Seneca Lake out of Sampson State Park 6/29 + 30 AM Trips

First things first:  Cayuga Lake is showing signs of an oncoming algae bloom around Dean's Cove and north.  Friends report the water up there had a greenish hue over the weekend and that particulates (algae "flakes") had formed.  Mid-lake areas were clear as of Saturday.  I believe the lower lake areas were also clear.  Fishing was ok on Saturday and very good to excellent on Sunday from what I heard on Cayuga.  Surface temperatures were at 68 on Saturday up north by Silos - hardly temperatures we'd associate with an algae bloom.  The rain we had really didn't run off much into the lake last week.  My best theory on the annual Cayuga Lake algae bloom (which occurs within 2 weeks or so of the thermocline forming regardless of water temperatures and precipitation) is that round gobies have eaten a large percentage of the invasive mussels (mostly Quaggas) that had been filtering the water and giving us the impression that these lakes were clearer than they are.  The thermocline formation concentrates the nutrients that the algae feeds on.

Fishing remains good on Cayuga Lake - we'll see how this year's bloom goes.

Seneca Lake 6/29:  I enjoy guiding on different lakes even if it does entail more drivetime for me.  Seneca Lake fishing continues to fire on all cylinders!  I guided Jim and his wife Michele today starting just after 7:15 AM.  We hit a couple of different areas - Jim nabbed a couple of small (19" range) lake trout in our first area.  Our second area fished superbly and Michele and Jim both really loaded up on lakers running to over 27".  Michele got us going with the larger fish.  They kept 5, and they were all full of bait.  Every one of the fish landed today was a stocked lake trout.  No lampreys, although we did have a fairly fresh wound on one fish.  It was a double-digit day and we quit early due to the bite slowing down (just a little!) and the heat.  Jim had the fish he wanted for the smoker and the pan.

I reiterate that I believe that the Seneca Lake lakers are some of the best eating lake trout (and fish in general) around.  If you like trout, you'll like these!  There is a large population of trout here and I think anglers should harvest more fish than they are keeping presently.  Harvest rates are way down compared to past decades with so much "catch and release" going on.  C + R is great - especially for muskies, native trout and more, but these lakers are stocked for anglers.  Keep some - you'll be glad you did!  One of my clients kept a bunch last year in August.  They ran out and his wife is asking him to go on another trip.  They're that good!

6/30 Seneca Lake out of Sampson State Park:  I was happy to receive a call from Mark I. a couple of days ago, who saw that I had today free.  We decided to go with a half-day trip due in part to the forecasted heat.  I arrived at the launch early and had the boat launched when Mark arrived.  We got underway just after 7 am.  Usually I prep the boat (i.e., move stuff around, get on my polarized sunglasses and put on a little sunscreen) before I have the clients get onboard.  I decided to throw on some sunscreen and had Mark get in before I'd finished applying it.  Unfortunately, as I applied the sunscreen we started drifting away from the dock and I could see that the morning thermal was sending my trolling motor prop right into a piling! No time to react! Ouch!  Snap it went!  The Minn-Kota props are tough and I've whacked docks with them on a few occasions.  Unfortunately, this time my luck ran out.  I used to carry spare trolling motor props back when I had a foot-cable-controlled Motor Guide.  Once in a while the prop would spin off.  I have never needed a new Minn-Kota prop, so it never dawned on me to buy a spare. I now think it's a good idea to keep a spare onboard (along with a 9/16" socket wrench.)  I clicked onto Google and saw Amazon had these $50 props on sale for $33!  You can't beat that. A non-functional trolling motor can ruin a fishing trip.  The spare props were $50 at Tackle Warehouse, Fish USA and elsewhere.  I believe they price-match if you'd rather buy there.  Even if you don't keep a spare, the wrench is good if line gets wrapped around the prop and you need to remove it.  I've had the wrench for years with my other necessary boat tools.

Today's prop-sacrifice was a blessing in disguise.  I ordered a few new props (one spare for each boat and one to replace the one that broke.)  Fortunately our winds were perfect today - just light enough to get a good, productive drift and just windy enough to keep us cool on this hot day.  The lake trout bite remains excellent on Seneca Lake.  Mark caught a bunch today and we were into double-digits in maybe 90 minutes - certainly with hookups.  He kept a couple and I kept a bleeder that wasn't going to make it.  All were stuffed pretty good with bait.  Fish ranged from 35' out to 100'+.  Mark had one very nice rainbow follow in his jig and then surface near the boat!  That was very cool.

With the lake trout fishing being so good here, I don't mind mixing up a trip with some bass fishing.  We did a little of that last year, and I used to do some during my first few years of guiding over here (and elsewhere.)  I had Mark work some soft jerkbaits, tubes and drop-shots today.  The bass were looking up and the jerkbaits worked.  Mark landed a couple hard fighting bass around 16".  He dropped a beauty around 18" to 19" as well!  What a fish!  We wound up turning our 4 hour half-day into a 6-hour trip since the fishing was so good and the temperatures bearable with the wind.  The temps don't bother me too much.  I've been to Phoenix in the summer in 118 degree heat.  That's HOT!

I'd call the smallmouth bass fishing here good.  It's not the excellent action like you may find on Skaneateles Lake at times, but the fish are larger due to the gobies/alewives, so that's pretty exciting.  We did have some darker (discolored) water in areas.  I'm not sure if that was due to algae or not.