My main strength as a guide is on warmwater species, specifically Bass.  I enjoy chasing both Largemouth and Smallmouth Bass.  While fishing for bass, we may run into some great Pike, Pickeral, Walleyes, Sheepshead or Panfish.  All of these fish are great species, and provide their own challenges.  

The area that I focus my guide efforts is Central New York. Oneida Lake and Skaneateles Lake are my most central waters. However, some other area lakes offer some magnificent fishing opportunities.  Places like Otisco Lake, Onondage Lake and the Seneca River all have some wonderful fishing, and great scenery. 
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Tues 9/6/11 I checked in on Skaneateles Lake today. Summer patterns are still holding steady, even after the crazy weather we have had over the last two weeks. There were a few fish up shallow willing to eat reaction baits like Topwaters and Jerkbaits, and still lots of fish grouped up out deep that fell prey to a dropshot. I expect September fishing out there to remain strong until we get a big drop in water temp and the fish spread out a bit more. I have quite a few 1/2 and full day options open the next couple weeks. Come enjoy some late summer/early fall fishing!

Fri 8/19/11 The bite on Oneida remains a bit tough.  There are lots of fish around, but are moving fast on schools of roving bait.  

Mon. 8/15/11 Today I had the pleasure of guiding David and Ryan for a full day on Skaneateles Lake. We had originally planned the trip for Oneida, but with the weather conditions and state of the bite between the two places, decided to make the switch to Skinny. We had very overcast conditions for much of the day, with spurts of rain mixed in. The T-storms held off though, so we were able to make the most of our fishing time. If I had to title this trip I would call it “Props and Drops”. The guys got the day started fast by whacking a half dozen quality bass on a propbait. We used both a Dying Flutter and a Devil’s Horse propbait. I think the propbait is on of the most under-used topwaters, especially for smallmouths. It is easy, exciting and effective on aggressive warm-water smallmouths. Once the topwater bite quieted down, we proceeded to make the rounds on deepwater humps and breaklines with the dropshot. We fished between 19-30ft deep with the dropshot. We had cooperative and very nice size fish at nearly every stop. On the day, I believe we had 5 fish over 17 inches, with the biggest being a bruiser 20”, 4lb even bronzeback! When dave was fighting that fish, we all thought he hooked a carp because it was pulling so hard and refusing to come up. It was an amazing fight! These guys did an excellent job with both the topwater and dropshot, and were rewarded with some awesome fish!

Sat. 8/13/11 Another great morning was logged on Skaneateles today. Jeff and Jake came out for a morning half-day trip, and we had a great time. Jake is about to leave for college, so the father/son team wanted to get a day of fishing in before the semester started. We had a great morning of dropshotting up some nice smallmouth. The average size was down a touch, but the fish were very active in biting, and also put up some great fights. We mixed in a little shallow spinnerbaiting as well, with some chasers and hookups on that too. Most of the fish seemed to be in the 21-29ft depth range, as has been the case for the last few weeks. As I was stowing my net to wrap up the trip, I told the guys that it was a perfect time to get a bite on the last drop of the bait…and by gosh Jake caught the biggest one of the day right then and there! It was a fun way to end a great morning of fishing.

Tues 8/9/11 I checked in on Skaneateles again today. The bite is still strong out deep, with lots of smallmouths to be had!

Wed. 8/3/11 This morning  I had the great opportunity to take out a family of anglers from Maryland on Skaneateles Lake.  Joe, Hilary and daughter Jordan joined me for a half day trip. Jordan is only 6 years old, but got out of the gates quick by dropshotting up an AWESOME 18 inch smallmouth.  She did a great job of hooking, reeling and landing this brute nearly all on her own.  Mom only had to help out a bit by holding the rod, because this fish had Jordan's rod PINNED to the gunnel! It was a great thrill when we netted that brute! Joe wasn't far behind though, hoooking up with his own fiesty smallmouth.  We moved around a bit, and got into even more fish that wanted our dropshots. The magic zone seemed to be from 25-29ft. deep. This is prime dropshot territory.  Later in the morning, Joe's rod laoded up with a fish that I caught a glimpse of down deep.  When you see a fish 15ft down and it looks big, just wait until it makes it to the surface!  Once we netted this fish, it was high-fives all around as we got a look at this fat smally that was nearly 20 inches long! On the day, everyone on board got into fish.  We had both smallies, rockbass and perch come aboard.  It was an awesome way to spend a summer morning!

Tues 8/2/11 Today John and John joined me on Oneida Lake. I will call one Bow John (he fished on the front of the boat), and one Stern John (not because he is serious and short tempered, but because he fished from the back deck).  These two gentlemen were great guys to have on the water.  They were positive, upbeat, and really good at learning new techniques. These are all ingredients in the recipe of fishing success.  Unfortunately, the fish weren't very cooperative.  We are in the middle of a very challenging time on Oneida.  The hot crawdad and early hot schooling bite is really off. Bow John did manage a solid keeper on his 2nd or 3rd cast.  It was a very fat 17 inch fish that faught super hard.  We netted it and had some grat pictures with the rising sun.  We went for quite a while through the day though without any more takers.  We bounced around a lot, got on some diving birds, marked lots of bait and fished really hard, but we went much of the day without a sniff.  Towards the end of the day, we had some fish schooling, but they would only follow the rattlebait.  We made one more move late in the day, and Stern John capitalized on a solid largemouth on a rattlebait yo-yoed over the grass. The fish was fat and had some awesome color on it. It was a great way to wrap up an enjoyable day on the water.

Thurs 7/14/11 (am) This morning I had the pleasure of guiding Rick and his son Josh on Oneida Lake.  We started the day quick with Josh putting a nice smally in the boat within the first twenty minutes.  He did a great job learning the feel of the tubejig, and how to properly work it over the rock point we were fishing.  The fish fought so hard and had so much energy, it made me look like a serious amateur with the net! We made some moves to other areas when the bite went quiet, but had little action.  On our third area we moved to a deep rock bar.  At the tip of the bar weren't many bass...but it was stacked with walleye! Rick managed to boat two and Josh put one of his own in the boat.  These fish will be relased later....to the grease! As we were fishing this morning, we kept our eye out for birds working over schools of bait.  The calm conditions must not have fired up the food chain, though, because there was little schooling activity happening.  We decided to make a pass through the areas I was catching fish in yesterday, even if there weren't any busting the surface.  We could see the bait on the sonar screen, but had trouble firing up the smallies we were seeing on the screen as well.  Josh had a few follows of his rattlebait, and we saw a few fish streaking up to the surace, but overall it was pretty quiet.  As we were about to try one more area for the morning, Josh's rod bent in half as a smally smoked his rattlebait!  We got an awesome leap and a solid fishgt out of this nice fish before he landed it.  I was a great way to cap off a fun morning on the water!

(pm) I had Jim join me for an afternoon trip on Oneida as well.  We ran some deeper rock areas to little avail first thing, but really wanted to both see if we could get the schooling smallies fired up.  At about 2pm, the wind started blowing out of the West, and we saw birds starting to work schools of bait.  Low and behold, the smallmouths TURNED ON! We had multiple groups of fish busting the surface, and busting our rattlebaits! For the next two hours, Jim hooked and landed a LOT of fish.  The sizes ranged from 14 on up to a beautiful 19 inches.  We experimented with retrieve speeds and cadences, but it didn't seem to really matter. Some fish bit at the end of the cast, some fish bit right under the boat.  You could basically say it was a feeding frenzy from about 2-4pm. Do you know of a better way to spend a sunny summer afternoon?!   

Wed. 7/13/11 Today I made a scouting trip to Oneida Lake.  I started mid-morning, and fished until the wind/storms pushed me off the lake mid-afternoon.  It took me a while (like three hours) to get my first fish in the boat.  I was trying new areas, and also trying to expand on areas I know are holding fish.  What was exciting, though, was I had my first bird chasing- fish schooling experience of the season!  I am sure many of you have seen on TV when saltwater anglers follow birds to breaking fish, be them Stripers or Bluefish or Dorado.  We can also do that here, on a smaller scale, with open water roaming smallmouths.  I watch for Terns or Seagulls diving on bait, and then roar up to them with the big engine and fire out casts with a spinnerbait or rattlebait if its rough, or a Pop-R if its calm.  This proved to be the main tactic of the day.  I can't even count how many fish I hooked up with (many threw the bait on the first leap), but I was able to put a whole bunch in the boat.  It was a lot of fun, and should add another dymanic to this summer's fishing.   

Mon 7/11/11 I guided Greg today on Oneida Lake. We got an early start out there and got on some great smallmouth right from the get-go.  We had water temps in the high 70's, and a west wind that would pick up and die off through out the day.  Our main tactic today was dreagging grubs on main lake bars that had good, solid, rocky bottom.  What was pretty neat was how many walleye and drum we also managed to put in the boat.  Greg also got a lesson on dropshotting, and was able to put a couple quality smallmouth in the boat doing that in deep water.  Our fish had a nice overall size, ranging everywhere from 15-19 inches!

Thurs 7/7/11 I made a scouting trip to Oneida today.  I wanted to check out some offshore areas that have been tough to fish lately due to high winds during recent rips.  During the summer, little wolfpacks of fish will group up around offshore grasspiles and humps.  I usually try a topwater over the top, then work into the grass and around the edges with a tube or grub.  My first stop had all the right pieces, but it took some time to get my first bite.  I ended up getting the smallies to bite on a small tubejig and also on a medium diving crankbait.  The smallies really clobbered the crankbait.  I think it is key for the water to be a bit murkey (like we have now with the summer algae blooms) for the smallies to get on the crankbait.  I moved to similar areas, and had some great results.  The average size of the smalllies this season has been excellent! I was also treated to some bonus walleyes on the crankbait. 

