Upstate NY Fishing

[jonvi]

Is in full swing. Unlike most states, NY has a season on small mouth and largemouth bass. Bass season opened the 3rd Saturday in June and I hit a few lakes last week.

On the 21st I started out on Seneca Lake which is located about an hour West of Syracuse. I met my brother in-law from SC there. It wasn't a banner start to the season for me, but we pulled in about 20 bass in the 12" to 4 pound class. A mixture of smallies and large mouths. I caught a few monster pearch....2 pounders. I love me some pearch eating.

After fishing the weekend there, we headed up to Sodas Point, NY which is located on the SW side of Lake Ontario. I didn’t know the area and caught only a couple of bass while there. Nothing to brag about for sure. I understand some fish out of Africa has made its way into Lake Ontario and has devastated what was once a premiere Small Mouth destination. Damn that sucks.

We did get with my wife's cousin who took us out for monster trout and salmon. My sister in-law cranked in a 22 pound King or Coho Salmon. I was surprised at how tasty that guy was. I'm not a fan of the fresh water salmonoids. But that one was pretty good.

Then on the 25th....we returned to my stomping grounds in Clayton, NY and just hammered the St. Lawrence River. I'm telling yak we boated at least 100 small mouths. Several big one's above 5 pounds.
I'm here to tell yak....a five pound small mouth on light tackle is about as fun as it gets.

A week of fishing and it's back to reality. I can't wait to retire and do this without a schedule.

 

[KansasSooner]

We don't have any small mouth bass here. The one time I did tangle with them was in Idaho. And you're right, a small mouth on light tackle is about the best fight you'll get on a fish, especially in fast moving water like I where I was fishing.