Cayuga Lake out of Union Springs 10/27
Guided Mark and his son Carl for a midday 1/2 day trip starting around 9:30 am. Mark mostly stream fishes and was looking forward to doing some lake fishing and getting into it. I felt the north end of Cayuga was our best bet today for some good action, but fishing started out slow to start. I had them casting spoons, stickbaits, lipless cranks and tubes. We focused on the spoons. Only a couple boats were out today and the lake level has dropped a little bit. Water temps were in the mid-50s.
Nothing much happened for the first two hours and things weren’t looking good. There was a fair amount of murky water around, probably left over from the brutal southerly gusts from yesterday. I knew fish would be around and we searched for and found some clearer water. Before long, Mark had a solid hit and hard fighting large fish. A pike!!! It surfaced and made a strong run under the boat before I landed it. Beautiful fish! 34″ to 35″ long. Pike haven’t been as common on the north end of Cayuga Lake over the past decade or so, though they are around – pickerel really dominate the fishing up there. A few nice pickerel were hooked and Mark also nailed a couple nice largemouths – 14″ and 16″.
Carl managed to hook and land a couple pickerel. They hit hard and are decent fighters. I set up a tube jig for Mark and just before we left he hooked a fish that really dug and ripped out a bit of drag. A big bass! I netted the 19″ fat largemouth. Great way to cap the day. All fish were released unharmed.
I tend to tout a lot of Cayuga and Seneca Lakes’ south end fisheries this time of year, but one of the best, and most overlooked opportunities in the region is the terrific late season bass and pickerel fishing on Cayuga’s north end. I love Cayuga in late October and November! The fish are fat and healthy and untouched. There are virtually no bass tournaments this time of year. The north end of Cayuga Lake is also capable of producing huge pike – fish pushing over 20lbs this time of year! Great day!