Seneca Lake out of Watkins Glen 3/28
I’ve been chomping at the bit to get out here and check on salmon action. Lampreys are finally getting under control and DEC rightly feels that the fishery is on its way back. I would have to agree. I fished with Terry from around 9:15 am till about 3:15. Salmon fishing was good. It’s the first time I’ve been able to say that on this lake in a couple years. I realize that some anglers have done well here on salmon but it hasn’t been the case for me and judging from the fact that there have been very few boats targeting salmon, I’m guessing action has been pretty slow overall for most anglers.
We fished a bunch of areas and I wound up landing (on spinning gear) a 19.5″er, a 17.5″er and a 24″er. I kept the 24″ and 19.5″. They were in good condition – the 24″ weighed 4lbs 10 oz and the smaller one was around 2lbs 8 oz. Both had survived lamprey attacks. The smaller albeit legal fish I released was clean. We also had follows from some smaller 14″ to 15″ range fish. Overall we encountered 4 different year classes of salmon on the lake. Terry also landed a bonus perch.
I felt lucky today. I didn’t miss any hits. The fish were in very particular areas. I wouldn’t say the action was better than good at best. But it was a lot better than what I’ve experienced here in 5 or 6 trips over the past two years with similar conditions.
DEC Diary Cooperator data shows that there was a spike in salmon fishing success here last year. It should only get better. If you fish this lake a few times a year or more for trout/salmon, you should become a cooperator. It’s not much of a hassle at all. The catch information (or “no catch information”) you relay back to DEC is very important. If laker fishing remains slow, we may see a stocking increase, which would probably be a good idea. DEC needs to see whether people are catching browns and rainbows as well and if the rainbows have fin clips. You will get a say in management action and you’ll also receive a cool report at the end of the season detailing catch rates. You do not have to give up any hotspots either!
Contact Region 8 at (518)226-5343. Poor diary cooperator catches of salmon and browns on Keuka Lake resulted in those stocking policies being terminated at least temporarily, so your input is important!