Fri. 7/1/11  Bill from Syracuse joined me on Oneida today.  He wasn't able to start early, so we go going mid-morning, which didn't seem to matter to the fish.  Bill has been out with me in seasons past on Oneida, but it has always been during the pre-spawn. We made a point to check out areas adjacent to where we fish earlier in the spring, and try to follow the seasonal movement of the fish.  We found fish in the 7-13 ft range on hard bottom and grasslines.  Bill did most of his work with a green pumpkin tube jig.  We also checked out some deeper flats, bars, and wrecks, and Bill was able to convert some awesome fish, including one 19" pig on a dropshot.  It was an great day on the water!

Thurs 6/23/11 Today I wiggled onto Oneida Lake in between the thunderstorms to do a bit of scouting.  I wanted to find some more areas similar to those that were producing over the last week.  I was fortunate to find one on my first stop! I graphed a good looking rock hump and threw a bouy over.  On my third cast, I whacked a smallie, then on my 6th, whacked another. This is pretty unusual, but I was happy for a quick start on a day where the weather was pretty unpredictable.  I worked around the hump for a while and put some awesome fish in the boat.  I was even able to land a strong drum, which I always enjoy.  How many fish do you catch that croak at you when you net them?  Exactly! I hit a couple other areas, and hooked a couple more fish, but was unfortunatetly pushed off the lake when some big thunderheads rolled in.  Today was a great example of how follwing current conditions and a prominent active pattern can get you bit across a whole body of water.

Tues 6/21/11 I had the pleasure of hosting Louis and Jake for a half day trip this morning on Oneida Lake.  This father-son team is up on vacation from North Caralina and wanted to give Oneida lake a try.  We hit the water at 6:30 to pretty choppy conditions.  The wind coming out of the east stirred the lake up pretty good.  It was one of those days  where having the fishing chairs to sit/lean on came in very handy!  We hit some shallow rock/grass lines early, with little success. We moved to a shallow point and tried to get some smallies to come up for a Pop-r, but again, coudldn't get much going.  I decided then to move out to a bit deeper water.  We pulled out the spider grub rods and got ourselves on a deeper rock point in about 11-14 fet of water.  The guys got the hang of dragging the grub pretty quick and were rewarded with some awesome action for the next hour and a half!  These two southern boys put the hurtin' on some awesome Yankee smallmouths! The fish came from the edges and on top of the point.  It was pretty clear that a good drag through the roughest rocks would get you bit.  The smallies were strong and FAT.  Frankly, these were the best looking post-spawn smallmies I have seen in the lake.  We wrapped up late in the morning, and were happy to get some awesome Father-Son photos holding some of the day's catch.  

Wed. 6/15/11 Today Buster and Danny joined me from New Hartford, NY.  These two great guys came out with me two years ago on Oneida, and we did another full day trip this season.  The day started out strong with Buster nailing some nice smallies on a topwater.  They crashed his Zell Pop the way that gets all of our blood flowing!  The surface bite was short lived today though, so we moved out to deeper water, and hooked up with some fish, but ended up dropping them, which was a bit of a bummer.  We moved again to a shallow flat/grassline and got another fish to eat a tube.  The fishing was proving to be a bit slow, but there was just enough acton to keep us focused.  At about mid-day we made a move for some largies.  We tucked into a bay and skipped YUM Dingers up against shoreline cover.  We got some largies to play, but it was the rockbass that stole the show.  Those spunky little fellas were all fired up! After making some passes though the bay, we moved back out to a rocky flat to drag for some post-spawn smallies.  The waves kicked up pretty big, but we were able to put a few more strong, chunky smallies in the boat before we wrapped up for the  day.  These two gentleman are great fun to have on the water, and I appreciate them coming out with me again this year!

Fri 6/10/11 I had the pleasure of guiding James from Houston, TX today.  He was in town with his family, and wanted to get out on the water and catch some bass on Skaneateles Lake. I was happy to oblige and did he ever catch 'em! We are in the middle of the major move of fish to the shallow flats on Skaneateles.  The water temps are between 55 and 60 degrees at the surface, and many of the fish are hitting beds, or getting ready to set up on them.  Certain areas of the lake had spawning fish, while others were more pre-spawn.  We used a variety of soft plastic craws and creature baits while site fishing.  It is funny how different bass will react to one lure near the bed, but will ignore others.  Those who think site fishing is super easy, are probably dealing with a pretty small sample of fish.  Not only that, but smallmouth tend to bed a bit deeper than largies, so having a trained eye can really help.  James did a great job presenting lures while site fishing.  The pre-spawn fish were willing to chase an erratic moving XCalibur Xt3 twitchbait.  James figured out some good rythms that the fish reacted well too, and was rewarded with a whole buch pre-spawn smallmouths.  Sizes for the bass ranged everywhere from 14 inches up to a whopping 21 incher! Great Job James!

Sun 6/5/11 Today Jeff and Bill joined me for a half day morning trip on Oneida Lake.  We started the day with overcast conditions and a chop coming out of the east.  Water temps were hovering around 65 degrees. It didn't take long for these two guys to figure out how to fish a tubejig.  Within a few minutes they were already hooking up with some quality smallmouth.  By the looks of the fish, and how they were eating, I would say that much of the spawning activity is already done on Oneida.  The fish were keying on a green pumpkin tube with a little bit of metal flake in it.  The guys alternated between a 3/16 and a 1/4 oz head, depending on how deep we were fishing.  Most of the fish came from 2-5 feet of water with a mix of cobble rock on the bottom.  If there was a grassline, most of the time we were on the inside of it.  Bill had the hot hand early, but Jeff caught his way up on fish numbers as the morning progressed.  Around 9:30 am, the wind died and the lake slicked off.  Even though the guys were still catching on the tube, I encouraged one of them to try a topwate after seeing a couple swirls on the surface in the distance.  Bill did and was rewearded with some nice busts of his Pop-R on the surface.  The fish were not totally commiting to the topwater, but Bill did hook and land a nice smally on the Pop-R (the first surface fish of 2011).  Right at the end of the day, Jeff added a couple more fish by dragging a small soft plastic craw rigged on a jighead.  It was a great morning on the water with two nice guys.  They boated well over a dozen smallies, and some rockbass and pickeral to go with it.

Fri. 6/3/11 I used an open day today to do some scouting at Skaneateles Lake.  We have had a few straight days of solid northernly winds, and it was pretty clear that much of the warm surface water was blown down the lake.  Generally in the spring, the northern portion of a lakes is warmer, but today was hardly the case. Today the northern portion of the lake was a frigid 48 degrees! Moving down the lake I found much more seasonal temps in the mid 50's. I wanted to see if there was any spawning activity starting, which there wasn't.  I found fish suspended on moorings and under moored boats.  I also had a few fish lying near boulders and over some cobble rock.  I caught them on a mix of baits, including Xt3 Twitchbaits, Booyah Spinnerbaits, Tubejigs and a dropshotted finesse worm.  The spinnerbait did a great job in the rougher water, while the other baits were a bit more effective in areas more protected from the wind.  We should see solid shallow water fishing over the next few weeks on Skaneateles Lake.

Thurs. 5/26/11 Skaneateles smallies have (finally) showed up on the flats around the perimiter of the lake.  We are seeing fish hanging around cover like boulders, mooring blocks and the occasional sunken brush.  We are still in pre-spawn mode out there, but will have some fish hitting the beds shortly.  Water temps at the north end of the lake are in the upper 50's. Expect solid fishing out there on this beautiful lake for weeks to come.  

Sun 5/22/11 I hate to admit that I was blown off Oneida today. A little bit of extra scouting and "new spot" research was the goal of the day. I showed up there early to stiff east winds (a hard easterly is TOUGH on this lake). I gave it a shot out there for a couple hours, managed one FAT smally, then decided to pack down to Onondaga.  I was dissapointed to find few active fish out there.  This lake has been challenging the last couple seasons, and with today's lack of activty, I can see another tough year to come.  I look forward to getting back out on Oneida once it settles down a bit :-)

Fri. 5/20/11 Today I guided four folks from PA on Oneida Lake.  Our plan was to take two out for the morning trip, then come back to the dock, and take the other two out for the afternoon.  The morning crew was the sibling team of Johnathan and Christine.  We blasted off into foggy but calm conditions.  Throughout the morning we hit a bunch of different shallow rock flats and loose grass edges.  The surface temp was right around 60 degrees.  Johnathan was throwing a mix of tubes, jerkbaits and flukes.  Christine was doing most of her work with a crawdad colored Bomber 4A.  We had nice results on a mixed bag of fish.  We landed everything from smallies to pickerel to drum and rockbass.  One of the most interesting parts of the morning was the little schooling action we saw in the slightly stained water that had some baitfish in it.  I don't remember ever seeing smallies busting bait this early in the season, but they were today.  Johnathan had one absolutely swallow his jerkbait when he casted in the direction of the boils.  

The afternoon team was Matt and Jeremy.  These fellas were boyhood friends and took the opportunity to come up to Oneida the the rest of the crew.  Neither of these guys gets out fishing very often, but they were a quick study on how to fish a tube, jerkbait and spidergrub.  Jeremy had the touch with the bass, landing a few nice smallies right off the bat.  We hit a lull late in the day when the wind picked up, but managed a few other species before we had to head back in.  

Oneida is in a little bit of a transiton phase.  The first group of spawning smallies are getting on beds, with another big group to soon follow. I personally like when one group of fish is in post-spawn, and other are still getting locked on. Solid fishing should continue through the coming weeks! 

Mon. 5/16/11  Today I took another scouting trip to Oneida Lake.  The weather conditions were significantly different than my trip there last week.  Today we had extremely overcast conditions, a southwest wind, and quite a bit of rain throughout much of the day.  The surface temps were still in the upper 50's.  The coolest water I found was 57.5, and the warmest was about 59.5. The reaction baits again seemed to be the ticket.  I caught most of my Smallies on a crawfish colored XCalibur Xr50 rattlebait, and an old-school Rebel Wee-R also in a crawfish pattern.  I worked both baits pretty deliberately over the rocks.  I got most of my bites as I popped the baits off bottom.  The half-dozen or so Smallies I landed were very healthy and were fighting hard. I also had my first big leaping smallmouth of the season today.  Another neat part about this time of year is how many different species are up in shallow water.  I was treated with a nice walleye (dinner) and a bunch of pikeral as well.  It may have been cold and wet out there today, but the fishing was still great.

