Reports

Guided Larry and Jenn for a 1/2-day trip getting underway around 9 am.  I arrived at the boat launch a little bit after our agreed up meeting time at 8:30 am to what were still very cold conditions.  My boat seats still had frost on them.  Last night was the coldest night in Ithaca thus far that we’ve seen this fall – it got down to 29 degrees.  We could’ve waited another hour before we started and we would’ve been fine.  Either way, we took our time getting ready and launched at around 8:45 and I let my motor warm up a bit before we headed out.

Fall foliage is just past peak now.  A lot of leaves are on the ground, as well as still up in the trees, but it’s easy to tell that winter is on its way.  Surface temps on Cayuga Lake were 58 degrees.  There is still a slight bit of the thermocline intact.  Today, on the west side it was down around 80′ and on the east side over 100′.  We even encountered a few remnant water fleas.

Fishing today started out slowly.  We had fish from around 120′ to 150′.  I was wondering how well my late-season drop-back (post-spawn) pattern was going to hold up.  Jenn got us going with a bunch of fish in a row on both sides of the lake after about 2 hours of fishing with nothing much to show.  We had a pretty hot midday bite with Larry taking full advantage of it with some very solid fish running 28″ to 31″ long.  Fish are fighting very well with cooler water from top to bottom!  A lot of people like to slag lake trout fighting abilities, but when cranking them up off bottom when downrigging into 75 degree water, what would you expect???  Smallmouth bass pound for pound are one of the best fighters in freshwater, but jig them up mid-winter and you wouldn’t know it.  They get very lethargic in the ultra-cold water.  Lakers are the same with warm water.

Great day of fishing with double-digit numbers, but it was chilly out!  Lake level is still good for launching lake-wide.  I have decent availability coming up.  My Monday trip was postponed, so Sunday and Monday are both open and look to be good weather days, especially for lake trout fishing.  Now’s prime time for mixed bag fishing on Skaneateles Lake as well – you have a good chance at jumbo perch, walleyes, smallmouth bass, rainbow trout and more all in the same day, throwing the same lures.  It’s one of my favorite things to do in the Finger Lakes.