Great Sacandaga 2021

[iceman260]

Way to go BBB sounds like you and the wife had a good time. H2l we were marking fish just not hitting good, maybe BeerBelly is on to something, try the evening bite we marked most fish in 20 to 25 ft. range even tried jigging with no luck..

[bauls25]

Good to hear they're biting. Put the trolling rods in the boat. Giving that a try. Elbows been to sore to jig last few months.

[hunts2long]

bauls, good luck...h2l

[iceman260]

Bauls25 good luck.

[bauls25]

Fished 10-3. Got into 1 nice eye and and a few bass trolling deep.  Marked a bunch of bait balls and a bunch of fish suspended 20’ down. Tried trolling a spoon and it ended up wrapping my other line.  Fun.  Got rained on.  Stopped to jig for a minute lefty. As awkward as it was, jig bite was fire.

[hunts2long]

Sounds like a fun day...h2l

[bauls25]

Buddy said they boated 30 trolling saturday am.  Biggest was 17 with a lot of shorts.  Bites I got were very aggressive, he said the same.  Maybe those lil storms fired them up. 

[hunts2long]

It has been a while since I had a day like that. There seems to be a lot of shorts this year...h2l

[jaconwall]

Buddy said they boated 30 trolling saturday am.  Biggest was 17 with a lot of shorts.  Bites I got were very aggressive, he said the same.  Maybe those lil storms fired them up.

I have not caught 30 fish total in the last 2 years on this lake.   I have never fished a more frustrating place.... although I have not spent a lot of time trying to troll, using the bottom bouncers etc for walleye.

I fished Sat and Sunday AM and didn't catch a single thing.   Trolling, fishing over humps, ledges, etc.   Fished weeds and rock piles for bass, and nothing.   

I can only assume that even the bass are hanging out in deeper water because of the temps.

H2L has given me some spots to try to catch perch even for the kids with no luck.

I'll mark fish and bait balls, then come back and troll that area and see nothing on the finder and get no bites even.   I have yet to land on a school of fish.

Where were your friends fishing?  Just general area I am curious, no one wants to give up there best spots but north end, south end etc.?

Any help and tips from anyone is appreciated to figure out this lake.

I am in Cranberry Cove, so I usually fish the western shore and southern end of the lake.

I don't mind catching bass, but I can't even find them on this lake.

Thankfully the pontoon boat works great to just hangout and swim with the kids, we've done a lot more of that this summer than fishing.

Hopefully when the water cools down, the fishing will improve......

[iceman260]

Jaconwall fishing is not always catching, first you have to be where the fish are. Next you need to present your bait in a way that they like, jigging you need to consider cadence and color of the jig and you need to be over the fish. If your trolling you need to be at the right depth and your bait needs to be in there zone, you also need to choose the right color spinners. I found the most important things are being on fish and troll slow 1 mph. Is working for me with green spinners and 1 1/2 ounce bottom bouncer. Hope this helps.

[bauls25]

Theres marking fish, and there's landing on fish.  I never come across schools of fish just trolling around.  Its when i go bouncing from spot to spot looking.

[jaconwall]

thanks for the color suggestion! 

yeah, i tell my son the same thing - its called fishing, not catching!   I am a very experienced fisherman, but all my life its been more river fishing, and fly fishing for trout, steelhead, etc.

I am confident that I am doing things the right way, i'm just not finding the spots with fish.   

I'll try some green spinners and see what happens!

[bauls25]

My dads favorite was a green dixie spinner.  If im slow trolling worms, its my first one out. Good luck

[beerbellybob106]

Green is always a go to. Last summer if I wasn't running pink I couldn't catch anything. I've also had good luck with gold. This summer I've been doing good on a chartreuse shad glow Cabela's harness with a slow death hook and rotten tomato has been good too

[hunts2long]

CONFIDENCE, that I believe is the KEY to selecting lure, lure color, etc. Back when I trolled spinners a lot my go-to was black/silver. I used quick change clevis' so I changed colors often. One thing I did was, if I caught 2 fish on a color I would change blade. Doing that I learned that if they are hitting, color may not be the KEY, speed may be more important. Same with jigs, I very seldom start the day with the color that was working best on my last trip. I haven't fished 2 rods at the same time in years.

This year has been tough for many. 30 fish days are special on this lake. I haven't seen one in 2 or 3 years. Look at it this way, "someone has to be there when they are hitting". When I think back about the ones I have had, I was fishing a lot more often. I know you younger guys don't like to hear this, but BACK in the old days, early 2000's there were a couple years of 30+ days very often. I don't keep fish but if others were doing the same a lot of walleyes were taken home. It was also when I learned to jig fish.

jaconwall, I haven't fished down that way in a couple years but seemed to do well from Deer Island down toward Sunset Bay. A friend boated a 8lb+ walleye in that area last year, it was released. The South end of the lake had some pretty good spots also but it is a long run for me.

I have talked to some pretty good fishermen this year that are all saying the same thing, "it's tough" and lots of "shorts". I know it has been HOT which keeps me off the water more than I want to be. As side note, talked to my cousin last night, he had an issue with heat stroke last week while fishing. Had trouble getting back to the launch, couldn't get out of the boat, got someone to get the boat out of the water and ended up in the ER. Doing fine now, just BE CAREFUL....h2l