frostbite shore fishing for lakers updated 10/31/2017

[Reelax]

Good to meet you at the BBQ the other day Matt!

[fishy1]

11/7/2017 hit the lake this morning with eric already fishing as i got there at 7 am. eric had no hits wind was blowing out of the north and 32 degrees brrrrr. brought some certified smelt for my worm rod. put that out ist and didnt start casting with my rod until after 8 am. i wasnt properly dressed for that north wind. as digitroll said a while later vs a text it was starting to lay down. ron was out in his boat solo. at 8:25 am my certified smelt line took off at a fast pace was out there about 75 yards i closed the bail fish on and a big one then nothing ugh it shook loose. pulled it in with smelt gone and my hook bent . then a few minutes later casting a sharp hit and fish on i land my ist laker shore fishing in frostbite time. had a lamprey attached but came off in the rocks on shore. ugh. the laker hit a rainbow cleo ist laker landed on a cleo in a few years. i then swtiched to a new pearl 3/8 ounce krocodile and had a sharp hit on that at 9:30 am then i had to leave and head north.

[fishy1]

Good to meet you at the BBQ the other day Matt!

x 2 matt

[Controlled chaos]

I agree! Glad to finally meet you Matt! And thanks for introducing me to Jeff! One of these days I would be honored to take you offshore, I'm not the expert on champ but i do guarantee some good laughs and great food! And a few out of the box ideas for shore casting for lakers that work were I'm originally from in the upper peninsula of Michigan. PM me and I can explain the technique.

[Sawyer]

I don't know what it takes to be called a Champlain expert but 17 Salmon and 26 Lakers. That is very impressive.

[fishy1]

11/8/2017 hit the lake again this morning for some shore fishing for laker action at 24 degrees. brought my fish hawk along to check the depth and temperature where i was fishing. it read 10 fow on shore and 52.3 degrees on bottom and at the 5 foot level. fished for 1 and 1/2 hours 0 hits. some canadian freinds showed and i heard they landed some lakers after i left dont know how many or how big. stopped at whallons on the way home and trout crazy was there. he came in and chatted for awhile said he got at least 10 lakers but wanted salmon. he was in his canoe. my freind at home offered me his canoe might take him up on it .

[troutcrazy]

Good to see you today!

I hit the water at 8am, and hooked up right away. I caught plenty of lakers by pulling Honeybees behind the canoe at about 2.5 mph, mostly in 15-20fow. They were a little farther from shore than last time. I also caught a few in deeper water, like 40', using a 3-way swivel rig and heavy sinkers.

Nasty lampreys! Caught one laker today with a lamprey, which I dispatched with a knife. I forgot to mention last time, that there was a lamprey trying to bite my canoe.

Hooked into a big laker in deep water that got away-- I need to bring heavier gear, I think. I could barely move the thing, and I don't know if my net would have held it either.

No salmon, though. Not much happened after you left, fishy1. I think I caught one more nice laker.

The other day I was sneaking in a few casts at lunchtime and I ran into a friend who was scuba diving (apparently we're not the only crazy people on the lake). He said the temperature was 52 degrees all the way down-- he went down to 80 feet.

[fishy1]

Good to see you today!

I hit the water at 8am, and hooked up right away. I caught plenty of lakers by pulling Honeybees behind the canoe at about 2.5 mph, mostly in 15-20fow. They were a little farther from shore than last time. I also caught a few in deeper water, like 40', using a 3-way swivel rig and heavy sinkers.

Nasty lampreys! Caught one laker today with a lamprey, which I dispatched with a knife. I forgot to mention last time, that there was a lamprey trying to bite my canoe.

Hooked into a big laker in deep water that got away-- I need to bring heavier gear, I think. I could barely move the thing, and I don't know if my net would have held it either.

No salmon, though. Not much happened after you left, fishy1. I think I caught one more nice laker.

The other day I was sneaking in a few casts at lunchtime and I ran into a friend who was scuba diving (apparently we're not the only crazy people on the lake). He said the temperature was 52 degrees all the way down-- he went down to 80 feet.

good to see you there today . those hog lakers dont like to come up i would recommend heavier line and medium to heavy action rod. those honey bees catch everything i have been impressed with them stick out you will get salmon there. there are always some nice browns in that area also.

[fishy1]

11/9/2017 hit the lake at 7:15 am with salmon/crazy already fishing . set out a certified smelt and put on a a blue/silver hammered 3/8 ounce kroc for casting. the wind wasnt bad then probably a 1 foot chop but as the morning went on they turned out 3 to 4 feet chops. nothing the ist hour with the kroc and put on a kastmaster 3/8 ounce to cast through the wind nothing on that either blue/silver. then got in my box and found a 1/2 ounce pearl white with a flat white finish on the bottom. 2nd cast a sharp hit and a miss. then about 15 min later a solid hit and fish on and a decent size laker with lots of fight in him. had to land him around a corner because of the big swells made the corner and the line started in towards shore and had some slack and it came off. ugh. looked to be at least 8 lbs. fished another 10 minutes no hits and had to leave. salmon/crazy can only fish about an hour before work and he didnt get any hits.

