Cayuga Lake/Long Point + Skaneateles out of Mandana 8/7

Reports

I’ve tried to minimize “lake hopping” in my guiding, but today was an exception due to some client issues with licensing. I do check my trailer carefully in order to minimize transporting invasive milfoil and the like.

Cayuga AM: Started at 7:30 out of Long Point with Peter and his son Matt. Both are novice anglers. Peter got a nice 25″ laker on his first drop of the jig, so that set a good tone. Once the AM winds subsided the bite picked up. Action was excellent around the Power Plant with around 1/2 dozen solid lakers to 32″ landed! Once the guys nailed the technique, things fell into place. Around 85′ was best. Very light boat traffic.

The guys kept a few lakers for the table. I just ate a nice laker from Cayuga and loved it. These fish are superb on the table, but by far the best flavor comes from eating the fish fresh. Lakers lose flavor by the day! Fresh ones are very tough to beat.

Skaneateles: Guided Vince and his daughter Phoebe starting at 2pm. The State Launch was basically full, so we launched at Mandana. The trip was about Phoebe catching some fish, but Vince was hoping for some fly-rod action. We had a blow-up or two nearshore, but 95%+ of the fish activity was deep. I’m not a huge fan of scraping 25′ to 30′ depths with fly-lines, but Vince gave a sinking tip a try hoping for some fish to come up for the flies. No avail there.

Dropshotting was hot and Phoebe lost a big smallmouth. She managed to land some nice ones to just under 18″. Tons of rock bass were also landed. Vince managed to join in for some dropshotting fun. About 17′ to 32′ of water seemed to have the most fish, with the mid-20 foot range being most productive.