Guided Mark I. today for a full-day trip starting just after 9 am. Keuka Lake is in decent shape after the 3.5+ inches of rain that fell around March 31st - at least two weeks ago. The surface temperature I had on most of the lake was 43 degrees. A few areas were warmer. The lake is high. The launch had some debris, but I didn't see any of note out on the water.
So much for the "shower and thunderstorms" forecasts. We never had a drop of rain all day fall upon us. It was a beautiful hot spring day with some strong westerlies and south west winds. We started with calm conditions and Mark picked up a laker jigging a bladebait. He missed one on a jig as well. Blades worked well today and Mark landed a half-dozen nice lakers on them. He nabbed a decent laker on a fly too. The wind was a bit much for reasonable fly-fishing, so he worked the gear for a bit.
High point of the day was Mark hooking a good fighting fish on a fly. What was it? He thought "big laker" ; I thought maybe a big smallmouth or northern pike. Nope, it was a 23" walleye! Unfortunately, they are out of season, so we had to release this invasive to Keuka Lake. Darn it! It was in good condition and fought hard. Great fish!
I was hoping that for Keuka Lake, Region 8 DEC would have gone with the "Any Number, All Year Long Season, 10" Size Limit" on walleyes that Region 7 did on Skaneateles Lake. We do not need another predator here, as cool and delicious as walleyes are. BTW, I get asked about 'why the 10" size limit?' Any fish with a size limit in NY cannot be bought or sold, so I believe that's the rationale for it.
"Power Loading Prohibited" signs are now up on the end of the State Park docks. I don't power load on State Launches unless it's Skaneateles Lake with the docks out. It was illegal for a long time to "power load," although the State never enforced it. Power Loading is using your outboard motor to drive onto the trailer. At its best it's not a big deal, but when you see guys revving the heck out of their motor to save winding an inch on their winch, it's gone too far. The prop cavitation causes huge drop-offs after the concrete ends. Power Loading also breaks up the concrete after a while. I doubt many boaters (especially bass guys) will follow the protocol, but we'll see.
Fun day overall on Keuka Lake and I enjoy coming here a few times a year for a change of pace.
