SENECA 8/15!!!! AWESOME DAY

[lakebound88]

well, today justin, jim, and i hit the water at 630, jim was late...We started of on the west side heading north from tiki bar, screen looked good, surface temp was 53.7 degrees! withint 10 minutes out first rod fires. From then on til about 930-10 it was solid action withf ish on the wire and riggers, even the 4 and 5 color cores were hot!!!! The cores were striking hard, hardest ive seen all season. we had a mixed bag today of lakers, LL's and one rainbow(size of the spoon), Our biggest was a 7 or so laker. We had dun, once the wind picked up, the fishing did the opposite, of course all the new lures i just bought, fired! Lets just say the NK;s and the Stingers were hot! From the white on white pro troll, to the wonderbread/bugeye fly to the black pearl! I had fun and i am sure they did with the ball bustin! Overall was about 13 for 15. All fish released. This is the best it has been since red cross weekend, fish are moving south! There was bait, heavy off of hector..justin says its a repeat of last yr? water temp again was 53 in watkins, 70 at lodi state park area..

tight lines to all

[Hookedup]

Nice job Nick, Two days of strong South wind cools the South end down big time. We will have to get up to Ontario some time

[ac holmes]

You make it look easy Nick,

I saw you at the 4th street bridge this PM and guessed you guys had done well because we had a good day on Sat.

I remember when I was a little kid in Watkins Glen that the lake was always colder for swimming when the South wind

was strong and warmer when it was out of the north. I guess that the water moving south pulls deeper, colder water

toward the surface and visa versa. Anyway, the salmonoids that we fish for are active feeders in the 48-55 degree range

and when the bait is there, so will be the fish and they will be on the feed. We hit 2 nice Lakers at 60 feet on Sunday as well as 2 rainbows and

4 LLs. All fish were healthy, no eels or marks and they were all puking up sawbellies. Seneca is hard to fish but when you get it right the fish cooperate very well.

I am forming an opinion about fishing Seneca. When people say the fish are not biting and say it is the barometer, the moon or some other

condition, Or the fisherfolk speculate whether green and yellow is better than silver and gold, etc., etc. I suspect that the "no bite" has more to do with water temperature and finding the temp layer where the fish are active (feeding).

On Seneca, that temp layer can change radically in a day or so, I have discovered (as much as 70-80 feet) depending on north or south wind. I have also discovered that the "bait" may or may not be at the temp level where the salmonoids are actively feeding. The bait can be anywhere in relation to temp. So then, my idea is to find the temp layer at around 50 degrees and look for bait there...the fish will be there also and they will be feeding. They feed all the time. That is all they do is feed and swim around the lake looking for more food. What do you think?

Best,

Andrew

[ERABBIT]

WTG lakebound88 , that wind sure moved a LOT of water. Last time I was out there was 60+ feet of over 70* water around Lodi................

Andrew I fished the 48* to 50* water hard (= that's where I kept my baits all the time) in 2005 from April 15th till mid Aug. I looked back on my log and all I had landed was lakers. I said to myself DUH if you keep your baits in that cold of water that's all your going to get, Since then I've started my top bait always 55* or above my multi specie has been much,much better since. Then again when fishing alone and only being able to run two (2) rods my skunk level has increased also. On the 24th of July I got my 1st Seneca grand-slam , boated three legal landlocks , one legal rainbow , one legal brown and a legal laker. Some days even when I'm fishing in the GOOD temp zone it's hard to hook up. I'll mark the deep guys at say 72 and 90 I pick one then see them more at the other depth. Change that out and see them at the depth I was just at......

[ac holmes]

Hello ERABBIT,

Your comments on multi species is very much in line with data about salmonoids and preferred temp. From what I read, the lakers like it cold at 48* or less, the LLs, rainbows, and browns can tolerate and prefer warmer water with the browns doing well with 58-60* temps, and the LLs and bows around 52* to 56*. I suspect that all these species feed outside of their temp bands when food is available but will statistically be most populated at preferred temp band. A band with a differential of 10* (between 48*-58*) may represent 50 or more FOW depth according to my temp probe.

My own experience is as follows:

I almost always fish a cheater/slider spoon off my downrigger setup. If I am at 80 FOW with the ball, the cheater is down aprox 40 or so feet and I usually catch a LL or a bow on the cheater and lakers off the ball. The deeper water is always colder I guess and this all makes sense. Maybe one of the reasons for the Seth Green "meat rig" being such a good method for filling the fish box is the fact that some of the leaders will almost always be in a preferred band.

[711skwerlz]

Thanks Nick for a great day. I needed that after that blow off on cayuga sat.

[ERABBIT]

I got out today after 10ish , around Lodi the surface water is 73.5 ish with + 70* water down 60 feet on the east side west wind. Trolled across to west side about the same within 5' for temp. but both sides drop off fast after hitting the 70*..................went 4 for 4 all lakers all small but the three I kept will look good fried up soon..........

[LakerTaker85]

Good fishing Nick! We've have been doing really well on seneca lately, there is an insane amount of bait in the water... i think we met down at watkins in front of the park with all the anchored boats... i was with my brother, you showed us your boat and some techniques you prefer and you also told me about this site. All i can say is thanks this site is awesome and is filled with devoted fishermen who will gladly share their info. O and your secret weapon (that dodger fly combo) that you showed us has become our go too lure man, thanks again.