Western and Central lakes and bays (conditions and presentations)

Thought I would start a thread were the members could get pertinent info before expending valuable time and money traveling to a particular body of water. Especially if you would have been better off fishing close to home.
Purely out of selfishness I would appreciate limiting the geographic location of these lakes/ bays to western and central new york. If interested someone could start a thread for the eastern part of the state.

And to make things easier for all, if you could start all threads off with the name of the lake in CAPITAL LETTERS, it would be easier to find the interested lake

LAKES
ERIE
CHAUTAUQUA
FINDLEY
CASSADAGA
ALLENGANY RESERVOIR
CUBA
RUSHFORD
LIME
SILVER
CONESUS
HEMLOCK
CANADICE
HONEOYE
ALMOND
LOON
CANANDAIGUA
SENECA
KEUKA
WANETA/LAMOKA
CAYUGA
OWASCO
SKANEATELES
OTISCO
ONONDAGA
ONEIDA

BAYS ON LAKE ONTARIO:
IRONDEQUIOT BAY
SODUS BAY
EAST
PORT BAY
BLIND SODUS BAY
LITTLE SODUS BAY(FAIRHAVEN)
SANDY PONDS
HENDERSON
CHAUMONT

Conditions ( open water,has ice, hi,low,normal water level, temperature, wind conditions, water clarity, etc)

Presentation used successfully( bobber/minnow, bobber/jig, casting (jigs, spinners, crankbaits). Trolling crankbaits, strolling jigs or live baits, spider rigging, vertical jigging, dock shotting).

Honeoye fished twice, got schooled by two other fishman. Was not catching anything but pickerel using jigs, with and without bobber watched a boat 15 yards away catch 15-20 crappie. Guys were nice enough to tell us the presentation and boat they were using. They were casting a 1/32 & 1/16 jig head with smoke curly tail grub . Picked up a few but the school readjusted to deeper water high sun( was a week ago last friday(80-85 degrees ) last Saturday went back to Honeoye same baits with slow retrieve, and caught about 30 crappie, perch, 2 bluegills, and a handful of pickerel.

Fished Sodus bay 5/3. Nothing but an 8 # pike and about 20 bass to 41/2 #. On 1/16 jig head and 2 " curly tails grub. Fished in 1 to 5 feet of water.

SANDY PONDS- Via a friend him and his partner each caught there 25 fish limit with additionally culling 25-30 smaller keepers(9-9 1/2). Caught in 4-6 feet of water around weeds. With a jig or jig with minnow both below a bobber.

Heading back down to Honeoye in about2 hrs. Hopefully will get into crappie. Thought this would provoke some interaction of discussion amongst NY crappie fisherman. Oh well, I can use it as a journal,

Well, honeoye was the same, caught around 25( crappie) a rock bass, a few large bluegill, a perch, about 5_6 pickers, and a bunch of bass. between two guys. Was a pleasant outing, in the great outdoors. 1/16 or jig head and minnow

Well, a new venture, headed to Sodus Bay, participated in a Rock Bass tournament this past Sunday. Went into, blind( without prior practice, or a developed pattern).
Basically, if I had practiced Saturday on Sodus, I would have figured out what they were hitting well and narrow down a few locations they inhabited(groups) or I would have eliminated all the area's and techniques I fished Sunday. We, (it was a partner tournament, ( best 10 Rockies brought to weight in scale. Bottom line, never developed a good pattern, one here, one there. Ended up with small limit of about 8 lbs. The winners weighted 12.2 lbs with lunker of 1.6, just a hair shy of 1 pound 10 ounces ( not a bad rock bass). Can't tell you what was used to successfully catch the rock bass, but we were throwing tube baits, jig head and grubs, beetle spins( no live bait allowed). This panfishing is a new experience and a new challenge. But at least when the day is done most species I can take home for dinner. Anyone with recommendations on how to fish for any particular Spanish species, take the time to post after reading other people's postings,
.The goal is to make every time on the water, enjoyable. Especially for those youths that has limited positive fishing experience. Remember to bring coloring books and crayons or computer games to occupy the youngsters mind when the fishing is slow. Remember our attention span wasn't very long when we were younger.

Oneida Lake- walleye fishing is hot. Buddy and friend caught 20 while culling their limit, and again on Sunday they both limited out. They fished basically 12 get of water with crankbaits.

Honeoye lake - took a weeks vacation on Honeoye lake 6/26 - 7/3. Weather - rained about everyday. Fishing for bass was really good but only fished 3-4, hours daily. Had my children(adults) and grandchildren . We caught about 15 to twenty each time out. But about 80% of the fish were 2 lbs or less. The biggest was 3.76 lbs. there was a bass tournament there the 3rd day, won with 13.25. There were two over 12 pounds and the other 27 boats ( partner tournament) had limits of 11 to 7 lbs. Dock fishing was pattern of some of the higher weights. All of our fish during the week came from weedbeds. The most productive presentation was dead sticking a senko Texas rigged. The second most effective was dead sticking a wacky rigged senko, flowed by jig and pig, creature bait ( beaver) and chatter bait. All fishing took place between the hours of 7am and 11am.

Scheduled to fun fish Sodus Sunday morning with oldest son. Will probably have a lot of sore mouth bass , a tournament is scheduled to be there, each day. But because it is the closest water and our time is limited 4 hours, will contend with fishing used water. Report to follow .

Finally got the Boat out to Lamoka on 7/10 for a few hours. First spot I tried let me catch all I wanted to clean. Just out of the Channel, half way between Red Bank Island and shore, 12 ft of water. 1st time drop shoting for Gils. Could not keep 2 Bait casters going at the same time. Heavy wieght on the bottom and 15-18 inches up #8 glow in the dark red/yellow icefishing jigs tipped with waxies. Jet ove NY fishing in the summer!

Got out to Lamoka 7/10 and got into the Gils pretty good 1st spot I tried. Left out of the channel, half way betweenRed Bank and shore. 12 ft of water. 1st time drop shotting for Gils. Caught all I wanted. Glow in the Dark red/yellow @8 ice fishing jigs. Could not handle 2 bait casters at a time. Jet Skiers ran me off at noon. Going back Mon at 4am.

sorry about the double post, darn thing told me the first one didn't take.

Drop shotting for gills, luv it.traditionally drop shorting for bass is utilizing a finesse hook and 4 inch plastic worm but I use a 5/0 worm hook with a 6 or 7 inch plastic worm at times with success

Fished Sodus bat 7/11, from 9:00 -12:15. Short day but enjoyable to get to fish with my oldest boy. Caught about 11 keepers. Best 5 went 12.5. Linker was 3.75. Not bad considering the late start and early quit, but life becomes more complicated with grandchildren. So we got to stick a few fish and keep everyone happy. Fish caught on senkos, chatter sits, creature baits,