Skaneateles Lake 9/17, Cayuga Lake 9/18 – 20

Reports

Fall is in the air!  With three nights in a a row of air temps in the low 30s, surface temperatures have been plummeting lately on our local lakes.  This certainly helps negate the effects of the hot summer.

9/17 Skaneateles Lake:  Got out here for a short excursion.  I want to fish a bit on my own, but I’ve had to do quite a bit of driving on my days off getting trolling motors fixed among other things.  I did a quick 3 to 4 hour trip out here in order to play around with my new electronics and just have a change of pace.  The water level here is about 2′ below normal pool for summer.  I tried two areas of the lake with various tactics including bladebaits, drop shotting, soft jerkbaits, tubes and hard jerkbaits.  I had some action with everything except the blades.  The catching wasn’t great but I managed a few bass, a nice perch, rockbass and even a sucker that hit a dropshot (a first for me!)   I had a fair number of quality fish come unbuttoned on the jerkbaits, including at least one (maybe two) walleyes and a couple good bass.   It was still a fun day and very few people were on the lake.

9/18 Cayuga Lake out of Myers:  Guided Greg here trying for non-lakers for starters.  Fishing was slow.  He picked up one salmon around 17″ and had a couple other light hits.  We went for some “slump busting” lakers during the last hour of the trip and Greg connected with some solids.  The winds came up strong again at the end of our morning.

9/19 Cayuga Lake out of Myers Park:  Had a great couple back to back half days of solid September laker jigging.   My first trip was with Dominic, Zach and Zach’s dad Teddy.   (It was Ted’s first time out with me and he had a lot of fun.)  With sunny conditions, some clouds and light winds I knew the odds would be in our favor.  It was a very cold AM so we started just after 8 am.  The bite was pretty darn steady and the guys wound up landing 15 solid lakers with plenty in the 28″ to 29″ range.   I had guided Zach going back to when he was really young!  I should feel old now, but I still don’t.  It was good catching up with him and Dominic.  One fish I cleaned had a large goby in it.

My PM trip was with Pete and his parents, Doug and Barb.  It was the first time Barb had come out with us.  They have a place near Watkins Glen and are a good contact for me regarding Seneca Lake fishing.  I had Pete out a couple months ago during the algae bloom (or just before it) and he caught some beauties.  When I motored over to pick them up the lake had kicked up two footers and maybe an occasional three.  Fortunately the winds soon subsided.  I wasn’t sure what the bite would be like, but Pete hooked up in short order and it wound up being another terrific trip with a dozen solid lakers landed up to 30″.

9/20 Cayuga Lake out of Myers:  Today was a trip with seasonal regulars Leo and Ada.  It’s always a “catch ’em and eat ’em” trip with them.  We try to get a limit and then wrap up the day.  For some reason, no matter when they book (and I’ve guided them since at least 2011) they always manage to get their fish.  Today was no exception.  We had action and then lulls throughout the day but managed to box out an hour early.  One rainbow (stocked) and one salmon were in the mix.  The rainbow had a gizzard shad in its stomach – the first I’ve seen.  Fish were somewhat thin today for reasons I don’t know.  There seems to be plenty of bait around but then again, usually as the spawn approaches fish lay off the feed bag.

Open dates:  

September is completely booked.  

October: 3rd, 18th, 31st are all open.  Depending on travel restrictions, other dates may open up on short notice, so please check back if looking for a date.

November:  This month is wide-open apart from the 6th and 7th.  Book with confidence during the cold months!  If conditions aren’t good for what we want to do, we can reschedule your trip or I can refund your deposit.