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I agree. There should be something on that end of the lake. We went out there to stay for a weekend, and the biggest hassel of the entire trip was dealing with that man and his wife. I felt like a complete burden to them. Not to mention the 100% complete lack of trust and respect they showed us. A boat launch in Hammondsport would be a very good thing for the town. The folks at the Marina were incredibly nice and helpful, it would be great to see them start launching boats.

First off, did anyone have any luck on Sunday morning? We went out from 6:30 until 10. We left out of Watkins Glenn and trolled east past the falls, then across the lake and south starting about 1 mile above the salt plant, and didn't catch a thing other then a willow tree and bottom. We ran 5 rods the entire time. Two down riggers, we moved them around from 90 foot to 40 foot, a copper line, and two dipsys one 0 and one 1 size. We ran every fly flasher combo you can think of, and all kinds of spoons. Starting to get discouraged. We had a little luck the last time catching two in about 4 hours. I thought we were starting to get things under control, but now I'm not so sure again. The next question is, does anyone have some good suggestions for fish finders. We have one but it doesn't do a great job. We are looking to spend 600 dollars total between a fish finder that will tell us our speed and depth of fish, and one of those things you attach to your ball to see down speed and find the thermocline. Thanks for any responses.

Thanks for the information. I do have a question though. How do you know if you are jigging deap enough? And do you have a suggestion of what the best type of thing is to use. A spoon or something like a mister twister? Any and all information is helpful. I am stopping by the bait store in a few hours.

Does anyone have any suggestions of how or where to fish out of the south end of keuka lake if we aren't set up to troll. I was thinking about trying to jig, but had no idea where to even begin. Any suggestions at all would be extremely helpful. Thank you.

Does anyone know the specifics on what bait fish each species feeds on specifically or do all the salmoids take what they can get? The two main staples are sawbellies and alewifes, is this correct? Does anyone know the average size of these I.E 2 inches, 4 inches, 8 inches? I am trying to tie flies to set up on a system I'm working on to troll behind the boat. I'll post a picture on here of the thing when I get it done and see what people think.

Go bigger if you plan on fishing bigger water. I would also suggest a large arbor reel. They pick line up alot faster and give you a smoother drag (IMO). Also get one with plenty of backing capacity. Jeff Really good advice. The first time you catch a fish with a good large arbor reel you will wonder why you ever used anything else.

Does anyone ever fish from shore on Seneca? I tried fly fishing Tuesday for 3 hours. I tried the inlet in Watkins, and the rocks off the doc in the harbor by the Harbor Hotel. I had an 8wt sink tip line on, throwing silver jigs, wooley buggers, muddler streamers, clouser minnows, (anywhere from size 2- and a contraption I tie that is a combination of all of those, a jig head with spun deer hair near the jig head, chartrues deer hair off the top, and a wooley bugger body, long saddle, and a 2 inch marabu tail, in black and olive, on a number 2 hook. I couldn't get anything to show towards anything I threw. Just wondering if anyone ever fly fishes it or if I am on my own on this one.

What channel to most people stay on around here for their radio?

This is true to a point. Not trying to take away from what you said Gill-T, just trying to help. There is no set standard in the industry for "flex indes" (how much bend is in the rod). The different name brands all do different things to help explain this. There are 3 basic flexes. You typically hear them refered to as a "fast" "medium" or "slow" rods. Orvis lays this out extremely easily. They range from roughly a 6.0 to a 10.0. They may go higher or lower then this, but these are the common ones. A 6.0 is refered to as a soft (slow) rod. This means it will bend more easily, and closer to the base of the rod. This is good if you are a person who is more patient and likes to have those big long open loops. This type of rod can also be good for things such as Steelhead, because of the extra flex the rod is able to provide more cushion to the tippet if a big fish decides to make a quick run. What you gain in tippet protection you lose in backbone. When you get on Orvis's higher end of the scale around 10.0 this becomes a "fast" rod. These are typically enjoyed more by Type A personalitys, people who aren't as patient. They will turn over a fly quicker in the air, and you need to be more active in your cast. They provide slightly less tippet protection, but give you more back bone to fight a strong fish. This all being said, I prefer to be in the middle. If you are anywhere near an Orvis store, or fly shop I would go talk to them. They will help you out incredibly. Sage or other manufactures don't do this flex index, however, Sage does make slow, to fast rods. I hope this was some help. If anyone has anything to add feel free. I struggled with this concept for about a year before I finally understood what they meant. getting a fly rod can be difficult because of the huge varience in prices and the 30 different variables that goes into one, from size, to flex. My recommendation, would be a 9'6" 8 wt, with a medium flex. Orvis makes a really good rod called the clearwater that is affordable. A good beginners rod. Also, I bought a reddington 6 months back. This way 170 dollars, but I have loved it. The downside is not having a warranty. The day you break a rod without a warranty you won't be a happy camper.

