Cayuga Lake out of Taughannock 4/25
The weather forecast online (and via NOAH) looked great for LLS and brown trout action. Strong south winds and highs in the low 80s sounded good. I was guiding longtime client Mark D. -who fished with me in a couple Red Cross Derbies. Fishing was tough. We worked Taughannock w/o any action then headed to Ithaca. Fishing pressure near the inlet was fairly heavy – certainly heavy for recent times and we gave the shore casters space. Some salmon were taken by trollers and casters off the Ithaca Pier, but action was spotty. Plenty of alewives are around and dying – likely due to abrupt temp changes. Mark had a follow from a small pike or pickerel, but that was it. Getting out at daybreak would be a good call. We started around 7:45 am.
Our wind started changing and dying on us, so we headed N. above AES in search of lakers. Deep jigging wasn’t bad. Mark landed 3 nice fish from 23″ to 25.5″. Fish came from around 100′ out to 160′. Bait is around as well. Fishing at AES was slow. No one was there and we didn’t raise any fish.
Conditions are going to warm rapidly at Cayuga’s south end with these record or near-record highs. There are vast quantities of warm water around Ithaca and I think it’ll be a troller’s game shortly (it was today.) Expect good to excellent fishing from the usual areas like Taughannock, Myers and Ithaca, but wind conditions and water temperatures will be huge factors. Some of the best action is yet to come – both for casting and fly-casting, but things will be a bit more unpredictable.