Reports

I’ve been on Keuka Lake a handful of times this year, guiding some bass on a couple of trips – nearly all as tutorial/locational trips.  I’ve had a number of great reports on the bass fishing here this year, from guide Jon Evans, to homeowners on the lake as well as people that have been renting cottages and/or just fishing the lake.  Bass fishing has generally been excellent.

If you pay attention to this website, and more importantly understand the dynamic of predator/prey relationships, you shouldn’t be surprised, and I called this years ago right on this website – and I’m no rocket scientist (or biologist.)   So what’s happening?   The most important factor is that alewives have mostly disappeared here.  We know that alewives destroy walleye natural reproduction, via preying on their fry (Conesus Lake is a prime example, but there are many more – Owasco Lake is another) and by causing some thiamine deficiencies, even in walleyes, although usually that deficiency doesn’t result in catastrophic reproductive failure like it does for Atlantic salmon.  Alewives don’t help yellow perch at all either.  Conesus Lake was one of the best perch fishing lakes NY State until alewives showed up in the early 1980s.  Then it became one of the worst within just a couple of years!  As Seneca Lake’s alewife populations increased, the perch fishing has gone down (although it is coming back slowly.)  Lake Ontario is another prime example.  As alewife populations have decreased in the big lake, the perch (and walleye) fishing has improved.

Alewives also do a number on smallmouth bass fry.  Don’t believe it?  First, it’s not really disputable – you can see the research.  But if you don’t believe it, tell me why Skaneateles Lake, with no alewives has had by far the best smallmouth population in the Finger Lakes for its size?   On Keuka Lake, bass are thriving and are now being caught using more traditional bass techniques.  You can throw a Mr. Twister here and catch plenty of bass.  In Owasco Lake, which is full of alewives, a good portion of the bass spend August and September suspended over deep water chasing alewife schools.  The bass act more like stripers on bait here.  Try traditional bass techniques here like drop-shotting and Ned rigs and I’m sure you’ll catch some, but it’s nothing approaching close to a Canadian or Adirondack or Maine lake for that matter.  It doesn’t touch Skaneateles Lake for numbers.

Alewives arrived in Keuka Lake back in the mid-1800s.  Most sources say that the reason why is “unknown” but in the mid-1800s, a canal was built connecting Seneca Lake at Dresden to Keuka Lake at Penn Yan.  Thankfully, no lampreys made it to Keuka Lake (or if they did, they died out without reproducing,) but I’m guessing that’s how alewives arrived there. That makes the most sense. Alewives nearly disappeared on Keuka Lake in the early 1970s and at that time, DEC seined alewives from Waneta and Seneca Lake and brought them over to Keuka Lake.  They did pretty well there until the 2000s, when they started getting scarce.  Keuka’s huge lake trout population (i.e., an army of small wild fish!  Dare I say, an army of “dinks”) knocked them back.  Some anglers ask me why DEC couldn’t do that again – seine bait and reintroduce it, but that wouldn’t be possible due to regulations/viruses and so forth.  In addition, alewives multiply very quickly and can quickly establish themselves in a fishery.  Alewives can still legally be used on Keuka Lake as bait.  There are still some in Keuka, so clearly they just can’t get past the predators at this time in history on Keuka.  And that is a good thing, especially if you’re a bass or perch fisherman.  Walleyes for better or worse, can reproduce now in Keuka Lake, so there’s also that to consider.  Hopefully the cisco re-introduction will prove successful on Keuka Lake, or else like Skaneateles Lake, yellow perch fry will support the entire fishery for the most part.  We’ve seen how skinny the lake trout and northern pike are here.  It isn’t a great thing, but harvesting trout here certainly can help.  A couple of hard winters that result in heavy ice-fishing pressure would certainly help knock down the lake trout population here a bit, but just like we saw in 2015/16, the lake trout bounced right back within a few years, despite that heavy harvest through the ice.