Seneca Lake out of Watkins Glen 3/15

Reports

Got out around 10:30 am to do a little scouting for my noon trip with Ed and John. Found a couple areas with some warm water and had a follow from a nice salmon in one area, then had follows and hits from 5 salmon in 7 casts or so in another area, so I knew where to fish!

Picked up John and Ed and we went fishing. John tried some fly-casting and as I’ve often said, the boat isn’t the place to learn it, so we switched over to spinning gear. (BTW -I do offer casting lessons geared towards distance if anyone is interested.)

After I set up a leader for Ed’s own outfit, he was ready to roll. (I do provide all tackle, but clients are always welcome to use their own.) The conditions on the lake changed a bit and the fish got a bit tentative. The guys had a lot of activity including hits and follows, but weren’t able to hook up. John eventually hooked a nice salmon around 4lbs and lost it. One interesting thing of note is that John cast a stickbait and a fish – likely a nice lake trout (!) took a shot at it on the surface! I do carry surface flies like gurglers on board for when I see good topwater salmon opportunities.

Two areas provided some pike action. John wound up landing 3 pike in a row up to 35″ long in one area, then the guys each landed pike in the second area. Funny how that goes after Monday’s tough pike fishing trip. The warm water was drawing in the pike and the overcast skies and (likely) barometer put them on the feed. We kept plugging away at the salmon and more hits and follows/swirls were had, but no cigars.

Fun day fishing, but the salmon catching could have been better. I’d still rate this day of fishing as excellent in terms of opportunities.