LAKE GEORGE BS THREAD

[wec]

Early they were active, caught a 27 and 25 3/4 real quick,  lots of lookers, then died off.

[lockdown199]

16 below, going to take more then that to keep me off the ice.

[lowaccord66]

Early they were active, caught a 27 and 25 3/4 real quick,  lots of lookers, then died off.

It didnt die off!  They did stop chasing because they were eating off the bottom!  I had a long walk back at 3...

Logan...scheduled a meeting Wednesday...Thursday for me...

[Big Tupper]

Five of us on Lake George yesterday had 1 great hour, then we had a very tough time finding fish. It was like they vanished in the bay we were in because all of us were searching. Still awesome to get back on LG again. When it was hot it did not matter what you threw at them.

[flyfish413]

Five of us on Lake George yesterday had 1 great hour, then we had a very tough time finding fish. It was like they vanished in the bay we were in because all of us were searching. Still awesome to get back on LG again. When it was hot it did not matter what you threw at them.

Exact same thing happened to me on Wednesday off MDB. Hot for the hour after sunrise then they disappeared. Covered a lot of area too. That's fishin...

[perchrigguy]

I had a very disappointing afternoon on vets as well.  a bunch of holes in historically standard perch grounds produced not one red line on my vexilar.  i thought the bottom felt a little odd and i was not pulling up that green perch grass that is always on the bottom of any good perchground in LG; so  I took a look a the bottom with my underwater camera to discover that the bottom was just mud!    no weeds. !!!!  that is not right.   something has changed dramatically in sawmill bay in the past 2 years.   Any thought would be greatly appreciated.   are the weeds healthy at mdb?  huddle? Harris? 

[Deandog12]

Not one perch bite on vets this morning in 2 hrs. I moved all around. I was there Thursday and caught 5 perch in 4 hrs along with a 29 inch pike. Keep in mind, I don’t use electronics. This morning I left vets and got to Harris around 1030 and got 22 in about 2 hrs

[perchrigguy]

I had a very disappointing afternoon on vets as well.  a bunch of holes in historically standard perch grounds produced not one red line on my vexilar.  i thought the bottom felt a little odd and i was not pulling up that green perch grass that is always on the bottom of any good perchground in LG; so  I took a look a the bottom with my underwater camera to discover that the bottom was just mud!    no weeds. !!!!  that is not right.   something has changed dramatically in sawmill bay in the past 2 years.   Any thought would be greatly appreciated.   are the weeds healthy at mdb?  huddle? Harris? 

[bigredonice]

maybe something to do with the benthic matts and other asian clam/millfoil eradication efforts?

[Big Tupper]

One small observation we did make was the perch were definitely not spitting up a lot of scuds like they normally did, so who knows. Its been so long that I have been on the ice on LG that early I forgot what January Perching was like. I was sitting in a 2 man with a buddy he did out fish me, my spikes against his maki's. Crappie Killer will claim he could out fish me anyway but that's up for debate ha ha. We did manage to catch and video about a 25 inch laker through the ice it was so clear using 2lb test and a 20inch UL rod that was neat. Do not ask me to post it I would have a better chance operating on someone then post a picture.

[blt]

Finkle brooke was dredged past fall

[Chase88]

I think you will find the earlier in the winter the deeper the perch are in the lake. It hasn't been fished this early in a long time....

[perchrigguy]

good point.  i am one of those crazies who jigs perch from a rowboat in dec and Jan.  and we hit them in 45' to 55' .   the way the ice is set up in sawmill i don't think you could find 40 depth without a rowboat.    but i have never caught a winter perch in Lake george that wasn't hiding in, feeding on, and living among, that thin green grass we always called perch grass.     those mudd flats have got to be a very vulnerable place to roam when there is pike and lakers around.  if i were an 8 inch perch, i would be bely up with and anxiety attack out in the open like that.    if i saw a jig drop down i would go bite it just to get the heck out of there...  I guess i would not be a very good perch.

i checked the areal pics on the fingle brook dredging theory,  that is a plausible cause.   it is a ways for the silt to travel but it is in the right location.   but you'd think they would have regulated and controlled the dredging operation to the extreme right there.

are the other bays weedy as usual?

Thanks for all the info guys. 

[reggie1610]

Hope everyone is having a good start to the year! I saw it talked about a bit earlier in the thread, but did they ever end up opening the gate for Hearthstone / plow it?

Thanks

[mazdaman]

Laying in my warm bed checking the MDB webcam seeing guys out there is lighting the fire to get out of bed. I'll be out there in a little while.

Your welcome!!  hope you had good luck.  HAHA

[hot tuna]

I just left a message with region 5 camping person Jamie S.   Said that a lot of fisherman that contribute to the local ecomony when they visit are depending on Hearthstone to be open this weekend.   hopefully they get back to me.

So did they open the gate at hearthstone  ?
Thanks

[CamoGurl2023]

So did they open the gate at hearthstone  ?
Thanks

Was up at Hearthstone, gate open, parking available above beach. Still tough sledding up hill. Drove over to YMCA at Pilots knob, looked good to go but no trucks. Any work on Hague?

Found this on the reports and conditions page. Looks like people are fishing it.. I  haven't personally been there. So just be careful if you go!

[carpy]

Yes the gate at Hearthstone is open. My brother drives by there everyday on the way to work, he texted me to let me know it's open.

[SSmokinn SS]

I fished some of my stuff in huddle last week for a couple hours last Thursday and every perch we caught in there was spitting up Scuds. Finding the jumbos was harder. TONS of 8-9" fish. Actually most were around that size.

[lowaccord66]

maybe something to do with the benthic matts and other asian clam/millfoil eradication efforts?

Seems reasonable...

[perchslappinmy]

I fished Bolton in November and early December for perch. They weren't in Sawmill then either...there was huge schools of perch and it didn't take 40' to find them. Hearing guys say they're not there doesn't surprise me.

[robalero]

One small observation we did make was the perch were definitely not spitting up a lot of scuds like they normally did,

Two poor trips to MDB GPS-marked spots that produced well on early ice in the past.  None of the few perch I got spit up scuds, and their stomachs were nearly empty.  Strange.

[SSmokinn SS]

Pilots knob/ phelps island/ dome island still open?

[bigfish1212]

My buddy caught the biggest smallie I've ever seen today jigging for lakers in 60' of water was almost 6.5# thing was a toad.

[perchinmybucket]

pics or it didnt happen

[bigfish1212]

Pic doesn't really do it justice it was a freak. Never got a length measurement on it.

[lowaccord66]

My buddy caught the biggest smallie I've ever seen today jigging for lakers in 60' of water was almost 6.5# thing was a toad.

Nice fish.  They had the laker grounds covered before ice up....

[Buckmaster7600]

My buddy caught the biggest smallie I've ever seen today jigging for lakers in 60' of water was almost 6.5# thing was a toad.

Trolling for lakers I have caught some absolute hog smallies on lake George the problem is they almost always die when they come up from that deep.

[SSmokinn SS]

Sweet smallie... a 6lb smallie should go 22-23”.

[Spoondangler]

Man that's a chunk smallie.


We went out of hearthstone today and word to the wise, be careful as snow was deeper then we anticipated on the drive in.   Thanks to the guys who helped pushed us back to to road.
 Beautiful day weather wise and about 6/7 inches ice. My bud got a solid 25" jigging. 
At one point we had a school of fish swim under the shanty in 8 fow that were grouped like smelt but much bigger marks.  When I looked down the hole it looked like giant smelt but smaller and plainer color than perch, are these ciscos? We were over 63 fow.