them in Nov...I'll get one other body to come along on my boat and we can try a three boat approach...A three boat skunking has got to be more fun than a two boat one...(lol)...

Ronnie, you want to go out this afternoon, I'll let you ROW !!!...Let's try Ashokan, it's only 8000+ acres...(lol)

Keep Pluggin Guys, It Can Happen...

Mark D

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got_A_way

· #12 · Oct 18, 2003

Thanks JohnG my fault anyway

Thanks John. I had a good time that day despite the wind. I am really looking forward to next year.

I'll have finished the Scilly Gig for Kensico by 4/1/04 :beerchug:. I'd like to catch one of those lakers.

Fish Hard
Bob

maximus10k

· #13 · Oct 19, 2003

I haven't posted yet on our day at Kensisco with Ronnie and Mark G, I was saving it for a full three day reservior post which will follow Sunday. But after we left Ronnie and Mark, Res Dog does it again and nails a 6.1 pounder coming back into Rye Lake. Pictures will be up soon with a full report. Today was a better day on Croton with 10 fish in the boat, again tommorow I'll post a full report. Tommorow we'll be hitting Croton again by the taconic bridges.

Mark G

Discussion Starter · #14 · Oct 19, 2003

Let's do it, John! PM me if you need my numbers. As Ronnie said, we were using his sonar unit, which is a good one and it looked like those fish and baitfish balls were all over the place.

Basserachi, I didn't know about Gilead and Glenida being stocked, but I did know about the Lakers in Kensico. Even with those three lakes, Lake Trout are not easy to catch, especially without using live sawbellies. We are lucky to have lakes that can support Lakers, as 100 foot depths seem to be necessary based on the DEC's choices of lakes to stock them in. Gilead and Glenida are weedy, aren't they? I'm surprised Croton doesn't get Laker stockings. I thought it was the Oligotrophic (clear,cold, mostly weedless and nutrient low lakes) nature of Kensico combined with the deep water that made it a good choice, but if Gilead and Glenida are both weedy (borderline mesotrophic like Croton) then Croton should support them as well. It gets 100+ feet in Croton, just like Gilead and Glenida.

As for the bass, leave it to Res Dog to nail another big fish on a tough day. That guy sure can fish. Where was that bass, Max? On shoreline cover? Off an island? I'm real curious as we found a grand total of one other bass that day.

Mark

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Mark G

Discussion Starter · #15 · Oct 19, 2003

Oh, and you're right about the quick reaction, John. And the choice of lure (hopkins spoon) made all the difference as well. Ho put away one rod and picked up that other rod with the hopkins on it and put his cast right in the strikes zone in 5 seconds flat. Thinking back on it, he earned that fish with his quick thinking and accurate casting under pressure.

And notice the double pickerel glove in the picture! That laker had some nasty teeth and a tough looking jaw. And it was slimy as hell too. Gloves had to go right in the washing machine when I got home!

Mark

maximus10k

· #16 · Oct 20, 2003 (Edited)

Mark it came off a submerged tree on the west shore heading into laudens cove. I'm going to post later about today's venture with him on croton. Res Dog was Mad Dog today and the bass were the victims. 23 bass in the boat not counting pickerels!

Jighead61

· #17 · Oct 20, 2003

Hey Max,

By any chance, did Steve catch that bass on one of his awesome homemade jigs......how deep was the fish ?

Ronnie

maximus10k

· #18 · Oct 20, 2003

Hey Ronnie, It was with his homemade jig in about eight feet of water.

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