A favorite fish of anglers across the nation, Cayuga Lake is one of the top lakes in New York State for these fish. Largemouths in Cayuga typically run 12” to 17” with 6lb+ fish taken on occasion. Numerous techniques work for these fish and fishing can be solid throughout the season – from opening day on the 3rd. Saturday in June through November. The fishing on Cayuga Lake for largemouths is typically concentrated in the northern third of this lake. Fishing there over the past four or five years has been top-notch for the most part.

Bass fishing on Cayuga – apart from the relatively easy pre-spawn May fishing, is generally fairly challenging.  The fish are well-distributed (more so than ever before) but they get a lot of angling pressure and the vast grassbeds can be tricky to decipher.   Major League Fishing was here in 2022.  The top guys like Jacob Wheeler and Justin Lucas had tremendous fishing for largemouth bass.  They relied heavily on their live-scope 360-type sonar.  Guys that fished more traditionally, like Chris Lane struggled.   The BASS Elite Series visited Cayuga Lake in August of 2014 and during June of 2016. They did well here but found their supplies of spawning fish running low after a few days of stellar fishing.  Most of Cayuga Lake is lake trout habitat, not bass habitat, so people can be fooled into thinking it’s a better bass fishery than it is, due to the fish being so concentrated at certain times of the year.

Keuka Lake offers great bass fishing and Sodus Bay is another regional bass hotspot. Catching these fish consistently from day to day is a challenge as bass are affected by numerous weather factors. I keep up on the latest in the world of bass fishing by reading magazines like “Bassmaster” and keeping up on the national tournament scene online.  Some largemouths are caught on Skaneateles Lake (mainly around the south end) and Owasco Lake is getting better and better for largemouths.   The largemouth bass fishing on Seneca Lake has improved quite a bit in recent times.