Seneca Shakedown

[Pete Collin]

Hello All,

I didn't think I was acting any different, but my wife said to me Saturday, "Will you PLEASE go fishing!!! You're being miserable!!"

The weather this spring has made it tough for anybody to get out and do much of anything. Yesterday (Sunday) I got up, read some reports of fast action of Seneca from the previous day, and decided to torment my wife no more. Never mind that I'd miss the good early morning bite. I bought a brand new kicker motor that I was dying to play with, and it was time to go.

I have never launched at Severne before and have always wanted to try it. If you were to draw a straight line from me to Seneca, Severne is the closest launch. But like any east-west trip in the finger lakes, there are many big hills to pull and the odd body of water in your path. It did take me through some really scenic country that I hadn't travelled much.

The dock at the launch was a few inches underwater:

A helpful guy offered to operate my truck and park it while I drove the boat off the trailer, then he threw me the keys. Funny how i trusted a complete stranger with the keys to my truck but he seemed like a nice guy and , hell, his rig was worth about 10 times what mine is! On the return trip, I had to remove my shoes and socks and roll up my pant legs to bring it in. The water is still so cold it hurts.

There were lakers on the bottom in 100 feet. Not a lot, but enough to make it interesting. I got 2 up to 25 inches and lost 2 that felt so big that I wondered what I had on. You know when you get a laker that physically wears you out by the time you get it to the boat? One of those fish was only 10 feet under the prop wash before it broke me off. I never got to see it and my shrink says I will someday come to terms with the loss. Those two big strikes made me pretty trigger happy. So later when I snagged somebody's copper line, I was ready to believe it was a 10 foot sturgeon that was ripping the line out!

All these reports of people's success with landlocked salmon and brown trout have been intriguing. I rarely targeted either species. There was all day to play around, so the Seth Green rigs were switched to a lead core and a flat line behind a planer board. Within an hour, I got a very satisfying strike followed by a jump:

21 inches. My first Seneca brown and biggest Finger Lakes brown. The only trout I got in the Fingers, for the most part, were flukes that came while targetting lakers. Always cool when you reach the epiphany, "hey- this stuff actually works!"

You get away from your launch point pretty quickly when doing a fast troll. I decided to troll into the brisk wind back to Severne. Not the best idea. You couldn't take your hand off the wheel for a second. So when a brute of a smallmouth hit, it was bedlam in the boat for a couple of minutes:

Amazing how that critter jumped and fought in 42 degree water!

So I am very pleased with the new motor. I can troll at idle speed without stalling, and peg the throttle so my speed won't creep. No more fatigue in the rope-pulling arm. And my fuel consumption is almost non existent!

So I didn't catch a boatload, and my last minute decision to go kept me from taking anybody along. But at least my wife can stand me now. Especially tonight when I serve fresh broiled brown trout filet for dinner!

Pete Collin

http://www.pcforestry.com

[ray koziatek]

good for you !!!!!!!!!!!! i feel the pain of trollin in the wind alone,, usually what i do is fight from the wheel as i do a slow turn with the wind to finish the fight ..