Seneca Lake out of Sampson State Park 6/26 AM

First things first, NY State has a free fishing weekend tomorrow and Sunday (6/27 + 28).  No licenses required!  It's a great way to get out and experience Finger Lakes fishing while saving a few bucks.  I have both days open.  I also have good availability during the first few weeks of July. Sunday looks like perfect weather to get out!

Seneca Lake:  Guided Greg, his wife Melissa and his dad Sam for a 1/2-day trip starting just after 7 am.  I usually do a milk-run of locations in order to find fish.  Today, they were right where we started!  We never moved much and had action pretty much from start to finish, including a few doubles.  Fish ran from 19" to 27" and all appeared to be well-fed.  Two attached lampreys made it onboard, otherwise the fish looked pretty clean with occasional old scars on a couple.  Today was a strong double-digit day - basically superb fishing.  Fish were full of alewives - I think I filleted 7 of them.  Greg lost a very nice silver fish - I'm pretty sure it was a rainbow trout.  As is often the case, the trout grabbed the jig on the way down and then started jumping before Greg realized what was going on.  Trout typically don't jump for joy, so I knew someone had it!  I never had a good shot at it with the net as it went ballistic!  Great fish and probably 25" to 27" long.

Greg's family has a long history on Seneca Lake.  His father said today was the best day he's ever had for lake trout, and they've been on other charters in the past.  I appreciate the complements, but credit has to go to DEC Region 8, along with the other regional personnel that help with lamprey control efforts.  Brad Hammers also did a great job with a very aggressive approach to lamprey control as well as stocking.  If we'd been out in 2016, it likely would have been one of the slowest guided trips Sam had been on!   "We can't catch 'em if they ain't out there!"

There was a ridiculous amount of talk going back to 2016 until maybe 4 years ago about "fish kills" on Seneca Lake.  Everything from wineries to salinity was being blamed.  "Dead fish littered the bottom of Seneca Lake!"  What do people think happens when a lamprey kills a fish?  With thousands of lampreys swimming around looking for prey - each one "consuming" up to 30lbs of trout in its lifetime (that's at least 7 or 8 fish when you think of average sizes,) where do the bodies go?  Of course thousands of trout/salmon wind up dead on the bottom.  Lampreys spend around 4 years in the silt in their spawning streams as immature larvae, then "transform" into the "draculas" that they are, swim back to the lake and feed on trout and whatever else they can attach to for about 2 years.  Then they run up the streams, spawn and die.

The people that blamed phosphorus pollution for the demise of the brown and rainbow trout fisheries on Owasco Lake didn't want to point the fingers at walleyes.  The lake is churning out 15lb browns and 17lb lakers now.  Amazing how the phosphate decline coincided with the decline of the walleye population.  Of course I'm being sarcastic...Walleyes are decimating the trout/salmon on Skaneateles Lake.  A talented young angler sent me photos of walleye stomachs from there with 9" to 11" rainbows in them!  There are walleyes pushing over 34" long there and in the 14lb+ range.  They aren't eating freshwater shrimp.  The rock bass, perch, trout, and salmon populations are all suffering over there.

In Keuka Lake, nearly every specie apart from the illegally introduced walleyes is showing slow growth rates - bass, perch, trout, pike and more.  Walleyes are in very good condition.  They are very, very effective predators.  They are nocturnal and inhabit the same summertime water temperatures as rainbows, browns and salmon.  Lakers stay in colder water and likely eat walleyes in the winter/spring. Walleyes also eat lake trout during this period when their preferred temperatures overlap.  Many young walleyes will be eaten by larger walleyes in the future (if not right now) on Skaneateles and Keuka Lakes, since there isn't much forage there to support the "eyes."

I've been around fishing forums long enough to know that the average walleye fan couldn't care less that walleyes are decimating trout populations - as a matter of fact, many of them are happy about this.  Different strokes for different folks, but the reason I put these shots up here (and thanks Joe!) is that some guys honestly don't believe that walleyes eat trout.  Now they can see that, yes - they eat a lot of trout!