Seneca Lake Trout Derby

[Never Ends]

Seneca Lake Trout Derby

Anybody know how the official turnout was this year? Or any other information It looked promising and was a hell of a lot of fun.

[Skidplate]

A 12# won was not caught with copper

[lakebound88]

Bill, I think he means entrants. Numbers were down on the Thursday going in. Heard a rumor the prizes were going to be raised again next year. Not sure, I bet they were tight on money of not spent a bit more than planned. Hmmmm[emoji85] [emoji86] [emoji87]

Making your stories, Reel Stories, since 2011!!

[Sk8man]

Regardless of the actual number of entrants and the poor fishing for many entrants the new committee is to be commended for paying out the money and honoring their commitment to the derby. It was the toughest derby I have ever fished in terms of results out of the more than 40 of the Seneca derbies I have fished. Seneca is in a questionable state right now and I'm sure that the increasingly difficult fishing over the past few years was a large component of the decrease in entrants. I also think that the committee may need to look at the advertising component to see what else can be done to entice people to fish the derby from this point on. Those of us that fish the Finger Lakes would be well advised to become more involved in doing whatever we can to support the derby as well (e.g. notifying anyone we know that might be interested or on our email address lists etc. The derby is a wonderful family bonding experience (e.g. many families and friends camp at Sampson etc.) and has a number of positives attached to it aside from just catching the fish or the prize money. I certainly hope the derby continues into the future and the lake recovers and returns to more productive fishing....but in both regards patience and understanding will be required. One of the revelations I had this time was that possibly the playing field may have been leveled a bit and lady luck may have a bigger role now in the derby because despite all the fancy gear, very knowledgeable fishermen using the latest techniques, you still had to somehow run across an interested fish and when thing are thin out there everyone may be a little more dependent on luck being the deciding factor so the person in the little rented boat or kid fishing with his Zebco may have an increased chance of pulling it off

Edited June 8, 2017 by Sk8man

[lakebound88]

I think, the derby needs more advertisement, outside the lake itself. They do not venture far for advertising. I had a few guys tell me they've never heard of it. Until this year... they came and fished. Maybe next year they will bring more friends... time will tell.

Making your stories, Reel Stories, since 2011!!

[Never Ends]

Thanks Guys! I was curious about the total entrants and was hoping the new committee did not run into any financial issues. I would contribute to an advertising fund if there was one. 

[suttontroller94]

I like the derby and hope it continues but for the sake of it I hope the lake rebounds soon or the derby is going to lose ALOT of participants. I've already spoke to numerous guys who either fished it last year and didn't enter this year or fished it this year and aren't planning to fish it next. And I feel once participation starts dropping those people probably won't return unless the lake makes significant improvement. Let's face it many people bring kids to this as a family trip and it's hard to keep children interested when your struggling to put fish in the boat. And quite frankly is it worth the money that can potentially be won to burn out a child's or newcomers interest from lake fishing? 

[Skidplate]

LoL I should stay off my phone after 8pm.

 

[lakebound88]

Lol

Making your stories, Reel Stories, since 2011!!

[Zebedee]

The derby weekend was the first I fished Seneca this year so I didn't have a frame of reference to judge whether fishing was good or bad.  We caught about 1 fish for 3 hours of fishing (10 fish/30 hours) running 6 rods most of the weekend.  e marked plenty of fish and bait, we just could not get them to go.  Are fish becoming line shy?  Was the weather a factor?  Are fish becoming educated to our methods?  These are questions I always ask but I don't think we'll ever get the answer.  We can only observe and adjust.  I did notice an increase in lamprey marks...that's objective.  Having only 3 fish for BFF and the biggest around 7 lbs told me fishing was going to be difficult.  It seems to cyclical.  Some years are great, others not so much.  Like Sk8man said,

8 hours ago, Sk8man said:

The derby is a wonderful family bonding experience

I'll be back with my family next year to try again!

[fisherdude]

yeah the fishing sucks on seneca right now . it will turn around some day and for a 30 $ entry fee  i just might be the one with the big smile at the end .