BrookTrout

Wow, I will have to get over there someday, some nice looking bows!

Looks like a happy crew!

With a cloudy day forecast I was actually a little dissapointed to have glass calm water and blue skies as I launched on the lake around midday. I headed north and set up along the westside by Starkey Pt. Picked up several smallish salmon in 10-20ft off the planar boards. Made a loop out into deeper water and the leadcore fired with 6 colors with some heavy thumping but the hook pulled, felt like a good sized laker. Another pass out in deeper water with nothing to show so I headed south. Set up again south of Glenora on a deeper troll and didn't mark much and didn't have any releases. Ran north in shallower water and just as a nasty patch of clouds rolled over and a north wind starting blowing, the leadcore fires and I see a big fish breaking the surface 4 cores behind the boat. Then he submerged and came to the boat without much fuss until I got to the leader and then he went berzerk diving under the boat and then jumping again. Finally got the big boy in the net, a 6lb brown with 2 lampreys. Nice fat fish, the biggest brown I have got on Seneca this season. I made another pass through the area without anything and then headed south past the Salt Mine with one release and a hard thump on the leadcore but that was it. I did mark some nice looking arcs suspended at 30-50ft just as I was pulling gear around 5pm. Not exactly an impressive day with numbers but it was a nice day to be out and the brown made it memorable. I would definetly concentrate on the shallows more next time.

Nice report, glad you got some good fishing after the long drive. Thanks for the details.

I am certainly appreciate of the info offered up on the reports. I was fishing primarily riggers and doing OK but had a few slow outings this spring and those who commented on my first post gave me some good ideas one of which was lead core and divers, which accounted for all my fish the last trip. Generally, I think the benefits of posting good information outweigh the negative. Just my opinion, but I also understand people being tight-lipped with certain aspects.

Yeah the wind picked up steadily today, glad you got out and got a few fish.

I was fishing the West side around the middle of the lake. Not sure of the name.

Finally got a few days off from work. Made it out on the lake for a few hours in the afternoon. It was overcast with an intermittent NW wind providing some nice salmon chop. I was psyched to try out my brand new lead core setup (had to watch some youtube videos the night before to figure out how to tie into the backing and tie on a leader). Anyway I set it out with 4 colors plus 2 lines off the riggers and wouldn't you know within 15 minutes the drag was screaming with a nice 5lb salmon tail dancing about 140 ft behind the boat! Fighting a fish on the lead core feels a little detached, but I'm not complaining that was the 1st salmon for me in a few trips. Set the lead core back out and also switched to a dipsey on the other rod and that produced 2 lakers, one about 4 and the other a nice 6 lbr. Nothing on the riggers for me today. Nice to get the skunk out of the boat. Hoping to get out a couple times next week. Had the lake to myself yesterday afternoon, only saw one other boat and it was a kayak.

Funny thing was my sonar only marked a few fish, so I am still not sure if it is working correctly. Pulled the boat out of the lift and planning on some repairs and installing a brand new Lowrance this weekend, pretty excited.

Yeah the cottonwood stuff was thick on the eastern side, but not much of an issue on the western side, much better than fleas.

Any shakedown that doesn't involve mechanical catastrophe is succesful in my book, the fish is a bonus.

Glad to hear some fish are getting a little closer to the surface.

Some nice looking fish, thanks for the report. I might have to stop fishing on the sunny days and get out in the slop!

rshubuck - I've got a bunch of the stingers and some dream weavers, I have often had success with the dodger/fly set-up but need to invest in some of the spin doctors and pro trolls. I have yet to try the wire rods but will have to do some research and learn more about that set-up. I do plan on putting a lead core set-up together this season.

Zebedee - I am not the best at getting out early so most of my trips are late morning or afternoon. I have a manual temp finder that only goes down 50ft so I am a little limited. WOuld love a temp probe on the riggers someday but will have to keep saving. I'll keep watching my speed and check the bottom for the lakers.

Ray - I have been wondering about my sonar, I actually had some problems with a new unit last season and am currently running an older model hummingbird with a newer transducer and not so sure it is picking up everything. I will play with the settings next time I am out and am planning on a newer unit this season.

Thanks for all the replies, I know that when you put in your time on a waterbody and figure out pieces of the puzzle its not always easy to post all the details on a public forum and I wouldn't expect that, but appreciate the info. I certainly look forward to posting some reports/pics this season.

What VHF channel do folks monitor on the finger lakes for fishing related chat?

I moved back to the southern tier late last summer after many years and now have my boat in a lift at my family's camp on the southern end of Seneca. I have been fishing coldwater species (mostly salmon) on Lake Champlain for the last several years and made a good transition to Seneca last summer with good catches of salmon, bows and lakers. My success continued somewhat into the fall/winter but I found it harder to find the salmon and the last few trips have not produced for me at all. I am not marking much bait on my finder and despite trying different depths, presentations, speeds, etc just haven't been getting into em. The last few days I have been out have been bluebird conditions which I know can slow things down, but somewhere in the back of my mind I have been wondering if there has been movement of fish into the northern part of the lake? I am probably just rationalizing my poor results, but just curious if others who are more familiar with Senenca have observed this or if I am missing something else. I expect the fishing will pick up and will keep washing my lures but have been wondering if its worth exploring the northern 1/2 of the lake a little more. I have 2 riggers and have been running those and then either flatlining or running the 3rd rod with a dipsey. I use a variety of spoons, flies, dodgers.

I have been fishing solo so far and look forward to sharing info and meeting more folks who fish the area. I was a little skeptical moving back here having been so impressed with the Champlain fishery, but have been pleasantly surprised by the quality of the salmon fishery on Seneca so far. I also did some trib fishing last fall and was again surprised by some awesome LLS action.