Reports

Owasco Lake:

9/9: I was impressed by what I saw here on Friday. I arrived at Emerson Park around 1 pm. There was a lot of bait around! I marked vertical “blobs” of bait and horizontal ones (smelt?) Probably alewives for the most part. I spent some time looking for bass but didn’t get any, though I know I found some. I was chomping at the bit to check on the lakers. It didn’t take long to land a 25″ fish. It was in around 85 fow. Out deeper I hooked a large head-shaking fish – it wound up being a 32″ fat beast of a laker! Great fight and super fish – just clean as can be (no lampreys here.) I let it go quickly. The passing front made for a tough bite both Friday and Saturday but I was impressed with what I saw. On one retrieve up I had a follow from a blimp of a rainbow – a silvery bomb around 25″ to 27″ and in great condition. Reducing laker stocking and eliminating walleye stocking has resulted in a rebound of the bait here and I’m sure plenty of rainbows and browns are around. Next to nobody is fishing this lake from what I saw – most boats were heading in when I arrived.

9/10: I guided David from Indiana here for the full day on Saturday. I was reluctant to guide lower Cayuga after all the rain and I was pretty happy with what I saw on Friday, so Owasco was the call. We had a late start when Dave missed the turn for Emerson Park, but his attitude impressed me – he was here to fish and fish hard!

He’d never caught a lake trout before, so that was our goal. Fishing was difficult with the cold front conditions. The screen was fairly blank compared to 9/9. He fished hard and after a lot of searching he hooked what appeared to be a very solid laker, only to likely torque it a bit much and have the hook pull out. We kept at it without much success. We tried bassin’ on a point I know and in around 50′ of water we had a group of what were likely bass come up for the jig – but after a short hit we came up empty.

We went back to the lakers when the wind came up. I knew the wind would help us cover water more effectively. Sure enough some lakers started hitting. Big fish didn’t seem too active, but Dave landed 4 nice fish – mainly in the 20″ to 22″ range. They were STUFFED with bait. He did a great job and his bass fishing prowess with plastic worms really showed; he had no trouble detecting the bottom. Fun and rewarding trip. The lakers came from 85′ to 110′.

Cayuga Lake

9/11: After the tough fishing Saturday on Owasco, I decided it’d be worth a try on Cayuga out of Long Point. Reports from a friend on Saturday were that debris wasn’t bad as far as Sheldrake. The lake seems to be in good shape level-wise.

Met Dave, Ryan and Ryan’s son Noah at the launch around 7 am. Ryan and Noah joined me last fall for some bass fishing on a cold day and Noah’s love for fishing was apparent. He really did a great job today. We worked around Long Point and further north. Fishing was excellent today. After not eating yesterday, the lakers went back to putting on the feed bag today. (I’m sure the other Finger Lakes were great today too.) Noah hooked the first one, then Ryan hooked up. I thought their lines were wrapped with the same fish, but no – they had a double! Great way to start the day. The fishing was smoking for the first two hours – then we had a lull for awhile. Action picked up again around 1 pm. All in all the guys hammered the lakers landing 29 nice fish. Mostly males averaging around 22″. Best fish was Dave’s, at just under 28″. Noah landed 6 or 7 fish on his own – likely setting my boat record for kids under 14! Great job fighting the fish too. I’ll be working these fish as long as I can – the drive is much shorter for me than Keuka.

bass cayuga lake Owasco Lake rainbow trout