Cayuga Lake out of Myers 9/2 – 9/4
After 5 days off with no fishing it was time to get back on the water. Lake trout and other salmonid action on Cayuga Lake is still amongst the best in the Fingerlakes region but the bite windows are closing in. Over the years I have observed that strong cold fronts starting in September, coupled with the shortening daylight periods tend to slow down the trout bite windows on Cayuga Lake. Over the past two months the bite windows were fairly predictable and cycled on and off throughout the day. This time of the year, the fish can turn off and the bite can get very difficult. Hit the right day(s) and the fishing is great. Hit the wrong day and you might get blanked.
Another important factor to consider is depth. We’ve had record heat this summer. Lake trout generally move deeper throughout the summer and into the fall and moreso than ever this year. Best bites are often in over 100′ of water. It hasn’t been uncommon for us to score in 110′ or 120′ this summer. We’ve been spending a lot of time using 1+1/2 oz. jigheads. Plenty of fish remain from south of Taughannock up to and past Kidders.
9/2: Guided Craig and his son Andrew for a full day. Despite the strong north winds we had a productive day with around 10 or 11 lake trout landed, one brown and two salmon (one legal, one dink.) We kept a few lakers and the salmon. Fish are still feeding on alewives. Once alewives move in, the trout and salmon pretty much neglect the gobies. A lot of what were likely silver fish (non-lakers) were dropped today.
9/3: Guided Greg for a full day. Fishing was the toughest I’d seen all season after a decent AM. By 11 am, the bite had shut down for us. Sometimes the fish start hitting later in the day but we weren’t around for that. Greg landed a 22.5″ brown and one around 19″ along with a couple small lake trout. Tough day.
9/4: Guided Katie and Brian for a full day. Last year they came up here the same (Labor Day) weekend and had some tremendous fishing. It was slower this year but still fun. They landed 5 or 6 lakers and one sublegal salmon.
Crowding at the boat launches as well as boat traffic in general has been minimal thus far this holiday weekend. With the hot and dry summer I think everybody got in more than their share of boating during the season.