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Those of you who know me, also know that it's not a good sign when, during a tournament, I'm out of coffee before the weigh-in.
My good friend Bob and I fished a small 9-boat tourney on Keuka Lake today. It was a great day to be on the lake, with light winds and moderate air temps. Keuka is a deep and gin-clear lake, and this time of year means big smallmouth. I fished there 3 weeks ago and we had 18.15 lbs. of smallies (2nd place) and I figured that it could only have gotten better since that time.
After a beautiful and comfortable ride down the lake, I pulled into my first spot, and within 10 minutes I felt that unmistakable "tap-tap" of a deep-water smallmouth. The fish hit right under the boat in about 35 feet. I swung the rod and set into an unwilling smallie. A short time later, a nice 4 lb'r was in the boat. Right on schedule, exactly where he/she was supposed to be. Oh baby! They're on! Wrong!
That was about the highlight of the day for us! We spent the next 6 hours, working my favorite smallmouth haunts on Keuka, but had only another 3 lb'r and two "rats" to show for the effort. My partner did have another good solid fish on, but it came unbuttoned. With an hour and a-half, we made the run back to the weedbed near the launch, to look for a green fish, just to have a limit to weigh. Bob did pop about a 2 lb'r in the closing hour, to give us our 5th fish for an 11lb 0oz. limit. Not much, but hard-earned.
At the weigh-in we found out that it was, in fact, a tough day, but someone always gets'em. Even the "Silver Fox" had a bag of green fish.
Now, in response to Meg's nice note, I'm sorry to disappoint you!
The winning bag was 17+ in smallmouth, and the tournament lunker was a 5 lb. 4 oz. bronzeback. After that, there were mixed bags, like ours.
But, this time of year, Keuka Lake means smallmouth! Sure, there are always some largemouth weighed by the guys/gals that are real good at finding those pesky largemouth in cold water, or those that absolutely refuse to give the deep-water smallies a try. We didn't have a very good day today, but I've had many more good days than bad days with Keuka Lake smallmouth in November.
C'ya on the water,
Ted
My good friend Bob and I fished a small 9-boat tourney on Keuka Lake today. It was a great day to be on the lake, with light winds and moderate air temps. Keuka is a deep and gin-clear lake, and this time of year means big smallmouth. I fished there 3 weeks ago and we had 18.15 lbs. of smallies (2nd place) and I figured that it could only have gotten better since that time.
After a beautiful and comfortable ride down the lake, I pulled into my first spot, and within 10 minutes I felt that unmistakable "tap-tap" of a deep-water smallmouth. The fish hit right under the boat in about 35 feet. I swung the rod and set into an unwilling smallie. A short time later, a nice 4 lb'r was in the boat. Right on schedule, exactly where he/she was supposed to be. Oh baby! They're on! Wrong!
That was about the highlight of the day for us! We spent the next 6 hours, working my favorite smallmouth haunts on Keuka, but had only another 3 lb'r and two "rats" to show for the effort. My partner did have another good solid fish on, but it came unbuttoned. With an hour and a-half, we made the run back to the weedbed near the launch, to look for a green fish, just to have a limit to weigh. Bob did pop about a 2 lb'r in the closing hour, to give us our 5th fish for an 11lb 0oz. limit. Not much, but hard-earned.
At the weigh-in we found out that it was, in fact, a tough day, but someone always gets'em. Even the "Silver Fox" had a bag of green fish.
Now, in response to Meg's nice note, I'm sorry to disappoint you!
But, this time of year, Keuka Lake means smallmouth! Sure, there are always some largemouth weighed by the guys/gals that are real good at finding those pesky largemouth in cold water, or those that absolutely refuse to give the deep-water smallies a try. We didn't have a very good day today, but I've had many more good days than bad days with Keuka Lake smallmouth in November.
C'ya on the water,
Ted