Wed. 5/11/11 I made a scouting trip over to Oneida today.  I launched early in windy but sunny and warm conditions.  I had the goal of checking on both Smallmouths and Largemouths.  The windy conditions made reaction lures the best option for the smallmouths.  I started with the new Bomber 4A Real Craw series in the "Ditch Craw" color.  I got on some nice Smallies right off the bat.  I also managed some Pickeral on a rattlebait.  The fish were up on the rocky flats like usual this time of year.  I bounced around a little bit checking on some good pre-spawn smallmouth areas, with good results at most of them.  Around noon I decided to get out the big stick and go check on some largemouths.  I tried to find some warm, slightly stained water to pitch some jigs and plastics too.  I got into one cut and put the hurtin' on some nice largemouths.  These fish will hopefully stick around for a while, but could move out once they spawn in the next couple weeks.  We are in the midst of a great pre-spawn bite on Oneida, and I encourage you to contact me to experience it!

Mon. 5/9/11 Today I guided Bill from Syracuse on Otisco Lake.  Bill has been out with me for the early season bite before, and enjoys throwing jerkbaits for the mixed bag of Largies and Smallies.  We hit the water at 7, to glass calm conditions and a favorable 52 degree water temp.  We headed for the northern section of the lake, and the mid depth flats that the fish get up on in the spring.  Bill used a "Timmy Horton" Sig.Series Bomber Long A to do most of his damage for the whole day.  We used an aggressive, rip retrieve followed by a 1-3 second pause.  Some fish hits subtly, while others nearly pulled the rod out of your hand during the pause.  Most of the bigger fish on the day were Smallmouths.  We had fishing rangeing from 15-20 inches.  The 20 incher was a pristine fish, and one that will be tough for  Bill to top the rest of the season!  As the water warmed throughout the day, we moved shallow to try and flip up some largemouth.  We had little luck in the trees and bushes, but did catch some small largemouths on shallow cranks and jerkbaits a little ways offshore.  We had an awesome day on the water and I look forward to our next trip out!

Tues. 9/28/10 I made a run to Skaneateles Lake this morning to check on the smallmouth bite.  It still seems that the summer pattern out deep is holding steady. The big schools of fish will likely be breaking up soon as the water cools and the baitifish spread around.  This is a good thing and bad thing...it allows for more techniques to be used, but the fish aren't grouped as tight. Either way, the bass bite is great, with lots of rockbass, a few perch and maybe a crazy rainbow trout crashing the party too!

Tues 9/21/10 This morning I had the privilege of guiding Tony on Oneida for a 1/2 day trip.  For you folks who read my reports regularly, Tony was out with me for a couple days in June, and experienced the first (awesome) schooling action of the season.  Today, though, would prove to be much tougher fishing. We were greeted with an east wind from the start of the day.  Areas that were holding fish on Saturday were vacant today.  After bouncing around a bit (literally and figuratively), we made it to an inside grass line/rock flat that was holding a few smallmouths. Tony's first fish came on a Spinnerbait, the faithfull Booyah HD in Kentucky Magic color, in about 3 feet of water.  We circled back through the area, and Tony hooked up again with a nice smally that engulfed his football jig that he was dragging through the rocks. Another fish followed up to the boat as well. After trying another area, we bailed on the smallies and went to work on some pitching and flipping techniques that Tony is in the process of learning. I enjoyed it a lot to show Tony some mechanics that will undoubtably help his fishing in the future.  

Sat. 9/18/10 I made a trip over the Oneida this morning to scout for some upcoming guide trips. I was happy to find a few groups of fish on both underwater points and some grasslines who were willing to eat both a grub, rattlebait and spinnerbaits.  Much like I have learned though, these fish are known to wonder around a lot, and may not be home even a couple of hours later.  The fish are definitely starting to transition to a fall pattern.  I am seeing some more smallmouths back in on the inside grasslines, areas that will pull in baitfish as the water cools and the fall rains arrive.  I expect the bite to improve as the season progresses. 

Fri 9/10-Sun 9/12 I spent two days prefishing for, and one day competing in the final NYS Bass Federation event on Oneida this weekend.  We had varying conditions all three days.  

Friday was cool and cloudy in the morning, and it got colder as the day went on.  We had east winds pretty much all day.  The bite was tough to say the least.  I managed 5 bites in the first hour, but then endured loooong gaps between fish the rest of the day.  The fish I cought (in a couple areas) were relating to grasslines in 7-9 feet of water. I got bit on Spinnerbaits, Rattlebaits and the Grub.  The fish were pretty aggressive that first hour, but from then on it was a grind.  I bounced around a lot throughout the day, trying to both repeat the morning's pattern and also try new stuff.  Overall, I would say it was a slow day, but the size of the fish was decent, about 2.75lbs a piece.

Saturday was an example of how different conditions can be from one day to the next.  I fished today with my father, which was a lot of fun.  The morning was clear and very cool.  We were wearing our cold weather gear and knit hats to start the day.  I definitely needed a tissue to wipe my teary eyes and running nose once we got to our first area!!  The air temps quickly rose though as the sun came out and shone bright throughtout the day.  We both hooked up right off the bat, my father on  Super Spook, and myself on a Tubejig.  We were fishing an underwater point in about 13 feet of water.  Happy with the quick bites, I made a point to get out of that area and save it for the next day.  We continued to another stretch of mixed rock and grass, and picked up a couple more mid-size fish, about 2lb'ers.  My dad switched back and forth betweent he spook and the grub, as I tried baits like the Devil's Horse prop bait, the Rattlebait, and the tube.  I wanted to check out a grassline thad had been holding fish the previous few weeks, but nobody was home.  We moved out to open water for the afternoon, trying watch for birds and find some schooling fish. The lake by this time had gone dead calm, which was nice, as I seems like the last month has been windy on every one of my outings.  We found some fish busting bait, and caught some on Zell Pops, but the fish didn't seem to be grouped up too tight.  Instead of groups of fish busting the surface, it was more individualized, which was interesting. After a while of chasing busting fish, we headed back to the ramp and ended the day. 

Tournament day was a challenge to say the least. We were greeted with stiff Southeast winds and rain in the morning that made running and boat control a bear.  It was never dangerous, but tough.  My first coupld areas from pre-fish didn't pan out, so I picked up and made a run east to the big flat that we fished the day earlier.  My non-boater and I worked this area for about four hours, landing four fish. It was a grind. A few other tournament competitors were also in the area, catching fish at about equal (equally slow) pace.   The fish seemed to want a very heavy tubejig.  They wouldn't touch a tube unless it was rigged on at least 3/8oz head, which was quite heavy for the depth we were fishing. I also tried my usual football jig on a heavy head in the area, but the tube profile was much more successfull.  I mixed up some colors, but Melon Pepper with Purple flake seemed to be the best.  Some fish bit on the initial fall (leading me to believe some were suspended), while some hit as I popped it off the bottom.  I made a few moves looking for the schooling fish from the day before to add to my bag, but nothing much else happened.  It was a frustrating day, leaving me a scant 2lbs out of the money.  I learned some stuff though, which is alwasy good moving forward.  

Mon. 9/6/10 I made a midday scouting trip to Skaneateles today.  The gusty winds and mixed up weather kept some of the boat traffic down, even on a holiday weekend.  The conditions, though, didn't seem to affect the bite in any negative way.  I made my rounds checking some usual haunts, and also sought out some new/expanded on existing areas.  The dropshot was the ticket today.  The fish seemed to be eating the minnow imitating plastics a little better than the perch colored worms/creature baits.  I got most of my bites in 25-35 feet of water around the fine grass that grows in those deeper zones.  I didn't spend much time up shallow, mostly because I was having too much fun whacking smallmouths, rockbass and perch in deeper water!  

Tues. 8/24/10  This morning I had the pleasure of guiding Carl and John on Skaneateles Lake.  We hit the water around 7 for a 1/2 day trip.  Over the weekend, we had record setting rains, and for once in my life, Skaneateles had some stain to it.  For a lake that is usually ULTRA clear, there was a slight milkyness about it, which was kind of interesting.  Unfortunately, I don't think it helped the bite too much.  While we marked lots of fish on some deep offshore humps and flats, getting them to eat was a little challenging.  The guys did put some smallmouths in the boat pretty quick, but then were left with rockbass grabbing their line We moved to a shallower point and tried a mix of tubejigs, topwaters and spinnerbaits, but there were no takers up shallow.  Lastly, we made a move to the breakline of a mid-lake point and John got a nice smally to gobble his dropshot and provide and excellent fight all the way to the net.  With the water clearing throughout the week, I think the bite will pick up well.  

Thurs.8/19- Sat.8/21/10  I spent the last three days fishing on my own.  I was participating the the BFL tournament on Oneida Lake.  These events provide some great competition in regional one-day formats.  Both Thursday and Friday (pre-fish days) had similar conditions; sun, slight breeze and biting smallmouths!  I spent Thursday fishing the eastern half of the lake. I found some good quality fish on deep, scattered grasslines.  They would take a variety of baits, including rattlebaits, walking topwaters, and small swimbaits.  These fish were clearly suspended in the grass, as there was little activity on bottom dragging baits like tubejigs and grubs.  
On Friday, I spent most of the day probing the western half of the lake.  I found two different patterns.  One was the normal rockpile/shoal fish who would eat tubes and grubs, and the other was very deep, suspended fish that would eat a dropshot.  As usual, the deep suspended fish were around clouds of juvenile perch. I was quite confident in my chances of cashing a decent check on Saturday's competition day.  
Saturday, however, brought a totally different set of conditions.  From blastoff until the end of the day we had steady and hard east winds.  These winds whipped the lake into a frothy, rough, nasty place. I was able to get around to many of my spots (Thanks Ranger Boats), but was unable to get many bites.  My shallow shoal fish only produced a couple bites, the grassline fish didn't eat at all, the the suspended deep fish were also uncooperative.  I could still see the suspended, deep fish on my graph, but I just couldn't get them to bite, no matter what baits I swapped out to.  I was very dissapointed in my finish, but I did learn a lot, and look forward to passing that info on to anyone who comes fishing with me!!

