Converse Friday 8/28

[ReelInvestment]

Got my girlfriend to go laker fishing before the rain and wind this weekend. Launched from converse at 1oclock and churned our way off the dock. Ran to NY side set up in 80 fow and headed north. Started picking away at the fish pretty steady considering it was midday/afternoon. Bite died a bit and we wanted to be home in somewhat daylight so we could cover the boat before the rain Saturday. Headed to the vt side south of sloop, caught a couple right off then had to work for them a little. Boats started showing up and we had had our fill with 13 in the boat in only 4 hours. Caught a glimpse of country angler out there as we were picking up. Hailed on the radio but they were busy with a fish! Great to see fellow forum members out enjoying the lake! Hope to be back soon. Want to try for salmon, but seems like the bite may have died off some? Are they moving towards rivers now?
Good luck out there
-Tom

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[Kayak19]

I had a great day out there on Friday too! I was outside converse bay in my kayak from dawn until about 4pm. Landed 15 fish over the course of the day jigging/trolling. Glad to hear you had a solid day too! The afternoon was much better than the morning!

[ReelInvestment]

That’s an awesome day out of a kayak! They must be a lot of fun from a small craft like that! I was thinking the bite was pretty good for the afternoon. I usually find that the bite is best for us around 9-10 am for lakers on the NY side. We havnt fished the flat below sloop too much this season just for the simple fact that I havnt marked as many fish there, and I think they see a lot of gear go by them, and tend to be finicky at times. Plus with me taking a lot of new people out that aren’t pros at running the riggers and “bouncing bottom” it’s nice to set up in a depth and just troll for miles if we have to until we find fish without adjusting depth of our gear much at all.

[Kayak19]

I do really well jigging the flat. Not so much trolling.

[Detritus]

caught a glimpse of country angler out there as we were picking up. Hailed on the radio but they were busy with a fish!

Ah man, sorry we missed you out there Tom. Now that I think about it, I don't think we had the radio on. We always do, but that day was like, "OK, we've got 3 hours total to load the boat, drive to the launch, fish, and be back home have the boat covered and put away. Is it worth it? You're Dang right it is!" Haha. But, some stuff kind of falls through the cracks those trips. We caught a couple out there, had subway, and headed in. Time we'll spent if you ask me.

Been fishing out of our $350 14' aluminum boat a lot this summer believe it or not. I figured out I can carry it on the roof of our van when we tow the camper. I made a front rack for the motor and gas tank. Liam and I put 6 and a half hours on that thing just today on dunmore as a matter of fact. Brody was with us for 2 and a half. I think we've got about 15 days on that thing this summer, haha. Can't believe how much we've used it.

Here's a little pike Liam caught a couple of hours ago.

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Brody lost a straight up alligator right at the boat. Spit the hook. Would have been his personal best pike for sure. That was exciting. He hit two more times after too. But, couldn't boat him.

Actually, today had a few funny events shoreline fishing. We came up on one little girl fishing off of her dock just as she was reeling in a pike like the one above. Her parents weren't prepared for her to catch anything I don't think, so we had to take the fish off of the hook for her, haha.

A hundred yards down the shore, we saw two more little girls playing with a fishing net by their dock, trying to catch little fish or frogs or something. I told Liam to switch to a grub, so we could throw a bluegill in her net for her. He did, and at that moment I hooked about a 4 lb pike. Liam landed it, and we took the hook out.

So, he jumped out of the boat, and dumped the pike in her net, haha. I told the dad to go get mom, and tell her to come look at what the girl caught in her net. We just kept fishing our way away, but noticed that they were very careful to keep the fish under water until we heard them squealing about how it darted away when they released it. Pretty funny.

Anyway, sorry to hijack your report Tom, got carried away.

BTW all pike were caught on spinner baits flying over tall weeds. Bass were coming off of plastic dingers, no weights. Shoreline cover, docks, trees, etc. Bluegill absolutely everywhere, making the bigger ones harder to catch.

Jack

[ReelInvestment]

Haha no worries Jack, it was just great to see you and the kids out there! We have also been out a bunch on local lakes with our smaller boat (a 1989 invader) drift fishing for brown trout and smallmouth with ultra light gear. Lots of fun going back to basics with live bait and light 7’2 rods. Also keeps me fishing solo when I can’t get anyone to go to Champlain with me! Great to hear from you, good luck on the water!

[Detritus]

The Country Angler is launching at Redgate tomorrow, probably fishing this area again about 7:30. If anybody's out there, give a shout on 68.

Jack