Seneca Lake

This lake provides excellent year round open water fishing as it virtually never freezes over due to its intense depths. Wild Lake trout are the dominant species and they can be caught year round by using a variety of techniques. The most intense fishing is jigging these fish from May through July when baitfish schools move shallow. However these lakers can be jigged year 'round.   Fly-fishing is also possible from the late-fall through early spring. These fish hit hard, fight great and taste very good.   They are over-populated in Seneca Lake and can use some harvesting!

The lake is an underrated landlocked Atlantic salmon fishery and it probably provided better action than Cayuga Lake during a few years in the early 2000s.   As of the winter of 2010, it appears that Seneca once again is the hot landlocked salmon lake in the region - and maybe the state!   We've had some fantastic fishing and there have been great reports all the way around on this fishery since last November.   Brown trout action has been poor on Seneca from what I've heard.  Rainbows have rebounded somewhat with some impressive fish caught in 2008.   I don't encounter many Seneca rainbows fishing the way we fish.

Seneca has undoubtedly been the top pike fishery in the region and probably NY State over the past three years in terms of average size and numbers.   This isn't a trophy fishery, but a fish over 15lbs is always possible.   Thus far in 2009, fishing has started slow and the pike population really appears to have taken a dive.  There have been signs of some disease and problems with the pike.  Pickerel are also available on Seneca Lake, but Cayuga offers more consistent pickerel action if that's what you're into.

Seneca Lake is an excellent yellow perch fishery and has an good population of smallmouth bass.  Perch fishing is best from November through May, and if you can find an aggressive school it isn’t hard to catch a 50 fish limit within a couple of hours.   Other fish found in Seneca Lake include largemouth bass and huge carp.   The largemouth bass and freshwater drum populations are going up in this lake;  I've never seen more drum in Seneca Lake than over the past season or two!   Any fish species found in Cayuga Lake can swim over to Seneca and vice-versa - I'm even seeing a few longnose gar in Seneca Lake these days!  

This lake has a virtually straight north to south basin with very few major points and very little curvature; high winds can produce huge waves here.