Fri. 8/13/10  Today's trip was a variation from the fishing routine of the last few weeks.  I made a trip up to Redfield Resevoir with Jim today. This is a reservoir that flows out to the Salmon River and Lake Ontario.  Some folks refer to it as Salmon River Resevoir.  It is a great place to fish.  The scenery is great, with hills and trees and all sorts of birds.  Being a resevoir, it also has quite a bit of hard fishing cover, like bushes, trees and laydowns.  There has also been a pretty good resurgence of coontail grass, which was neat to fish.  What was also great about this trip was how many different lures the fish bit.  We caught largemouths on a Buzzbait, a Snag Proof Frog, and a Craw; and we caught smallmouths on a dropshot, football jig, rattlebait and Pop-R.  The overall size of the fish is pretty small, but the number of bites and the spunkyness of their fight was great!

Thurs. 8/12/10  This evening I made a trip over to Oneida Lake as a host boater for the Salt City Jr. Bassmasters tournament.  I enjoy getting these kids on the water.  Many of them are very skilled and very versatile anglers.  I am also always impressed with their sportsmanship and their comradery with their fellow bassmasters. We had a little action, but overall the bite was tough. We did manage a few largemouths on a topwater frog, and also a smallmouth on a shoal in about 12ft of water. My Jr. partner fished hard, and we had a fun couple hours on the water.

Wed. 8/11/10 I made a scouting trip over to Skaneateles Lake this morning.  I make a point to try and stick with the bite so when you folks get on the water with me, we can be on fish sooner rather than later.  I found the deep fish to be holding to their pattern from the previous week. Most fish were between 25 and 35ft deep, hanging around schools of small perch on the deep humps and flats around the lake.  I was also able to get into some shallow fish using green pumpkin tubejigs and walking baits like the XCalibur Jimmy Walker and the Heddon Spit-N-Image.Skaneateles lake is a great option right now, no matter if you want to get out for a full or a half day of fishing!  

Fri. 8/6/10 I guided Dave and his son Dylan today on Skaneateles Lake.  They are from the area and joined me for a morning of bass fishing.  Unfortunately, Dave is recovering from shoulder surgery, so the fishing was all done (and done well) by Dylan.  I enjoy teaching kids how to fish, and encourage parents to get their kids on the water as much as they can.  After a quick attempt at some morning topwater action, we promptly switched to the dropshot over deep humps, flats and breaklines.  Dylan did an awesome job of learning the technique.  Soon after we started, Dylan was keeping his weight in contact with the bottom, and properly working his little watermelonseed colored finesse worm.  Due to his proper technique, he was quickly putting some awesome smallmouths in the boat.  The best depths were in the 28-32ft. range.  The bass were keying on small perch, so the little green worm did the trick.  It was awesome for me to watch Dylan load up his rod, then see the line scorching for the surface as the bass would break water.  Dylan put some great 14-20 inch fish in the boat, including one that was pushing the scale at a whopping four pounds! It was an awesome morning on the water.  

Wed. 8/4/10  This morning was spent on Oneida Lake with Assem and Jihad.  They are both experienced and versatile anglers from the Syracuse area.  I was excited to show them what Oneida Lake is all about.  Unfortunatley, the bite was pretty tough!  Our main action came in the choppy water on the north shore, with Assem landing a solid Largemouth on a Booyah HD spinnerbait. The fish smoked his bait and ripped drag out more than any largemouth I have ever seen.  I thought he hooked into a 20lb carp!  Both of these guys picked up on the many techniques we were using today, including dragging a tube, a grub, a jerkbait and a little bit of topwater.  Oneida has been a little tricky lately, but the bite is good when you encounter a school busting baitfish.  I am excited to get back on the water with these guys on a day where the fish cooperate a bit more.  

Tues 7/27/10  This morning I guided Gary and Garrett on Oneida for a 1/2 day trip.  Garrett is serving on the air base in Rome, NY and his family was up visiting from Oklahoma.  Gary makes his way around many of the lakes in Oklahoma and Texas, even some of the now famous lakes like Lake Falcon and Lake Fork.  Gary started off fast. On his second cast of the day a  perfect 18 inch smallie CRUSHED his Spit-n-Image.  I am mad that I was looking the other direction when it hit, and all I experienced was the sound of crashing water, not the sight of the strike.  Following the first fish, we had a period of little activity.  Throughout much of the morning, we had fish swirl, pop and peck at our topwaters, and refuse follow up baits.  The fish were clearly in a negative phase.  As the water warmed later that day and throughout the week, I expect the bite to pick back up to where it was last weekend.  

I would like to publicly thank Garrett for his service to our country.  

Mon. 7/26/10 Mike and Danny joined me for a morning trip on Oneida today.  They are both accomplished anglers from Maryland, and wanted a change of scenery from their usual tidal waters of the Potomac River.  I enjoyed having them on, because I had a chace to pick their brains about how they attack the grass, tides, creeks and mats of the Potomac.  The fishing was pretty slow.  We had a solid cold front roll through over the weekend, and surface temps had dropped from 77-78 degrees down to 72-73.  We also were in the middle of a full moon period. That combination often makes for a grind out on the water. The guys did, though, put some fat smallies in the boat.  Most fish were caught on football jigs, drug over rock humps and along grasslines in 9-11 feet of water.  

Sat. 7/24/10 Skip and Gary joined me on Oneida today for a full day trip.  They have neighboring houses/cottages on the north shore, and wanted to learn how to catch some of the bounty of smallmouths that roam in their "backyard".  We had water temps ranging from 76-77 degrees, with the weather changing just about every hour.  We had heavy clouds, rain, bright sun, small breezes, big breezes cycle through at least once, if not twice throughout the day.  The first couple hours were a bit slow, but once these two guys got the hang of dragging a football jig over the rock flats, they proceeded to put a hurtin' on the fish.  Both Gary and Skip managed to put some nice smallmouths in the boat, including a couple between 17-21 inches.  

Both of these anglers had a great attitude while learning the techniques, and should definitely be able to go out on their own and whack some good fish!

Sat. 7/10/10 am Bill from Wilkes Barre, PA made the trip up to Oneida Lake today.  Bill is a solid fisherman who was looking for a change of scenery from his usual Eastern, PA lakes.  We had cloudy, misty conditions in the morning as the back end of the night's big storm front passed through.  Bill had some quick early action "walking the dog" with a topwater bait.  That bite didn't last long though, and we had to keep bouncing around all day.  The surface temps were in the low 80's, and the winds were pretty solid and consistent out of the west for the whole day.  As the sun came out, the tube and grub bite picked up. Each spot we hit, Bill would pick up a fish, but usually not more than one.  As the day went on, we saw some bird activity, and we tried to find some schooling fish, but most of the bait that the birds were diving on didn't have any bass under them, which was strange.  Overall, Bill did a great job with a variety of lures, and managed to put a half dozen nice smallies on the boat.
Sat. 7/10/10 pm Brad and Jim met me at the dock after I dropped off Bill, for an afternoon/evening guide trip.  We fished from the mid-afternoon until dark. They came up from Knoxville,TN for family events, and wanted to get on the water and see what these Yankee fish are all about! They were in for a serious awakening!!  The wind was still blowing pretty good out of the west, and the sun was up high and bright.  After hitting one main lake shoal with no fish, we made the move to a big rock flat with some little sweet spots that I have discovered over the years of fishing Oneida.  These two anglers proceeded to put on a football jig dragging clinic with the smallmouths!  Both anglers were amazed at how many fish were roaming this flat totally gorging in both baitfish and crawdads.  I am almost hesitant to write how many fish they caught, as it is not the norm, but they boated well over 30 quality bass.  They were both amazed at how strong and healthy these Oneida Lake smallmouths are.  I was excited to see them get such a good taste of what upstate, NY fishing can be.  

Saturday was a great day to be on the water with three very good fisherman. 


Thurs 7/1/10-  I am fortunate to be good friends with Capt. John Gaulke of Finger Lakes Angling Zone quide service.  John is the premier multi-species guide on the Finger Lakes, and his teachings are why so many anglers in the area are now vertically jigging for Lake Trout.  I had the opportunity to help John with a Laker jigging trip on Seneca Lake out of Geneva.  I took Matt and Scott out on my boat for the morning trip.  We found most of the baitfish and aggressive Lakers in 65-90 feet of water.  Most the fish bit on the reel up back to the surface, and only a few came on the jigging.  Shades of pearl and white paddle tail swimbaits were the lure of choice rigged on a 1oz jighead.  John's boat also had good action, as we all worked together to try and keep everyone on fish.  

