Reports

I decided to do some scouting today in the lower middle sections of Seneca Lake.  It’s been a while since I fished these areas in the early spring and just felt like doing something different.  I brought laker jigging tackle, perch gear and some casting set-ups for salmon/trout.

The first thing I noticed was this large pile of dirt adjacent to the marina launch.

You can see the “mountain” of dirt behind the trees on the left side of the marina.  I met a couple of neighbors of the launch and they told me that the state dredged out the marina.  Apparently, the launch on the south side became so silt-filled and shallow that it had to be closed off last season.  If you’ve followed this website for awhile, you’ll notice I rarely, if ever launch out of Lodi State Park.  The main reason has always been the launch.  I’ve had to back in so far that all my truck tires were in the water.  The slope of the ramp was way too horizontal!  And I’m talking 20 years ago!  Better late than never, so at least now the launch is finally launchable without too much effort.

I worked areas around the point for yellow perch without any sign of them.  I tried a little bit of vertical jigging for lake trout and had one fish come up for my jig.  I worked some creek mouths and murky areas, along with some nice rocky stretches for whatever might hit (trout/salmon especially) and never had a follow or hit.  I was able to pinpoint a few areas that may wind up being good fishing once the round goby population peaks here – likely in a couple of years.  I finished out my day lake trout jigging near Severne Point.  I had one hungry laker try to engulf my jig three times on a retrieve, but he never hooked up.  It was very likely a dink!  So no fish today, but at least it’s nice to know that Lodi Point’s State launch has finally been improved.

I have a lot of history with the Lodi Point area.  In 1980, when I was 14 years old and a freshman in high school, I spent a couple of weekends down here with my friend Gary, staying at his dad’s place.  His father, Gene Sacco helped do maintenance and run the campground about a mile south of Lodi, called “Eagle Ridge Campgrounds.”  He taught me how to fish the Finger Lakes tributaries for rainbow trout and how to dip smelt.  This next photo is of the ravine area where the campers were set up.  There’s a tiny creek there – Eagle Ridge Creek, and that’s where I caught my first Finger Lakes rainbow trout as well as my first (3 fish) limit of Finger Lake rainbows – all on that first weekend at Gene’s.  It was amazing!  We were fishing these brook-trout sized streams for rainbows averaging maybe 2lbs.  We’d dab our egg-sacks in any likely pocket that could possibly hold a fish.  You’d swear there couldn’t be a fish in one of these pockets, but next thing you know, you’d feel a hit and a beautiful rainbow would be going bonkers!  We also caught tons of smelt in Eagle Ridge Creek as well as Lodi Creek.  Lodi had terrific rainbow trout runs back in the 1980s and 1990s.  I have a lot of wonderful memories of that era.