South End Seneca

[BrookTrout]

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.

[rshubuck]

I'm not the resident Seneca Lake junkie but they're lots of fish on the south end, but you got to find them. Stinger spoons and Dreamweaver spoons are very popular on the fingerlakes and Lake O. I use a lot of BigWeenie Flies myself. Some flies that have been designed for Seneca are ReelHookedup, Ballzonachin and Seneca Gostfly. You can thank Jason and Reelhookedup for them Some guys still use the Dodgers but most are using SpinDoctors and ProTrolls.

Riggers are excellent. We also use a lot of standard size dipsys on the wire rods. Also, copper rods varing in lengths from a 100' to 600'. 300' is probably the most popular year round or at least for me. Leadcore is another popular presentation on the fingers. Keep reading the post on the fingers. They will steer you in the right direction to where the fish might be. Good luck.

[Zebedee]

What time of day are you fishing? Sometimes midday the lakers will lay on the bottom. Drop your rigger until it bottoms out and bring it back up 5 ft. A diver and fly will stir up some action. If you can find the temp break with a probe, put your tackle there. Sometimes your finder will pick up the temp break by a scatteres line. Most important is your speed. If running spinny and fly, try 1.8 to 2.5. Light spoons require slower yet.

The water has been warming up early so I'd get that topline down a bit.

Good luck! You'll get help from others here.

[ Post made via Android ]

[ray koziatek]

went friday from 11 to 230 wind made tuff for good program ,it was the first time ive splashed down so i didnt fish too serious,in other words i got skunked ,but in all honesty i was just workin on buffy line. marked lots of bait every where from watkins to couple points past salt plant ......most was in the 2 to 250ft range above plant , but was 70 to 100 south of plant i found the shallow bait as i was heading in and had a 3pm deadline so i didnt try ,check yer sensitivity 100% and filters 0 and things should show up ....

[BrookTrout]

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?

[Hookedup]

Channel 68 for the fishing chat. A wire dipsey rig would help you out big time. The big browns and salmon are deep now with most of the bait. We have been catching Browns and Salmon down 100 to 130 every trip. Flashers/Flies and spoons that will work that deep are the way to go. We have found 12 to 18 inch salmon and bows up top but the big guys have been deep. If the bait is down 120 to 250 they will go get it. We put together a good program for fishing the marks at 100 to 150 and most of them have been Salmon and Browns. And all of those fish have been in the 6 to 12lb range. The water needs to hit that 50 deg mark before all the bait comes up to spawn. Like Ray, we have also found some bait on top with the side sonar, but its not up for long. When you do find it pound it with some 4 or 5 color core or short copper and you will get some big browns or salmon out of it. Sean

[ray koziatek]

opps ment 200 to 250 ft