Seneca Lake out of Geneva 6/30 + Skaneateles Lake 7/1

Reports

Seneca Lake 6/30 AM: Guided Michael and Logan starting at 6 am. Fishing was excellent to start with the guys catching 2 lakers on their first 3 drops of their jigs! Action tapered off a bit after 2 hours or so. The wind made it tough for the guys to detect the bottom. Both guys are fly-fishers and it was their first jigging experience before heading back west where they are from (Utah.) Mike was in my fly-fishing class and just secured a tenure track position in California, so it was his last day in the region. What a great send-off! The guys landed 7 nice fish to 31″ and dropped a few more.

6/30 PM: Guided regular Todd. I wasn’t sure how the fishing would be, but within minutes he was into them. He landed 3 nice fish within 30 or 40 minutes and lost one or two more. We tried some different stuff with steady action, but around 4 pm or so the fishing really cranked up with Todd hooking solid fish on consecutive drops using a chartreuse reaper. He finished the day with 15 beautiful fish landed – most were 27″ to 28″ wild lakers! Fantastic afternoon!

Skaneateles Lake 7/1 AM: Guided the Hermans for 1/2 day. Smallmouth fishing was OK – not terrible, but not great. They started with a few nice 13″ to 14″ bass and rock bass. We used the usual green pumpkin tubes, which represent the Skaneateles crawfish so effectively. A jig worm and Superfluke also drew some fish. Dropshotting didn’t produce for us. We kept a few smallmouths and a smaller one hadn’t yet spawned but 2 others did. The fish were packed with small crayfish. Fish were scattered, though the shallows did produce some. Milfoil harvesting is going on and I’ve been told that the lake association has distributed “milfoil mats” – basically plastic “mats” that people have put in front of their cottages to prevent milfoil (weed) growth. I guess it’s better than using chemicals, but it can’t be helping the fishing.

7/1 PM: Picked up Jack and his grandson Tommy around 12:30 pm. Fishing was pretty good – better than the AM bite. Tubes produced some nice bass, rockbass and a 12″ perch. Jack enjoys his spincasting tackle with heavy line and really does well with it! I was impressed. We had a good time out there. Water temps are 69/70. The boat launch was PACKED by mid-day. Avoid this place like the plague after 11 am on weekends. It’s very hard parking and navigating with a boat trailer in this lot. Very tough….