Cayuga Lake out of Myers Park 10/23 AM
Guided Ray and his son in-law Brooks for 1/2 day starting at around 8:45 am. Monday was supposed to be the nice sunny day (good for laker jigging this time of year) and Tuesday was forecast to be rainy and overcast but fortunately the opposite came true. I couldn’t guide yesterday due to an appointment, so I’m glad everything worked for the better.
I was cautiously optimistic about our chances for a good laker day today. We made a good run north and worked our way back down the lake. Fish are deep on Cayuga. Lake trout temps were from 120′ on out. It’s no wonder that shore anglers at Taughannock haven’t been doing well on lake trout – they are deep and may be well out of casting range. Fishing was very good today with Brooks having the hot hand. Six legal fish were landed on the day – one 16″ dink and one 29″ solid bookended the catch. Most fish were 24″ to 26″ and well-fed. Alewives remain the primary diet of lakers on Cayuga Lake in October. I expect to see some gobies come November. Water temps were 56 degrees all the way down to at least 75′ FOW or more. The lake is gradually becoming homo-thermal. The thermocline is weak and deep.
As an aside, I had my fishing class over to the Watkins Pier today. One student hooked and lost a pike around 24″. No sign of perch. A few small smallmouths were around. Taughannock shorefishing is producing a few salmon/trout. Perch are in around the marina and perimeter of the lake. A fair number of negative (not too into feeding) trout are cruising the lake shore. A little chop and arriving early may get some of these fish to hit for shore anglers. Some fish are in the creeks too.