Spring Fishing 2023 Perch, Trout, and Salmon

 Early April saw crazy warm weather.  Temperatures were in the 80s for over a week.  Perfect for staying relatively warm fishing on the freezing cold Keuka, Cayuga, and Lake Ontario.

I have been able to get out 5 times this month with close friends and family.  Our first trip was on our 24' Grady White fishing for perch on Keuka Lake.  As this blog has shown we have had banner outings early April on this lake for perch.....like keeping 50 over 12" per group outing....historically.  Well Keuka is a different lake to day than days of ole.  It is well documented about the challenges of this lake with struggling alewives populations and unsuccessful (so far) reintroduction of ciscoes to the lake.  We fished 8 hours....Branchport, the fork, and Hammondsport.  Not only did we not get a perch bite, but we never even saw a perch or minnow in the crystal clear water.  In years past you could see large clouds of minnows and schools of perch.  We inadvertently caught three small lake trout.  Fun to catch on a perch rig, but not very big.  When I cleaned them I found nothing in their stomachs.

Fortunately the next four outings were extremely successful.  Trip number 2 saw us on Cayuga Lake fishing for perch.  As is typical this time of year there were a PILE of boats all bunched up around two spots on the north end of the lake.  They were crushing dinks but we fish for the 12"+ perch so we actively looked for such fish.  We found them in 20' of water, while the masses were all fishing 10-14'.  Interesting observation that perch minnows were found in the perch we cleaned.  I thought only pike were cannibalistic....who knew?!

Huge Cisco

Released Lake Trout

Third trip had us hunting brown trout on Lake Ontario.  April is the hot time to catch brown trout in shallow water.  We launched out of Charlotte and headed east about ten miles to get away from all the other boats.  While it was warm inshore, it was 42 degrees on the water.  We caught four brown trout, a small mouth bass, and a big cisco.  All the fish were gorging on minnows and gobies. 

We thought the cisco was actually a whitefish, but after referencing the internet we determined it to be a cisco.  The trout made for an incredible dinner.

The fourth trip saw Dave, Shu and I return to Cayuga Lake.  This time the fish were in 18 feet of water and we crushed em!  We got our bait from Daves Bait & Tackle near Auburn which is a favorite of ours.  This time I saved the carcasses of 12 perch to make fish broth from and then used the broth to make Caldo de pescado.

In the perch bellies

Yesterday we traveled to Hamlin NY to fish for trout on Lake Ontario west of Rochester.  This time Jessica joined Dave and I.  First trolling line set out hooked a king salmon in the first 5 minutes and in 10 feet of water.  We ended up keeping this king and two brown trout.

Jessica with a king salmon and brown trout

Couple of Good Days on Cayuga

Nice perch Jess!

 Last week I got to spend two days on Cayuga Lake with Dave, Jessica, and Jake.  We launched out of Dean's Cove and fished primarily in that area.  Near the large dead tree on the west shore were the usual 500 boats sitting on an acre of water perch fishing.  I can't stand fishing in tight quarters, especially on a big lake.  We stayed away and brought home 38 perch over 12 inches.  Jessica caught a gigantic perch!  The next day we caught 9 beautiful lake trout in 2 hours.  We caught them jigging in 156 feet of water where we had located a large bait ball of alewives.  I know they were alewives as when I cleaned the fish there were literally 15-20 alewives in each of their stomachs.  

Team Effort

The quality of the lake trout are immensely better in Cayuga Lake than Keuka Lake.  I am sure the demise of the alewives population on Keuka Lake is to blame.  I have only ever found ONE alewive in a Keuka Lake Trout.  I usually find perch minnows or shiners.

We ventured up to the mud lock area looking for crappie, but at 50 degrees the water temperature was still too cold for them.

