Seneca Lake fishing: Atlantic Salmon, Brown Trout, Lake Trout

Target species: Atlantic Salmon, Brown Trout, Lake Trout
Boat: 6 ramps and launches on file for this water.
Start here: Launch at Sampson State Park, 4 lanes.

The lake

Seneca Lake covers 43,407 acres in New York, across 4 counties: Yates, Seneca, Schuyler and Ontario. It is a lake: 92.9% of it is 550 feet deep or less; the deepest point measured is 617 feet (187.9 m). Our records hold 6 species for this water.

Geneva, New York - 14 - Finger Lakes Welcome Center - 20220810 - Waterfront View.jpg
Andre Carrotflower · CC BY-SA 4.0

Depth: down to 617 ft at the deepest measured point

Deepest measured point: 617 ft (187.9 m). 92.9% of the water is 550 feet or shallower. We hold 25 depth contours for this water, drawn from 1,499,903 soundings.

Seneca Lake from Long Pier, Geneva, New York - 20220810.jpg
Andre Carrotflower · CC BY-SA 4.0
  • 0–50 ft: 18.9% of the water
  • 50–100 ft: 6.8% of the water
  • 100–150 ft: 6.9% of the water
  • 150–200 ft: 6.6% of the water
  • 200–250 ft: 5.5% of the water
  • 250–300 ft: 5.4% of the water
  • 300–350 ft: 4.9% of the water
  • 350–400 ft: 5.1% of the water
  • 400–450 ft: 7.8% of the water
  • 450–500 ft: 11.6% of the water
  • 500–550 ft: 13.4% of the water
  • 550–600 ft: 7% of the water
  • 600–603 ft: 0.2% of the water

Stocking: 1,930,457 fish, 2011–2025

NYSDEC records list 1,930,457 fish released into this water from 2011 to 2025.

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Andre Carrotflower · CC BY-SA 4.0
  • Brown Trout: 787,594 in 2011–2025
  • Lake Trout: 709,610 in 2011–2025

One more species on the stocking list.

3 target fish, led by Atlantic Salmon

  • Atlantic Salmon — Feeding water: 45–60°F.
  • Brown Trout — Feeding water: 50–65°F.
  • Lake Trout — Feeding water: 50–65°F.

Also recorded here: Green Sunfish, Common Carp, Alewife.

6 ramps and launches on this water

On this water we hold 4 trailer ramps and 2 boat ramps.

  • Sampson State Park — 4 lanes, restrooms. Finger Lakes Institute. 6040-6144 NY-96A, Romulus, NY 14541
  • Geneva Public Boat Launch — 2 lanes, restrooms. Finger Lakes Institute.
  • Seneca Lake State Park — 2 lanes, restrooms. Finger Lakes Institute.
  • Severne Point Lake Public Boat Launch — 1 lane, restrooms. Finger Lakes Institute. 195 Severne Rd, Himrod, NY 14842
  • Lodi Point State Park, Mile 35.38 — NYS OPRHP. phone +1 315-585-6392 · website parks.ny.gov/parks/lodipoint
  • Seneca Lake Boat Launch website dec.ny.gov/outdoor/23854.html

Fee and opening hours are blank for all 6 places in this list: a blank means we hold no such field, not that it is free or always open, and this list may not be complete.

Water and conditions

Water clarity runs 7.4–16.2 feet on our readings, averaging 11.8 feet, from 112 readings. These readings span 2017–2020. The latest reading is from 2020, more than three years ago: read these numbers as history, not as the water today.

What is hard here

Wind is the limit, not the fish: 43,407 acres of open water build a short steep chop, and there is no shelter in the middle.

Where this data comes from

  • NYSDEC Finger Lakes Watershed Program; PI Tom Manley; Middlebury College R/V David Folger — NYS DEC Seneca Lake Bathymetry Data (10 m): class A, a survey of the bottom.
  • NOAA ENC — NOAA Electronic Navigational Charts: soundings: class A, a survey of the bottom.
  • NOAA ENC — NOAA Electronic Navigational Charts: depth contours: class A, a survey of the bottom.
  • Webster, K.E., McCullough, I.M., Soranno, P.A. LAGOS-US DEPTH v1.0, EDI, doi:10.6073/pasta/64ddc4d04661d9aef4bd702dc5d8984f (CC BY 4.0); Cheruvelil et al. LAGOS-US LOCUS v1.0 (EDI) — LAGOS-US DEPTH v1.0: Lake depth for 17,675 lakes in the conterminous U.S.: class B, a depth figure measured and published by an agency, without a bottom map.