1000 Islands Smallie

[Gerry Zagorski]

Fishing is tough this year in the 1000 Islands. We’d pick one or two at each or our deep water summer spots where they’re usually stacked up but that’s it. Stuck with it and weeded through some dinks and finally managed this one on a whacky rigged Senko...

[Esox Luciano]

Jaw dropped when i saw the pic...DAAYUUM!!! Congrats on that cannonball bronze Cap!! Well done.

[Jigman13]

Nice bronze. Try Ned rigged TRDs or TRD tubes/craws for finicky smallies...

[Hookmanski]

Nice one cap!

x2 on the ned rigged TRD, i once had one dangling off the side of my kayak only 6 inches under the surface of the water while I was adjusting my seat and a smallie came up out of 15 FOW and slammed it. They work!

[gypsy]

Still going up there ?? Sometimes sweetwater is a good change, I still do my thing up at Lake George, now it's mostly 5 times a year, mid sept and oct the Landlocks come in, I'll be up for 10 days for that, nice catch

[thmyorke1]

Make that 1001 that smb is another island itself

Great fish Gerry.

[JDTuna]

Great fish, Gerry! Looks like a great place to take a trip!

[AndyS]

Nice bass, any idea as to why fishing was slower than normal ?

[bulletbob]

Originally Posted by AndyS

Nice bass, any idea as to why fishing was slower than normal ?

Yes,, Round Goby... SLR/Great Lakes/Finger lakes/Oneida Lake, have been decimated by this invasive.. they now cover the bottom at all depths in all these great waterways.. they are aggressive in the extreme.. They eat the eggs of all other fish as well as the newly hatched fry, and they are so incredibly numerous that bass, sunfish family, perch, walleyes, and just about everything else cannot guard their nests.. In many fishing areas up here, you cannot even fish with a live worm any more.. As soon as its tossed out, 1000 gobies swarm it from every direction, and its stripped instantly.. What has happened is this- the bass, Lakers, and most other predators in the large waterways here have started to key on the super abundant gobies.. The fish that do survive are getting HUGE on Gobies.. Big fat bass like Gerry showed.. problem is, the populations of all game species that spawn naturally have been battered, and the numbers are WAY down.. When you catch a bass, its big, but there are no where near as many.. the trout trollers like the gobies, because the trout eat them and get fat.. Anyone that fishes for bass, walleyes, or pan fish, despise them.. I no longer fish cayug lakes right down the road from me.. Its impossible to catch anything with bait these days.. I haven't caught a sunfish or rock bass there in years with my grand kids.. i have to drive these days to skaneateles lake, as the Gobies haven't made it there.. Yet.. the zebras are there, not the Gobies... I HATE with a passion what has happened here.. Since I came in 1991.. Zebra Mussels/Quagga Mussels/ Round Gobies/Spinier Fleas/ Asian Carp.. Destroyed these waterways.. bob

[Gerry Zagorski]

My buddy Larry was fishing with worms and caught 4 or 5 Gobies while up there and they are a problem... Got to check out the Ned rigged TRDs, how do you fish them??