Cayuga shorefishing 5/6 + Keuka Lake out of Branchport 5/7
5/6 Cayuga/Taughannock: Stopped down at Taughannock with my buddy Mike who happened to be in town. It’s amazing how high the lake still is! We did see one boat head out….Some smelt are obviously around and I’ll likely give it a try in a day or two. Mike and I did some casting from shore and I landed a laker around 24″ and a FAT brown around 21″ that jumped high and fought great. A Rapala Husky Jerk did the trick.
5/7 Keuka Lake out of Branchport AM: I guided Travis and Jeff for a 1/2 day AM trip starting around 6:45. We worked the Branchport Arm for at least an hour and a half without much action. We had one hit. This is the first year in at least 8 or 9 that I’ve seen such poor early season fishing at Branchport. One angler I talked to felt that the high winds pushed the warm water away from the north end over there – it’s certainly possible, but we did mark a lot of fish there, they just don’t seem to be actively feeding. We started in 50′ to 60′ and worked out to 150′ or more. One of my former clients worked the Bluff area and had some very good fishing today. But better yet, Angling Zone Friend Jeff B. emailed me and was raving about the fishing in Hammondsport. I hadn’t fished there yet this year, so we made the long run down there. It was well worth it! The area had some large bait schools and Keuka’s massive wild lake trout population was gorging on sawbellies! My guys landed around 20 nice fish and missed/dropped as many – easily! Great fishing. The guys had a fantastic introduction to jigging and it’ll be a tough day to top.
PM Trip: Did close to a full day with my old friend Chris and his son Brian. After the great AM fishing in H-port I had to take them back there. So we made the long run again! The wind had kicked up by then and I didn’t find quite the bait I’d found earlier, but the fishing was still very good and Chris and Brian caught a limit of nice lakers to 26″. We did some casting on the way back up the lake and ran into a few nice smallmouths – Brian had a good one follow, Chris lost one then landed a solid 18″er. A nice perch followed, then we tried a pike/pickerel area and Brian managed to land some pickerel. H20 is upwards of 44 to 46 in places and 51 near some creek mouths. Water levels are high, but not flooding. Overall – a gorgeous day with some superb fishing!