Cayuga Lake out of Union Springs 12/30
Got out with my buddy Mike for a day of perch fishing starting around 10:30. Launching is not easy at Union Springs with a larger boat. I have large trailer tires which force me to have to back in further than most people in order to get my boat to float off. Small boats shouldn’t have much trouble.
Fishing was a lot of fun today. We probably landed well over 60 perch, though maybe 35 were keepers. We kept 25 fish that ran 8″ to about 12″. We had a good number of doubles which are always welcome. The pickerel were super active, which made for a very fun day. We landed at least 12 to 15 solid pickerel, including a half dozen or so that were in the 24″ to 25″ range – just super solid fish. We kept 7 or 8 pickerel – that’s a lot of meat for a lot of delicious fish cakes as well as boneless tail pieces for sautéing. 2 bullheads also found our perch set ups.
Cayuga is a great lake to perch fish if you just want to have fun and get some fillets. You probably won’t get a pail of 12″ to 14″ fish, but plenty of fish 8″ and up are nearly a guarantee. Another guarantee is that you won’t be surrounded by boats or have to fish amongst a bunch of boats. The half dozen boats on the lake all had plenty of room to fish without unwanted encroachment. There are fish everywhere on the lake’s north end from 10′ FOW out to over 20′. We used fathead minnows and assorted plastics. Because the water here in murkier than Skaneateles or Seneca Lake, the fish tend to bite better throughout the day.