Thurs 6/17-Sun 6/21 I spent this past weekend. on the south end of Lake Champlain, launching out of Ticonderoga, NY.  I was participating in the NYS Bass Federation event on Sunday, and got up there early to do some scouting before the event.  For those of your who aren't familiar with this lake, it is a a huge body of water that makes the border between NY and Vermont. I break the lake up into three sections, the southern section (from South Bay north to Crown Point). The mid-Lake (Crown point north to Plattsburgh), and the north section (Plattsburgh north to Rouses Point and Canada).  For this event I stayed in the southern section of the lake. 
The southern basin is relatively shallow, stained water with LOTS of grass.  It is populated with lots of Largemouths, and also fish like Northern Pike, Gar, Perch, Bluegills and some Walleyes. 
Throughout much of my practice period I was able to catch largemouths on shallow running crankbaits, spinnerbaits, buzzbaits and Pop-R's.  The water was still a touch cool, around 67-69 degrees. The fish were suspended in the grass, which makes them tough to catch on vertical lures like worms, jigs and creature baits.  As the water warmed late saturday and into the tournament day on Sunday, I noticed that bite I had discovered in pre-fish was falling apart.  The water had creeped into the low 70's, and I needed to make a switch to my area and tactics.  I decided to tie on a topwater frog and get back into the thick grass. I knew the sunfish and bluegills were getting active in the grass mats, and with the warming water, the bass would soon follow.  It was rewarding to know I was right.  My non-boater and I proceeded to take our slow, unproductive tournament day and turn in totally around in the final two hours of fishing.  We both had over a dozen blow-ups on our frogs, and were able to put a bunch of them in the boat.  My final weight was 14.28lbs for the five fish limit (just under a 3lb/fish average).  It was a good start to the tournament season.

ps. I didn't see Champ.....yet.

Mon 6/14/10 Today was a really neat guide trip.  I hosted Al for a morning half day trip on Oneida.  Al was staying in a cottage on the north shore of the lake for much of the week, and wanted a primer on how the lake fishes, and some good areas and ideas to try out.  We had a goal of catching fish (obviously), but we also bounced the lake a bit to see some productive areas to fish once our trip was over.  Al is a very good fisherman, and can work a soft jerkbait with a touch like I have rarely seen.  I think am going to refer to Al from now on as the Flukeman.  We hit some shallow points first thing in the morning, with little success.  We moved offshore to some main lake humps and bars, and the fish came up great for his pearl fluke.  It was calm but overcast, and I think the pearl color really gets them fired up under the lower light conditions.  The best depth seemed to be from 9-12ft, with mixed rock and grass.  Al boated some sweet smallmouths all the way through them morning, with most fish being in the 16-18 inch range. Al was a lot of fun to share a boat with for the morning.

Tues. 6/8/10  This morning was day two with Tony and Barb on Oneida.  We decided to launch a little further east on the lake, and fish some areas in the mid-lake section.  The air temps were again very cool, and the west wind had hardly let up from they day before.  The main lake was whitecapping from dawn until the time we got off the water....but that didn't stop Tony from putting on an absolute smallmouth clinic!!!  
Today was a day of schooling, busting, thrashing, swirling and crashing smallmouth action.  The first point I pulled up on had some schooling activity, and Tony hooked up on one of his first few casts.  This proved to be the main tactic of the day.  We kept our heads up looking for the birds busting bait, then hustled the Ranger over so Tony would cast in on the swirling fish.  Sometimes he would get bit right away, sometimes we had to work an area around for a few minutes, wait for the bait to get pushed up again, and then whack a few.  Tony alternated between a Xt3 jerkbait, a Pop-R, an XCalibur Jimmy Walker and also a tubejig.  
One of the most incredible tactics of the day was using the boat engine to stir up the baitfish, which would then activate the gamefish.  If the schooling activity slowed, and the birds dispersed, I would crank up the motor, idle around in big circles, and the school would get fired up again.  I have read about this tactic, but this is the first time I had ever practiced it.  What a neat deal!
At one point in the day, Tony had a smallmouth busting his Pop-R and he hooked up.....then by the time I went to net it, we were astounded to find TWO bass on the same bait!!! That's right...a double on one lure!!!! What a trip!!! On the day, Tony landed between 15 and 20 awesome smallmouth.  It was a fine way to spend a summer morning.  

Mon. 6/7/10 Today I was joined by Tony and Barb on Oneida Lake for a half day morning trip.  They joined me last year on Skaneateles, and decided to make a trip up from PA to fish Oneida this year. After a weekend of stormy, cold weather, the water temps had dropped about 3-5 degrees across much of the lake.  We also had a pretty steady west wind.  We started on a main lake ridge, casting tubes and grubs over mixed rock and grass. Tony hooked up on a few nice smallies. They are definitely putting the feed on, as the fish are fat and spitting up crawdads and minnows as you fight them back to the boat. As the wind picked up, we decided to head for some shallow, weedy west end bays.  Tony went to work with a 3/8oz. buzzbait and picked up a nice post spawn largemouth and a a few pickeral.  After getting our fill of the shallow water, we decided to head back out onto the main lake and fish some shoals adjacent to the river channel.  Tony picked up a few more nice smallies dragging his tube around the rocky flats.  The fish all looked great, and were fighting hard. 

Fri. 6/4/10 What a day on Oneida!  Today was one of those fishing days that you wait all winter long for.  Bright sun, calm winds, and HUNGRY FISH!  I had Gordon out for a full day today.  He is a novice angler, but after today, has a great working knowledge of Tubejigs and Pop-R's.  Why you ask? Because the smallmouths were gobbling both of them up!  We launched mid-morning, with just a ripple on the water.  Surface temps ranged from 71-74 degrees.  We focused most of our attention on mixed rock size bottoms, and also some rock/grass mix areas.  95% of fish were post-spawn. We did see a couple still hanging around beds, but most that were caught were spawned out. You can also usually tell the smallies are post spawn when they will chase a topwater, but only sometimes eat it. A few fish were hooked in the side and tail today when they came up and slapped at it. Unlike the previous two weeks on Oneida, the fish really preferred some flake in the tubejigs.  We experimented with a mix of green, red and gold flake tubes over a base of green-pumpkin, and they all worked well.  Some fish were caught while the tube was on the bottom, and some were caught while the tube was falling on the initial cast.  Either way, after not fishing in years, Gordon managed to put at least ten quality fish in the boat, all raning from 13-19 inches. What a great day!

Wed. 6/2/10 Today Art and Christine joined me for a full day on Skaneateles Lake.  This couple lives in Jersey, but wanted to come enjoy this pristine lake and the smallmouths it has to offer.Today was day where you stop counting how many fish you caught, because keeing track gets too difficult.  We started out sight fishing with soft plastic craws and dropshots.  Art was able to land some great quality fish this way (up to 18 inches). Once the wind picked up, we bounced around quite a bit and Art busted out his signature bait, a micro size spinnerbait. Art brought this lure along, as he knew the smallies in Skinny would like it.  They sure did. He caught a whole mess of fish on this little spinnerbait. They widely ranged in size, but the action was non-stop.  Chrisine got in on the action too with her small jigworm combo.  It appears that the spawn in about finished on the lake now. We saw surface temps from 64-68 degrees, and most fish we caught looked spawned out.  It was a great day on the water, and I look forward to fishing with them again in the future.  

Mon. 5/31/10  First, I want to thank all of the soldiers who are serving, or have served this country.  Thankyou!

My father and I hit Skaneateles and Otisco today.  We put in about a half a day on each body of water, just trying to stay in touch with the fish so when you folks contact me, we can have a productive day.  It seems like most of the spawning activity has passed on Skaneateles.  There were still a few fish around beds, but most were already vacant.  With the very warm temps for the last ten days, and a full moon, many fish hit the flats, did their thing, and then backed off.  We did find a few sightfishing today, but most of the fish came by targeting suspended fish around overhead cover, like floating docks and moored boats.  The fish hit a variety of baits, including tubes, craws and jerkbaits.  The quality of the fish was great, with most averaging about 16-17 inches.  

Otisco was a little tough.  With the holiday and nice weather, boat traffic was high.  Any dock pattern was shot, seeing that about 50% of the homes had folks using their docks.  We did manage a few fish by texas rigging plastics around weed clumps and holes.  There were still a couple fish on beds, but most spawning activity appears to be done.  

I think Skaneateles and Oneida are the two best options in the area now for consistent bass action.

Thurs. 5/27/10 I had a great trip this afternoon with Andy and Sal.  These two young men showed how great a late afternoon trip can be.  Sal and his family are up from GA for a family reunion, and took the opportunity to get out on the water with his cousin who lives locally.  Once Andy got out of school for the day, we hit Onieda.  Much like yesterday, we had clear, warm water conditions, between 68-71 degrees.  The breeze would pick up then die out throughout the evening, but overall, it was very pleasant weather.  Both of these guys had little experience throwing a tubejig, but by the evening's end, had the technique down well.  Much like yesterday, we focused on clean rock/sand flats for transitional fish.  Sal had the smallmouth touch today, landing 6 fish, all between 14-17 inches. Andy had a knack for getting pickeral to bite his jig.  He put 5 in the boat, plus a fatty rock bass.  Both of these young men really learned how to properly drag their tube, and sense subtle bites.  If any of you folks have been thinking about slipping out of work early and getting a 1/2 day trip in during the afternoon/evening, then the fun and successfull trip these two took tonight is a fine example of why you should!

Wed. 5/26/10  Today Eric joined me for half day morning trip on Oneida.  Eric is best known for being a member of the 2008 World Series Champion Philadelphia Phillies.  Not only can Eric play just about every position on the diamond, but he can also fish! It didn't take us long to get into the smallies up on the rock flats.  With the recent heat wave in the area, the early spawners are done, but there are still plenty of fish to come up on the flats.  There were quite a few males near new beds, and some beds empty.  The next week will definitely bring another big wave of fish shallow and aggressive.  Eric did most of his damage with a tubejig.  Starting out with a 3" Mardi Gras Color tube with a 3/16th oz head, Eric hooked up on I believe his 5th cast.  It was pretty steady action after that.  The key was to find the cleaner rock/sand mix.  If there was too much scum on the bottom, or just solid rock without any sand and shells, the fish weren't there. Switching back and forth between colors as the day went, there definitely seemed to be a preference for the straight green pumpkin color over a tube with flake in it.  By the end of the morning Eric boated ten smallies, and also had a couple throw his jig.  Overall, it was a great morning on the water with a nice guy, and excellent angler.

