Cayuga Lake out of Long Point State Park 5/25 + 26

Reports

Fishing action for lake trout on Cayuga Lake is currently running good to very good.  We are probably having our best luck from around 50′ to 90′ of water.  Water temperature is of supreme importance this time of year and will continue to be as the season progresses.  Large schools of alewives were moving in over the past two days.  Surface temperatures ranged from 49 degrees (yesterday) to 53 – 56 today.

Trollers report good to excellent action on rainbow trout along with some salmon and brown trout out of Dean’s Cove and Long Point. The lower and mid-lake areas should also be good for these silver fish, especially with all the baitfish moving in.

5/25:  Yesterday’s trip was a 6-hour day with Ron starting at 8:30 am, since he had a long drive from the Catskills this morning.  We were wondering how the cold snap was going to affect the fishing.  It’s pretty amazing – wearing long underwear and knit hats heading towards June!  Only one other fishing boat launched out of Long Point this AM.

Fishing was pretty solid throughout the morning.   Ron wound up with 9 solid lakers on the day.  Fish ranged from around 40′ out to maybe 70′.  Surface temps were very cold at 49 degrees and some fish were likely right up near shore.  Large schools of baitfish moved in as the morning progressed but we weren’t always finding fish around the bait.  “Build it, and they will come” was what I was thinking.  That came to fruition on 5/26 (today.)

Cold morning, but Ron is hooked up!

5/26:  Today was a trip with Matt and his girlfriend Whitley.  They both originally hail from Texas and now live near Canandaigua Lake and love it!  We talked about doing a trip over there or perhaps on Keuka Lake, but ultimately decided that Cayuga Lake was the place to do our jigging tutorial trip.  The tutorial didn’t take long and within short order Matt and Whitley were hooking up fish.  On the day we fished a few different areas and wound up with a steady bite and a good double-digit day.  They kept a limit of fish today and many of them were stuffed with baitfish.  The afternoon bite really got hot and heavy.  Whites and chartreuse colors were the best for us.  50′ to 90′ was the depth range.  Fun day and we headed in a half-hour early.  Lamprey scarring remains very low.  Two of our fish were wild – a 26″er and a 28″.

Matt's first of the day, I believe

Whitley with one

A smaller one

Another one...

The Seneca Lake Memorial Weekend Lake Trout Derby will be upon us starting tomorrow morning.  I almost entered it, but with a half-dozen trips over the past week including the full day today, I wasn’t quite up for getting up early tomorrow and Sunday morning.  I also have a full slate of trips next week beginning Monday.  The weather this weekend looks absolutely gorgeous!  I think the fishing will be pretty good.  I expect to see a large lake trout take the contest – probably an 11 to 12lb fish.  I figure top non-laker will be a landlocked salmon perhaps 8lb to 9lbs.  My prediction for top rainbow trout is around 7lbs and top brown around 6lbs.  I hope I’m wrong and all the salmonids are bigger!