Cayuga out of Dean’s 6/18 + Skaneateles 6/19
Cayuga Lake 6/18 AM: Did a 1/2 day AM trip starting at 6 am with Pete, his brother Doug and dad Dan. The brothers joined me last year on Skaneateles Lake for some bass fishing. Laker jigging started out pretty good with a nice one landed and 3 lost. Fishing slowed for a bit, but then they started hitting again around mid-AM. Wound up landing 5 nice fish and losing one by the boat. Decent fishing and a beautiful AM. Good action around 70′ to 80′ give or take.
Cayuga Lake 6/18 PM: At noon I picked up Todd and his 5-year-old son Gage at the launch. 5 years old is younger than I take out, but Todd assured me that his son is a trooper when it comes to fishing. Todd brought a lifejacket and gear for the youngster. (I’m not letting 5-year-olds use my $200+ fishing outfits!) We started out with laker jigging on the west shore and it was slow. A trip across the lake proved fruitful and Todd nabbed 3 nice lakers. I don’t explore “new” areas as much as I used to – and I should, but today it paid off for us. We then grabbed a bite to eat/drink at the Aurora Market while Gage fished jigs under a bobber for panfish at the dock. He really got into the fish! We took out some time and set up for more panfish near Long Point and had a lot of fun nabbing rock bass, pumpkinseeds and plenty of 7″ to 8″ bluegills. I showed Gage how to cast a spinning rod and with some coaching from his dad he really started to get good at it. Very nice to watch!
Back to lakers in the evening and we went to our “new spot” as well as another area. Fish were still there and Todd landed another 6 fish. Very good fishing! Again, 70′ to 90′ was probably best. We encountered some small lakers in 100′ to 110′. Big fish seem to be shallower.
Skaneateles Lake 6/19: Guided Gary M. today for the full day. Gary joined me a couple years ago for two dates on Owasco and we really hammered the lakers. I was a bit concerned about our 7:30 am meeting time at the state launch due to the opening day of bass season and limited capacity in the parking lot. Sure enough, the lot was pretty much full when I arrived at 7:10. So we met at the Town launch at Mandana. This ramp isn’t great.
Gary did well with the usual green pumpkin tube jigs, super flukes in white, bubble-gum and green pumpkin/watermelon and jerkbaits. Lots of techniques would have worked – it was a “pick-em” day. He landed around 15 to 20 smallmouths and rockbass. Nothing huge but fun fish up to around 16″. Lake temps are around 64 on top. Fish ranged from on the bank out to 10 to 15′. I always have fun with Gary and we’ll be back out somewhere on Monday.