Cayuga Lake out of Myers Park 4/10
Guided brothers Nate and Chris for a full day today starting around 10:30 am. The guys were originally scheduled for yesterday but fortunately we were able to change things around after the brutal weather that was forecast and subsequently took place. Today wasn’t exactly a picnic – it was cold! Probably around 37 for a high. I’ve never been one of those “let’s take the boat out – it’s 25 degrees” guys. I’m not averse to fishing in the cold in a boat but dealing with frozen ramps and bitter wind isn’t my idea of enjoyment unless the rewards are very high.
The conditions dictated lake trout to me, so that’s what we did to start. The fish were biting fairly well but the action was tentative – they weren’t grabbing great, although they were moving for the jigs and hitting them half-heartedly. The guys were stoked to catch some fish and four nice clean lakers made it to the net. At least a half dozen to dozen were missed/dropped/lost. We found them from around 85′ out to 140′.
The casting for salmon was really good. The guys landed 4 solid salmon – all chunky fish in the 19″+ range, with one that was 18″+. I believe it’s the first trip I’ve had all season on Cayuga where we caught more than one or two legal sized landlocks. Around 2 to 3 solid fish (in the same 19″ range) were lost and some others followed. For whatever reason, the salmon (and some bigger ones) are starting to show on Cayuga Lake. For what it’s worth, this is the first year in my 13 years of guiding that I haven’t done a Seneca trip yet. I am completely happy just fishing locally, though I wouldn’t mind seeing what is going on there. But it’s hard not to want to fish here after my big salmon a few weeks ago and given what I’ve been seeing unfolding here. And a 5 mile drive to the launch is so nice as opposed to a 45 minute jaunt.
We kept one lake trout and one salmon (which had a lamprey attached.) The salmon was stuffed with alewives. These are the first sawbellies I’ve seen in a salmon thus far this season. Water temps remain cold lakewide with 40/41 degrees on the surface.