Seneca Lake out of Watkins Glen 10/8 AM + Keuka Lake 10/9
Watkins Glen 10/8 AM: Karl had been trying to book a date for a long time to do some lake trout jigging. He jigs Keuka regularly. We must have set up 3 or 4 different dates and had to postpone due to high winds or heavy rain. Wednesday’s forecast wasn’t great with winds gusting to 30 mph. We also were going to go out of Watkins Glen due to the forecast, which is probably the poorest laker jigging this time of year on Seneca Lake (at least in my experience.) But he was tired of postponing and wanted to give it a shot.
Fishing wasn’t easy. Fish were around but I couldn’t find any great numbers in most areas we checked and they weren’t hitting when I did find them. I finally found an area with some fish and Karl and his buddy Dave ended up each landing a decent fish. Both were clipped and one was a 28″er. We tried some jigging for other salmonids but didn’t have any success. When we needed wind, we didn’t get it! But I was able to show the guys a few tips and tricks and Karl let me know that the trip paid off for his Keuka fishing yesterday.
I scouted the lake a bit for pike after the trip and I still feel the milfoil needs to die back a ways. There were a ton of weed shards around which make for tough presentations and nearly impossible fly-fishing in a lot of areas. This stuff should clear up soon and may be better further up lake. Water temps range from 58 to 61.
Keuka Lake out of Hammondsport 10/9: Guided Martin and Rich on Thursday for a full day. Martin has a place on the lake and Rich has a place overlooking the lake. We started right around Hammondsport without much action. Some fish were around but not hitting well. This time of year the best laker jigging is often later in the AM. We made the chilly run up to the Bluff and started getting into some fish. We had one double. We ran up the lake to try some bass fishing but I wound up marking a bunch of lakers so the guys decided to go with that. We had good laker numbers well up the Penn Yan Arm (which is basically just a continuation of the Bluff Flats.) Overall it was a lot of fun. Bait numbers were good from the Bluff northerly. We didn’t mark much bait in Hammondsport, but it’s around. The guys wound up landing at least 13 solid fish. Good fishing and it will only get better on this lake!