Skaneateles/Keuka Lake Fishery Findings/Diary Results

I now have all of my Diary Summaries from both Region 7 and Region 8.  Region 8 Keuka/Canandaigua Lake Biologist Pete Austerman included some "Technical Briefs" in the Keuka Lake mailing.  A lot of fisheries work was conducted on Keuka Lake last summer and fall including Cold-Water Netting, Perch Netting and Forage Netting.  Some of the same work was done by Region 7 on Skaneateles Lake last year too.

Both lakes share some similarities - although Skaneateles Lake is more similar in size and depth (as well as features) to Canandaigua Lake, rather than Keuka Lake, they are low-nutrient lakes.  Both are clean and cold and now have illegally introduced walleye populations.  They are known as good perch fishing lakes and each has good populations of bass and lake trout, although the lake trout are slow growing and thin in both lakes.

I noticed a few years ago that the perch population appeared to be decreasing in Skaneateles Lake.  One of the DEC Region 7 biologists didn't think so, but I had a sense - it used to be a relatively easy lake to locate perch schools in.  Then it wasn't!  I pay attention to these things;  I may not be the biggest perch guy, but after 20 years of regularly fishing a lake, I got a sense for what normal was.  There were areas I could nearly always locate perch schools in, especially in October/November.  Flash forward and they just aren't there anymore.  Instead of checking three or four areas and finding groups of perch in half of them, now you check 8 or 10 areas and are lucky to find any schools. Avid anglers know what I'm talking about.  Just checking the number of rigs in the parking lot in the spring is another indicator - perch season (basically as soon as the launch was opened in the spring) used to result in quite a few rigs in parking lot.  Now you don't see many in April.  Perch fishermen have moved to Cayuga and Owasco Lakes.

According to the Region 7 Skaneateles Diary Summary:  DEC conducted a forage netting survey in fall of 2025, which indicated that yellow perch are the primary forage in the lake.  Densities of small yellow perch were low, showing that it either wasn't a good perch spawning year (unlikely in my opinion - perch thrive in Skaneateles Lake) or that numbers were being reduced by predators  (Bingo!  Those walleyes have to eat!)

On Keuka Lake, relatively few 9" to 10" perch were netted.  They did have perch running to 14" on Keuka Lake for what it's worth.  DEC noted that growth on yellow perch is excellent until they hit 4 years old (9.7" long at that age) and then it drops dramatically.  For comparison, Seneca Lake's perch at 4 years old average 12.2" long!  Those are fast growing perch!  Yellow perch condition in Keuka Lake was poor.  Despite the high predation on juvenile perch, the predators still haven't thinned them out enough to help the growth rates bounce back.

Walleyes turned up in Keuka Lake last summer at an average of 2.1 per net, which is a low catch rate.  They are running 22" to 24" in Keuka Lake  Six year classes were found.  They are in good condition at all sizes.

Bass and pumpkinseeds are both doing well in Keuka Lake, despite a lot of anglers moaning about the poor smallmouth fishing in 2025.

DEC did confirm the presence of round goby in Keuka Lake.  I've already stated my opinions on these fish in a previous article on this website.  It should be easy to find by scrolling through the "Articles" section here.

Lake Trout abundance was the lowest it's been since 2016, which was the lowest DEC had seen since 1979.  If you struggled ice fishing for lake trout on Keuka Lake (I know I did...) it's for good reason, they are no longer abundant.  Out of nearly 300 lake trout netted by DEC last summer, the largest was 3.9lbs.  65% of fish ran from 12" to 20" long.

Zero alewives were netted during the forage netting last summer.  Zippo.

Diary keepers on Skaneateles Lake had a very slow year on rainbows and landlocked salmon.  The average lake trout caught in Skaneateles Lake was 18" long.

Diary Keeper numbers on all of the major Finger Lakes are way down.  The less information anglers furnish to DEC, the less accurate DEC's "picture" is of the fishery.  If you fish any of these lakes regularly and don't contribute by keeping a book, don't complain when the DEC management decisions seem all wrong to you.  It's like withholding information from somebody and expecting them to come to the proper conclusion.