Menagerie of Fish

Jake almost 18

Jake with a pickerel

Headed back out to Keuka Lake, but this time we put out at Branchport.  We whimsically were thinking we might have a chance at some crappie at the inlet as last year around the same time there were monster crappies around.  But the water temperature was already at 60 degrees so we knew they had long come and gone.

Lake Trout #1

Lake Trout #2

We had picked up minnows at the Outdoor Store the night before, but forgot to plug in the aerator so we had to get a fresh bucket in Penn Yan at the Beverage Baron.  This is normally a fine place to get bait.  We always order 5 dozen minnows so we have a pretty good sense of what that looks like, well it was the smallest 5 dozen, by far, that we had ever seen.  When we politely said something the guy behind the counter went off about us challenging his mathematical skills!!!  Outdoor Store definitely gives you a solid 5 dozen minnows every-time.

bullhead-bluegill-perch

smoking trout

The water was unbelievably clear.  Visibility was 40 feet and I never saw so many small-mouth bass in my life.  All day we were seeing 3-5 pounders.  We stayed on the east side of the lake all day.  We sight fished for perch and bullhead....then we would go to deeper water for lake trout.  Needless to say we caught a menagerie of fish.... pickerel, bullhead, perch, bluegill, and lake trout.  That night we enjoyed a big fish fry on the grill and smoked the lake trout.  Shu joined us and we had a great outdoor fresh fish dinner.