Jigged up a nice trout

Lake Kipawa Quebec Fishing Trip

The second week of June we decided to do a drive-in trip to Canada.  This year we chose a lake in Quebec called Lake Kipawa.  This is located very close to the Quebec River about an hour from North Bay.  Shu, Jessica, and I headed up on a Saturday.  Jim followed on a Sunday and my Uncle Cam came for the last two days.

Shu with 5lb smalley

We stayed in a cabin that was part of the Chalets Diane camp right on the shore at the north end of the lake next to the Laniel Dam.  Nice thing about a drive in camp is you have good water, hot showers and electricity.  The trade off is nothing compares to the quantity/quality of the fish on a fly in.

Jim with a beauty from the honey hole

This lake is a big lake with lots and lots of islands.  You really have to have a GPS to navigate without getting lost.  I actually have fallen in love with a fishing app called Navionics Boating.  On this lake there was cell service on almost the entire lake so this app has topography and GPS features and for $15 a year it is a terrific app.  Very few weeds, typical Quebec lake with lots of rocks and drop-offs.  One of the prettiest lakes I ever fished.

This year I added Northland Fireball Jigs, stinger hooks, and a bunch of worm harnesses I made.  The fishing was very tough.  The exception was our hosts took us to a honey hole one night. Jessica and I caught walleye, huge whitefish, and smallmouth at desk.  Later Jim caught a beautiful walleye in the same spot.

Jessica w/lake trout

Throughout the week I caught a 28" laker in 5' feet of water jigging a worm w/stinger hook and a 35" northern pike on a homemade worm harness trolling in 15' of water.  I marked lake trout on the bottom of the lake all over the place between 80-120'.  I tried jigging for them like I do on the Finger Lakes, but no luck.

Jim & Shu

Jessica probably caught the most fish, once again.  The lake was beautiful and the hosts were great which is why we might consider a 4 day weekend in the fall fishing.

Nov to April, Catching up on a fun few months

I am just finishing up another long day in San Antonio Texas attending the National School Boards Conference.  I find myself sitting in a comfortable kiosk overlooking the Riverwalk and thought I would close my Sunday off with posting an update on this blog.

Deer camp venison burgers were a big hit again this year with Mr. Flanagan working his magic in the garage and cooking on the Kamado Grill

Since the last posting in November I have really enjoyed my hunting opportunities with the kids.  This was the first time Jake had been home in the fall since high school.  The season was warm and we see saw a lot of mid size bucks 4-8 points.  Jake wounded a large buck on the gas well at the Hedges but we could not find the deer.  Very little blood and it went to the west off the property.  This year the farmer stopped by to tell us we could take deer of the town field next to our house.  He was sharing some incredible data about how much the deer had ravaged his corn fields.  Some fields he said were a total loss.

Jake's 6 pt we buried for a year

Jake shot the only buck and it was a 6 point.  It was his last day to be able to hunt because he had bachelor stuff to tend to....LOL....so we butchered the deer and we buried the skull.  One of Jessica's friend had shown me a skull mount that he made by burying the head for a year.  Jake and I buried the head, wrapped the antlers with foil, and placed car tires over them so as to keep the dogs from getting to them.  We will dig them up in November 2018 and see what we find :-)

Mr. Covel telling Mr. Mitchell how he slayed the evil beast on the Krause property.....hand to hoof combat !!!!

After hunting season Jessica and I had a chance to go fishing on Christmas Eve on Keuka Lake.  The day before Mr. Mitchell and I went to my double secret place for getting oak leaf grubs.  In 15 minutes of hunting them we got about 100.  

Picking oak leaf grubs and fishing with Jessica Christmas Eve on Keuka Lake

I caught this beautiful lake trout on Cayuga Lake.  Dave and I had to take his boat all the way tot he south end because all the launches were unusable due to low water levels.  We found a great bay with a dropoff adjacent to flats so the trout were coming into the shallows to feed.  I am one who likes to use the lightest tackle possible so I was using 6 pound fluorocarbon leaders....big mistake because I lost 6 nice sized fish to broken lines.  Poor Dave got skunked.

