Seneca Lake 11/30 + Cayuga Lake 12/1
Fished Seneca on Tuesday out of Geneva for pike on the fly. The heavy rains murked up many of the areas I intended to fish. Roy’s south to Kashong was all pretty murky. I fished Glass Factory Bay a bit and worked areas across the lake. Nothing to report. I wasn’t out for real long, but I don’t think it would have made too much of a difference. Water temps are in the low to mid-40s.
Cayuga was a real mess today. Debris and murky water around most of the shoreline areas. Leaves everywhere! Caught one big pickerel near Millican Station and that was it. Had a decent pike follow me in on the west shore towards the Yacht Club area.
Spent some time in the late afternoon looking for lakers north of Taughannock toward Sheldrake. There’s still some nice bait pods around. Didn’t mark many lakers, though I think they are in the area. There are signs that some of the trout are moving deeper. I marked fish suspended down around 110′ over 140′. No luck on the jigging.
Here’s my take on things:
Things need to settle a bit in Cayuga Lake. Water temperatures have dropped quickly in the southern portions of the lake. Fish like pike and pickerel tend to get a little lethargic as water temps drop. Once the fish get adjusted to the change, they should get more aggressive. The pike are around. I saw plenty of good habitat today and I know the fish are there!
I haven’t been chasing landlocked salmon yet due to the wind pattern. I’m not seeing the wind directions needed to set these fish up. Once we get the right winds, I’ll be able to ascertain things. I expect good salmon fishing given the reports I’ve had on small fish earlier in the season.
Seneca’s pike seem to be a bit of a mystery. The pike fishing has been good in the southern 1/3rd. of the lake. Nearly all the pike I’ve seen have had lamprey scars – including some fresh marks. This lake has a tremendous amount of pike habitat! Tremendous! I don’t think the pike population has “caught up” with the amount of habitat yet. We’ll see what happens. Thus far, Seneca continues to be a “trophy” or “size fishery” as opposed to a numbers one.