Seneca Lake out of Watkins Glen 5/18
Guided Rob and Pete (from Monday’s trip) for salmon today. Conditions were tough to start with the lake calm like glass. Water temps lakewide range from 49 to around 53. Working the southern portions of the lake produced a pike for Rob. We also likely lost/missed a few trout/salmon since a fly came up with a lamprey on it after a hit was had, and we had a hit and then a scale on another lure. Salmon often roll over the lures when hitting them and wind up foul-hooking themselves.
We tried some uplake areas and encountered some smaller salmon that were skittish. An area we fished was full of smallmouths and the guys probably landed around a dozen fish ranging from 10″ to 14″. A few bullheads were also caught – one on a jig, one on a fly! And a couple fouled. As the winds came up (as was forecast) the salmon got a little more aggressive. We found a stretch of shoreline that held good numbers of salmon. Rob wound up landing a 24 1/2″ beauty that weighed 4lbs. 7oz on a bionic smelt. Great fight! Pete had a lot of hits, including a grab from a solid brown. Rob landed a 17″ fish and by that time it was time to go. Storms were threatening the area. Salmon are well-distributed throughout the southern portions of the lake. Now’s one of the best times to catch them – water temps are perfect and the fish are very hot! A hot weather stretch will put the brakes on this fishing, but I can’t complain – we’ve had a great salmon year on both Seneca and Cayuga Lakes.