Cayuga Lake out of Long Point 3/16 – 18

Reports

Guided the past three days out of Long Point.  It is pretty typical early spring/late winter fishing in deep water (over 120′).  Fish are coming out of winter dormancy and are still fairly thin.  There have been no signs of baitfish moving in yet, which is normal.  The bite has been fairly good throughout the day.  Lamprey wounding has been low.  Boat traffic has been low as well with many anglers targeting perch on area lakes.  Water levels are excellent for this time of year and should only rise more after this week’s forecasted rain.

3/16:  Guided Dave from around 10 am until 2:30 pm.  The fishing was very good.  He landed 10 solid lakers including a couple around 30″ if I remember right.   The usual white plastics did the trick.

3/17:  Had Tony out from 11 am until around 3 pm.  He’s been coming out with me for a long time and introduced me to the spoon technique that has proven invaluable for a lot of my tooth critter guiding over the years (pike, pickerel, muskies.)   I’ve learned some great stuff from clients over the years and it’s a great benefit of guiding so many anglers with such diverse backgrounds.  Fishing was a little slower for us today.  He nabbed 5 solid lakers and dropped just as many.  Fun and gorgeous day out there.  We had luck on some different colors today.

3/18:  Today was Peter and his buddy Steve, both from east/central NY.   Peter fishes Otsego Lake quite a bit and has spent a lot of time saltwater fishing in Costa Rica for all kinds of gamefish including a lot of big game fish.  He has a real affinity for lake trout and we had a great trip today.  The guys landed 11 nice fish fishing from 11 am until around 3:30 pm.  White was the key today but a sexy shad colored Money Minnow also produced well for us.  We had 3 wild fish in the mix today as well.

Dave hooked up on 3/16

A flurry of snow geese in the distance!

It’s an awe-inspiring sight to see these massive flocks of birds as they migrate through the area.  From a distance, they look like a big snow-covered ice flow on the water.  Get up closer and you can hear the bark-like honking.  I’ve also seen massive rafts of seagulls on the lakes in the winter.  But in the spring it’s almost always snow geese.

Steve hooked up today

Holding one of Steve's lakers

The NEW REGULATIONS went through and will go into effect on April 1st.  Pike, walleye, pickerel and tiger musky seasons now will open up on May 1st every year instead of the first Saturday in May.  They will close on March 15th.  Bass season opens (for harvest) on June 15, again instead of the 3rd Saturday in June.  It’s open season on Skaneateles Lake walleyes starting on April 1st., and that will stay open in perpetuity.  We’re looking at a 12″ size limit, any number and all year long harvest.  They aren’t the easiest walleyes around to catch, but every one that is harvested will help the trout/salmon and perch population.  It’s the right move on DEC’s part and every bit will help. The gate was opened there on Thursday.  Oneida Lake’s walleye limit went up to 5 fish a day.  That season will open on May 1st.  I don’t guide that lake, but I enjoy fishing it on occasion.