Late Fall "Structures"

[Registered Kayak]

I can attest to the shallow water Laker fishery. Late 90's into early 2000's my buddy and I would fish the NY side each Halloween. We stumbled upon the fishery by accident when we lost temporary power in the wind and drifted over a flat with Sutton's trailing the boat. We hooked up two Lakers on the drift in 5' of water, then under power tried to repeat our success. Here is what we found with several trips targeting these shallow Lakers.

1) Fall cooling and turnover already started with a few morning frosts.
2) The best fishing for us occurred with a steady northwest to northeast wind creating top water structure (waves - 10 knots with 2-3 foot chop). This allowed the Lakers to feel safe in the shallows and bright sun.
3) Sandy to small pebble bottom located next to adjacent deep water.
4) Current nearby

These Lakers were mostly 8 lb + fish that I assume were there to spawn (caught mostly females). Our best area was typically covered up with them and provided a hook up every drift. You read correctly, we drift and cast as trolling in those conditions met with limited success and we found these same areas mostly vacant in bright sun and limited wind. We did not find bait on these flats nor did we find salmon/cisco in these locations. This further makes me believe they were pre-spawn/spawn. Bait, along with small salmon (17" and under), small lakers (20" under), and cisco's were holding over deep water from the surface to 30'. Rooster Tails and Cleo's were far and away the most productive attractors with darker colors producing larger fish. They hit like freight trains and fought great on 8 lb spinning tackle making runs along with fighting wind during the north/south drift. I would encourage catch and release of these fish if they are indeed spawn females.

Rarely did we encounter fish below 6 lbs, we had an 8 lb average, that included a few fish up to 14 lbs. As the size has improved the last few years, I would expect someone in the know to encounter a few high teen's fish.

Hope this helps someone score a great day!

WISDOM right there! spot on too. planer board is the ticket for sure!

[fishy1]

that explains my catching those nice lakers fishing on the shore. i have detailed my trips there and posted it in my log book and your post is right on. they are fighters in the fall and like you said hit like a freight train. one of things i did check on with your post was the wind. i did the best even when it was sunny in 2 to 3 feet waves. when the lake was still and sunny the lakers were spooky and had to work for our lakers and they were on the smaller side not real small but smaller than i caught in the windier conditions. thanks for the great info posted it in my log book.

[tamiron]

Sharing is a wonderful thing! You guys are all doing great!!! Keep it up!! Thank you./ Jim

[Hairbone]

great info

[fishy1]

landed 3 late this afternoon and kept one to try and eat again. filleted it and it was a male with sperm in him. had 7 smelt in him also. lots were busting water 5 to 10 feet from shore but no hits . went over in the little deeper water with a sandy bottom and pebbles and that where they attacked my lure. its late november and still spawners there and lots busting water. dont get that but sure fun to see.

[Registered Kayak]

Fishy1 ill be going out again tomorrow and use my planer board with a db smelt on a couple shoals before it gets nasty with that south wind. Will post the results, my lakers over here in Burlington arent hanging out much in the shallows. they are entertaining to watch when they are around.

[fishy1]

Fishy1 ill be going out again tomorrow and use my planer board with a db smelt on a couple shoals before it gets nasty with that south wind. Will post the results, my lakers over here in Burlington arent hanging out much in the shallows. they are entertaining to watch when they are around.

i went back up this morning and had a great day take a look at my post. the visibility wasnt that great so i didnt get to see you out there. saw one boat trolling south of me but it was a big one. hope you slammed them.

[Registered Kayak]

Fishy1 ill be going out again tomorrow and use my planer board with a db smelt on a couple shoals before it gets nasty with that south wind. Will post the results, my lakers over here in Burlington arent hanging out much in the shallows. they are entertaining to watch when they are around.

i went back up this morning and had a great day take a look at my post. the visibility wasnt that great so i didnt get to see you out there. saw one boat trolling south of me but it was a big one. hope you slammed them.

