Seneca Lake out of Watkins Glen 10/31
Went out of Watkins Glen for a full day of fishing with my buddy Terry. We started at around 8:45 am and wrapped up at 4:15. Pike fishing was very good. We had some terrific action to start with Terry landing fish on his first two casts. I had a “hook ’em and drop ’em” day today for the most part. I landed a few but lost a bunch. Just an off day but I had a great time. We wound up landing around a dozen or more pike. We also did some dropshotting and we caught perch and smallmouth bass.
Pike bit on stickbaits, swimbaits and spoons. The condition of the pike in the southern portions of the lake was better than what I’ve seen up north. They are clearly finding more to eat for whatever reason. A lot of alewives were in close proximity to the pike areas. No sign of any gobies yet in this lake which is pretty remarkable given how many are in Cayuga and that the lakes are connected. Most pike had signs of lamprey attacks, though the wounds for the most part didn’t look very fresh. Lampreys have done more to damage Seneca Lake’s fishery over the past 3 or 4 years than anything else. Weedgrowth is still pretty lush – it looks more like early October out there than late October/early November. Water temps are around 56 to 58. It’s still warm.