Reports

Guided Dave and his wife Karen here for an hour or so short of a full-day today.  We had a delayed start after Dave encountered a lot of fog on his way up here from northern Pennsylvania.   I don’t think we missed any real hot bite this morning, but the delay probably cost us a fish or two or possibly more.  Either way, the fishing for us was slow today.  It started out ok but slowed quickly as the morning progressed.  At times, it appeared that the bite would get going good, but never quite did.  Karen had a hold of a large lake trout early in the trip, but it got off.  Then she hooked a large smallmouth bass, which also got away.  Dave landed the first fish which was a nice laker around 28″ and fat!  Karen caught the next two lakers and that was about it.  A few other hits were had.  We had chases with brown trout and rainbows as well.  Lake trout were just not committing well.

There is some algae around on this lake, but overall visibility remains very good at around 5′ to 6′.   This is the time of the year that I believe we start seeing a lot of baitfish start schooling around (like young-of-the-year alewives) and smallmouth bass move offshore to feed.  It isn’t uncommon to encounter groups of “pelagic” smallmouths (free-roaming fish – their “structure” is baitfish) especially just offshore.  Some of these bass can push over 6lbs and 22″ or better, although most are around 18″ to 20″.

I had several reports from Cayuga Lake and they also reported slow lake trout fishing today. It may just have been the weather system. Catches from a couple client/friends on Cayuga Lake ranged around three to four fish this AM.  These folks weren’t fishing for long, but the bite wasn’t hot and heavy this morning for them by any means.  I am on the water another three days in a row before I get a break and may fish Cayuga a bit.  We’ll see how the bite goes.  Many fish have moved well down Cayuga Lake and are settling into their August patterns, so that’s a good thing.  Cayuga Lake’s visibility varies, but is reportedly around 3′ to 4′ right now.  These cool nights are helping with the bloom conditions but we also have hot, calm days ahead of us which could exacerbate things.