Seneca Lake out of Watkins Glen 12/27 PM
Got out here on my own for just over 3 hours with my fly-gear. I was originally scheduled to do a lake trout trip today and tomorrow, but they were cancelled. I was happy to have decent conditions to check on the salmon fly-fishing today. I am scheduled back out here a couple of times before the deep-freeze comes through, so I will have a better idea regarding what’s going on over here shortly.
I started up my motor and was letting it warm up, when I ran into Captain Nick, of Reel Stories Charters. He guides out of Sampson State Park for trolling trips and has had some terrific salmon and brown trout fishing out of there, as well as having caught plenty of lake trout too. He’s been in business for 15 years. If you have a larger group, or just want to get into some trolling for nice silver fish during the spring/summer, he’s a great option. He’s also great for folks that don’t fish much or are too young for what I do. Anyhow, we had a good chat on all things Seneca Lake.
I only wound up fishing for a tad over 3-hours today. Fly-fishing was very good in certain areas. I had a lot of grabs, but again, all the fish I landed were sub-legal. Some were nice chunky 14.5″ salmon that fought well. A thick 14″er can be good sport on the fly (or on gear.) Smaller fish tend to get to the flies first. I will have some good spin-fishermen onboard soon and we should see some bigger fish. Bigger fish will often hang out in deeper water too.
Lake level was lower that it was last time I was out. Water temperature was around 42 on the surface. Boat traffic is very light but I do expect to see quite a few duck hunters out this week.