Reports

Guided Derrick and Ken today for a full-day trip getting underway at around 8 am.  I haven’t done any casting for trout/salmon out here this late-fall/winter season yet.  I’ve had a few reports and everything seems to be the same as it has been “post the goby feeding frenzy” that ran from roughly 2015 to 2020.  Since that time frame, the November through March casting “bite” on Cayuga Lake has remained consistent for the most part.  I haven’t felt the need to check on the fishing here this winter, given what I saw this past year on the lake – the usual excellent lake trout and rainbow trout numbers, fair brown trout numbers (at best), and poor landlocked salmon numbers.  If I’d encountered a lot of salmon or browns, I’d have been out here giving things a check.  The bottom line is that I pretty much knew what to expect on the water today before we even launched the boat.

Derrick and Ken joined me in February out here for a productive full-day of casting for lakers.  We also had encounters with a brown or two, a small salmon and a couple nice rainbows on that trip.  These guys fish hard and we always have a lot of fun on the water, so I was very optimistic as we got underway.  Today started out slowly – I was going to run the guys north a little ways, but Derrick wanted to work the lower portions of the lake, so that’s what we did.  Things started off promising with Ken having a nice laker follow in his tube jig in short order.  After that, he started getting some follows from perch (as did Derrick with his blade-bait.)  Years ago, I don’t remember seeing a lot of 12″ perch around the southern part of Cayuga Lake, but there are some there now!  That is encouraging.  The guys also casted stick baits.  We didn’t have much luck, apart from a 14″ rainbow that nabbed Derrick’s blade.  He had another, perhaps slightly larger one jump and throw the blade.  He nabbed a 19″ or 20″ laker as well in around 40′.

Forty-feet of water was our productive depth today.  The guys wanted to stick with the casting and stay with the lower end of the lake, so that’s what we did.  Another half-dozen lakers followed, running 18″ to 27″.  Some other fish followed in the lures – perhaps brown trout.  It was hard to say.  Overall, a good day but that being said, everything has remained pretty much the same on Cayuga Lake over the past 4 years – decent numbers of small to medium sized lake trout ranging from 10′ of water and out, occasionally a nice rainbow or two and an occasional shot at a brown.  Salmon fishing here remains poor.  The salmon often show up here on the end of our lines in February or March, so by that time, we’ll see what’s out there.  Deep jigging should be solid out of Long Point.

Water temperature today was around 45 degrees.  Water level is low but still very good for launching at Taughannock.  Very few boats were out today.  No signs of pike or bass today either and we were around some good areas/habitat for both species.

So far, as of this writing, the week after Christmas is looking very good weather-wise.  We’ll see if the forecast changes for the worse or better, but it should be an ideal time for landlocked salmon action on Seneca Lake with the fly OR with spinning gear!   Stay tuned and now’s the best time to reserve a date!  If the weather doesn’t cooperate, we don’t do the trip – it’s as simple as that!