Fishing: Black bass should be biting

PHOTOGRAPHER: EmilyRose

The state black bass season will open Saturday, and based on what I’ve heard and my own time on the water in the last few weeks, I think we’re in for a very good season.

Jim Bubb of Clifton Park is a good example of the bite at Saratoga Lake. He recently caught and released at least 50 keeper bass, and told me they were biting all over the lake, including Fish Creek, and hitting both soft and hard

baits.

He wasn’t lying. I spent Monday morning on Saratoga Lake with John Timmons, his daughter, Olivia, and his son, Spenser, and the fishing was very good.

Dad started things off with a pesky pickerel, and shortly after that, I netted a nice 14-inch smallmouth that grabbed Olivia’s BPS Stik0-O worm. Minutes later, Spenser hooked up with his first of the day, another smallmouth. It was definitely a very fishy morning.

As a reminder, Saratoga Tackle’s (584-3952) Tuesday afternoon tournament on the lake will begin June 24, and South Shore Marina’s (584-9125) will begin on June 26. Both are partner tournaments.

Bass will also be one of the three categories (bass, walleye, trout) Saturday at the Great Sacandaga Fisheries Federation’s 23rd annual Summer Fishing Contest. All fish will be measured at the Sport Island Pub. For more details go to www.gslff.com.

In this week’s small lake category, the Lake Lonely bass bite is still good despite high water from the recent heavy rainfall. Generally when talking about this lake, it’s about bass and pike, but recently Robert Weeden of Schenectady pulled in a nice three-pound walleye. This is the first I’ve heard of in several years.

Round Lake’s new boat launch has been getting a lot of use since it opened, and I’ve been getting “good bass fishing” reports. The biggest so far is a 21-inch, six-pound, 15 ounce largemouth caught and released by Schenectady angler Michael Nyman.

He caught the bass from shore on a five-inch, weedless-rigged, dark green plastic worm about 6:30 p.m. I think with this new boat launch, there should be some more good fish tales coming from there, and perhaps even a few northern pike catches.

I heard from several weekend cast-for-cash anglers that it was a bit crowded on Lake Champlain last weekend. Bass season opens a week earlier up there, and the big ones were really biting.

The best results I heard of were from the Greenbush Bass Association’s opener that attracted 44 two-man teams in which the top five teams all had a five-pound-plus bass in their five-bass limit.

The winners, Fred Keech of Hudson Falls and Joel Clark of Lake George, weighed in a total of 23.09 pounds. In their winning bag was the tournament lunker, a 6.89-pound largemouth.

The winners went home with $880 for first and $440 for the lunker.

Rounding out the top six cash positions were: Jamie Hartman of Herkimer and John Irons of Little Falls, 21.75 pounds; Rich Whelpley of Round Lake and Carl Pacquette of Saratoga Springs, 19.30; Vermont anglers Peter Valente and Jeff Poczbut, 19.19; Connecticut anglers Frank Zabski, and Bill O’Connell, 18.79; and Nick Gaworecki of Schenectady and Matt Gaworecki of Rexford, 18.21. Second through sixth places returned: $480, $390, $300, $220 and $130, respectively.

Two local fly-fishing anglers, John Kaufman of Saratoga Springs and Dave Bixby of Delmar, spent some time “in” the waters off Cape Cod. They caught quite a few stripers in the 15- to 25-pound range, all on their own hand-tied Chrispy Critters flies. Dave also hooked up with what John said was a real big trophy blue he pulled out of one foot of water.

However, this week’s biggest catch, or should I say shot, was taken from the Great Sacandaga Lake. Dave Rakvica of Mayfield was bowfishing when he arrowed a fish that I believe would have tipped the scales at over 30 pounds.