Seneca Lake out of Lodi 4/21

Reports

Got out with my buddy Mike around 10 am today. We haven’t had a chance to fish together in quite a while, so we were happy to coordinate something. Canandaigua Lake was on our minds but not feasible due to Mike’s work schedule, so we gave the nod to Seneca’s mid-lower-lake sections today. (I will be checking on Cayuga’s salmon/browns soon!) We wanted to try some areas that we hadn’t fished in quite some time and see what was happening.

As a guide, it’s easy to fall back on the “tried ‘n true.” When doing trips – especially half days, I often start by fishing history, basically areas I’d found fish in last time I was there, especially if I was there recently. Weather, wind and other factors also are taken into account, but there usually isn’t time to experiment and try many different things or areas. So I really enjoy either doing full day trips or just going out on my own or with a pal.

Today we fly-fished a bunch of areas both north and south of Lodi. The good news was seeing some brown trout caught in several areas by baitfishermen. Browns seem to be doing well in Seneca Lake this year. Plenty of 17″ to 18″ fish abound and some larger ones are also showing up.

We didn’t have many salmon encounters. Fish seemed sluggish after the unseasonably cold night. I’ve seen this pattern before. We had some halfhearted follows from non-committal salmon today. In one area I managed a decent brown on the fly and Mike had a couple solid hits. We caught one laker while jigging and missed around 1/2 dozen hits as well, near Severne. So no great shakes today. I kept my laker and the fish was full of alewives. We fished hard, from 10 am till around 7:30 pm. The long days are great! Water temps are around 41 degrees, though we had 44 in spots.