Skaneateles Lake 5/20
Fished from 1:30 pm till close to dark with Jessica. Despite our lazy starting time, the fishing was excellent. Water temps are still quite cold – from 46 to 49 is what we found, so trout and salmon are still in the nearshore mix. The bass fishing was superb, with plenty of nice smallmouths around rocky areas and points. Most fish are chunky 14″ fish, but I landed one slob that was around 19″ and FAT. It had the tail of what was probably a nice perch sticking out of its gullet. I’m teaching my girlfriend how to flyfish and her false casts hit the water a few times and drew up a big salmon or rainbow around 22″ to 24″ or better. So they are around. We also landed 5 nice lake trout from 14″ to 18″. These aren’t your typical large alewife-fed fish, but they are wild, beautiful and taste great. They also fight good, esp. when taken on light spinning tackle in relatively shallow water. Our fish came from 4′ to 25′ today, with the lakers being the deepest. Perch fishing was very good as well, with fish currently spawning. Best perch was just under 15″. One rockbass rounded out the catch and it was the first one I’ve seen in awhile. Trout should be easily available for the shoreline angler for at least another 2 weeks and fishing during the mayfly hatches will hopefully be really good this year – we’ll see.