I just read it. You have lakers under your thumb haha. The kastmaster ws what i used to catch my brookk trout this year in some stremas and ponds. I should try trolling those.
I tried to stay close to shore today, worked the broadlake near queneska island and etc. stayed with the contours and caught 19 salmon!! they were rom 14-17" today. all great hook sets with no bleeders about 13-25' down on just about everything. i used speedy shiners in rainbow trout/wonderbread, DB Smelts in black/green, and then some perch painted spoons, and smelt crank bait, streamer behing a dodger, and i tried using the house key lure just because they bit everything but the key and the smelt crank.
caught one laker off the bottom that was 25" and fought every inch of that!
i am starting to mark some extremely large contacts below the surface but cant get them to bite. maybe huge salmon?
was too rough today to use my cheapo planer board haha.

[fishy1]

sounds like lots of cookie cutters there. those bigger marks are fewer than the cookie cutters so they are harder to hook into. the right presentations and timing you will hook into a 20 inch salmon so stay on them. i have been staying on those lakers and i am bound and determined to land a beast. i know they are there i have seen them and hooked into a few. received a pm a few minutes ago a guy told me he landed 2 14 lbs lakers not far from me. he was casting out of a 12 foot jon boat in 15 feet of water. good luck in the morning and keep me posted. my wife said i can go in the morning for a couple of hours.

[Lazybones]

I just want to chime in here and say that this might be my favorite thread of all time. I fish mostly in the Sea and have never targeted lakers but this thread has fired me up to have a go at finding some of these fish in the shallows.

Thanks for sharing.

[Registered Kayak]

Went out today in the nasty wind wit the wife. Found nothing for millions of youngin perch and i tried trolling the shoreline wit my best baits but there was just so much forage in my usual area that those big ole lakers were not interested. Even the planer board couldnt tempt them. Marked some bigger fish in the 40-50' range away from the shore. Just couldnt really do anything but mainly focus on not taking a 4-5' wave across the beam. so went back to launch area to try for shallow salmon/lakers but got nothing, was just nice going out with the lady. last she was out in our 14'er it was on Waterbury reservoir in the summer. Got a good video of trolling in 3-4'ers haha. How did you guys do if you went out?

[fishy1]

Went out today in the nasty wind wit the wife. Found nothing for millions of youngin perch and i tried trolling the shoreline wit my best baits but there was just so much forage in my usual area that those big ole lakers were not interested. Even the planer board couldnt tempt them. Marked some bigger fish in the 40-50' range away from the shore. Just couldnt really do anything but mainly focus on not taking a 4-5' wave across the beam. so went back to launch area to try for shallow salmon/lakers but got nothing, was just nice going out with the lady. last she was out in our 14'er it was on Waterbury reservoir in the summer. Got a good video of trolling in 3-4'ers haha. How did you guys do if you went out?

mark check out my post shore fishing for lakers and you will see i had a fishing day like you. those waves were nasty.

[yankee roller]

Bonus fish can be taken in the prop wash this time of year even if you are targeting them 25' down. I've witnessed the cookie cutter salmon swim into the wash and around the eddy created by the boat on the surface when visibility was good. One trick is to rig a rod with a 1/4 to 3/8 oz keel sinker, then several feet of leader with a trailing Bee. Colors 560, 564, 575 and 592 all seemed to produce for us. Drop the sinker out about 10'-12' and set in a holder near the transom. The Bee will run 3' to 4' down near the wash and 18' back from transom. Another option to rig same is the Harry. Make sure the drag is properly set as they will hit hard at that short distance even if they are cookie cutter fish. That bonus rod produced better when the water was calmer and sun dropped out in the afternoon (after 2:00 pm) for us. Hatch, Ligonier and Jones Points often held those fish. If on VT side, try north of Orchard Point.

FYI - Pumpkin Reef can hold some of those shallow Lakers this time of year if you don't travel out to Four Brothers and are looking for other area's to target them.

[fishy1]

is anyone fishing port kent area close to shore. seems like the laker bit should be hot there to.