scruffytoad

Thanks for the legal response! We were out trolling a few weeks ago and were checked. They just pulled up next to our boat, looked at poles (we had 4 in the water) and asked to see 2 licenses, even though there were 3 guys in the boat.

Fished east side 6/6 trolled from south tip to cargill, then up near milliken. Put a nice perch in the boat early in 15 fow with a rainbow rapala, then had a few releases in deeper water - but nothing in the boat . Really nice day on the water though...marked several nice bait balls on the trip.

I'll be out of south end (Treman) Saturday morning. Planning on working the east side up to Milliken.

That's good info! What speed were you trolling for the browns/rainbows with planar boards? How far behind the planars are the lures? I'm having a tough time this season. We ran south-east end of Cayuga on the 24th from ~7am - 9:00am-ish, then up to Milliken until noon. Ran downriggers, planar boards, and flatline straight behind the boat. All topwater fishing was with Rapalas, 3ft divers - 20 ft divers. Downriggers tried all types and color spoons. Not a single bite all day. Was idling with a drift sock behind boat, not very accurate speed info. 0.5-1.5mph is best guess. Not a single bite all day...gotta figure out what I am doing wrong!

Doesn't quite sound like it - mine is a white boat - green trim/canvas. I'll keep an eye out for the famous blueghost!

Hey blueghost, thanks for the tip! Speed may definitely be the case...depending on direction vs. wind we were probably running 1.8-3.0MPH, sounds a little high. I'll bring a bucket or two and try that next week! I have a Sea Ray 215 (not always a fishing boat when the wife is around ), was running some west shore and some mid-lake near Glass Factory Bay & Belhurst. I'll go down as far as Sampson once in a while, depending on how ambitious I'm feeling! Thanks again I'll keep an eye out for you! BTW: I stopped in Ithaca today at Treman marina on Cayuga lake and a charter down there cleaned house! They had more fish than I could count! Caught on rapalas, all in top water (<5ft)

Sounds like a great day! I am new to fishing as of last fall and have a boat w/2 downriggers. Catching a few lakers last fall was fairly easy - they all grouped on the thermocline and we would just drop the weights to that depth and troll with spoons. We would usually catch them at least once/hour. Also, I don't have a trolling motor, just my inboard/outdrive - so my speed isn't super controllable at low speeds for trolling, but it seemed to work. ...Then we went out yesterday, 5/9 from ~9am-12pm. Not a single bite. We tried spoons on the downriggers dropped to 45-90 feet in 100-135 FOW. We also tried trolling a spoon on the top, rapala's in ~5 feet & deep diving rapala's (~15-20feet), again in 20-135 FOW. Again, not a single bite. Fish finder was marking them everywhere from 20-110 ft. I'm looking for some detailed help! Where are the fish? How do I catch 'em? Are there any LL Salmon or Browns in northern Seneca? Any advice would be great! Thanks in advance!

At least the admirals caught something! Trophynuts got skunked! 0-bites all day... That's fishing...maybe next time!

Thanks guys! This is helpful! I will try this! FYI: ERABBIT is right, I always here lakers don't taste good, but the floaters I've kept tasted pretty darn good from Seneca Lake... here is the last floater I had to eat...

Missdemeanor - Thanks for the response! Unfortunately I have tried this a couple times without any luck. Maybe I am sqeezing them wrong and will try again. Will they live if I just leave them floating?

Hey guys, I am a fairly new fisherman on Seneca lake and have been catching lake trout with my downriggers in ~60-100 fow. After bringing them in, I try releasing them and they always float and don't swim back down. I have watched them for about 15+ minutes and while they are alive, they just sit there, laying on their sides on the surface. Am I missing something? How should I release these fish appropriately? Thanks, -S