Reports

I was pretty much set on going to Oneida Lake this afternoon, when I got a text this morning from a client/friend of mine who lives near the lake and was wondering about conditions on Cayuga Lake.  Turns out that Oneida Lake and the Salmon River area got hammered with rain over the past couple days and they were dealing with flood conditions.

I grabbed some bass gear as well as some tackle for drum and headed up to Union Springs.  A friend of mine saw a lot of drum nearshore on Cayuga Lake a few weeks ago and I had a few places in mind to try.  I also love August bass fishing on Cayuga Lake and hadn’t done any in the past two years.

It’s been a weird year for fishing and the northern portions of Cayuga Lake aren’t exempt from this!  Usually August on Cayuga Lake features lush weedgrowth with large expanses of coontail mixed in with milfoil.  Largemouths and chain pickerel love this stuff.  It’s a great time to pitch a jig, throw a crankbait or fish a swimbait.  Only problem is that I couldn’t find much “grass” today.  The weedgrowth profile was more like June, without the pondweed.  You’d think someone came through with harvesters and chemicals, but a better theory would be the algae bloom we dealt with in late-June and into late-July.  Without sunlight, weeds can’t grow.  I think the algae bloom really retarded the weed growth in Cayuga Lake – at least around Union Springs.  I only fished for around 3 hours, which isn’t much.  I spent most of my time cruising around looking for good weeds.  It usually takes me around 2 full-days to really get dialed in on Cayuga Lake bass.  Two days gives me a chance to fish mid-lake areas, which I wasn’t able to do this afternoon.  The water looks great, but weedbeds are way behind for this time of year.  I had a few light hits this afternoon and nabbed one small perch (on a bladebait trying for drum) but that was it.  No sign of pickerel either.  I have a very busy guiding schedule, so I’m not sure when I’ll make it back out here, although I’d love to give it a better shot.  I believe that there’s a pretty big tournament coming up shortly, it’ll be interesting to see what the weights are.  I think a lot of guys will struggle.  The typically easy August fishing doesn’t appear to be happening!