Cayuga Lake Shorefishing – Ithaca Pier 4/9

Reports

I was too tired to get up early and get the boat out this AM, though I did hear Seneca Lake calling me 😉 After running some errands I took a hike out to the Ithaca Pier (accessible via the Ithaca Public Golf Course.) The wind was howling out of the south and I fished around an hour to 1+1/2 hours with no hits. I don’t feel I covered things very thoroughly – the sun was beating down on me, I was tired and the winds made fly-casting tougher. Water levels of the lake are low. Some decent browns have been caught around Ithaca’s south end (and from the pier) recently. Cayuga Lake appears to be set to have a stellar year for big browns. Not really much to report. I tried out a couple new flies I’d tied up and saw how they “swam” and appeared in the water. I also tried a new stripping basket my buddy Mike made for me – it was excellent! No line blew out despite the 20 mph + winds with higher gusts. I was able to cast further than before with the basket. If interested, find a copy of the March 2010 Mid-Atlantic Fly-fishing Guide for Ed Jaworowski’s great article on how to build your own. He’s spent decades trying different commercially available and homemade baskets and has come up with a great one.