Opening Weekend 2010

While the Western New York Kayak Fishing Association technically kicks off events on March 28th, I snuck out this past weekend to try out some gear, and break in my paddling muscles. Nothing would be worse than pulling up lame during our first official paddle of the year, so precautions are in order. Have to say, the Pilates have clearly helped, as I felt better paddling for 6 hours Saturday AM then I did on any of my paddles last year. Here’s the run down:

Saturday, March 20th, 2010: The West River, Canandaigua, NY

Went out in search of early preseason bass. I launched from the hand launch at the Sunnyside Road bridge, since the main launch was over run with trailers and shore bound perch and crappie fishermen.

Once I got out, I was marking fish in the center channel. I suspect they were all crappie, bluegill, and perch. Generally speaking, they were suspending two to three feet down, in roughly five to seven feet of water. Unfortunately, I really only had bass gear with me, so I wasn’t able to target them effectively.

As you can see in this video, it still looks pretty wintery there.

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That’s also about the only spot I found that there weren’t boats bumper to bumper targeting crappie. It made for some poor bass fishing conditions, and I failed to hook up.