June 15th - June 23rd fishing report.

Denise with Lunker of the week, 3 lb. 6 oz.



3 lb 4 oz. I don't know why the hell I am posing like this!



 3 lb. 5 oz.  A more conservative pose!  LOL!

 

6 oz.  At least I'm having fun. :)

 Denise bundled up!  Definitely had some cool evenings.

Denise on a nice day at Browns Bay.



 

OH CRAP!  I have work to do.  Bass opens in the morning!

Yup!  Water level is WAY up.  Photo by my brother from his boat before we arrived.

 

 Crusing out of Upper Deep Bay in the evening, wife took this awesome picture.





Simply stated, the opening week of bass season was not good.  In our eight season at the lake, our catch count was not even close to prior years.  We only caught 60 bass for the whole week.  To give you an idea how bad that is, last year we caught 218 bass during opening week.   The fishing may be bad because of the excessively high water level and lower water temps.  The lake is 2 to 3 feet above average for this time of year.  When we arrived Friday night our dock was under water.  Had to do some adjustments to get it above the water.  The lake level finally dropped about 1 foot by the end of the week.  It still needs to drop a lot more.  Best 3 bass for the week were 3 lb 4 oz, 3 lb 5 oz and 3 lb 6 oz caught by my wife.  There was really no hot spots for opening week.  Our best day was 12 bass. The bass definitely had lockjaw!  I am hoping the bass are biting better our next trip to the lake this weekend.  But, of course, any day at Black Lake is certainly better than a day at work.
Until next time folks...Fish On!

Dock and boat update June 1st, 2nd, 8th & 9th

Launched the boat June 8th

Put the dock in June 1st

 Dock and boat hoist bunks with new carpet

 Storm clouds moving in June 1st

 

We been busy the past couple weeks trying to get ready for BASS SEASON.  Seems we are always scrambling towards the end of May and first couple weeks of June.  Finally got the dock in on Saturday June 1st.  Then we put the boat in Saturday, June 8th.  Somehow we managed to get those jobs done in between rain drops.  We've had quite a bit of rain this spring, especially the past two weeks.  The lake water level is slightly above average.  A big change compared to last years drought.  Anyway, Bass season opens this Saturday, June 15th!  Rain or Shine!  The only weather that could keep us off the lake is high winds.  We plan on fishing 8 days straight.  Well, I suppose we will take breaks to eat a few meals and get some sleep.  ha ha ha.  That's all for now folks.  Stay tuned for fishing updates and pictures.  Until next time...   Fish On!

Cottage opening Memorial Weekend May 25th - 27th

Lakeview from the deck May 26th.



Floated the boat hoist in the water.

 

On the road, heading north.

 

All loaded and ready to head out.

 

Cottage is open for the season.  Woo Hoo!  Let the fun begin.  Did lots of work and cleaning this weekend.  Put the boat hoist in the water.  I made a new barrel floating system to get it in to place.  It's much easier than the old prying system.  Next week we will put the dock and boat in the water.  Till next time folks...       Fish On!

Dash for Cash 2013 Announcement

 The Log Cabins announced this years Dash for Cash Tournament will be Sunday, September 15th. Launch time will be 6:25 a.m. Maximum entries will be 144 teams.

Tournament morning 2012

Fish On!

NYS Largemouth Bass record 1987

New York State record Largemouth Bass picture, John L. Higbie, 11 lbs 4 oz, 1987.



Newspaper articles below from 1987:

From the Albany Times Union:
UNADILLA MAN LANDS RECORD
Section: SPORTS, Page: C16
Date: Sunday, October 11, 1987

