Reports

Guided Jeff and his buddy Jake for a 1/2 day today starting just after 8:00 am.  Jeff sent me a deposit a few years ago, but has been busy with family and other activities, so thankfully we finally got the trip in.  I’ve guided Jeff since he was around 14 years old or so, starting with his dad on Seneca Lake back around 2007 or 2008.  He’s gotten big into fly-fishing over the past decade and is now in his 30s!   He fly-fished today, while Jake threw gear ranging from stickbaits to spoons and swimbaits.  Over the years Jake has joined us on some other trips as well.

Angling Zone friend Joe B. sent me a press-release noting that Owasco Lake’s water level was going to be dropped a bit this week in order to make sure that the small hydro-plant on the outlet remains functional.  The lake is about a foot or so lower now, than it was last week.  I’ve seen it lower before (they were lowering the level to help kill some invasive Asian clam) but it wasn’t too bad for launching.  I doubt that a boat could be launched at South Shore Marine at this point in time.

One thing we noticed in short order is that perch have invaded the shallows of this lake.  Many are nice sized!  Water temperatures are right around 51 to 52 degrees and will continue to drop with the colder days and nights in the forecast.

The goal was pike today and we had to postpone a trip scheduled a few weeks ago due to heavy wind.  Today looked pretty good on paper with cloudy calm conditions going to a north wind this morning.  Unfortunately the forecast was updated, calling for north winds in the afternoon.  I brought trout jigging gear just incase our AM pike bite was tough.

We had sun and fairly flat-calm conditions to start!  This time of year – in mid-November, the sun isn’t very intense and sunny conditions aren’t necessarily a deal-breaker on pike/pickerel/musky action, but wind is still important.  Jake has eagle eyes and was spotting all kinds of perch, bass and occasional pike as we worked a favorite stretch.  The guys had some hits/follows and then Jake hooked and landed the first northern, a fish around 24″, which we released.  That fish came on the first cast with a Rapala Deep-running X-Rap.  The guys were hoping to keep a couple for various fish dishes today.  Next fish was Jeff’s 25″ on the fly, which was cool.  It hit a large baitfish pattern of mine fished on a full-sinking Type-6 fly-line and 8-weight rod.  A follow or two might have happened later, but not much.  We tried a couple other areas and then went back to our productive zone.  The clouds moved in and the north winds got underway.  Conditions were perfect but we didn’t have much time;  the guys usually do a full-day trip but Jeff needed to be back home within a couple of hours (they had a good 90 minute drive to get here.)  I gave Jake a different spoon than he had used earlier, and on his first cast he nailed a hard-hitting 28″ fish.

We saw a lot of perch and bass swimming around today in the crystal-clear water.  The weedbeds are still mostly intact here, which wasn’t the case last year around this time.  The last time the guys were out with me was on November 12th, 2018 out of Watkins Glen on Seneca Lake.  I think we had around 14 to 15 nice pike on that full-day trip, with a good number of fish on the fly as well as gear.  Nothing in the region tops Seneca Lake when it is “on,” but at least Owasco Lake has been consistent over the past decade and has given this guide and his clients a good number of 35″ to 41″ fish.  We’re all hoping for Seneca Lake to get back to its past northern pike greatness!  Until then, Owasco Lake is the best bet with regards to eastern Finger Lakes.

Plenty of dates remain open!  It’s prime time for mixed-bag action on Skaneateles Lake.  Pick the right day, and Owasco should fish much better for pike that a lot of what we’ve seen this year so far.  The best should be yet to come over there.  Plenty of other great opportunities are available!