Guided Scott for a full-day trip starting just after 7 am. Last year he caught a few lakers out here and a lot of bass. His entire family was impressed at the eating qualities of these Seneca Lake fish, so one of our goals today was to get some lakers for the table. That did not prove to be a problem and once the fish started hitting well, he hit double-digits in fairly short order. Best fish of the day was a hard-fighting 28"+ wild fish. 75% of the fish that came on board today were of hatchery origin. I cleaned 4 lake trout and they were all stuffed with alewives.
No bonus salmonids today. Lake trout were all clean with very few signs of lamprey attacks. Fish were found from 50' out to around 100' of water with whites and chartreuse producing for us. The bite was not great first thing when we arrived, but it picked up dramatically within 90 minutes or so. Scott spent some of the day targeting bass with some solid largemouth fishing and one nice smallmouth. I did some drop-shotting at Scott's insistence and managed one decent largemouth on a main lake shelf, which wasn't something I saw here last year. The water clarity remains good here.
Cayuga Lake: I've had a few reports from friends that have been out this week. The lake clarity has remained pretty good at around 4' in areas. The lake trout bite has been good and some bonus browns, rainbows and occasional salmon have been showing up. The lake has definitely turned green and I don't plan on guiding here until the bloom is over with.
Owasco Lake: I've had varying reports here from avid anglers I know that have places on the lake. The lake trout jigging bite was tough for some this past weekend but good for others. A friend was out two days ago and found it still slow, so I would say the fishing is spotty and fair to good at best.