John Higbie of Unadilla in Otsego County had an excellent season, catching a bass weighing over eight pounds about a month ago. But little did he know that before the season was over he would land a lunk bass that would dwarf his eight-pounder.
After catching the first largemouth, Higbie took it to the taxidermist, then told all his fishing partners he would never keep another trophy largemouth unless it was larger than that one. Higbie's friends gave him a high quality fish scale and a tape measure just to hold him to his promise.
A month later, Higbie was fishing a private lake in Otsego County when another big bass engulfed his large homemade spinnerbait. After a long battle, Higbie finally boated his second lunker bass in less than 30 days. But he didn't realize just how big it was until he weighed and measured it.
First he measured the huge bass. It was over two inches longer than his 8- pounder. Next he hung it from the fish scales. Then it struck him that he might have just caught a state-record largemouth bass.
Higbie might not have realized that the second lunker was as big as it was if his friends hadn't given him the scales and tape measure. If he hadn't had them in his tackle box he said he may have simply "returned the fish to the water."
Higbie brought his lunker largemouth to the DEC fisheries office in Stamford, where the species was confirmed and then entered in the Department of Environmental Conservation's record fish program. The bass weighed in at 11.26 pounds, about eight ounces heavier than the previous record largemouth bass caught 12 years ago.
The bass was 25.5 inches long and had a girth of 21 inches.
Obviously, Higbie will have the fish mounted.


From The Tri-Town News,
VOL. 146 - NO. 38 SIDNEY, NEW YORK — THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 2012

UANDILLA
25 YEARS AGO

September 23, 1987

John Higbie of Unadilla met
up with fate last week while he
was fi shing at a nearby lake.
Higbie caught a large-mouth
black bass that weighed 11
lbs., 4 1/2 oz., which was good
enough to break the state record
of 12 years by at least one
half pound.

From The Tri-Town News,
VOL. 146 - NO. 51 SIDNEY, NEW YORK — THURSDAY, DECEMBER 13, 2012
UNADILLA

25 YEARS AGO
John Higbie, Unadilla,
broke a record for reeling in
a largemouth bass in the 42nd
Annual NYS Genesee Fishing
Contest. He broke a 12 year
state record with his 11 lb. 4
oz. bass.

Christmas 2012 photos

Brian and Denise

 Chad and Stephanie

 Michael

 Denise

 Living room

 Stephanie and Chad

 Mike and Bella

 Bella



Fish On!

2012 Year in Review.

Summer of Denise... 4 lb 9 oz.  Her new record.



Old Glory at Black Lake

Opening day of Bass season.

Black Lake, Tavern Island

Islands of Black Lake

2012 proved to be our best year yet at Black Lake.  We had it all.  Nice warm weather, great fishing and great fun.  It was also the year of the drought.  We saw very little rain for the year and record low lake levels.  That didn't seem to slow down the bass at all.  In total, we caught 670 bass for the season.  31 of those were over 3 pounds.  11 were over 4 pounds.  A new record for us!  Lunker of the year was 4 lbs 10 oz and the Lady Lunker was 4 lbs 9 oz.  Every fish caught was released back to the lake.  Early in the season we did very well catching a bunch of fat bass in "The Cut".  In June, the first two weeks of bass season always produce the highest catch rate. July was a good month with several 4 pounders.  At times the "Devils Graveyard" was producing quite well.  But you had to be there at the right time day.  August was also a productive month.  Normally in August we don't catch many, but this year was an exception.  We caught our biggest lunkers in Augest.  Lonesome Bay and Upper Deep Bay had good action if you know where to go.  Jennies Island was difficult this year with all the thick weeds.  Behind Jennies, is Watch Island which was nearly unfishable due to the thick weeds.  Not to mention the low water level also made it difficult navigating.  Fishing south of "The Narrows" didn't produce much this year.  We caught some real nice lunkers near Conger Island.  This year we saw HAB's (harmful algae blooms) on Black Lake.  The DEC posted warnings to avoid these blooms.  There was an extended period of time the lake looked like pea soup.  This is attributed to the drought this year and low water level.  But the bass sure didn't seem to mind.  I caught my biggest bass in some pretty bad looking green water.  The lake did start to clear up in late September.  September fishing was decent but we didn't do too well in the Dash for Cash.  We finished 28th place with 8.09 lbs.  I guess it's not too bad considering there were 144 teams.  Every year we try to crack the top 20, but there are a lot of great fisherman to compete against.  In October we began to wind down on fishing and only got out to fish three times.  The last day of fishing (the 13th) we did manage to catch 12 bass.  Top 3 weighed 10 lbs 7oz..  That would have been good for 5th place in the dash for cash.  It was a good day to end the year.  All and all we had a lot of fun this year.  Hoping next year brings more fun and BIG BASS!!!  Until next time folks...   Fish On!