Crushed the Keuka Lake Trout

  

Nephew Matthew 15 yrs o

Niece Caroline 16 yrs old

A rare and beautiful weekend in February which usually has our family in Mayville NY celebrating the annual Ice Castle Festival.  Well there is little ice on Chautauqua Lake so there is no castle this year.  I took advantage of the warm weather to take my brother, nephew and niece out for a day of fishing on Keuka Lake.  We picked up four dozen shiners at our favorite bait store, the Outdoor Store, and bait handler Jolene.  I wanted to get the on lake trout with the small rigs.

There were three boats on the lake who appeared to be trolling.  We moved around a couple spots and kept losing trout.  It was 58 degrees out and a stiff 15mph wind.  Thanks to a heavy anchor we were able to fish with live bait.  In our last spot we had a two hour frenzy of lake trout hitting our baits.  We kept seven and probably lost 10 more in two hours of fishing.  It is so fun pulling these trout in on ultra-light rods and 4 pound test.

DELICIOUS!!!!

Ready for the smoker

That night I made a brine out of brown sugar, garlic, kosher salt, and oranges .  In the morning I smoke 8 fillets.  I gave two to my brother and one to Johnny-Boy.  The rest I am using today in a seafood chowder I am making.  I am even using the trout skeletal to make the broth from.