7/17 AM: "I can see clearly now, the smoke is gone!" This is the last song reference by the way...Guided Vicki and her grandson Fin (short for Finley) for a half-day trip starting just after 7 am. The smoke blew out and we had fairly normal conditions this morning. Fishing has been fairly slow for us in the morning this week. Today was no exception. The goal today was to get Fin into a fish - he's 14 years old and visiting from Florida. I think the new moon has been playing into the slow AM. With dark nights, the fish may be doing more feeding around midday, which is what I saw on my past three trips out here (all this week.) The smoke would exacerbate that effect. Fortunately the fish cooperated for us this morning. Vicki wasn't going to fish on this trip (just watch her grandson fish) but I was glad when she told me that she bought a license.
She got us started with a 23" laker that they kept. After that Fin caught one around the same size that was wild, so we decided to let it go. She then caught another as did Fin. We had a couple wild and a couple hatchery fish today. I tried a couple of other areas and we had a few hits, but no solid grabs. We knocked up around 11:45 am. Fellow guide/friend Kurt Hoefig relayed to me that the trout did bite well after noon for a couple of hours. So we've had some unusual mid-July midday hot trout bites here on Seneca Lake!
Cayuga Lake still looks like green Kool-ade or Gatorade. Take your pick! I haven't had any recent reports from there. The last couple reports I had varied with slow to good fishing depending on where and what day. Anyhow, I don't believe swimming is currently open at Taughannock State Park, since I didn't see anyone in the water when I drove by over the past two days. At least the smoke is gone..."On a Clear Day, You Can See Forever." (I couldn't help myself...)
