Eric Davis

Mayhood's Sporting Goods

CHENANGO COUNTY – As I have mentioned in other articles I have written, I grew up outside of Watkins Glen, NY. I got my start into the outdoors in the form of fishing with my grandfather. He lived in the city of Elmira so he left his boat at our house in Montour Falls to avoid pulling a trailer through the city.

Pretty much every Saturday in the summer, he came up and we headed out on Seneca Lake to troll for trout and landlocked salmon. We always stopped at the bait shop in Watkins to get advice based on what everyone had been reporting.

Every once in awhile we switched it up from trolling to fishing with live bait when the timing was right attempting catch lake trout in the “shallow” water of 30-50 feet. One of my better memories of fishing with both my grandfather and my dad was a day using live bait.

The day started like most any other fishing trip, waking up early and being ready when my grandfather arrived to hook the boat up. We got everything in the boat that we needed and took off.

After a brief stop at the bait shop to get a couple dozen “sawbellies” – a nickname given to alewife – we launched the boat and traveled up the eastern side of the lake for 10-15 minutes.