Seneca 6/21, Cayuga 6/22, Seneca 6/23
Seneca 6/21:
Launched out of Sampson with Jesse and Josh. We started with some fly-fishing and spin-casting for pike. Action was good first thing in the AM with a couple decent pike caught on each technique. Fishing slowed and we headed north for lakers. Lake trout action was very good to start then became excellent as strong T-storms approached. I don’t recommend anyone taking any foolish risks around storms, but the falling barometer can trigger feeding frenzies. We caught some big fish then ran south and got off the lake just as the rain started coming down in droves! Fish came on flukes/fin-S fish and shakers. Best fishing was around 45′ to 65′.
Cayuga 6/22 AM:
Had a good time with Paul and Charlie out of Dean’s Cove. They wanted to learn the technique and we worked hard on it – I gave them the full “tutorial”. They fish Hemlock Lake a bit and I’m looking forward to seeing how the jigging works over there. It WILL work there. Lakers are lakers and on the one time I fished the lake I had a chaser – and it was a poor day near the spawn. Anyways, the guys landed 3 big fish and missed and dropped some. I had a lot of fun talking music with Paul, who happens to be a bluegrass musician.
Cayuga 6/22 PM:
After the full-day with Paul and Charlie I was able to get in a 1/2 day with Dan from last week’s trip. Things started with dead slow laker action and after 2 hours we had nothing to show. But I knew we had a good chance at a hot evening bite, so we stayed around Dean’s, rather than running north for bass/pickerel. Sure enough, as the sun sank a bit at 6:30pm Dan started hooking up. He landed 3 nice fish in a 1/2 hour, then landed another 4 fish before we finished up around 8:30! Perseverance paid off. One fish was a 28″ wild beauty.
Seneca Lake 6/23:
Today I did a full-day trip with Paul. He wanted to see what the “region had to offer”. We started with pike and he had a couple hits and a bite-off. It was fun to at least see a vicious attack from a pike. There are a lot of shredded weeds on the surface of Seneca Lake and it made pike fishing a pain in the butt at times. We went after lakers and the fishing was superb! Pretty much as good as 6/19. Paul landed around 8 to 12 nice fish – many in the 27″ to 28″ range. He had a TON of hits and lost quite a few fish. He was very impressed by the size, beauty and fight of the lakers. He’d caught a 30lb striper earlier in the year and he felt some of the laker battles were reminiscent of striper fights! He did a little piking at the day’s end and picked up a northern. Paul was a kindred spirit and the day was one of the most enjoyable days I’ve spent on the water. I’ve met and guided a lot of great people this season – I absolutely love that aspect of guiding!