Reports

Had a very good day with Derrick and his son Aaron starting just after 10 am.  Only one other boat had gone out of Long Point today, although another half-dozen likely went out of Dean’s.  First off, the water levels are about 2′ below summer pool right now, so launching a boat is easy.  Water levels should be rising by the week.  Water temps are around 41 degrees.  Lake trout fishing was very solid throughout the day today with fish coming from 120′ to 170′ today.  You really can’t go wrong with any depth in that range.  The right areas help, but fish are feeding and roaming around.  We had a solid double-digit day with a couple of doubles hooked today.  Fish topped out around 30.5″ – and that one came from the deepest water for what it’s worth.  Most fish ran 25″ to 27″ today.  All were stocked fish.  I filleted four fish for the guys and all of them had freshly digested alewives in their stomachs.  Best color for us today was Arkansas Shiner, though we had a few on black and white, as well as alewife.

Midges are starting to hatch, so if you’re out here on a warm day, don’t wear any good clothing since these bugs really tend to stain shirts once they get smashed – which usually happens when leaning back on your seat!  A few loons have shown up and some snow geese are still around.  We had some nearly calm conditions.  Mid-week forecasts were looking like we’d have 10 to 20 mph winds today.  You just have to keep an eye on the changing forecasts.

DEC Region 7 diary results are in.  I received my summaries on Friday.  I’m not going to summarize the findings in an article this year, since it’s all pretty self-explanatory, but I mention a couple highlights in the next paragraph.  I’ve been busy with other work on this website. If you sign up for a diary and send one in, you’ll get the summaries the following spring online and/or in the mail.  DEC also posts them online on their website later this spring.

Things are pretty much what we’ve noticed.  Salmon way down on Cayuga as well as browns.  One cool thing was that the top laker out of Cayuga was a 38.3″ monster!  Awesome fish.  Walleye catch went up in Skaneateles Lake.  Owasco went up for rainbows.  DEC still needs more people to cooperate, especially on Owasco, Otisco and Skaneateles Lakes.

Looks like the weather may finally be pleasant for fishing in another week.  I still have openings in April.  If you’ve wanted to dial in the lake trout jigging, this is some of the most consistent fishing of the year on Cayuga Lake.  Mixed- bag fishing can be a lot of fun on Skaneateles Lake.  Another great opportunity is shallow casting and fly-casting for lake trout on Keuka Lake.  I can also do deep-jigging trips on Canandaigua Lake.   I expect limited casting/fly-casting opportunities for landlocked salmon on Seneca Lake as well throughout April.