Seneca Lake out of Watkins Glen 9/14 PM

It's been nice taking a few days off to run some errands and relax a bit. My 2013 Crestliner is over at Silver Lake Marine getting prepped for the fall through winter season.  That boat also serves as my back up during the summer season.   It's always great seeing the crew over there and I know the work I need done will be done right the first time.  I'd much rather drive a ways and have work done right than have incompetent mechanics drive me crazy.  I could write a book on some of the shoddy work I've encountered over the years at various establishments.  I also have heard plenty of horror stories from friends and clients.

I've been proofreading my old posts starting with my first year guiding, 2005.  Most of the reports were intact after they were transferred to this website, but some of the text got mashed together - i.e. spaces between words disappeared.  I am rectifying that.  It's amazing how much trailering I did in those days (and trust me, I paid the price for that in truck and trailer tires and other wear and tear!)  As much as I miss not getting around New York State as much as I used to, I'm happy to have settled into my current guiding routines.

I hope to do more fishing on my own in the future.  There were times I'd fish Lake Erie, the St. Lawrence River, Irondequoit Bay, Butterfield Lake, Black Lake, Lake Champlain and more!   I'd forgotten how much smallmouth fishing I used to do on lower Cayuga Lake and Seneca Lake, so I decided to head over to scout Seneca a bit this afternoon.

Smallmouth bass fishing really took a drive throughout Lake Ontario, Cayuga and Seneca Lake in the mid-2000s when the VHS virus infiltrated the area.  I used to LOVE smallmouth fishing on Cayuga Lake, and Seneca Lake was pretty darn good too.  Lake Ontario was world-class for numbers.   I only fished around 4 hours today and I tried casting and jigging for bass/pike and trout/salmon respectively.  It's too early for good pike fishing but I thought I'd give a few areas a shot anyways.  I had a couple pike/pickerel encounters.  Habitat looks good and I think we'll see another good pike year on Seneca Lake.  In the marina I saw quite a few bass - both largemouth and smallmouth and even a perch.  It's good to see some life around the cormorant infested south end of the lake.

I didn't have any luck on salmon/trout but that didn't surprise me too much.  I gave them about an hour and a half.  I spent some time throwing for smallmouths and although I didn't catch much (I had a couple 9" to 10"  fish hit a drop shot.)  I was encouraged to see some big groups of young smallmouths chase in my lures in one area.

The bottom line is that I think we'll see some good pike action here this fall/winter and the bass appear to be bouncing back.  I had one client who had been doing well on smallmouths (some nice ones) midlake.  So let's keep our fingers crossed here!