Reports

Water levels remain high in the region but are receding. Bass appear to be in spawn mode (on colder lakes like Skaneateles) and post-spawn mode in warmer lakes. Weed growth is still behind schedule (which isn’t a bad thing) and lakes still are nice and clear without any heavy algae/planton blooms. Fishing has been excellent lately for lake trout and fair to good for bass.

Otisco Lake 6/24: Guided Gary and his friend Paul for a full day of fly fishing. Gary keeps his boat on the lake and has been doing some stream fly-fishing out west and elsewhere. He was looking to learn about lake fly-fishing and what’s involved with casting, boat control and presentation. We were hoping for some bass today.

Casting proved to be tough at times today. The wind was up higher than forecast. We worked a bunch of areas for bass using some different approaches. Fishing was slow. Paul managed a largemouth around 15″ on a leech pattern and missed some hits. We had some nice fish show some interest in a great Hula Popper imitation that Umpqua tier Jim Stewart tied up for me around 6 or 7 years ago or longer. This fly was amazing – spitting water like a Rico popper. Gary managed a smaller bass on a streamer. Later on Gary cast some Senkos with gear and caught a few more bass. Nothing large. We weren’t fishing for muskies today, but didn’t see any either. Panfish were around and Paul caught a gill on a popper. Fish didn’t seem too active. The two better bass we caught were thin and appeared to be in a post-spawn state.

Cayuga Lake 6/25 AM: Guided Chuck and his son Matt for 6 hours today. We fished for lakers and the bite started out slow when we got underway at 6:45 am, though fish were moving well for the jigs and I felt it’d just be a matter of time. Fish were remarkably shallow on the lake’s west side and the guys hammered them over there from around 30′ on out to 65′ or so. Some fish were clearly in less than 25′ FOW and if I’d had my fly-gear I would’ve given it a good shot! The guys nailed 16 lakers on the day. A couple were wild (or at least unclipped) and all were under 25″ and over 17″, with most around 22″ to 24″. Three live lampreys came up on the fish. Plenty of bait was around. On a scale of 1 to 10, today was an 8 or 9 for the bite. We had a double as well. The guys don’t fish much at all – Chuck used to fish more and Matt is just getting into it. Numerous fish were dropped as well. Great day!

If you’re looking to get out in July, I don’t have many dates left. I can do some PM 1/2 days during the 1st two weeks of the month. The 3rd week is booked solid. I have the 25th and 26th of July available for full or 1/2 days and I can do PM 1/2 days on the 27th – 29th. I have booked over my “quota” or goal of trips for the month and will likely not take any more trips after a couple more dates get booked.

 

bass cayuga lake fly-fishing Otisco Lake