Reports

Fishing generally is good to very good on Cayuga Lake.  After the spell of hot weather last week, the surface water clarity diminished quite a bit. I am not noticing visible algae specks but it probably has something to do with algae.  Either way, fish continue to move around a lot and yesterday’s hot spot can be a nearly dead zone a day later.  But again, fishing is still pretty darn good!  Quite a few rainbows are around.  With ample rainfall, this coming fall’s through spring’s rainbow runs should be excellent.  Salmon numbers seem fair and brown trout seem down.  But we are jigging, so we don’t commonly encounter a whole lot of non-lakers on a daily basis.

8/14:  Today I guided regulars Leo and Ada, who were joined by Joanna.  Leo and Ada like to take their time on vacation, so we weren’t underway until around 8:30 am.  Fishing was very solid with some lulls throughout the day, but we managed around 12 or 13 lakers and one rainbow.  It’s always a “catch ’em and eat ’em” mission with Leo and Ada and I was able to examine the stomach contents of the fish.  They were all eating alewives as usual for this time of year.  Most fish had just one or two in their stomachs.

8/15:  Today was Eric, his dad Bob and Eric’s girlfriend Abby.  We had a lot of fun today gradually getting Abby comfortable holding fish.  She came a long way.  Eric and Bob were out with me last year and I’ve actually been in touch with Bob off and on for years.  He sent me a bunch of pike flies back in the mid-2000s and it was good to finally meet him last year.  The guys do a lot of fishing on Lake Erie for walleyes and really enjoy getting to Cayuga Lake for some laker action in the spring and late-summer.

They brought a lot of their own gear today – all spinning gear along with some of their own choices for lures.  Overall we had a solid day of fishing with Abigail landing her first lake trout (as well as a few more) plus a 22″ rainbow.  Top fish of the day was Eric’s 27″ bow which we released.  The guys kept one laker and the smaller rainbow.  Overall we had an excellent day with a bunch of fish landed – I can’t remember the exact numbers but it was around 18 or 19 if I’m not mistaken.  A lot of fish were also dropped today.

8/16 AM:  Today I guided Kirk – who joined me for some superb lake trout action on July 3rd (with Zach) and Kirk’s son, Walter, who was out with me for the first time.  The day started out very promising with Walt hooking and landing a 25″ salmon on his first or second drop of the jig!  These Cayuga fish are fat – we kept it for their dinner and it weighed 7lbs 4oz.  That’s a hefty 25″ fish!  Back in the late 1990s/early 2000s I remember my biggest salmon for awhile (on the fly) was a 26″ fish.  I had it weighed on a certified scale at the local Shursave and it weighed 6lbs even.  These fish are really eating and thriving with the great forage base and terrific lamprey control.

Walt nabbed a nice lake trout and lost one as well, right up at the boat.  Kirk had some hits but overall we had a pretty tough morning of “catching.”  The “fishing” was pretty cool.  Walter hooked a great rainbow for a few seconds.  He also had a nice bow or salmon hit his jig right at the surface.  It wasn’t something you see very often.  So a lot of excitement, despite not a whole lot landed.

8/16 PM:  My PM trip was with Will, who has been joining me for trips over the past three years or so.  His claim to fame on my guide trips is a brown that weighed around 16lbs a few years back.  Of course, that’s a once (if that) in a lifetime fish on Cayuga Lake – unless you spend all your time chasing browns.

Will landed a hard fighting 30″ lake trout in short order.  He nabbed two more in one area on the east shore, then we finished with one more on the west shore.  He almost had a nice rainbow too.  A fairly tough afternoon (and day overall) by August standards on Cayuga Lake but it was still productive.