Edd Suor's bridge.   Jessica took this picture while the two of us were out looking for antler sheds.  We could believe the water lifted this bridge at least three feet out of the ground and moved it!!!!

Brown Trout from a morning on Lake Ontario with Dave and Shu.  Beautiful day where we fished the muddy shallow water. We caught these guys trolling in 9 feet of water.

Lots of Keuka Lake trout

It has been quite a spring fishing on Keuka Lake.  Early spring fishing on Keuka is, for me, the most exciting. The water is crystal clear and 43 degrees . It is like fishing on an aquarium as you can see so much activity below the water.  There are large schools of perch minnows being chased by various species of trout in the shallows up and down the shoreline.  The trout are extremely active and running along the drop-offs.  The fish are also at their strongest.

Jack with 30" trout

SLOB

I love, love, love catching these 4-8lb lake trout on ultra light rods with light line.  The fight is so much fun.  Almost every trip have kids on the boat and it is so much fun seeing the joy and pleasure they experience pulling in a 30" lake trout on an ultra light rod.  It gets them "hooked" on this healthy sport.  Jessica especially was putting on a clinic this spring.  She is always good for 3-4 lake trout per trip.

She with a nice fish 

I have never lost a trout to a broken line on these light weight rigs.  When I first started fishing lake trout I was using medium-heavy rods with braided line and a 10 pound leader.  I caught fish but it felt like pulling in a "wet boot", as my friend Dave calls it.  On a Canadian fishing trip in the James Bay region I started to experiment with lighter rigs and lines on 40" pike.  I eliminated all the tackle, used very light fluorocarbon line as leaders and made sure the drag was set properly.  I have fond memories of catching a 42" blue pike on 6 pound test.  For Keuka Lake trout I use 6 lb line on the spool and tie a 2 foot piece of either 2 lb or 4 lb test fluorocarbon line as a leader.  I use blood knots and no terminal tackle.  I have yet to lose a fish to break off.

This February, March, and April I enjoyed the company of friends and family on the water.  I recently have been keeping a fishing diary  for the DEC and have caught 27 lake trout in 7 outings. I have never kept such a diary but I am already learning from it  It is a volunteer program and participants are provided other angler diary records form previous years.

Jack, Jessica, Shu and Johnny-Boy

Some of the trout I smoked and made a dip out it for easter.  My brine is a traditional salt, brown sugar, soy sauce, and fruit mix.  I then mix the trout in a mixer with lemon, garlic, sour cream, and cream cheese.  Perfect for  an appetizer.

Only trout caught on eastern fork.  April 14 2017

Jessica puts on a clinic

Super Trout on Super Bowl Sunday

Shu nice fish!

Super Bowl Sunday had Shu and I on Keuka Lake fishing for lake trout.  We used large shiners from the Outdoor Store as we specifically wanted trout that we could cook for the Super Bowl dinner Shu was hosting.  The wind shifted from the south to west late morning with a little snow in the air.  We caught two trout and probably lost 5 more.  Using the small perch rigs makes catching the trout so much fun.  5' rods with 4 pound mono test tied to 6 pound fluorocarbon leaders, no swivels, only hooks and our homemade weights.

One wild and one stocked lake trout

My DIY weights

The color of the two trout we kept were so different that it was the source of much conversation.  We could tell from the split fin of one that it was a stocked trout and the other must have been wild.
 Both of these trout had perch minnows in their belly.

I cooked the trout over low heat on Shu's Green Egg with garlic/lemon butter and Old Bay Seasoning.
Keuka Lake trout are very sweet, regardless of how they are cooked or smoked.  An incredible tasting fish.  We enjoyed the

perch in the belly of the trout

meal with my niece Abbey, Jessica, Bailey, my lovely wife, and Shu's lovely wife.  Plus the football game was pretty amazing too!