Cayuga Lake out of Taughannock 2/7
Met Mark I. at the launch at around 9:30 am. The weather was foggy and winds were forecast to be calm turning to south in the afternoon. Instead we had around a 4 mph north wind that turned calm and stayed calm right through sunset. The forecast rain held off.
We started with some fly-fishing for pike and Mark managed to nab a hefty, well-fed 33″ northern that hammered his streamer. Great start to the trip. Another pike – maybe in the 30″ range was dropped shortly thereafter. Flyfishing for lakers produced one nice laker that grabbed Mark’s fly at the surface but didn’t get hooked. With continued calm conditions and not much activity Mark switched to gear. In short order he had a 22″ laker nab a bladebait. Hair jigs wound up producing a couple salmon – a 21″ dropback and a 19″ two year old. Best fish of the afternoon was a 24″ brown that also hit a hair jig and jumped 4 to 5 times. We released everything but the two lakers. One of those was stuffed with gobies. Both had nice looking orange flesh.
Around 1/2 dozen boats were out trolling and casting. Water temps were up – they were at 38/39. Water level also came up a little but the lake is still very low. Shorefishing remains productive mainly for lakers but also for occasional salmon and browns. It was nice to finally get the boat out for the first time in 2019. I have been busy with my fly-fishing classes at Cornell, which are on Monday and Wednesday afternoons. All too often I have to teach on prime fishing days!