Cayuga Lake out of Long Point 7/5 AM + 7/6
Fishing on Cayuga Lake for lake trout has remained top-notch. I’m not quite sure if it makes up for the slow spring quite yet, but it’s been nice for this guide. The fish we’ve kept and that I’ve cleaned have been eating alewives. I haven’t noticed any gobies recently, but then again I have not examined too many fish. My initial feelings are that the lakers are keying in more on gobies in the late fall through spring when alewives tend to be deeper. I think alewives are strongly preferred by lakers when available. It’s really like being locked in a candy shop or buffet for these fish – there are so many alewives around. I’m seeing plenty of bait on Seneca and Cayuga Lakes.
The major news I’m noticing is the number of wild lake trout on Cayuga Lake. I was told by DEC that fin-clipping needs to be done precisely – the whole fin that’s clipped needs to be removed otherwise it’ll regenerate. Sometimes they haven’t been done as well as they could have. I believe on occasion volunteers without fisheries backgrounds have done some of the clipping. So it’s important for diary keepers to make sure no fins are smaller than the others (mainly when checking ventral or pectoral clips.) And of course, the adipose clip is used a bit (that little fleshy fin between the dorsal and the tail.) I’ve seen a few poor clips, but by and large, most of the “wild” fish I’m seeing are wild. They have better (more vivid) coloration and beautiful intact fins.
Thermoclines are just starting to set up. Our best fishing has been around 65′ to 80′ or so. Sometimes shallower.
7/5 AM: Guided Kevin and his father Cliff and son Jackson. Fishing was excellent – they landed a bunch of lakers – somewhere between 20 and 30. Fish are mostly running 22″ to 24″ but for every dozen fish landed a couple around 27″ to 28″ are in the mix as are a few smaller ones. Fun day and the fish were hitting when we left.
7/6: Guided Scott for the full day. Again – laker fishing was top-notch. He landed a bunch of fish. My brain is fried now – but he landed at least 25. He lost a beautiful rainbow – maybe 7 or 8lbs! He thought it got off, but was swimming towards him. We had a spectacular jump boatside and that was it. We even went north for 2 hours and raised some pickerel but they weren’t too active and the floating weeds (yes, the mats are on the way thanks in large part to all the 4th of July weekend boat traffic) made working some lures a chore. Scott did manage a nice largemouth on a SuperFluke.