Thanks a lot! We will try that the next time we go out. We tried changing the leaders out this week. We put on 8lb mono and that still didn't help, we ran everywhere from short to long leads off the riggers and all the depths and ff combos and spoons and speeds. We may not have been fishing over active fish. I can't figure out where we would be that far off. We are getting a humming noise from our down riggers, we think that may be an issue, that it is spooking the fish?

is running leadcore and dipsys together not a good idea? I thought the leadcore wouldn't sink as fast as copper so you put dipsys on them. We are going to try in the morning. Thanks for all the information we will try the new tips and see what we come up with. Is there any good way to read a fish finder or are they all different? I am having a tough time telling what is fish, what is weeds, etc. When it is in 300 fow everything is right at the top even if it is down 70 foot or so. I am guessing? I'm surprised how close to the boat you run the ff, not questioning, you all know way better then me. I just never would have guessed, I figured the boat would spook them that close. Is there a good rule of thumb on what depth to fish if you don't have the ability of finding the thermocline? We have been trying to cover the levels, between 45 foot and 70 foot.

I don't know where your coming from, but Hills and Valleys in Elmira carries different kinds of wire.

Still not much luck to report. Only our third trip out, but we have two down riggers now. We were in the water by 6 A.M. We had a fish on off a down rigger around 50 foot within 10 minutes, but lost it because I did not have the down rigger release set right and I spent to much time fooling with it to trip. That was the last action of the day. We fished until 11. We ran leadcore dipsys, 250 copper, FF, black/green, green/silver, orange/silver, black/silver spoons. Ran down riggers at every depth you can dream up, and fished every where form 100 FOW to 300 FOW (when we could read the fish finder). Does anyone know why a fish finder would read for awhile then stop? We would be in 300 fow and then it would just stop and start saying we were in 4-5. Maybe the bite was bad this morning because of the full moon, changing weather patterns, etc, etc? Or are we just missing something We have been running 30lb mono leaders. Could this be the problem? Should we use 20lb fluoro instead? Or would that not make that big of a difference?

Those are good looking fish. Is catching an eel a common thing? I had never heard of it.

Yeah, lesson learned on the bouys. One expensive lesson. If you were deciding between putting a fish finder on or a radio or another rod which would come first? Also, how low level of a fish finder can you throw on and have it be worth using? Thanks everyone for all the information so far, this has probably saved me hours of reading already.

We were out at 5 30 as well and only caught one rainbow around 9. We were fishing copper.

We caught one in about 4 hours Sunday morning. We had a 300 foot copper rod and a 350 foot copper rod and we wound up losing all the copper off the 350 foot copper rod. Went past a booey and thought we hooked up with a fish, but turned out to be an anchor. I don't know how in the world 50# backing will break before a 30lb monofilament leader, but it happened. We did manage to land one though, I had the drag set as loose as could be without it pulling line just from us trolling and I never heard the drag, but could tell something was up from the rod bending. It was just a little one, but still a fish. It wound up coming off an orangish dream weaver spoon.

We are, but we don't have a radio. It is pretty barebone. I am assuming a radio is something you can pick up down the road? A fish finder would probably come before that? I am also wondering if a GPS from a car will work well enough to just get your speed while on the water? Thank you for the tip on the drag. We weren't exactly sure how it worked without down riggers. Down riggers are pretty obvious when you have a fish. Do you tighten it at all and then set the hook? Or just set it and start cranking?

Sean, thanks for the response. I guess what I should be asking is, if I want to catch a fish early Sunday morning with that set up what type of things do I need to do. I understand all the charters probably don't want to give away secrets, but seriously any type of information would help. In the future I want to go out with someone on this site, but that could be weeks, months, a year away. I am chomping at the bit and just want a sporting chance at catching a fish Sunday.

Hi all, I am brand new to this. Went on a charter last year on Ontario, and this year thought it would be a good idea to get into fishing on Seneca. I bought 2 Okuma rod and reels and am lining them with ultra thin copper wire. I don't have down riggers, and am hoping to not have to get them. I was hoping for any information at all on how in the world I am going to catch fish, what type of equipment I am lacking, spoons or flies? Do I add dipsys to the copper? Best type of knots to connect copper to dacron backing and copper to leader, length of leader. Best speed to troll at on the South end of Seneca, etc. etc. etc. Right now the set up is a small boat with a 45hp outboard, but will slow right down to troll. I am sure this is not the absolute ideal set up, but I am hoping to not spend a ton more. I was hoping to figure out what type of "necessity stuff" I still need. All I have is 2 poles lined with 400ft a-tom-ic copper, four pole holders, 5 assorted green spoons, 2 swivels, 250yd of 30lb test floro, and one green spin doctor with a green fly. Am I going to be able to catch fish early Sunday morning or am I going to be burning gas and washing lines? Any help would be extremely appreciated! please and thank you much!