Reports

Guided Gary along with his daughter Olive and his son Jackson for a 6-hour trip.  The weather forecast was all over the place.  Originally Gary booked a full-day trip but with the tougher bite from the past two trips here, coupled with the potential for stormy weather (the forecast this AM was updated to rain and possible thunderstorms AFTER 4 pm!), I suggested going with a half-day and seeing how things went.  I was pretty optimistic going into today’s trip.  We’ve had some hot weather and south winds.  The haze has finally cleared out.  I knew these fish were going to be feeding sooner or later.  With no bloom on Owasco Lake, it was a no-brainer for me.

Only two boats had launched out of Emerson Park when I arrived just before 7 am.  The July 4th holiday is a big one for drinking, parties and fireworks.  Very few people, apart from anglers get up early on this weekend.  Gary last fished with me around 12 years ago, so it was good catching up with him.  He’s the guy that first told me the joke about the Wall Street guy moving to Appalachia.  Many of you have probably heard that one, if you’ve been on my boat and jokes are being told!

Gary had a hit with his first drop of the jig.  Within 10 minutes or so, we had a 27″ lake trout onboard!  I had a good feeling that we were going to experience the Owasco Lake bite I know and love, and we did.  Overall the fish was steady but not spectacular.  A lot of fish were neutral, but many were positive.  The thermocline is finally set up and that made a big difference.  We caught fish throughout the lake on both sides and up and down.  We wound up with 9 solid lake trout on the day.  A few hits were missed but no hookups were dropped, which was nice to see.  My client from earlier this week, Ryan, reported having tough fishing on Cayuga Lake today.  That was the only Cayuga report I got, but it didn’t surprise me.  That bloom can be tough.  I think the fishing will be good on both lakes with the sun that’s in the forecast.  We shall see, but for today it was great seeing Owasco Lake fishing well.  The fish look great there too – Gary noticed that they were much stockier and more colorful than they were back in the mid-2000s.  I would wholeheartedly agree!

A few dates remain open in July.  I have a handful of dates open in August.  September is a great fishing month (as is October and November), and they remain open.