Cayuga Lake out of Taughannock 8/11
Did a couple trips on Cayuga today. At 5:30 am I fished with Matt, Randy and John. This was a last-minute booking at Matt was grateful that I could fit him and his bosses in! It was my pleasure. We had some very good lake trout action in the morning with 8 fish landed and a few good ones lost. The highpoint of the day was getting Randy into some fish. He’s one of those guys who never does well fishing – until today that is. I reminded him that “fish don’t know who’s on the other end of the line!” The bite slowed up a little bit at around 10 am.
During my “break” between trips I spent some time trying dropshot rigs and doing some casting for smallmouths. No great shakes there – just a few dinks and some perch.
My afternoon trip was with Fred and his dad Pat. Action started out OK – not great but not terrible with both guys losing nice fish. Fred lost a beauty that we never saw. This fish took 3 searing runs – not far removed from what a steelhead or chinook might do! I kid ‘you all’ not! This fish was strong. Action slowed for a couple hours but by the evening the fishing got hot for a bit and the guys experienced lake trout jigging as it should be with lots of hits and chasing fish.
Over the years I’ve had a fair number of requests to guide groups of three people. My boat seats 3 people (total – including me) comfortably. I like space to move around. I also like to be able to “coach” my fishermen when necessary and I don’t like to spend a lot of time re-rigging and not paying 100% attention to boat control. Yet I do understand those of you who may have a couple of kids and don’t want to leave someone out. I have broken my “rules” on occasion – generally with people who have been out with me before. For lake trout jigging ONLY (NO CASTING) I will take out occasional parties of three. In the future, and currently to some extent, the trip fee will discourage this and encourage parties of two! So you are welcome to ask – but I will still be going on a “case by case” basis when dealing with more than one or two people at a time.