Seneca Lake out of Sampson 6/14 + Owasco Lake 6/15
Seneca Lake: Guided Greg and Laura starting at 6 am. Next to nobody was out on the lake – just a few other boats. We marked plenty of fish but they were fairly tentative to start. The weather was changing with a few light showers lingering mid-lake. Bait was around and Laura managed to land a laker around 24″. A couple hits were had as well. We shot north and worked the Belhurst area with Greg landing a 20″ laker. The bite remained tentative. It was COLD outside and I regretted pulling my winter coat out of my truck last week. We dropped Laura off and tried pike for around 45 minutes with just one hit.
After the trip, I was psyched to work a few different areas for northerns. I cast a variety of lures and in around 2 1/2 hours I landed 3 solid fish – one around 30″ and two in the 27″ range. I kept the larger pike and it was stuffed with alewives. I caught fish on both sides of the lake. I did cover a lot of water and didn’t consider the bite to be easy, but it was mid-day. Conditions were good with a light to moderate northwest wind and some good cloud cover (overcast skies.) Water temps were around 56.
Owasco Lake: Guided Fred, Fred Sr. and Matt for 6 hours today targeting lakers starting just after 6 am. Fred Sr. was a Lake Ontario Charter Captain and it’s always fun hearing his anecdotes. The AM bite was hot – we had a couple doubles and the guys landed 8 solid fish and dropped a few as well. Plenty of bait was around and the lakers are looking great. Fish ran from 20″ to 26″ and at least 4 different classes (stocking groups) were represented. We had a second smaller flurry of action with Matt landing a couple more fish, including a rare (but increasingly common) wild Owasco Laker. In the early 2000s when Owasco was over-loaded with lake trout, wild fish were non-existent in our catches. If we caught a very rare unclipped fish, it looked more like a missed clip, rather than a wild fish. Matt’s fish had striking orange fins. It was a beauty and we released it. Fish were in around 60′ to 75′ FOW.
I’ll be spending more time on this lake in the future. I will be checking here for pike and smallmouth bass shortly. I’d rather target smallmouths here than have to drive over to Keuka Lake – though I do love Keuka!