Seneca Lake out of Severne Point 8/10 PM
Got out on Seneca Lake on my own today around 1 pm. I had a good report here from Angling Zone past client/friend Jim who did well on some browns and salmon while trolling. Other good reports have come in on Seneca from the south end as well. Anyhow, I checked this area out earlier in the season back on 3/28 for lakers and didn’t have much luck. In past years, we’ve had some nice browns, occasional lakers and even a big salmon or two around these areas. Seneca’s mid-to-lower lake areas have good current, good shelves and are prime areas for salmonids. Only problem is that you have to have salmonids! DEC found lower numbers of lake trout south of Lodi and Long Point last summer, when compared to past years and the northern 1/2 of the lake. They are gradually coming back here along with browns, rainbows and salmon. These areas also are susceptible to a lot of wind and aren’t often pleasurable or easy to fish. With some of the rotten luck I’ve encountered this year with the wind, I decided to take the longer drive around the south end of Seneca Lake, rather than dump in at Lodi or Watkins Glen and motor across or way up the lake. As my luck would have it, the lake was like glass with some swirling west winds – one of my least favorite conditions to fish in, but it was better than being tossed like a salad. The lake had a fairly strong southerly current.
Over the years I’ve fished these areas a fair amount, but I’m certainly not very familiar with them. Today I rode around a bit and took notes. I put in a bunch of waypoints notating the good shelves and what depths they were at. I managed one nice laker – a hatchery fish just under 27″. I also dropped a couple smaller fish – one was for sure a laker and the others likely very young salmon. Overall fishing was slow today. Reports from this AM on Seneca also corroborated this.
Cayuga appears to be in decent shape. We were spared a lot of the heavier, prolonged rains. As I drove by Cayuga, there was a muddy plume off of Ithaca, but it wasn’t too bad. Watkins Glen was in excellent shape.
I will be tending my smoker tomorrow as I smoke up some of the Kings from July’s great fishing. I have a good bunch of trips on my schedule this week on the books starting Monday. Friday AM (Cayuga AM 1/2-day only) and Saturday remain open for trips. After that, we’re looking at Saturday the 24th, then Monday the 26th through Thursday the 29th of August as open dates. The 31st of August is also open. I expect Cayuga Lake to fish very well during this time period. We shall see!