Reports

Did a PM guide trip with Wesley and Han for some pike. As I arrived at the ramp at Sampson I noticed the lake was like glass. The forecast 10 mph North winds did not materialize. No problem – we’ll start with laker jigging. We gave the lakers one hour. I marked decent numbers of fish from 85′ to 110′ of water (whichare the only depths I searched – so there may be more fish out deeper.) Wes had one solid hit on the retrieve and we did mark a fish chasing or two. The breeze gradually came up so we went for some pike. Nothing was hitting that I could tell at first. We worked a couple prime areas with no sign of fish. We tried the west shore and I took a few casts and missed one. The guys might have been a bit skeptical, so they encouraged me to keep trying. I missed another and then I landed a nice pike on a Rat-L Trap. The guys saw what we needed to do differently. By this time, the sun was starting to set. Wes managed to nail a northern on the trap. Han got the technique down, but didn’t hook up. He did fine though, since I’d taught him how to cast a couple hours before! So he was a new spin-fisher. The swim bait stuff isn’t always that easy. When fish are hitting aggressively you can’t fish them wrong, but when the bite gets tough it does take some technique/touch. Water temps were around 53. Expect good pike fishing throughout the rest of the fall/winter – but as always, day to day conditions will alter the bite from slow to excellent.

Northern Pike Seneca Lake