Sodus Bay 6/1
Did a full day again with Jim from California/Alaska. After seeing the diverse habitats available on Cayuga Lake Jim was interested in checking on some freshwater drum (and gar) fishing at Sodus Bay. I let Jim know that the drum population in Sodus Bay/Lake Ontario has been depressed over the past few years due to die-offs associated with the VHS virus.
We checked out some gar areas to start. Water temps ranged from 73 to 76 degrees in the bay. The water clarity was excellent and weeds looked enticing. I’d imagine bass fishing is excellent. No weed harvesting going on yet! We did wind up finding some drum and a couple gar in a few different areas. Fishing conditions were difficult for fly-fishing for much of the day, with strong westerlies and whitecaps. The drum fishing was very humbling. We did fish to some decent pods of drum without a follow. Other fish showed interest in Jim’s flies including lots of bluegills, pumpkinseeds, a white perch (rare these days but coming back) and a couple small largemouths. Boat traffic was very light. We had a good time – we were on fish and fished hard for them. Drum are certainly a challenging and worthy adversary on the fly-rod. Fishing should improve a lotas the drum population rebounds – hopefully over the next few years.