Wed. 5/19/10 I spent the morning on Oneida today. The fishing was good, yet still on the upswing.  We had a cool morning, with some NW winds about 10mph and overcast skies.  I was able to find quite a few smallies on the edges of shallow flats, and a few fish up on top.  The fish on top were eating a mix of tubejigs and jerkbaits, and most of the fish near the edges of the flats would eat the jerkbait.  I messed around with some different colors, but the Ghost pattern jerkbait got the best response.  With the warm weekend coming up, we will likely see an awesome migration of fish to the shallow flats over the next two weeks. Expect great action on light tubejigs fished over the rocky flats for a mix of pre-spawn, spawn, and even a few post spawn fish. I think the end of May is one of the most fun times to be on Onieda.  The smallies caught today were between 14 and 18 inches. All were fat, healthy and had a lot of fight in them!

Wed. 5/12/10 Today I towed the Ranger to Skaneateles Lake to fish with my good friend and guide, Capt. John Gualke of Finger Lakes Angling Zone.  John and I try to fish together when our schedules allow, which sometimes isn't very often. John and I have an interesting ability (or problem) of seeing a lake in two very different ways.  Regardless, we are always able to put our skills together to have productive, fun days on the water.  Today was no exception.  We were faced with a very overcast and chilly day.  Water temps were in the low 40's.  It is still pretty cold for many bass to be up on the flats and eating, but we did get into a few as we bounced around the lake. The bass fishing will really pop in the next couple weeks. The smallies were all between 15-18, fat, spunky, beautiful inches. The bass ate a mix of green pumpkin tubes and grubs dragged on the bottom. John applied his skills with the trout by getting us on some beautiful Lakers, a couple Rainbows, and a mess of nice Jack Perch.  It was an enjoyable day on the water with a great angler.  

Tues. 5/11/10 I made a trip over to Oneida today.  With the catch and release bass season now open, that lake is now on the guiding menu.  I arrived to a wind swept, cold lake.  Regardless of the wind and cold air, the fishing was solid.  As the day went on, the lake calmed a bit, and the ability to move around was pretty easy.  I had surface temps between 54-56 for most of the day.  Prior to the frigid, snowy weekend, the lake was up around 60 degrees in many areas.  The lake will continue to improve as the water warms through the spring.  On the day I was able to land about ten bass, all good quality fish, between 1.5 and 3lbs. Most fish wanted a bait dragged pretty slow around rock pile edges. As the water warms, many of these fish will get up on the flats. Most fish came on a green pumpkin tube jig, and few came on a crawdad color Bomber 6A crankbait, and a couple more on an XCalibur Xt3 jerkbait in a chrome/black pattern.   There were also some aggressive pickeral in the mix.  I still have some good dates open, especially around Memorial Day, for anyone interested in checking out what a great fishery Oneida is.  

Fri. 5/7/10 Today I headed back over to Otisco. This was a unique trip, in that the purpose of the outing was to film an episode of Team E Outdoors with my friends Frank and Pat.  This show is broadcast across the state on Time Warner Sports network, and will likely hit the airwaves over the next month or so.  Frank and I did the fishing, and Pat was behind the lense.  We found quite a few fish up on the shallow flats.  The key was finding some good, hard bottom.  Most of our fish came by casting and dragging a Booyah Jig with a green pumpkin colored YUM Craw Papi trailer.  We would throw our jigs up into 2 feet of water, then drag them back out toward the ledge.  Most of our fish were Largemouths, but I did land a couple smallies.  We had a little bit of action throwing jerkbaits, and also had some fun flipping up under trees and other shoreline cover.  I will keep you all posted as to when the show will plan on airing.  

Sat. 5/1/10 I made a scouting trip over to Otisco today.  We had very warm air temps, and a variable breeze.  It was a mix of sun and times of full overcast conditions.  The water temps in the main lake were hovering around 54-55 degrees. In the far north end of the lake, we encountered water as warm as 59.  The open water bite, usually hot this time of year, was a little slow.  There was little action on the usual pre-spawn lures like Rattlebaits and Jerkbaits.  We did encounter some fish in a shallow cove that would eat the jerkbait, but overall, that was not the strong pattern for the day.  After a while with slow results, we moved shallow.  Out came the jig-n-craw, and we went to flipping around shallow cover, like wood, seawalls and docks. This was a great way to get LOTS of bites. Most fish were on the smaller side (14-16 inches) and were predominantly largemouth.  Precision casting was a must this afternoon.  

Sat. 4/24/10 Today was the "Take a Soldier Fishing" event on Oneida Lake.  It was organized by active and hard working members of the NY Bass Federation.  This was a fun event, pairing two soldiers up with a volunteer host boater.  We had a great turnout, about 45 boats, for the event.  We had categories for nearly all of the open-season fish in Onieda Lake, including Drum, Catfish, Carp, Bowfin, Perch, Rock Bass and Sunfish.  I made a point to scout out some Bowfin for the event.  They are a nasty, but cool fish that hits and fights ferociously.  The scouting paid off, and my soldiers won the Bowfin category of the event.  It was a great day on the water, and great comraderie on shore. But now its back to bass fishing....be sure and check back for more reports in the coming week!

Fri. 4/23/10 I checked out the Oneida River for bass today.  With Oneida Lake bass being off limits, if you want to get involved with that bass fishery, you have to stay west of the I-81 bridge.  We have a pretty good group of smallmouths hitting the flats hard, feeding in preparation for the spawn.  We will likely see some spawning activity starting next week, especially if the nice  weather forecast holds up.  I also spent some time in the shallow west-end bays of Oneida looking for Bowfin (aka Grindell, Cypress Trout, Ling, Mudfish).  This is a category in the charity "Take a Soldier Fishing" event that the NY Bass Federation is hosting on Saturday, and I want to put my two soldiers on some freaky, nasty, spunky roughfish!!

Thurs. 4/15/10 I made an afternoon scouting trip to the north end of Cayuga Lake today. After some days of sunshine and stable winds, I was expecting a strong bite, which was the case.  The north end of Cayuga is shallow, grassy, and has slightly stained water, especially in the spring time.  I was able to land some great largemouths, with a couple eclipsing the 4lb mark on shallow and medium diving crankbaits.  Most of the work was done with Bomber 6A and 7A's.  I switched up colors to try and get more dialed in, but it didn't seem to matter much.  I also caught a couple quality fish on a Kentucky Magic colored Booyah HD spinnerbait.  This color seems to work great across New York state, as it is a fine blend of perchy chartruese and gold colors, with some translucent shad colors mixed in.  Expect pretty good bites on Cayuga throughout the spring.  

Mon. 4/12/10 I took another trip over to Otisco this morning. The lake is gradually warming, and the fishing shows it!  I had some great mixed bag action, catching both Largies and Smallmouths, sometimes from the exact same areas.  Main lake surface temps are in the mid-40's now, and the ends of the lake are getting up around 47.  The fish came on a mix of XCalibur Xt3 twitchbaits, primarily the Pearl Shad color, and Xr50 Rattlebaits in the Chrome/Black color.  With the water still being cold, you did have to work the baits quite delibarately. Expect the fishing to get better with each sunny, warm day.  The biggest largemouth of the day was a fat 4lb 9oz largemouth.  I want YOU to catch a fish like that on my next trip!!

Fri. 4/2/10 I took a trip to Otisco today to scout out the early bass bite.  Even though we were in a period of extremely hot weather, the water was still COLD.  Main lake surface temps barely broke 40 during the afternoon.  The south "pond" end of the lake was slightly warmer, about 44, and north of the narrows was about 42 at days end.  The bite was slow. We did encounter some smallmouths on some breaklines in the mid-lake area.  We also had some follows on our jerkbaits, but not too much more than that.  I see this lake getting good once the water creeps into the high 40's.  I will be sure to keep you posted. 

Tues 3/30/10 After a morning trip down to Hanafin Marine for a seasonal motor tune-up, I stopped at Onondaga Lake and the Seneca River for a little scouting.  The water is still pretty cold.  I had surface temps at about 41 degrees, with pretty high, muddy water and strong current.  I didn't wander around too much, as there was still quite a bit of debri floating downstream that could potentially be hazardous.  The earliest spring action will likely be steadiest in the eastern finger lakes, but once the water in the river stabilizes some, will provide some great fishing as well.

Sat. 11/14/09 I spent the morning on Skaneateles Lake with Hays and his Son.  They are both good anglers.  We had a very nice weather (I forgot it was November out there).  Surface water temps were around 48 degrees.  The guys did most of their damage with blade baits, fished vertically between 21-28 ft of water.  It was a mixed bag of fish, including Lake Trout, Smallmouth, Rock Bass and Perch.  Again, Skaneateles this time of year can yield a variety of fish in the same areas, which makes the fishing pretty interesting.  I look forward to getting out on the weater with these guys again!

Wed. 11/11/09 I checked out the Baldwinsville section of the Seneca River today with my father, Jim.  We have fished this section of the river a lot over the years, but never this late in the season.  We had a surface temps about 49 degrees, a moderate amount of current, and a solid stain in the water.  We eventually located some awesome smallmouths on outside bend, main river ledges.  Most fish were caught on the rocky break from 6 or 7 down into 13 feet of water.  Most fish were caught on a 1/4oz weighted YUM tubejig, in a variety of colors. It was an awesome afternoon, with some nice sun and a little breeze.  What was most exciting was the overall quality of the fish.  All but one fish were between 17 and 19.5 inches.  The heaviest weighing 3lb14oz.  

Sat. 11/7/09 I had a trip today with John and Jim from Buffalo.  We hit Skaneateles Lake early, for a half day trip.  Like many November days, it was Cold and Windy!!  Wow, it was actually one the roughest days I have ever fished Skaneateles Lake.  We had surface temps around 49 degrees, and many of the fish that I had found on Thurs. prior, had moved.  The guys did managed some Lake Trout and Rock Bass for their efforts. The lakers are very pretty on there, although not really as big as the other finger lakes will give up.  The guys fished hard, but were ready to retreat back the their Inn after the cold morning on the water.  

