Followed The Waves

Geez, you're close. I'm over on Log Run Road. I am a jigger at heart but with the lamprey issue on Seneca, I bought some trolling equipment to cover more water and target silvers---no downriggers---just lead core and Dipseys. Once the fleas and weeds become a PITA, I go back to mostly jigging. I just got some pretty 1 ounce Titan jig heads from Lunker City yesterday. Hopefully I will get them wet by next weekend.

I'm wondering if the heated water being discharged into the Keuka Outlet on Seneca will discourage the lampreys from making a run to spawn---just trying to find some silver lining here. I was swimming at the outlet last September and it was like bath water!

I see a similarity between the aquatic invasive species and other "land" invasives. I live in the woods and I am constantly at war with Japanese stilt grass, barberry (deer ticks love it), woolly adelgig (kills hemlocks), the emerald ash borer (all ash trees are now dead and gone), Gypsy moth caterpillars (small infestation last year but by the looks of the eggs, it's gonna be worse this year), the spotted lantern fly (haven't seen one yet but they are here), maple decline disease, etc. Ugh...

Roy's Boys! Are you guys doing any good? The north end always seemed a little slow for me early in the season but it's probably just me…

I bought a few from this guy but only tried them once: Jay Fair Trolling Flies I might play around with them again this spring but I just seem to go with spoons and maybe a Gambler Rig/Death Trap when I'm trolling. Good luck!

Awesome report!

It won't be long now! Thanks for the encouraging report.

Yeah, pretty much what Copperliner said, especially on the 2D sonar. I have 2 Humminbird Helix 5 FF's. One is the fancier version---down imaging, mapping, chirp, whatever… I'm not very impressed with it despite working through every possible setting. It's up in my flybridge and I watch it mostly for the mapping feature. For vertical jigging off the back of the boat, I have a plain Jane 2D sonar Helix 5. I think I paid 185 bucks for it or so and it works great for watching my jig and the Lakers snubbing it. In the photo below, you can see my jig descending diagonally through the cloud of bait and a Laker or 2 coming up to give it a sniff and then head back down to the bottom to sit in the mud and wait for Nick to come by.

Very nice and very exciting---good luck with everything!

Very nice!

OMG!

Outstanding! Looks like you got it.

Seneca is rockin!

Quickie report from the Derby… Fished Saturday from 5:15 AM until 6:15 PM and managed one nice laker and a small salmon. I started out jigging for a while but couldn't get anything going. Boat traffic didn't look too bad so I set out 3 rods and trolled to the north end in that mess. The north end looked pretty busy and a lot of guys were fishing pretty close to shore so I went out in the deep water and jigged up this 7.44 pounder in 138 feet of water. I made the leaderboard for an hour or two and then the 8 pounders came in and I got bumped off. It was a nice, healthy, pretty fish with just one old lamprey scar. I didn't get out until 11 AM on Sunday due to the wind but I caught a sub-legal salmon and a rainbow trolling. Wind was blowing again Monday morning so I packed up and headed south. Great weekend though---the conditions were challenging and any day on the water is a great day and it's always fun to BS with the guys back at the marina. I met Lily Friday night as he was carving up his winner. Follow the waves!

Nice fish and good dudes! Had a a nice chat with them in the marina. Good luck to everyone tomorrow and be careful if it’s foggy out there!

I can't remember if it was the Saturday morning or Sunday morning crew, but I could hear those guys hooting and hollering from a mile away.

Here is a link to a local guide who fishes a lot on Cayuga who may be able to help: Finger Lakes Angling Zone He fishes a lot out of Long Point.

WOW. I hope they've been feasting on lamprey eels.

Very nice! Do you recall the water temp? I had 40 degrees on the surface on Seneca tonight in 75 FOW.

Thanks for the encouragement and great report! I don't know where you fish but I'm hoping to get the boat opened up on Seneca this weekend, wind permitting…