Frenchman's Bay last Sunday

[MichaelVerdirame]

I spent 2 hours at Frenchman's bay last Sunday because I was in the area. I started fishing the public docks at the base of Liverpool road.

Ice: the ice has set in around most of the shallow areas. You're limited to fishing at the docks really.



I started by working a red devil spoon along the bottom parallel to all the docks, taking care to not walk too close to the dock edges and spooking any fish. No luck after about an hour.

I switched to a rapala size 7 shad crankbait. I worked it slowly around the middle of the water around the bridge and along the docks as well. Nothing.



Then I took a stroll down the east and west paths at the base of Liverpool road. The east one brings you alongside the shallow wetland that's iced over. The west one brings you to a "no trespassing" gate. Has that gate ever been opened? It gives you access to all the deeper water!

I did get scared by a huge beaver that surfaced just next to me by the docks though. And I got a nice sunset. Nevertheless, I wish there were fish!

 

[evanm]

If I remember right last Sunday was pretty cold! I was there 2 weeks ago and buddy pulled out 2 pike no more than 2ft. long, they were released back in the water. There are fish there, but getting them to bite is the hard part. I caught 4 pike in about 4 hours span there one day, all were released. The Rapala firetiger, 4-8' dive (around 5-6" long), worked best on many occasion in catching pike from that area. In cold weather like now, a slow-medium retrieve, and in warmer weather a fast retrieve worked for me.

I never worked the bottom, maybe max 3-4' deep and got pike. Last year my buddy pulled out a huge one about 30" long!

p.s. the side you took those pics from is private property i think...belongs to the restaurant. No fishing from standing on the docks either...its all private! I may be wrong but I never see people fishing from the restaurant side

 

[MichaelVerdirame]

If I remember right last Sunday was pretty cold! I was there 2 weeks ago and buddy pulled out 2 pike no more than 2ft. long, they were released back in the water. There are fish there, but getting them to bite is the hard part. I caught 4 pike in about 4 hours span there one day, all were released. The Rapala firetiger, 4-8' dive (around 5-6" long), worked best on many occasion in catching pike from that area. In cold weather like now, a slow-medium retrieve, and in warmer weather a fast retrieve worked for me.

I never worked the bottom, maybe max 3-4' deep and got pike. Last year my buddy pulled out a huge one about 30" long!

p.s. the side you took those pics from is private property i think...belongs to the restaurant. No fishing from standing on the docks either...its all private! I may be wrong but I never see people fishing from the restaurant side

Awesome, good to hear people are pulling fish from here! Where are you guys targeting your retrieves? 3-4' deep along the edge of docks or across the open water? Thanks for the tips.

Nobody's ever said anything to me fishing from the docks, and there is no signage to indicate private property or no fishing (I checked).

 

[evanm]

Awesome, good to hear people are pulling fish from here! Where are you guys targeting your retrieves? 3-4' deep along the edge of docks or across the open water? Thanks for the tips.

Nobody's ever said anything to me fishing from the docks, and there is no signage to indicate private property or no fishing (I checked).

Across the open water. I generally fish on the other side across the water from where you took that 2nd pic from. Then I cast close to the docks, and reel in. On many occasions pike follow the bait right up to the shore but dont bite, they just turn around and go back. I think they hang out around the docks, and when you cast there and start reeling in across the water, they follow the bait sometime very close to the shore and then bite.

Btw, the no trespassing area on the east part...people trespass there all the time!

 

[NADO]

skrew no trespassing! As for getting those stubborn pike to bite an exert from the pike fishing article might help. Try pausing the retrieve periodically with the crank bait or try switching to a spoon and pausing your retrieve to allow the spoon to flutter back towards the pike.

 

[MichaelVerdirame]

skrew no trespassing! As for getting those stubborn pike to bite an exert from the pike fishing article might help. Try pausing the retrieve periodically with the crank bait or try switching to a spoon and pausing your retrieve to allow the spoon to flutter back towards the pike.

Excellent article, that.

The crank I'm using floats pretty fast, do you guys have that problem? basically a pause would lead to the crank bait floating to the surface. I could try it with a spoon though.

EDIT: my main cranks include the rapala r-7 and f-7 in silver/black. Are those up to the task? The f-7 is more for top-water though.

 

[evanm]

Excellent article, that.

The crank I'm using floats pretty fast, do you guys have that problem? basically a pause would lead to the crank bait floating to the surface. I could try it with a spoon though.

EDIT: my main cranks include the rapala r-7 and f-7 in silver/black. Are those up to the task? The f-7 is more for top-water though.

You can fix the problem with the crank bait floating up by simply putting 1 or 2 slip shots on your line about 1.5 ft. away from the crank bait (I caught pike with this setup) I have tried the pause and retrieve method and it did work on landing pike a couple times, but so far I had better luck using a steady retrieve with the occasional jerks.

 

[thatkidhugo]

Fished frenchmans bay last summer 2 or 3 times from Front Rd.

I tried spoons, cranks and topwaters with no luck.

Has anyone ever taken a tin boat onto frenchmans bay? When spring comes, I thought about taking my 14 footer and leaving my outboard at home and just troll around the bay.

 

[MichaelVerdirame]

Fished frenchmans bay last summer 2 or 3 times from Front Rd.

I tried spoons, cranks and topwaters with no luck.

Has anyone ever taken a tin boat onto frenchmans bay? When spring comes, I thought about taking my 14 footer and leaving my outboard at home and just troll around the bay.

My friends and I took a canoe in, we didn't go far out we stayed around the marinas on the east side. Still no luck though. We've yet to pull anything out from there. I did however see a guy catch a huge freshwater drum near the bridge on a black spoon.