Reports

Seneca Lake 9/27:

Did a 1/2-day trip with John and Roger. These guys do an annual Canadian trip for pike and were looking forward to some good pike action on Seneca Lake. The fishing proved to be tougher (more “challenging” 😉 than expected. We started with a fairly good fog and calm conditions. A hit here and a hit there were missed. A few pickerel or small pike chased and hit Roger’s spinnerbait, which he worked just off weed edges and in shallow. Eventually John hooked a decent fish which got off after I tried grabbing it around the gill plates; it was no big deal, since the guys were C & R anyways, but John didn’t want to count it! The guys provided me with coffee, a beer and cigars, which goes a long way to ensuring a successful outing. I was handed a rod and told to help get the skunk out of the boat. I managed to hook and land a nice 29″ northern in about 10 minutes on a swimbait. So I earned my one beer! I kept on the guys like the harsh teacher/guide I am and we worked a bunch of areas. Some wind came up and we hit one of my favorite areas which I hadn’t fished all fall. We found the pike! Around 1/2 dozen fish were hooked in short order and maybe 3 or 4 landed. Fish ran from around 29″ to 30″ and were well-proportioned. The guys hadn’t caught deep pike before often, so they did have a good learning experience (at least I think they did.) The swim baits came through in 10′ to 15′ of water. I went out afterwards and tried a few new things with OK success on the pike. H2O was 64.

Keuka Lake 9/28:

Got out with my friend Dave B. The goal was to hit some “alien areas” on Keuka Lake and see what the bass were doing, as well as get a few lakers for dinner. My “new” areas provided some fun fishing and in some moderate to relatively heavy rain me and Dave had a lot of action – mostly on small pickerel and bass. I got a 17″ largie on an X-rap. Dave nailed a few 12″ to 14″ largemouths. Then I had a SLOB follow in my deep running crank to the boat. This bass appeared to be at least 4 to 5lbs and over 20″ – maybe 21″ or 22″! We also caught a few perch and chunky rockbass. A couple smallmouths were hooked – a couple small ones and one decent fish. We didn’t get the chance to work any smallmouth areas thoroughly. We had some good hits on lakers near the Bluff area but didn’t capitalize. A run to Hammondsport produced one 20″ laker. We lost track of time and weren’t able to get onto the lakers at 10 to 11 am – which has been the hot bite time. I didn’t mark much bait anywhere – even in Hammondsport. Few boats were out and H2O was around 66. The lake has re-loaded itself with small nuisance pickerel. I hadn’t seen so many since the early 1990s.

bass Chain Pickerel keuka lake Northern Pike Seneca Lake yellow perch