Sk8man

Good to see you are out there at it Brad

You are doing it right John....it will pay off for both of you

Yup

I guess what I was thinking about Kevin is a lot of folks seem to feel that stuff isn't working if only given a few minutes and going from one place to another rather than back and forth over fish changing up things trying to get them to hit. "Everything has to be "instant" or it isn't any good or won't work"...that sort of thing.

This is the attitude and strategy that separates the men from the boys and coupled with patience is the sign of a true fisherperson.

Justin is a great guy and huge repository of good information and best of all he shares it with others. Many perch/walleye and Tiger folks are closed mouth about things so He is a very valuable resource and highly successful fisherman and guide. Glad you had a good time Bill

Beauty about 7-71/2 lbs

HB2 has a point. A lot of new folks to this scene are very influenced by all the newest "gizmos" and are very reliant on them. These things are merely tools in the arsenal and none of them are a true necessity; these tools do help increase "probabilities" connected with catching fish but the techniques associated with the right equipment (i.e. setups) and learning to use them effectively are much more important. A couple Saturdays ago we were out without any temp device and relied on our experience and previous knowledge to figure things out by making some "educated guesstimates" based on it and were very successful, and not all of it was attributed to "luck".

I truly hope so too Nick. I hope to be there God wiling. I should also mention that in spite of my commentary regarding current conditions I dearly love Seneca Lake and my family has fished it for well over 100 years. I hope to see it rebound and perhaps with the states efforts combined with natural cyclical and evolutionary factors it can "correct" for these problems and return to the stellar fishing days of years past. Nobody should give up on it Cayuga was in tough shape a few years back and look at things now and changes don't necessarily take a lifetime to occur either.

The lampreys are a main problem but not the only one. Even less than ten years ago there were minnows of various species seen in near shore areas around the periphery of the lake. There were sunfish, perch, bluegills, bass, and pickerel and pike. Now you see few to none present in these habitual areas. Those of us who grew up on the lake remember when there were fish all over the place including the Seneca Lake state park marina where you could catch any of these fish right from the docks. It is now devoid of life and encrusted with mussels and algae. There are many things going on here at once and there is no single factor that is totally responsible for the changes; it is multifaceted and complex and so will be the solutions.

I know I sound like a broken record but the problem is more complex than just a lack of fish and over abundance of bait. The previous sewage dumps down the Keuka Outlet (one reportedly 55,000 gallons) combined with runoff from human interactions (e.g development along the lake, vineyard and farm run-off, perhaps combined with natural factors such as a gradual change in the type of lake (from oligotrophic or cold water lake -to mesotrophic (mixture) toward eutrophic e.g. toward warm water and more nutrient rich), actions of the invasives on the water, weed, and lake bottom (Zebra's, Quagga's and perhaps waterfleas), increased susceptibility of some of the trout species (e.g. lakers and browns) to the increases in lamprey predation because of their bottom orientation and feeding habits, and either previous ineffective lamprey treatment, or the lack of it being consistently applied during the recent past. Something I have not heard anyone mention is the possible effects of the sewage releases on the Keuka Outlet environment itself as It is a major repository and developmental environment for the young fish of many species in addition to Catherine's Creek. The lampreys also breed at the mouth and within it and the larval stage would be in the mud and probably not affected. There are probably other things as well involved in it and just stocking more fish although it may address the short term surplus of bait may not solve the problem long term. As Brian suggested is the state going to be able or willing to invest the money or resources in the situation especially after this covid stuff.

Or you could treat the streams for three consecutive years and try to decimate the future lampreys. Give it some time and restock.with yearlings and some 15 inch browns

Sweet looking spoons John He did a great job on them

Along with the lampreys attacking the fish that are there.

WTG Mark and cool report. What if they do a repeat charter? The pressure will be on to perform again and so much for the necessity of electronics