Cayuga Lake out of Myers Park 9/23 + 24
Lake trout jigging hasn’t been real easy on Cayuga Lake over the past couple days. We’ve had some tough fishing at times along with some good fishing but many lulls throughout each day. Overall fishing remains good and a slow day on Cayuga is still every bit as good as a good day on most of the other Finger Lakes.
9/23: Guided Dave and his wife Beth for a 1/2 day starting at 8 am. The fog wasn’t nearly as bad as it had been earlier in the week. I was worried that our “late start” might cost us some fish. Fishing was pretty good with Beth having the hot hand for awhile. She managed to land a couple lakers and a 21″ or 22″ male salmon before Dave got in on the action. But Dave was not to be denied and he managed to land a couple nice fish including the big fish of the day – around 28″ or 29″ if I remember right. Around 85′ to 95′ was productive for us. Fish were in a neutral mood for the most part.
9/24 AM: Guided Lee and Ted during the AM starting at 7. Fishing was pretty slow for us today. The guys had some hits but were not able to convert those into solid hookups for the most part. The guys each landed a nice lake trout and overall around 4 were dropped. The bite was definitely on the tough side but we had a good time and it was a gorgeous day.
9/24 PM: Guided Jim and his son Glen for the PM 1/2 day starting around 11:45 am. We fished different areas than the AM trip and Glen managed a lake trout on his first drop of the jig. That was a relief after the slow AM trip. The wind picked up a little bit out of the north and that seemed to help the bite. Fishing was pretty good in the PM with the guys even hooking a double. Around 8 fish were landed including a nice 21″ rainbow and 20″ landlocked salmon.
Lake trout propagation netting is scheduled to begin on Monday October 2nd. Laker jigging can still be decent around the Taughannock/Myers areas around that time but I tend to like to fish out of Long Point for non-spawners. I usually also enjoy working Owasco Lake more in October. We’ll see how things pan out. What a tremendous year on Cayuga Lake so far! Lampreys have been nearly non-existent since the spring. I don’t ever remember a year with so few of the parasites around. The number of rainbow trout around has also been unprecedented in my 15 or 16 years on the lake. I know it was hot in the 1970s and 80s, but it’s been encouraging to see.