Mon 10/12/09- Myself and fellow fishing guide John Gaulke hit Chaumont Bay today.  It was cold!  We launched the boat with air temps around 28 degrees!  It was calm though, so as the day progessed, it got quite pleasant out there.  We hit a few new areas, and some areas that I have fished before.  We saw about a half dozen smallies very shallow (2-4ft deep), but seemed to spook more fish than anything.  We moved to an intermediate depth of about 6-8 feet and proceeded to catch some nice smallies, with one chunk tipping the scales at 4lbs.  The action came exclusively on 3-4 inch tubes. I was mostly throwing a 3.5inch green pumpkin YUM tube on a 1/4oz head.  We couldn't get any reaction bite going whatsoever, be it rattlebaits, jerkbaits, spinnerbaits or topwater.  I would say the key to today's fishing was being in a productive area when the sun came out.  Much of our catch came during the small window of sunshine we got yesterday.  John also managed a big drum, a pickeral and some perch. Overall, it was a fun way to spend an autumn day!

Wed. 10/7/09- I checked on Oneida again today.  The bite was similar to the weekend.  Good fishing with some nic quality bites (up to 3.25lbs). Most of the fish came dragging tubes and grubs.  I did get some half-hearted hits in extremely shallow water on some wakebaits and topwaters, but there was little commitment from the fish with those lures.  I checked some of my usual deep haunts, and nobody was home. I think much of the fall transition is underway to the shallower rock/sand flats, and the river channel breaks. I expect fishing to stay good and maybe even improve as the water temps continue to fall.  Give me a call if you want to check it out!!

Sat 10/3/09 I got out on Oneida today preparing for some upcoming trips.  It was a beautiful day on the water, and a fine break from the prevailing weather pattern of the last week.  The surface temps were in the low 60's.  There was some light schooling activity when the lake calmed down, and the fish would chase a Spit-N Image and a Pop-R.  There was also a pretty solid grub and tube bite on some ultra shallow rock flats, and in the 12-14ft range. The fish were very strong and pretty as can be.  Fall on Oneida is a great thing!!

9/19-9/26/09-  To finish off the month of September, I spent the week on Western Lake Erie.  I was competing in a BASS event out of Sandusky Bay, OH.  I have been to that part of the lake before, and I am still having trouble patterning quality fish.  I am trying to figure out how the water color, bottom composition, wind currents and lake currents work together to position fish.  I caught some beautiful bass, but I had trouble staying with them from day to day.  It was a great learning experience, and I am excited to bring much of what I learned back the Upstate NY and share with you all!!

Friday 9/4/09- I spent the day on Skaneateles doing some scouting and recreational fishing. It was a gorgeous day, and the deep water pattern held up well.  Again, the 4" watermelon colored YUM Houdini Worm did most of the damage. Most of the smallies were caught between 29-35ft.  There was some mixed grass on the bottom, and there were also plenty of rockbass mixed in with the smallies.  In the afternoon, I moved a bit shallower and hit some small grassbeds that have managed to not get harvested (yet).  The fish reacted well to a Green Pumpkin with Green and Red Flake tube.  They wanted a really heavy weight too.  Usually in the 10ft depth range I would thow a 1/4oz jig.  These fish didn't mess with that, but would hit a 3/8oz. jig that was bombing quickly downward.  Interesting thing to experiment with if you aren't getting bit.

I am pretty booked up through September, but I have many openings in October. It is an excellent time to fish in Upstate New York, so don't hesitate to contact me about a trip!

Fri. 8/29/09- I guided Tony and his wife Barbara on Skaneateles today.  I had scouted out some deep fish (23-40ft), and a few shallow spots (10-15ft).  Tony was quick to learn the dropshot technique.  The green-pumpkin 4" Houdini Worm did most of the legwork on the smallies.  Again, as mentioned in past reports, the use of electronics was critical.  We could easily see these smallmouth (and perch and rockbass) on the graph, helping us stay in productive areas.  The smallies were coughing up perch (some as big as 6").  When the sun came out mid-morning, switching to a watermelon colored worm was a little better.  It seems that more translucent watermelon does a better job in the clear water when the sun is shining.  Tony also landed a nice bass on a Rebel Magnum Pop-R over about 15ft of water.  It was a very enjoyable morning on the water with two excellent folks!

8/15-21- I just spent the week at the north end of Lake Champlain.  What an amazing and extremely diverse fishery!  I have put a lot of time into this body of water over the last five years, and I am starting to understand it pretty well.  An angler can really fish their strengths here, whether it is deep smallmouth, mid-depth smallmouth, or shallow largemouth.  I focused primarily on mid-depth smallies and the shallow largemouth bite.  The fish didn't seem to move that deep this summer, probably due to the extremely cold July.  I was able to work some schools of big smallies with a dropshot many of the days, and also flip shallow reeds and cattails for largemouth.  This event really drove in the importance of electronics on the boat.  I used both the two dimensional and the side-scan sonar to locate productive areas, and not waste time in unproductive spots.  Many clients notice how much faith I put in my graphs when offshore.  I want to make sure that your time on the water is spent in areas with a high probability of hookups.  If anyone is interested in a Champlain trip (one or many day) in 2010, please let me know, and we will try to work something out!

Wed. 8/12/09- Today I guided Sean and his son Cody on Oneida.  We got out about 6:15 for a half-day morning trip. They were up visiting the area from Virginia, and wanted to see what these lake smallies (vs. their river smallies) were all about.  Sean got into them right away.  He landed a few really nice smallmouth.  Cody also had some action, on the tube and grub early, and then on some topwater later in the morning.  I saw some of my first real offshore schooling activity today.  The lake slicked off and individual fish were up busting and swirling.  That makes for some fun fishing.  Ever notice how they bust just out of reach?  Or when you trolling-motor to an area, to then have them start busting where you came from?  Seems to always be the case :-) Overall, it was a great morning, and I look forward to seeing these two again!

Sun 8/2/09- I had a great trip on Oneida today with Mike. Mike was the winner of my Take a Soldier Fishing promotion.  Mike listened close and really picked up on the tube jig tactic well. The fish have been keying pretty hard on crawdads, so dragging that tube along the bottom has been a dominant tactic for the last couple weeks.  Mike fished hard through a number of torrential downpours, and caught fish no matter if the wind picked up, it got cloudy, it rained, or sun came out. Mike finished the day with 13 smallies, all between 14-20 inches.  It was an awesome day.  He was also kind enough to show me how to make and eat a military MRE.....a hot meal on a bassboat!!!

Fri. 7/31/09- I guided Jeff from McGraw, NY on a half day trip today. Oneida was the destination...and it was on FIRE!  What a great morning. Surface temps were between 74 and 76 degrees. We got underway at 7, and within an hour Jeff  not only had a few big smallies but also a limit of walleyes in the boat!!!  I don't proclaim to know that much about the Oneida walleye fishery, but sometimes the smallies and walleyes are using the same area, like today.  We used a variety of crawdad imitations, including tubes and grubs.  We primarily probed deeper offshore structure, like deep grasslines, humps and bars.  The one shallow area we hit was also stacked up too.  Jeff landed about a dozen smallies between 14 and 21 inches!!  The 21incher had a mouth and head on it like a largie.  The fish seem of moderate weight, but I am sure this current feeding binge will fatten up a lot of the thinner fish.  Jeff did a great job picking up the tubejig and grub technique, and it paid off with some great fish!!











7/22,23, 25- I spent much of last week on Skaneateles Lake. Early in the week I was checking out some stuff that I figured should be setting up well for the summer, but kind of stuggled.  I had a few fish, mostly small.  Basically, I wasn't throwing the dropshot enough.  Under the conditions I was facing, strong south winds, warming surface temps, and very random weather patterns, the shallow bite was inconsistent at best.  It seemed that if you got your boat out in 20-30 feet of water, and found some hard bottom, you would catch fish. 

 I spent Thurs. on the water with my friend RC.  He was very helpfull in jogging my brain to get out on the breaklines, and was also very helpfull in showing me his approach to the lake.  He is a great fisherman.  

On Saturday morning I guided Tim and Karen.  They were up vacationing from NYC and wanted a morning on the water.  The sun was out bright, but the south winds were blowing pretty good. We tried some shallow stuff early, but then moved out deeper, and picked up the dropshot.  They both took to the technique quickly.  We were doing a mix of casting and drifting.  We landed about 5 smallies, including one serious chunk that did some acrobatics for us.  We also landed a few rock bass, and a pumpkinseed that had the colors of a serious tropical fish.  It was a great way to spend a Saturday morning!

Thurs 7/9/09-7/12/09- I made a multi-day trip up to the St. Lawrence River out of Ogdensburg.  It was a great trip.  That river has so many fishing options, it can blow you mind!  The fish were in a post-spawn/early summer mode.  Everything is behind compared to normal summers, but that doesn't mean the fish aren't catchable.  I found a good concentration of fish both shallow and deep.  The shallow fish were relating the rock points with a mix of grass and boulders.  They would strike a XCalibur Rattlebait and also a spinnerbait burned over their head.  The deep fish just couldn't resist a dropshot!  Using the current as an aid, you could target the fish in current breaks and eddies with the dropshot.  Anyone who wants to learn how to fish this technique.is smart! It is a deadly way to present a lure to deeper fish.  I love fishing the dropshot and I would be more than happy to spend a day teaching you too! 

Fri 7/3/09- I checked in on Onondaga today.  The bite seems to be quite slow.  The grass and water look great, but I had trouble getting much going with the bass, largemouth of smallie. I know that the weights of local events are down a bit.  Anyone know what could be happening?  The bite is usually strong there in the mid-summer.  I will keep checking in and keep you all posted!

