[BigEd]

I just got back from a week long trip to Lake George NY where I spent a bunch of time on the lake fishing with my daughter's for smallies. I trailered up my boat and we had a dock at the hotel so access to the water was just 100 feet away anytime I got the urge. Last weeks weather posed some challenges with a cold front driving temps down and scattered rain storms common for many days of the week. The water felt quite a bit cooler than usual for this time of year.
The fish were still co-operating though, but they were holding tight at certain depths depending on the time and weather conditions. I spent most of the time fishing the northern tip of Long Island but also did well off the western side of Canoe Island as well as the humps just to the east and north of it. The north eastern edge of Hogsback Reef produced some fish as well, deeper water northeast of the buoy seemed to be the more productive area.

It seemed mornings produced better results and fish than evenings, though that could have been due to the calmer conditions and better bait presentation. Most of the time we were trying different plastics finding natural or brown hued colors to be more productive than the greens. Chompers Shaky Worm, Jackall Flick Shake, Zoom Trick Worm and Senkos all worked well both wacky or nose hooked. Bright colors or bait fish styled drop shot baits got us nothing! I thought tubes would be a hot ticket but that wasn't the case either, not a single fish was caught on a tube this trip. The hottest set up that produced the best quality fish was by far using live crayfish on a dropshot rig with 6lb flouro. I found a 3/32 or even a 1/4 oz drop shot weight was needed in windy conditions to get the bait down. It also seemed the smaller size crays were working better and still tempting the bruisers to snatch em up. My biggest fish was 4.2 lbs.coming out of 28 fow on a heavily clouded low ceiling morning that turned into a rainy but fish producing day. That day the fish were hanging between 25-30 ft. Sunny days we usually found them between 35-45 feet. Anything shallower than 25 netted a lot of runts and tons of rock bass. But there are some HUGE rock bass in that lake!

Overall we probably caught an average of 30 fish per day, most of which were small 1-2 lbers. We boated several several in the 3 lb range and a couple in the 4's.

Plastics still worked very well for us but the bite was slower and the fish were smaller. My thought is that these fish see the same plastics dangled in front of them day in and day out. Heck, even the Walgreen's on RT 9 was selling Senko's! Would constantly seeing plastics really make a difference to a fish who is feeding? I don't know, but I can confirm the live bait lit em up like nothing else did. I fished 3 dozen crayfish myself and after fishing from 6:30-9am the bait bucket was empty and I wish I had bought more. If your making the trip and only have limited time to be out on the water hit up a local bait shop to ensure good results.

Another fun time was fishing with worms off of the steel pier at night. I tried it per recommendation of a bait shop employee.This is the pier were the steam boats dock just across from Ft William Henry. The pier is easily accessible and very close to down town, in fact you can listen to the bands playing while you fish. No boat or charter required. I was throwning out worms on a #6 hook on 4lb test rigged up on a 6 foot ultralight. Non stop action produced many sunfish (huge!), rock bass, large and smallmouth and even a surprise bullhead. It's a good place to go fishing while the wife and kids are shopping.

[anointed130]

Great job and great report
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"Come after Me, and i will make you to become fishers of men"

Can i be a fisher of fish too?

~Tony~

[Michael]

Any pics of the monster red eyes?

Sounds like an awesome time!

[Redneckangler]

Thanks for the great write-up!
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[BigEd]

No pics of the rock bass Michael, sorry.

[Sorts]

Long Island in Lake George produced my PB smallie at 4 lbs. I caught him on a spinnerbait during my last visit in 2001. Crayfish definitely outproduced everything. They caught the attention of 3 bruiser pike that broke my mono and bent 2 of my dad's hooks straight. I guess nobody told him that his fancy new braid required fancy new hooks.

Great report. It makes me want to head back to that beautiful spot again. Hopefully I can purchase a boat and some superline hooks by June. . .