Reports

Fishing is in tip-top shape throughout the region. Lots of species are active, colors are still nice and waterways are seeing very little pressure. It’s tough to top mid-fall fishing in the FL Region! As most of you know, I guide throughout the winter weather-depending. Here’s how the fishing was over the past week:

10/29 Otisco Lake: I met Ed here around 8 am with the intention of catching a Tiger Musky on the fly. I hadn’t done it before, but people do it and it’s been a great year for Tigers. From what I’ve seen, I believe August and September might be the best months to do it, but I’ve seen good Tiger fishing here from May through October. I set Ed up in a good area and on his first cast he landed a decent smallmouth bass. Not long afterwards he got another bigger one (they ran 15″ to 17″.) He had a few other hits then lost a very solid bass around 4 to 5lbs that was probably a largemouth. We saw one Tiger cruising the surface with its mouth open. Not an uncommon sight in the summer, but I usually don’t see it as much in the fall. We tried a few other areas with no action.

I’ve tried to catch a Tiger musky fly-fishing off and on for probably 12 years now. I’ve attempted it maybe 4 times over that time frame, mostly during years when the Tiger population wasn’t very good. It’s never been a high priority of mine, but something I’ve wanted to accomplish. This year and last year I spent a lot of time still-fishing with Bobberman Perry and have learned a lot about Tiger behavior and locations. Find the right day and it shouldn’t be any harder to catch a Tiger on the fly than it is to catch a pike – since Tigers are quite common these days on Otisco Lake. 10 years ago, there were a lot fewer of them around. So after the 1/2 day trip with Ed wound down, I struck out on my own. I worked a few different areas and managed to land a 15″ dink Tiger – one of last year’s stocked fish. It was a start! After 3 hours without much action, I finally tried another area with a floating fly-line and had a good hit. I figured it was a bass, but nope – it was a Tiger around 25″. So I finally nailed one, albeit a small one on the fly. Next year I’ll do more fly-fishing for Tigers if I get time. I’d also like to hit Waneta Lake for a pure strain.

10/30 Owasco Lake: Guided Rick and Gary for the full day. Rick’s been joining me for mostly laker jigging trips since 2007 and it’s always a fun day when he and his buddy Gary are around. Action started out OK with Gary losing two solid fish. He then caught a mutant – a somewhat deformed laker! Then things slowed a bit. The north end flats were productive with a few fish finally making it to the net. We also hit some on the south end and places in-between. The guys wound up landing 7 solids. A lot of them are still on the feed heavily here and had the sun poked out and weather system been more amenable, I think we would have really nailed the lakers. But a good day nonetheless!

10/31 AM Seneca Lake: Met the Hermans at the Watkins Glen Marina launch at 8 am for a 1/2 day trip. They don’t like to fish, they want to “catch!” That’s fine I tell them – just don’t tell me, tell the fish! We had great conditions for pike and Eleonore started things out with a gorgeous 31″ or 32″ pike/pickerel hybrid! They are not super common in the area, but we’ve caught them fairly regularly on Seneca Lake and occasionally on Cayuga Lake over the past 10 years. John managed some good northerns and lost one that was around 37″! Some fought great, others not so much. Spoons did the trick. 5 nice fish were caught and released – most over 30″ and up to around 35″ or 36″ if I remember correctly.

After the trip I took my 2013 Crestliner over to Silver Lake Marine for winterization and storage. I hooked up my 2002 Crestliner, arrived back in Lansing around 8 pm and got it ready to go for my next day’s trip. It’s running great and next year I’ll be replacing the floor on it. I had a fantastic trailering cover made for me (custom) at SLM and couldn’t be happier.

BTW – If you’re looking to trade in your boat, Skyler at Silver Lake Marine really needs some trade-ins, so now’s a good time! Let him know you heard about them via me! I’ll be working with them at the Rochester Boat Show next February. That’s always a great time to buy a new boat. I couldn’t be happier with my Crestliners and have had great luck with both my Mercury and my Yamaha Four-Stroke Motors. You can’t go wrong with either.

11/1 Seneca Lake: Met Mark at the launch at 7:30 AM. He loves to fly-fish for anything from drum to gar to salmon to bonefish and tarpon. Pike are a favorite. BTW – Mark’s the best fly-caster I guide on a regular basis. The weather was nasty to start with a good north wind (never a lot of fun out of Watkins Glen) and some rain. We ran up the lake a ways and found some good areas to fish and some good fishing! An 8 weight rod with a RIO Clouser line and Clouser Minnow (tied with rabbit) worked great. Mark had his best day of pike on the fly that he’s ever had with me (we usually go a couple times a year.) He landed 6 solids – three from 31″ to 35″ long and the rest from 25″ to 29″. When the fly-casting wore out his arm, he cast with spinning gear and managed two more. The pike are generally in good condition, though we are seeing some signs of disease on some of them. Sores and fin-rot. No weird slime or anything like that and no emaciated fish, but I hope most remain healthy. The next few years offer up the best chance for a 40″ and over pike that I’ve seen in a long time. The average fish in Seneca Lake now is probably over 30″! That’s some great pike fishing!