Cayuga Lake 6/16 + 17
6/16: Guided longtime client Mark I. out of Dean’s Cove for the full day. We got underway around 7 am. After finding some lakers very shallow during the last time I was out, I thought he’d have a crack at them on the flyrod but it was not to be. Sure enough, the thermocline just formed here. The laker bite was also tentative to start and we were met with some winds gusting into the high teens. Mark switched to jigging and the fishing was still slow. He managed a couple solid 25″ range fish for the grill and missed/lost a couple others.
We headed north and tried for some pickerel/pike on the fly. Gear produced a couple pickerel in short order but the bite was also tentative on them. Mark nabbed one small one on the fly and had another follower but that was it. Water temp on the north end was 70. Lots of bass boats were out pre-fishing for opening weekend tournaments.
6/17 AM: Guided Nello and his wife Jean for a 1/2 day starting right at 6:30 am. The laker bite started out slow with Nello catching one nice fish after maybe a 1/2 hour. Jean caught the next couple fish including a 27″er. The bite picked up and another 4 fish or so were brought to the net. Not as hot and heavy a bite by any means compared to the past 3 weeks or so, but still very good jigging. The launch was a real bottleneck at around 11:15 am. Summertime is here. Our best action was from around 90′ and then in a bit.