Reports Cayuga Lake 10/19 – 10/21
10/19: Got out on Cayuga Lake with my buddy Terry out of Union Springs. We brought minnows for perch and crayfish in hopes of some drum. Only one other boat trailer was in the launch as we launched around 8 am. The wind was really blowing good out of the south. We checked out my drum area from last week and didn’t have any action. We then did a bunch of exploring for perch using deep water techniques with some action. Terry dropped a huge perch by the boat that hit a Silver Buddy. It was likely over 14″ long – maybe 15″ or better. I popped a few perch and one bullhead on a jigging spoon.
Eventually we settled for some fishing with our fatheads and had topnotch perch action. As is always the case on Cayuga, we had to sort through a lot of small fish but we managed a nice catch of around 30 keeper fish running 8″ to over 12″. We had a lot of doubles. A few nice (22″+) pickerel were caught on the day (on the Silver Buddy and a tube) and I also picked up a bluegill on a crayfish tail. Good day and very few boats were out. Water temps were around 62 degrees.
10/20: Did back to back 1/2 day trips out of Long Point. The first was with Jessica and Gennaro, neither whom had jigged lake trout before. It was windy and cold (as has been the case in the AMs.) Jessica hooked up with a nice 19″+ rainbow early in the trip. It was great to see! It came off bottom in fairly deep water (we have had 60 degree water down to over 80′ lately.) She then landed a nice laker. Gennaro dropped a few lakers and then landed one. The bite was steady but slow – basically “fair” fishing. It was a fun day and gorgeous out on the lake with very little boat traffic. All fish released this AM.
My PM trip was with Roger and Dino. Roger had joined me a couple months ago for a jigging trip. He keeps his boat at Myers Marina. The bite was a bit better than the AM bite but still not great by any means. We wound up with 3 nice fish and at least that many dropped. Beautiful weather!
10/21: Today was a 1/2 day trip starting at 8 am out of Myers. David and his wife Peggy stayed in Watkins Glen last night so I figured fishing the lower lake would be a good call after yesterday’s fair fishing. We had better action today and they landed around 8 solid lakers up to around 28″ or more if my memory serves me correctly. It wasn’t easy fishing and boat control was the key to our fishing success. We were working 120′ to 140′ of water while dealing with winds in the teens out of the south.
Fish I’ve cleaned over the past week have been stuffed with alewives from multiple year classes. There is still a ton of bait in shallow due to the warm 60 degree water and the fish are feeding heavily. That being said, it still isn’t easy fishing – they aren’t biting recklessly.