Skaneateles Lake 5/11

Reports

Did a full-day guided trip with Chris and Mike, who’ve been enjoying the mixed bag stuff on Skaneateles for the last couple years with me. Water temps ranged from the low to mid 40s for the most part. We had little wind to start, then it built out of the North. Only 2 other boats launched out of the State Ramp today – one being my friend Mike S. who did some fly-fishing for trout.

We were impressed as heck by the terrific smallmouth bass fishing. We found bass on dark bottomed rocky/weedy areas in roughly 7′ to 20′ of water. The largest (longest) fish we caught today was 20 1/2″ and weighed just under 4lbs. We had a shorter fish push the scale down to 4lbs 6oz today! There area lot of nice bass in this lake despite what many folks may think. This is a great time of year for big smallies, though the low water temps have limited their willingness or ability to jump much!

Chris nailed one Landlocked Salmon that was 19″ long on a hair jig. We saw freshly stocked rainbows feeding on the abundant midges that were hatching lakewide. No other trout action for us, which was surprising. I was definitely expecting lakers. They will undoubtedly be in the mix next week when water temps reach close to 48. My buddy Mike landed 2 decent rainbows (up to 20″) today fly-fishing. And he worked some of the same areas we did. It just goes to show how downright DEADLY fly-fishing can be for certain species, like trout, salmon and pike. At times fly-fishing is the #1 method to catch those fish.

The perch really cooperated today. They are spawning or darn close to it. The guys – esp. Chris, landed 14 beauties today – mostly 12″ to nearly 15″ jacks! This lake is a challenge to fish. My advice to those who struggle with this lake is to move around and try new areas. Moving around is the key. Don’t waste your time fishing the same areas day after day if they aren’t producing consistently.

After Chris and Mike left, I met up with Mike S. and we fished smallmouths. We had a blast. There are so many great fishing opportunities in the region!