Reports

Guided Mike and his daughters Cassidy and Catelyn out of Long Point getting underway just after 7 am.  Mike’s been renting places here for years and finally purchased some land on the lake that he’s going to develop.  He likes booking me before his weeklong stays just to get some idea of what’s going on.  It’s always great having him onboard.  Last fall, we had a killer trip with his two friends, but last summer with his daughters we hit the algae bloom dead on and the fishing was tough with a capital “T”.  Catelyn had our only solid hookup and the fish wound up getting off.  They also had a very tough week of fishing after our trip.

The algae bloom isn’t a lot of fun on Cayuga Lake.  The good news is that it hasn’t hit us yet!  I’m happy to report that.  All last week, we saw very small particulates in the water.  When the bloom happens, it’s proceeded by little clumps of algae (bigger particulates) in the top couple of feet of the water column.  Then, a day or two later, we get the green water and murky surface layer. I haven’t seen any clumps yet.  As a warning, over the past 4 or 5 years that we’ve had the bloom, it’s always hit us before July 6th if my memory serves me correctly.  We’ll see if this year is different!  I’d love to not see a bloom here.  I’ll keep my fingers crossed!

The only “slight” issue today was the wind!  WOW, did it get windy!!!  More on that later!

We had pretty good fishing today given how tough the conditions were.  I think four nice lakers were landed (I recall at least 3, but I think we had 4.)  Mike had the hot hand and Catelyn caught one.  Cassie lost one.  Nearly every fish came on white/chartreuse, although we may have had one hit the black too.   I’d be lying if I said the college-aged gals were heavily focused on the fishing.  They did a lot of texting today, which is fine, but that doesn’t put fish in the boat!  So take it for what it was.  We had fairly shallow fish on the lake’s west side – 45′ to 85′.  The thermocline isn’t very strong yet, and I think that’s part of the reason the bloom hasn’t hit us yet.  Just a theory, so we’ll see.

Cate was getting cold due to the wind and 62 degree air temps, so we packed it up early.  It’s a good thing we did, because as rough as the lake got, it seemed to get worse after we got in.  The ride back in was wild with waves in the 4′ range and Mike and I both agreed we had a few five-footers.  Catelyn took some video of the ride on the way back.  It was probably the second roughest water I’d ever been in.  The first being back with Tony (Rasta spoon man) years ago pike fishing – when we went into the waves;  today we had following seas.)  We had winds around 23 or 24 mph gusting to 32 out of the north west.  Everybody was a great sport and we got in without anything crazy happening.  I’ve never speared a wave and I don’t plan on it any time soon.  I pride myself on safe boating but sometimes these conditions happen and you must be ready as a Captain.  I also must hand it to my Crestliner Fish Hawk – it’s a tremendous boat and one you can trust when the going gets rough!   But yes, I don’t want to ever have to deal with this kind of stuff again!  I’m sure people get used to it after a while (Joe Balog, a famed Lake Erie trophy bass angler routinely fished in 10’+ waves – it’s not for me!)  Next time, we’ll do the extra driving and launch out of Dean’s Cove!

July 4th remains open.  Keep in mind, that as most of us know, the 4th may be the biggest boating holiday of the year, BUT it is a big drinking/party holiday and very few boats are out on the water before 11 am.  Either way, I’m happy to guide it and I’m happy to have the day off!  Just thought I’d put up a reminder.  July is starting to fill up so please let me know ASAP if you plan on fishing in July with me.