Seneca Lake out of Sampson 9/5 PM + 9/6 AM, Cayuga Lake out of Myers 9/7
Seneca Lake: Guided Mihai and his father Bill for a 1/2 day starting around 3:30 pm on Friday then what wound up being a 1/2 day starting around 7:30 am on Saturday. We had some very good to excellent fishing on Friday (the day prior to the front) with a double or two hooked. The guys landed 10 solid lakers up to around 27″ or 28″. It was great seeing the guys, who fished with me during my first season guiding. We did quite a few trips during my first few years and Mihai, especially is an excellent jigger.
On Saturday, the guys were running late which definitely slowed our catch rate. Four decent fish made it to the net before the winds really came up out of the north. Although we knew the winds would subside, we called it a day rather than try to wait them out. Fish ran from around 72′ to 85′ on Friday and around 10′ deeper on Saturday.
Cayuga Lake out of Myers: Guided Dean starting at 6:45 am. We went up the lake a ways and fished largemouth bass. It took a little while, but we found a few nice ones. Dean landed one over 17″ on a Senko and (he had me help cast around to find fish) I nabbed one around the same size on a crankbait. I don’t usually target two different species on a 1/2 day trip, but I wanted to show Dean the laker fishing. He nailed around 3 or 4 on jigs in short order. The bite for lakers was very good. We tried some other areas quickly for bass but didn’t see much, apart from one largemouth I spotted. We also saw some salmon, carp and drum cruising around.
My PM trip was for lakers with Paul. We had some action to start then things slowed down for a couple hours. During the last hour of the trip, we had some excellent fishing near Taughannock. Paul wound up landing 5 nice fish and lost one by the boat. The good to excellent laker bite is still holding up for now, though I can tell it’s slowing a bit. Laker action near Aurora should stay hot for another two months if this year is anything like the last few. The 75′ to 90′ range seemed best today.
Today was one of the nicest, most beautiful days I’ve seen all year. Absolutely gorgeous, perfect weather with cool, dry, breezy conditions. There was just the right amount of sun and wind. It just doesn’t get any better!