Seneca out of Watkins 3/12
I’d just detached my boat and secured the cover on it last night when I got a call from Doug, who has a place on Seneca Lake and has been interested in getting out to learn some of the fishing opportunities and patterns. So I uncovered the boat, re-hitched it and prepared for the kick-off trip of my 2010 guide season.
More south winds, reasonable temps and no rain till late in the day sounded like a pretty sure bet for some good salmon action on Seneca. But never underestimate the mysteries of fishing! Especially on Seneca Lake. I picked up Doug at his dock around 8:30 am with light rain and dark skies. A few boats were out trolling and perch fishing. I had Doug work a lot of good areas with spoons, stickbaits and a jig, starting where we left off yesterday. We couldn’t buy a hit or a follow! Very difficult fishing. Trollers did pick up some fish – though quite a few 13″ers from what I was told. Water temps didn’t change, but the lack of sun and large flume of mud from Catherine’s Creek certainly impacted the fishing. We tried a lot of areas – pretty much everything I could think of, without any sign of fish. Most boats (incl. perch guys) were off the lake by 1 pm, if not earlier. So I think fishing was pretty slow all the way around. There are loads of baitfish in upwards of 300′ of water on this lake now! I also marked some lakers, but I felt the best bet for our 1/2 day was to stick with the salmon fishing.