Syracuse.com - J. Michael Kelly's new book, 'Fishing the Finger Lakes' is a definite keeper

[HuntingNY-News]

Kelly's crisp and colorful writing style makes it fun and educational with prose style rich with anecdotes about friends and memories from his childhood and early fishing years.

J. Michael Kelly was at Lourdes Camp on Skaneateles Lake this week, enjoying one of his favorite shoreline fishing spots.

It's no surprise. He fishes there each fall. It's where he once landed a 27 ½- inch rainbow trout on a worm/marshmallow rig.

This day, he failed to hook a trout, but a couple of nice perch and rock bass were on the ground next to his bucket. He was using worms as bait. Suddenly, the tip of one of his poles, resting in a holder, started twitching furiously.

 

"I got one," he said, picking up the pole, jerking and reeling in what he initially thought was a rainbow trout or possibly a hefty yellow perch.

"Ah, it's a bullhead," he said, beaching it on the shore and releasing it afterward. "Good size. They're good to eat, but I'm not much of a bullhead guy."

Whether it's angling for panfish, casting for walleyes at night or landing a huge rainbow trout in a Finger Lake tributary, Kelly knows the local waters. The former outdoors writer for The Post-Standard/Herald American shares his more than 50 years of fishing experience and knowledge with readers in his new book, "Fishing the Finger Lakes."

The book, pitched on the cover at as "A Complete Guide to Prime Fishing Locations in Central New York State, isn't your simple, "how to" book. It's much more.

Kelly starts off painting the big picture of the Finger Lakes. He begins with Otisco Lake and works his way westward, lake by lake, finishing with Conesus Lake. Kelly breaks down each lake's fishery with the help of state Department of Environmental Conservation fishery biologists, veteran fishing guides and other long-time anglers. He explains why each fishery is the way it is - its strengths, its weaknesses.

Kelly eyes a nice bullhead he caught at Lourdes Camp on Skaneateles Lake. He released the fish.Dick Blume | [email protected] 

Kelly's crisp and colorful writing style makes it fun and educational with prose filled with anecdotes about friends and anglers he's coming across, along and memories from his childhood and early fishing years.

"People responded well to that writing style when I was working at the newspaper and I decided to keep doing it," said the 64-year-old Marcellus resident.

Kelly institutional memory of the politics and the events that sculpted the local fishing scene, gained by nearly two decades as the newspaper's outdoors writer, adds to his credibility.

He explains why tiger muskies were first stocked in Otisco (to deal with the proliferation of alewives in the lake), why walleye were at one time stocked, but are no longer in Owasco (the DEC decided to emphasize the lake's cold water fishery for trout and felt it couldn't back both fish), why Seneca Lake perch are so big (they have a longer survival rate because of the lake's size and the lack of ice fisherman because it never freezes over) and why the western Finger Lakes now have a one-rainbow a day limit on their tributaries (the DEC's attempt to bolster the trout fishery in those waterways).

After covering all the lakes, Kelly then examines the diverse styles and techniques used to fish them, along with their tributaries. In separate chapters, he covers trolling for trout and salmon, bass fishing, shore fishing, the rainbow run up the lake's tributaries, panfishing and ice fishing.

From there, he continues with an overview of the best inland trout streams in the Finger Lakes region, along with writing about other local lakes and rivers, (Tully Lake, the Tioughnioga River , Jamesville Reservoir, Cross Lake, the Cayuga-Seneca Canal, the West River, the Keuka Outlet, Cayuta Lake, along with Lamoka and Waneta lakes).

Kelly has fished every one of the Finger Lakes and their tributaries, along with the other lakes, rivers and streams at one time or another. He dedicates his book to the one person who he says is the most responsible for his years of successful and enjoyable angling - his wife, Chickie.

"Chickie's unfailing generosity has convinced me that an understanding and supportive spouse is a critical to a fisherman's long-term success as using the appropriate hooks, line and sinkers," he said.

More:

J. Michael Kelly's new book, "Fishing the Finger Lake," published by Burford Books, is available at Barnes and Noble stores, Wegmans, the Syracuse University Book Store, the Colgate University Book store and through online retailers. The book is soft-covered and selling for $16.95.

View the full article on The Syracuse Outdoors Blog