Seneca lake getting better?

[Fishbowl836]

Went over and fish Seneca lake today with no luck. Usually this time of year I fish the south end and both of the salt plant areas. I know Seneca has not been very good the last few years but it was my understanding that things were starting to get better. I was surprised to not see any fish at either of the salt plants. Did not mark many fish during the day except for what appeared to be a few Lakers on the bottom. Can anybody shed any light on fishing conditions on Seneca lake? Back about 4 or 5 years ago we could go over to either one of the salt plants and see many landlocked salmon and have a ball catching them on fly rods. Now it appears that there are very few salmon in Seneca. Any information is greatly appreciated and thank you for your time.

 

 

 

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[GAMBLER]

I am a believer that Seneca will not get back to the old days until the lamprey situation gets under control. 

[Roys Boys]

Haven’t trolled yet on Seneca this time of year, but usually February I troll stinger scorpions,suttons and joined rapalas.. the stinger size I don’t have as many bites with

[fisherdude]

I am a believer that Seneca will not get back to the old days until the lamprey situation gets under control. 

So true

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[Sk8man]

Yes and even if they started today it will take many years before significant results really take shape given successful treatments as only the larval stage is affected by the treatment. It was a similar scenario in the 70's as far as the lampreys are concerned. Thye are a major factor in the problem but it is a complicated situation involving nutrient levels, and disruptions of the food web (e.g straining of the phytoplankton and zooplankton by Zebras and Quaggas decimating the key food elements above that young fish depend on at early stages). I don't think the previous problem on Cayuga a few years back was as complicated it was more related to lamprey levels per se. and it took awhile for the fishery  to come back.

[Roys Boys]

I think  senecas gonna be on the up for trout and salmon the next few years.. on trips we boated more fish per trip this year and seen a lot of 20 inch fish like salmon and rainbows Lakers.. not so sure about the browns though.. got 2 all year

[lakebound88]

Steve, the eels wiped out the browns. DEC stocked alot of them last year. I believe even got some extra (hearsay).

Fishing was amazing this summer and I cant wait to see what this season brings!

Im perching until then...


Watkins flat lines, find the water color. You'll get em. Scorpion and sticks. 1.0oz snap weights. I like to run my spoons out 85 to 90 then the weight and another 20 foot of line. Fluro leaders. Small snaps.

Good luck and have fun.

Nick

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[Sk8man]

My above comments were directed at the overall lake fishery as contrasted with many previous years, and not with respect to a single species or particular location.

[Aspiring_Pollack]

In regards to the overall fishery, I made it out on the 31st and was able to get a handful of dandy pike. What was the exciting though was they were all fat and clean, really healthy fish. Usually any fish out of Seneca that I get are skinny and covered in wounds of some sort, regardless of species. Kinda got my hopes up for the lake making a turn for the better in the near future.

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[Frogger]

In regards to the overall fishery, I made it out on the 31st and was able to get a handful of dandy pike. What was the exciting though was they were all fat and clean, really healthy fish. Usually any fish out of Seneca that I get are skinny and covered in wounds of some sort, regardless of species. Kinda got my hopes up for the lake making a turn for the better in the near future.

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I’m with you hoping the worst is by us. Now it’s a waiting game and some catch and release. Eels will need the annual champagne. I always wondered if with Dresden plant going down that the numbers of lampreys drawn into the liquid trap went down as well.


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[Sk8man]

I too hope for the best as Seneca is and always has been my "favorite" lake. It is encouraging to hear about healthy pike as for quite a while they seemed as though were in  short supply with the radically changed weed availability. Hopefully a good balance can be maintained between the predator/prey relationship with the perch population. I don't believe they have treated for the lampreys in back to back years but I sure hope the DEC steps up their efforts to reduce their activity. I also hope that environmental conditions (i.e. Mother Nature) affects the ancillary smaller streams along the lake shore on both sides of the lake by not having sufficient water flow to support the lamprey larvae as they aren't treated, but this is complicated by the fact that young fish also inhabit some of them that maintain water flow during the summer/fall. The deltas in front of the streams are potentially the major problem though. On the bright side despite the fact that Seneca is so deep and large it does gradually cycle the water over time down through the Seneca River as it is not "locked up" like some other lakes or ponds helping in a "come back". Cayuga seems to have done it so lets hope this is a good start

Edited January 3, 2020 by Sk8man

[lakebound88]

Hey les, courious, how many times have you fished seneca in the past 3 years?

Nick

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[Sk8man]

Already sent my Seneca diary in to DEC so have to wait a bit to answer that. but I don't have a vested interest in painting a rosy picture either. Take a look at the derby results numbers-wise and it tells a lot more than my diary entries too which have been way down last few years from years past. Admittedly, I don't fish it as frequently as in the past when I lived right  in Geneva. The opinions I have expressed are just that....opinions and I don't necessarily have the market share on accuracy

Edited January 3, 2020 by Sk8man

[EsoxAC3]

Hey, i am not that familiar with Seneca....: of course the perch are legendary. Does Seneca receive much ice fishing pressure? A buddy was saying that he didn’t think it froze or the ice areas were quite limited. Is this true? Sorry for the basic/ off topic question. Thanks[emoji4]


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[Sk8man]

As far as I know Seneca has only frozen completely a couple times since the late 1800's. I think the last time was about 1976 or 77.  It is a very deep lake with a lot of undercurrents so it takes a lot to freeze up even sections of it at the extreme ends of the lake where it is shallower. Usually extreme cold coupled with low to no wind for a while where it may freeze up for a few hundred yards from the ends of the lake. It also depends on whether they are pulling water down the Seneca River at the north end of  the lake and that area of the canal near the yacht club can be quite dangerous as the ice can vary greatly in thickness even a few feet from where there may be "safe" ice. Prior to the new marina being installed at Sampson ice fishing occurred there too.

Edited January 3, 2020 by Sk8man

[Ray4852]

what do you mean by the good old days. I think most of us never saw the good old days on Seneca. we have to go back about 100 years to compare the fishing we have today. this lake is not dead. we still have fish in it. number one problem. the lampreys, DEC has done a great job trying to control them but still need better lamprey treatment. farm run off, to many boats that discharge gas and oil into the lake and poor septic management around the lake. we can blame acid rain too. I started fishing this lake around 1967. this lake had big trout but the trout had lamprey scars that made you sick to look at a nice lake trout. back in those days the fishermen had a different feeling and opinions about their fishery too. today a lot of people have become to spoiled to respect a great fishery. it took many years to rebuild the Seneca lake trout fishery. it was nice to see 35 inch trout come back to this lake. all I heard around this board and a few others is lake trout is a junk fish. they don't fight. we have to many of them in the lake. not enough bait. we need more browns and landlocks because they put up a better fight. I hate to say it. the good olds days are gone. we won't see it again anytime soon. it takes many years to build a lake trout fishery. none of us won't see it again during our lifetime.  be happy if you go out and catch 10 fish days. your dong good. be happy if the fish are around 20 inches. I think what we should do now is roll back some of our fishing regulations to two rods per man. 2 lake trout per day and start a slot limit of 23inch and bigger must go bake to the lake. we also need better lamprey control. I think we need to look at all streams that run into this lake get some kind of barrier to prevent lampreys from going up the streams. all we treat now is the keuka outlet and the big stream at the south end of this lake. we need to do something different.