Shelburne Bay Surprise Sat 8/10

[Dilly Worm]

I tried trolling Shelburne Bay on Saturday, thinking with all the wind and waves it was a protected spot with good chances for salmon and/or lakers. I spent much of the morning with no luck, trying different streamer flies/dodgers and spoons/flashers on 8 to 10 colors of lead core.

When I finally got a fish on the line in later in the morning it was in ~60 FOW, just north of the "C" buoy, and it felt like a lake trout, which made sense considering I was trolling around 2 mph w/ a speedy shiner and digitroll flasher around 50 ft deep... except when I reeled it in, I discovered I had a big smallmouth bass ! Very surprising to have caught a bass that deep, wondering if anyone else has accidentally caught one that far down ?

Or if lead-core gets stuck on top of the thermocline, which I have heard of but don't really understand how that would happen.

Not sure what the salmon and lakers were doing that day either...

this was supposed to be a lake trout:

IMG_20190810_104737.jpg (108.77 KiB) Viewed 1094 times

[C-Hawk]

I have caught big smallmoth in the middle of the Broad Lake, 90' down on the riggers this time of year. Disappointing when at first you think nice deep water salmon, but soon they come up and reel in like a big perch

[Reelax]

smallmouth, pike and walleye will come from deep trolling this time of year. They are patrolling the deep to find food and they found your set... It is always nice the catch a mix as long as it is not an eel!

Thanks for the report!

[keithm87]

I got an eel last year broad lake 65 down over 90... what a surprise that was, still haven’t gotten the nasty slime off haha

[fishmaster176]

I have caught big smallmoth in the middle of the Broad Lake, 90' down on the riggers this time of year. Disappointing when at first you think nice deep water salmon, but soon they come up and reel in like a big perch

Smallies are great eating, just a lot of work for no salmon. I had the opposite happen when trolling for bass using a Mepps spinner. Caught a 18" silver. Never know what's watching.

[fishy1]

years ago on lake george we caught them 60 to 100 feet down im betting they still do so champlain wouldnt be any dfferent i wouldnt think as champlain is loaded with bass both smallies and big mouths

[fishy1]

I got an eel last year broad lake 65 down over 90... what a surprise that was, still haven’t gotten the nasty slime off haha

keith thats a ist still dont know how you caught an eel trolling and i would never pull an eel in a boat good luck trying to get the slime off .