Out of Coffee on Keuka!

1675 Views 7 Replies 6 Participants Last post by JOHN G, Nov 3, 2003

jiggin-n-piggin

Discussion Starter · Nov 2, 2003 (Edited)

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

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Rob J in WNY

· #2 · Nov 3, 2003

Ted,

A couple years ago, I got into the Finger Lakes Smallmouth bassin'. I've been hooked ever since.

Since Keuka doesn't freeze over on most years, I have heard of bass fishing going on January - yes, for the deep bronze! Someday, I'd love to try dragging on Keuka like we do on Conesus.

Sorry to hear it was a tough day for ya out there. I, too, would probably have stuck with a Smallmouth pattern as you did. And missing coffee for you is probably akin to missing Dramamine on Erie. Oh, boy - I think I can start to relate to that!

Just curious. Did you get a lot of rain during the tourney? It rained all day here in the Buffalo area.......all day, and sometimes rather hard.

Tight Lines...

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jiggin-n-piggin

Discussion Starter · #3 · Nov 3, 2003

And missing coffee for you is probably akin to missing Dramamine on Erie

That's a pretty good analogy!

It was on and off rain, all day, Rob. It was a pretty good shot of rain since the forecast called for "a slight chance of a shower". Yeah, right!:cussing:

I'm not sure why and I can't explain it, but I seem to do better on the Keuka smallies, by casting and retrieving, rather than dragging. It's weird! You can, of course catch 'em by dragging, too, but I get many more by casting. Don't ask me!

C'ya on the water,
Ted

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Kenny C

· #4 · Nov 3, 2003

If you don't mind me asking...........

..............What lures do you use to catch the deep water Smallies and what is it that you are casting and retrieving rather than dragging?

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HugeFish4

· #5 · Nov 3, 2003

Tubes Kenny Tubes

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jiggin-n-piggin

Discussion Starter · #6 · Nov 3, 2003

Kenny,

Not at all! That's what this board is for, right? Ask and yee shall receive.

In both cases (dragging/casting) I prefer a green tube bait on a 1/4 oz. jighead. Depending on the depth I'm fishing and the velocity of the wind, I may go to a 3/8 oz. head. But, 90% of the time I go with the 1/4 oz. When I talk about deep-water smallies, I'm generally in 30-40 ft. but it could be as deep as 50-60 feet. Hope this helps!

C'ya on the water,
Ted

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wnybassman

· #7 · Nov 3, 2003

I guess the fishing was "off" just about everywhere this weekend. The weather was definitely goofy starting about Thursday, with weird fronts passing through. Hopefully the weather will straighten out and the fish will have the feedbag on once again!

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JOHN G

· #8 · Nov 3, 2003

Ted, nice report! that Keuka is indeed one beautiful body of water.....

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