Seneca north end 4/16

[Skidplate]

I usually start at 2.2 gps

[Sk8man]

Nick - You are right I haven't fished the south end in a while and most of my fishing is in the northern half of Seneca and that is primarily what I was referring to and I haven't recently seen anything that approaches what you are describing from the south end happening at the north end. There are a number of places at the north end that are as familiar to me as my own living room and I am no longer seeing fish there and neither are my friends who have fished it for many years. I know it is early in the season but some of these places were ones that I also winter fished as well when i did it and there were always some fish there as well as bait pods glued to the bottom.  I am totally with you in terms of the stocking if the bait is down at that end and I truly hope that as the season rolls on the fishing will improve and we will get a better picture of things. Incidentally I think it is pretty foolish if they are only sampling one spot for bait and then generalizing from a solitary data point for the stocking numbers.

Edited April 18, 2016 by Sk8man

[Iron Duke]

Just a quick hint the bait is in the north end too.. Take a meander out to 300-400 fow and take a look it's down there and it's plenty and that's where the fish are.. When the bait decides it's time to come up so will the fish... We really need a week or two of this nice weather and the bait will come up to pre spawn mode..Been seeing this on seneca for 2 months now...

Mike

Mike

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Edited April 18, 2016 by Iron Duke

[OB1]

Yep nick you said it started slow last because the rain and mud could not see the bottom till fall but starting soon game on

[OB1]

Well said Mike good times coming

[Sk8man]

Thanks Mike. I'll keep my fingers crossed

[jerktroller]

Have not been out yet this year but last two years Seneca seems to be loaded with bait. DEC folks at derby seemed to think bait was plentiful as well based on how fat most of the trout were in recent years. I notice that my catch rate for lakers goes down when they are well fed. Makes sense-they are not as hungry. I agree that as lake warms a little we will start to see more bait in shallow or at least I hope so. I'd be surprised if any bait sample of Seneca is based on one location. North end and south end can be completely different at times.

[lakebound88]

They are there.

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Edited April 19, 2016 by lakebound88

[FishingTheFL]

Last year, around middle of May.... There was a mile or so of sawbellies covering the bottom in the north end of Seneca. I home I get my boat fixed by then but so far it's not looking like it...

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[blueghost1]

That's interesting that the bait is that deep Mike. I never checked out there. The two I kept for the grill were empty stomach,  typical spring just a few weeks behind. Hope its prime or Memorial Day weekend! 42.6 surface btw

[lakebound88]

42-46 surface south end on Sunday. Saw one bait ball high that was it. Fish I cleaned Sunday were packed full of bait.

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[blueghost1]

Jason , you camped on loop 5 again derby weekend?

[Nautitroller]

Of the two we caught this weekend one had six large alewife and two gobies or sculpin hard to tell too digested. Other guys were saying they were coughing up gobies so yes the bait was deep but the fish I caught were ready for one more morsel!

The fish with the gobies had a real nice orange color to the meat.

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Edited April 19, 2016 by Nautitroller

[suttontroller94]

Out of all the fish I've caught on Seneca only one fish had bait in it and it was packed with 6 sawbellies however the others were empty but I'm sure there is bait there

[Ric66]

IIt isn't just the numbers of baitfish, it is the kind of bait fish.

 

Great Lakes fish predators (including salmon and steelhead) that feed primarily on alewife are prone to thiamine deficiency. Alewife, an invasive bait fish in the Great Lakes, are known to contain thiaminase, an enzyme that degrades thiamine. A thiamine deficiency can impact egg quality and the survival of eggs and newly hatched fish, and, in severe cases, can cause the death of adult fish.

 

So the trout and salmon in the finger lakes are eating primarily alewives because the smelt are virtually gone.

The possible good news is that some reports on Cayuga Lake state that the trout and salmon are feeding on golbies, and golbies have thiamine. Maybe this will help with salmon reproduction in the finger lakes, although this may create another issue- golbies feed on mussels and they contain toxins, trout eat the golbies and, well you are what you eat

[Zebedee]

Kevin,

That's the plan...i had some water damage to the camper over the winter though so we'll see if I can get that straightened out in time. I also picked up a '91 sea ray 220da. I'm interested to see how it trolls down.

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[blueghost1]

that sucks about the camper, sorry! C wait to see the new rig. Can you shoot me a text sometime wih your #? when my iPhone died I lost a lot of contacts that wouldn't transfer.