Cayuga Lake 6/9 + 6/10
6/9 Myers: Met my buddy Jarrod at the launch at 5 am and we headed out for bass and pike. I rarely get a chance to bass fish this time of year on Cayuga and almost never go out of the south end, but I have a pike trip coming up and wanted to check on that, as well as ascertain the bass fishing.
Things started alright with me landing a 14″ smallmouth and a decent 23″ pickerel on a spoon. We weren’t even close to some of my favorite pike areas, but alas it didn’t matter. The pike bite was non-existent for us today. Calm, overcast conditions can be tough on Cayuga for pike. There were loads of alewives up shallow too and oftentimes pike will gorge a bit at night and the fishing will be tough in the day (just a theory of mine, but some nighttime walleye trips and daytime pike trips on Conesus Lake and reports from Owasco Lake over the years confirm the “alewife driven pike night bite” and daytime slow-down in June.) Smallmouths were spawning, but there weren’t a ton around. I picked up one good one that eagle-eyed Jarrod had spotted for me.
We worked some areas on both sides of the lake. On the east shore Jarrod picked up a decent smallie and he spotted a big largemouth cruising, but fish were ridiculously negative. We even saw a rare, isolated gar cruising the shoreline. Loads of carp are spawning too. Some dead rockbass and smallmouths give me the impression that this lake was also impacted with VHS, though it’s never officially been confirmed here. Rockbass are uncommon now on this lake, though they used to be ubiquitous. Smallmouth fishing is a fraction of what it once was and numerous anglers reported widespread smallmouth bass die-offs 5 to 6 years ago from the inlet to Sheldrake and up to the north end of the lake. It may be years before we see solid smallmouth bass fishing here again. Very tough day and we fished hard.
6/10 Long Point: Guided Dave, who joined me just over a week ago for some lakers. The lake trout bite ranged from very good to excellent today with aggressive fish throughout the area N. of Long Point. Loads of baitfish were around and we had some great action from 65′ to 85′, with 80′ to 85′ being particularly good as the day wore on. Fish I cleaned were eating well. We started at 6 am and Dave managed 14 solid lakers to just under 28″. Eels weren’t bad – we had one laker with 2 eels attached, but that was it. This lake has so much bait it’s ridiculous!!! Water temps on the surface are in the low 60s. We even saw a nice 6lb brown swimming around in the marina! And it appeared healthy. Must be the bait…