[troutcrazy]

Even with the big wind yesterday I just had to get out anyway. Mostly I scouted for new spots, did a lot of walking, and explored the NY side of the lake. Fished for a while from shore with no hits, but mostly walked.

Today I couldn't resist going back, even though I suspected I'd be better off in VT with a northeast wind. Sure enough, the spot I wanted to fish in the canoe had big waves even though the wind was mild. I put in anyway, and fished for a little while-- enough to catch one nice laker in 17'. A second laker was following it as I reeled it in. It was too hard to deal with the waves, and a little unsafe, so I packed up. I crossed back to VT on the ferry and fished the afternoon in Converse. No fish.

[fishy1]

11/12/2017 after a day of deer hunting in the adirondack mts with lots of leg cramps hit the lake this morning with salmon crazy (eric) and windknot (nathan) who also made the drive down from montreal . south wind blowing and 23 degrees all 3 were dressed for winter. my 9 th cast with a 1/2 ounce blue/silver kastmaster i was stop an going when i stopped the 2nd time rod stopped and went forward and a release. wasnt sure if it wasnt bottom until it went forward. then later a hit and a miss. that would be it for me here with eric one hit and nathan 0 . nathan was determined though and kept changing lures. then at 10 am or so eric had to leave so nathan i decided to go down to whallons bay to get out of the wind which had picked up. whallons is very shallow so i kept the kastmaster on and nathan put on waders to go out and get his cast out farthur. my 2nd cast a hit and fish on a wild what i think was a salmon in the end of the line and it shook loose. ugh then i had a follow in front of me and a small laker hit my kastmaster busted water and pulled the hooks right out and on its way. that would be it for me as i wanted to deer hunt for a couple of hours on my way home. nathan left for a river and didnt do much there either. not a good day but still fun with the 2 other frostbite forum members. when we left the wind was at 14 mph. put my fish hawk down to the bottom in 10 fow and it was 50.8 degrees . compared to 52.3 friday.
here is eric early morning
nathan early morning

[Gecha (Gerry)]

It looks pretty chilly. Frostbite is definitely here. Hope the bite starts picking up from shore.

[fishy1]

11/13/2107 hit the lake again for some more shore fishing with some snow flurries but not much wind so it was comfortable fishing. fished for 2 hours with no hits and didnt see any fish bust water. had to leave for a appoitment on the way back stopped and saw a small boat maybe 12 feet trolling with a electric motor and he had a double on. they landed both couldnt tell from the road what species they were though. they wernt to far out of casting distance. water temperature 10 feet down 50. 5 degrees.

[fishy1]

11/14/2017 hit the lake again this morning to meet up with eric before he had to work. got there at 6:50 am was getting my rods out of the car and looked down and eric had a laker on ran down with the net as it was a fighter. eric got him in and back out he would go busting water all over the place. after a minute or so eric got him back in and it wouldnt have no part of the net busting water again and i missed it. then it shook loose. ugh. not a real big laker but about 6 lbs . eric then had to work so i stayed and put on a new rainbow uv krocodile with the sure set hooks. at 8:15 am a good hit and a miss. that would do it for me so i decided to drive and try another place farthur up . fished one half hour no hits. im hoping this post spawn for lakers ends soon.

[troutcrazy]

I kind of lost track of days as it's been busy. I think it was Sunday 11/12 that I put the canoe in on the NY side in the spot sheltered from the gentle south wind. Tons of lakers. Most were just a little too far from shore to catch from shore. Towards dusk they seemed closer to shore, and I got some big ones right by the cliffs in about 10' at the end of the day.

I saw a few salmon jumping, and I was able to cast right to them a couple times. I could clearly see the silver. Both times I hooked into a laker right away. Must have been chasing the same bait. Still no salmon for me!

I saw one big fish splashing in the shallows, and it turned out to be a big fat salmon struggling on the surface. Sometimes belly-up, sometimes head-up, it saw me and tried to flee, but it floated back up. I netted it to see if it had a lamprey, but it didn't! It had an old scar, but no visible wounds. It was sad to see such a fine specimen apparently dying.

I've been replacing the treble hooks on my Krocodiles with single hooks. It's much easier to release the fish! I've figured out how to release the lakers without even pulling them out of the water. Hopefully I don't regret it when the big salmon finally bites!

Towards the end of the day they stopped biting, though they were still busting water. I switched to a kastmaster. One thing I like about the kastmaster is the way it falls-- it flutters differently than the Krocs or the Honeybees. Apparently that's what the lakers wanted because "the stop and start" (to borrow a phrase) did the trick-- I've had a couple days where that was the answer.

Yesterday 11/14 I stole a few hours and tried Town Farm Bay. I didn't really know where to look, and since I put in on Lewis Creek, it took me a while just to get to the spots I had in mind. Fun adventure, though! I caught one laker and one pike.