Seneca 5/9 + Cayuga/Taughannock 5/11
Guided a full day with the Hermans on Seneca Lake. Lake trout action was good, with John landing around 1/2 dozen fish from 19″ to 25″. Many of the bigger lakers seemed to have moved out of the Sampson area momentary. Pike fishing was decent with some nice pike and pickerel caught on tube jigs, swim baits and Rapalas. One nice 3lb. 10oz smallmouth rounded out the day’s catch. The wind made jigging tougher by noontime. Water temps are in the high 40s and low 50s. Most pike are showing signs of spawning stress.
Today I fished Cayuga with my girlfriend Jessica. The winds were strong out of the south and we fished around Taughannock. Water temps were 48 to 50 degrees. Smelt are reportedly still around with some fish still running the creeks. We had some great fun fishing today, with lots of salmon action (chasers and hits) but few hookups. Jessica did manage a gorgeous 25″ 5lb. 4oz Landlocked salmon on a Rapala. I missed fish on my flies (fly-fishing was nearly impossible due to the wind) and jigs/rapalas. Fish are being caught from shore on minnows. What a great salmon/brown trout year it’s been on Cayuga! I’ve been busy fishing other areas, but nothing’s quite as much fun as chasing big landlockeds on Cayuga Lake – esp. on the fly when possible! We kept her fish and it had a digested smelt in its stomach. I may have to get the smelting gear out next season, hopefully it’ll be even better then. The next few weeks should provide some good to excellent fishing depending on the winds/weather.