Seneca Lake out of Watkins Glen 4/24 + 4/25
4/24: Guided the Hermans for the full day. We’d been looking to set up a salmon trip and things finally aligned for us. Fishing was good in Watkins Glen for salmon and a few bonus browns. The Hermans cast spoons and stickbaits (mainly the former) and caught a couple browns (16″ and 18″) and a few nice salmon. We kept one salmon and the smaller brown for dinner. The larger brown came up with 2 lampreys attached. The eels are still very common in this lake, but fortunately the fish appear to be doing alright. We had a lot of follows and a couple lost/missed fish as well. My buddy Mike was on the lake and they caught some good salmon and even a rainbow trout around 18″ to 19″.
Fish are available pretty much lakewide – Mike contacted fish on both shores. After the guide trip I spent a couple hours fly-casting and managed to land a couple fish, one being a gorgeous well-proportioned 26″ salmon that provided me with an unforgettable battle. I was lucky to land it by myself and quickly released the fish without a hitch (no photos either – I’ve given up on “solo photos.”) Other large fish were landed by nearby fisherman. This lake just keeps producing quality salmon – if there’s a better salmon fishery around, I haven’t seen it…
4/25: I guided Jim from California for the day on salmon. He’s quite the fly-fisherman and caster and he joined me last fall for a decent day on Skaneateles Lake. Fishing was slower today than on 4/24. We had overcast skies and cooler conditions with rain. We found a lot of fish jumping around – but many seemed inactive. We tried different areas and tactics and Jim managed to score on 4 nice salmon – mostly 17″ to 18″ fish. One had some gashes in its side – likely from a loon or cormorant. One came up with a live lamprey attached. The fish as usual fought and hit “BIG” – it was a lot of fun and the rain wasn’t bad. We had a lot of action – follows, swirls and boiling fish around the boat. Fun fishing and not bad on the catching. Fishing/boating traffic was nearly non-existent until around 2 pm. Water temps at the lake’s south end reached over 50 in places.