Seneca Lake out of Watkins Glen 1/8
Got out on my own for 1/2 day in the afternoon after getting my boat trailer inspected. I checked on salmon and pike today. The forecast looked great for salmon fly-fishing, but the reality was that weather conditions were tough. I had no wind and partial sun/mostly clouds. There are plenty of young salmon around – these are fish that were stocked last spring, not fish that anglers should target, fish around 10″ to 11″ long. I saw a good number of them and had quite a few chasing and hitting my streamer. I did see some better fish below the numerous dinks. I’ll be back out shortly to get a better idea of what’s going on. H2O is around 43 on top and down around 39 on the south end.
Pike and pickerel are active. I had a few hitting and chasing my streamers, even though the conditions weren’t good. I switched to gear and landed a 23″ pickerel, 31″ pike and a pike around 29″. Both pike had a couple lamprey marks. I kept the pickerel and a pike for the table. The pike had a yearling salmon in her stomach! I don’t see that often, but in the winter and early spring salmon and pike are often in the same areas.
I did have a nice perch follow in a streamer. I also marked a few perch schools in various areas. I saw a bunch of carp and also a good sized school of large gizzard shad. The lake was definitely bustling with life.