Reports

Did a morning 1/2 day starting just after 7am  then another (PM) half day that was truncated due to thunderstorms.  My AM trip was with Bill and his son Dave.  Bill has a cottage around King Ferry so that’s where he wanted to try to start.  We found fair numbers of fish there but apart from two hits they weren’t biting too good .  We tried areas across the lake and wound up having a very solid day with 8 nice lakers landed including two around 28″ to 28.5″.   White/chartreuse Shakers, Black Shakers and White/Chartreuse Money Minnows did the trick.  Due to the wind we did a bit of drifting incorporating a drift sock along with heavier jig heads (1+1/2 oz.)

My PM Trip was with Ryan, who’d seen some video on laker jigging Cayuga Lake and was looking forward to giving it a try.  We motored down to where we left off this AM and within a few drops he was into a fish, which wound up getting off.  But his next fish didn’t!  It was a hard fighting gorgeous 31″ wild lake trout that we released after a few quick photos.  A couple more fish were landed and then a large line of storms started moving through.  We were able to get off the lake just before the wind really kicked up.  It would be tempting to wait out or “tough out” storms but you can pay the price for “the right to be foolish.”   As I type this, lines of severe storms are coming over the Finger Lakes.

I see a lot of kayakers and paddleboarders on Cayuga Lake these days.  The lake is big water and it can get mean in a hurry.  Severe thunderstorms can be life-threatening conditions for kayakers.  If your kayak gets swamped in the middle of the lake, and you start getting hit with 2′ to 4′ waves, in warm water you’re likely to be in trouble – in frigid water you are doomed.  People really need to pay close attention to the weather when out in any boat on Cayuga Lake, but certainly moreso on small crafts.

cayuga lake