Fri 6/19/09-6/21/09 I had the privelege of fishing Lake George for three days on the the official opening weekend of the traditional bass season.  It has become somewhat of a routine for me, and I really enjoy it.  The fish on Lake George this time of year are in transition.  You may find fish shallow and spawning. You may find some mid-depth fish (10-20ft) which are done spawning, or you may even find some really deep (25-40ft) postspawn fish as well.  I really enjoy targeting the deepest group of fish because they seem more reliable on a day to day basis.  This year was no different.  After finding some shallow largemouths on docks and cribs, checking back a day or two later, they up and vanished. The fish I was targeting out deep were pretty stable, and am sure will be throughout the summer months. These Lake George fish just can't resist a dropshotted YUM Houdini Worm. Stick with some shade of green and you are usually ok.  This lake really shows how being good with electoronics can be a big help. It was a fun trip, and I look forward to my next chance to get up there!

Wed. 6/10/09 I spent the afternoon on the water today with Ryan and Pete, two fine anglers. They joined me on Skaneateles Lake to take advantage of the strong shallow water Smallmouth bite that is happening now.  These two men put a serious hurtin' on the fish!  We estimated that over two dozen bass were put in the boat, mostly ranging between 1.5 and a solid 3lbs. Both of these guys got the hang of sight fishing and working these smallmouths with little YUM Crawbugs very well.  The fish faught hard and were pretty aggressive if you made the proper presentation on them.  We also managed to put a bunch of rockbass in the boat, and saw countless other yellow perch and rainbow trout swimming in the same areas we were fishing.  Overall, it was an awesome day on the water!














Wed. 6/3/09 We had a fabulous day on the water today.  I hosted Buster and Dan of Utica for a full day on Oneida.  What a great trip!!  These are two of the nicest guys you could ever meet...unless you are a fish!  Once they got the hang of dragging a tube through the shallow rock and sandy flats, it was game-on.  The key today was any color variation of green-pumpkin in a YUM tube on warm, shallow, rocky flats.  The day started a bit slow with surface temps on the north shore at 59 degrees (4-5 degrees lower than a few days prior).  However, once we got around some 62-64 degree water the bite picked up quite a bit.  Not only did these two land over a dozen nice smallmouth, but they also boated five freshwater drum (they will PULL your line), and some fat rock bass.  A great day with great folks!!



















Fri.5/29/09  With some upcoming trips on Oneida, I got out to do some scouting today.  We had a hard westerly, and extremely overcast conditions.  I am still learning how to maximize the bass fishing on those overcast days.  Anyone who says sunshine is tough for bass fishing must be crazy, because I invite the sun to shine most trips.  My father landed a gorgeous 3lb 10oz. post-spawn smallie that absolutely CRUSHED his chartruese XCalibur Xr 50 rattlebait.  What an energetic fight!!  We also got on some fish with YUM tubes.  I landed my first sheephead of the year.  What a strong fish they are!!!

Sun 5/24/09 I decided to check out Onondaga today with my Father.  The bass seemed to be in the early stages of the spawn. I am sure there are some fish who are all done spawning, but it seemed like most were in the skittish mood right before they hit the beds.  We worked a couple fish with YUM Lizards and Zellamanders.  The fish that we landed were all healthy and strong.  The biggest of the day was a 21", 4lb 7 oz largie. It was a beautfiul day to be on the water.  Many folks would call it a "chamber of commerce" kind of day.  

Fri. 5/22/09- Spent another full day on Oneida today.  I checked out some key north shore areas, looking for spawning smallmouths.  Well we found 'em!  There were some fish crusising and feeding, with another batch locked on beds.  All gladly took our offerings of YUM Tubejigs.  We also managed to put a few in the boat with an XCalibur Twitchbait, mostly silver metallic/black back.  Prime depth seemed to be about 4.5-7 feet, which made it a little tough to see the beds unless the wind died down. We also manged to get a few strikes on a XCalibur Zell Pop.  Who says it is too early for some topwater action!?! 

Thurs. 5/21/09-  I hit Oneida for a full day with Bill today.  What an amazing day to be on the water!!  Sun was out, air was hot, and the fish were biting!!!  Tapping in to the normal pre-spawn/spawn smallie pattern on the lake, we hit rocky flats between 4-7 feet of water, throwing mostly Green Pumpkin YUM tubejigs on 1/4oz heads.   Surface temps ranged from 61-63 on the main lake, and upwards of 68 in the back cuts and coves.  We managed to put a bunch of smallies in the boat, most weighing between 1.5 and 2.5lbs, with a couple 3's mixed in. We also landed a sheepshead (strong fighting fish in the lake) , walleye, a bunch of pickeral, and even a couple bowfin! New York has some awesome variety of gamefish.  Give me a call, and you can see for yourself!

Sat. 5/16/09- Today I had a half day trip with Paul and Doug of Wisconsin.  Doug is a Cornell student, and his father Paul was in town to pick him up for the summer. What a great opportunity for me to take a father and son out for a day of fishing!  We had very heavy south winds (sustained 15-20, gusting over 30 by midday).  We targeted shallow grass flats in the northern section of the lake.  The pickerel were up and active, with us landing a half dozen fish. They were really keying on the Gold/Green pattern spinnerbaits, as well as perch pattern jerkbaits.  The hottest lure was the Booyah HD spinnerbait in Kentucky Magic color.  We also had some nice perch take our offerings as well.  The afternoon brought some wicked T-Storms, so it was good we got off the water when we did. 

Fri. 5/15/09- I had a full day trip on Cayuga Lake today, jigging for Lake Trout.  It was a unique situation, with two anglers in my boat, and two more in a "chase" boat.  All four men (Aaron, David, Roy and Ace) were enthusiastic fisherman who will certainly be honing their laker jigging techniques and whacking a lot of big Cayuga fish this season.  The bite was quite slow, with super calm, sunny conditions, the fish were not in a super chase mode.  We did manage to land two lakers between 22-26 inches, lose one giant at the boat (30+ inches), and have some short strikes and quick hook and lose hookups.  The fish came on both YUM Houdini Shads on a 1oz. Jig, and a paddle tail shad body lure. 

Wed. 5/13/09- I took a quick trip over the Onondaga this afternoon. I put in about 3 hours to find that the post front conditions really knocked these fish down.  Water temps had dropped about 7 degrees in the last day or so, and the bass that had been sniffing out the shallow flats were uninterested, and/or not there.  It seems that until the spawn is underway, the most consistent spring action in that fishery is in the river.  The lake seems to be hit or miss until post-spawn/summer for the bass.  I will keep testing this theory in the upcoming weeks.

Wed. 5/6/09- This afternoon I decided to take a trip over to Cayuga Lake and do some scouting for upcoming trips.  I had the opportunity to fish with friend and fellow guide John Gaulke of Finger Lakes Angling Zone guide service.  We hit the north end of the Lake, and came to the conclusion that the lake's bass are back and ready to eat!!  In the four hour trip, we landed between 6-8 fish, including an amazing 4lb smallie that gobbled up a Booyah HD spinnerbait, and a PIG of a largie weighing in at 5lb 2oz. This fish were fat, strong, and tons of fun!  It is clear that spinnerbaits, in a variety of sizes, colors, and styles are a great tool for pre-spawn fish. It was a great afternoon on the water, and I would love to share the experience with someone like you!

Thurs. 4/30/09- I took a scouting run out to Onondaga Lake/Seneca River this afternoon.  Water temps are rising, and the fish are moving up with it!!  I decided to try some of the flats in the River and took advantage or a nice shallow bite.  Water temps were hovering around 56-57 degrees, with an overcast sky, wind, and some threatening storms.  I did most of the damage with a 3/8oz. Tux 'n Tails Booyah Spinnerbait with Tandem and Double Colorado Blades.  I would throw the bait up on the bait up onto the shallow flat (.5-3 feet deep) and pull it across any piece of cover available, like a grass pile, log, stump or piling. The Largies would come up and eat it good!!! It was a fun, target oriented way to catch fish.  

Wed. 4/22/09- I had an afternoon trip with Bill today on Otisco Lake.  There is usually a pretty strong, spring jerkbait bite going on there for Large and Smallmouth Bass, and today did not dissapoint.  There were many largemouths boated, and one little smally.  Surface temps ranged anywhere from 45 in the mid portions of the lake to 49.5 at the north end.  The main key seemed to be isolated grass beds in 3-7 feet of water.  The fish were clearly keying on metallic pattern jerkbaits, as more matte colors went nearly untouched...switch back to a metallic (Silver/Blue, Silver/Black) and the fish would be eating again.  The XCalibur Xt3 Twitchbait was the lure that got the most, and the best quality of fish.  Spring is here...Don't miss the Action!!

Mon. 4/20/09 - Just returned home from the first Bassmaster Northern Open Event of 2009 on the Chesapeake Bay, MD.  It was a very challenging event.  We had some brutal weather conditions during the pre-fish period, and some challenging water conditions during the tournament.  I was unable to put together any sort of pattern for quality, keeper fish during the event, and was left near the bottom of the standings.  I am SUPER excited, though, to get back up to New York and take advantage of the bite that will be really turning on with the warming weather!!

Thurs 4/2/09- Made another trip to the Onondaga Lake and the Seneca River today.  Surface temps in the lake are creeping into the mid to upper 40's with the calm sunshine we had.  My success came in the river throwing Green Pumpkin YUM tubejigs in 5-18 feet of water.  The four smallies I landed were fat, healthy and quite spunky even in the chilly water.

Wed. 4/1/09-  Made a couple hour trip to the Seneca River, downstream of Onondaga Lake.  I had heavy cloud cover with a mix of light and heavy rain, giving way to a south wind. Surface temps were around 41 degrees, water clarity was stained.  I managed to land 7 smallmouths between 1.5 and 2.25 lbs.  All the fish looked healthy, and gave a decent fight in that cold water.  The fish bit on chrome Heddon Sonar between 15 and 20 feet of water.  


Kids are welcome at Empire Bass & Beyond!
Bring that all weather gear...because the fishing might get hot in the rain!!