2nd and 1st trip to Lake Chemung for Derek and me 10-5-2017

[djkimmel]

Weren't sure where to go this time for our almost weekly bass fishing trip with Derek. He texted me suddenly - "what about Lake Chemung, I've never been there?" I've only been there once when Manxfishing took me fishing there last year so I said "sure, why not?" And off we went on October 5, 2017 to see if we could figure them out a little better than the slow day I had last year.

Last year we saw some better bass and maybe caught one or two down in the end of the lake where the marina is so I suggested we just start there. A nice big flat point is included in that section. It wasn't real early but it is fall so we started with topwaters.


I was using my 1 Sammy again and immediately the lure got slapped by a 'monster' bass only slightly bigger than the Sammy!?! I was going to take a picture of 'the 1st bass of the day' but the little feller shook off while I was fumbling with my camera. So Derek got the actual 1st bass of the day picture because he immediately caught his own 'monster' on a popper! Hot start (He looks excited doesn't he??)


The story of my day right there... Had 1 deep mystery bite on a deep, deep crankbait - probably a pike! other than a few tiny topwater bite bass. I threw lots of lures at them including my own black and blue jig and pig after Derek started spanking them on his!

We went around the back end of the lake with topwater and other lures without catching anything of any quality. We did actually see one nice bass come up out over deeper water and jump or hit something at the surface. The graph kept showing what appeared to be lots of fish down the break in 12 to 24 fow but we couldn't seem to figure out how to catch whatever they might be.

We had one moment of hope that things would turn around to some real nice bass on topwater when Derek cast his popper near the end of a dock that was closer to the break and had a little weed patch nearby. He hooked another dink but a nice bass of maybe 3 pounds or a little better followed it to the boat! I wasn't prepared because I had just made a long cast. I tried to grab something to toss to this bigger bass but it went around the side of the boat and then disappeared, maybe under the boat and straight back down into the deep water? I tried a few casts around but couldn't figure out where it went or get its attention... drats!!


Then Derek started spanking them with the ole black and blue jig and pig! That's how most of the rest of the day went. He wasn't doing anything fancy. He just cast it up on to the flat and let it sit a moment. Then set the hook. Most of his jig and pig bass where up on the flat. Maybe within 4 to 20 feet of the steep break but pretty shallow.

I tied on my own jig and pig but still couldn't buy a bite. I threw topwater and shallow crankbaits figuring bass wandering up from the drop onto the shallow flats should be eating and active. But I still couldn't hardly get bit. I may have caught 3 or 4 dinks all day...??

I tried a black blue jig and pork too along with quite a few shallow to deep power to finesse techniques and all I got were weird bites and dinks with a couple pike attacks.  I think Derek caught 1 pike also. But Derek ended up landing 7 or 8 keepers from 1 3/4 to 2 1/2 pounds. I think he got a maybe keeper on 1 other lure but I forget what it was? Maybe crankbait, but all the rest came simply on the black and blue jig and pig!


On one stretch, I believe it was near that point with all the big rocks you wouldn't want to drive shallow over!! He caught like 4 keeper bass in a row with his jig in maybe 8 or 10 casts! I caught bupkiss! (I think I just made that word up??)

After that stretch things slowed down for both of us though he got 2 or 3 more before the end of the day. We were fishing one stretch where the break started out more steep and closer to shore when we found about a million minnows!! I mean an huge school taking up much of the water column and going on for 50-60 feet at least! I thought 'this is it!!' We'll start whacking them now!

But we couldn't buy a bite through that area even though it looked pretty good even without the minnows! I think I had something come out of a weed clump and take a swipe at a little swimbait I was throwing but I couldn't see what it was or tell how big, how small.

We also found a stretch down at the other end of the lake that appeared to be loaded with bait and fish down deeper, but again, we couldn't make anything happen. I think Derek caught a small pike there though. We actually saw a couple fish that acted like bass come up out of deeper water and hit the surface but couldn't make anything of that either.

I think there are some nice bass in Chemung. I think a lot of them live down around that grass at the bottom of the break or out a little deeper but still don't know what it takes to get more of them on the hook. I threw deep crankbaits a lot too and had just that one hard mystery bite along a steep point. Threw the spybait a lot. Quite a bit of drop shotting - I would think that would be the ticket for less active bass down there...??

I imagine on days that more bass move shallow to feed you could catch them pretty good. Maybe going fast along the break casting shallow covering as much water as possible is the most productive way to crack the bass fishing code at Lake Chemung? Derek had a decent day anyway even though I wasn't real thrilled with my fishing day.