5/29 PM: I took a drive over to Emerson Park to get my new season pass and check on the pike and lake trout conditions. I found some trout and bait but the bite was slow. I had a few fish chasing but no grabs. I spent maybe 45 minutes searching for lakers. Conditions were great for pike and I fished one area for maybe a half hour and managed to land three fish - a 25", 23" and a hefty 37" that hit super hard and fought great. Unfortunately I couldn't get a photo of it that did it justice, but it was a BRUTE! I think I just hit a great bite window because the conditions soon got calm and sunny. I spent the rest of my trip running the lake and marking waypoints for this season's pikin'. Water temps are still cold! I had around 54 degrees on the surface. I also did mark a good amount of bait.
Owasco Lake 5/29, Cayuga Lake 5/30, Owasco Lake 6/1
Large Pike! The fish took a spoon deep but I was able to cut the line and the spoon dropped right out of the gills.
5/30 AM Cayuga Lake: Guided Jack here from around 8 am until noon. He drives from a ways away, so we went with an 8 am trip. Given that hindsight is 20/20, a 7 am start probably would've been better, given how well the fish hit when we first started dropping. We started off with a bang! Jack missed a hit on his first drop and then hooked up with a 28.5"er on his second! After that we kept zigging and zagging and Jack nabbed a smaller laker, just under 18".
As the morning progressed, we still had some of the same issues of fish showing some interest but not hitting well. Jack has a huge history on Oneida Lake and his theory is that these fish are too well-fed. I'm not sure, but it's as good a theory as I've heard. Today we had some great conditions. I still think it's probably the weather, given that Owasco and Seneca have also seemed tough at times. Jack has been my first jigging client of the season for a few years now, and despite the super-cold winter, he noticed a lot of baitfish showing up when we went out in late March. Usually we don't start marking much bait in less than 160' until mid-April. (Alewives often "winter" very deep - around 250' to 300', so you can mark them out there in the dead of winter.) I did notice after filleting some fish a couple trips ago, that they were packed with bait. Stay tuned!
Jack had a follow from a very nice sized rainbow in one area, but it hit once and very lightly - just nudged the jig. We tried some downlake areas and had some very close encounters with fish, but no more grabs.
Jack's 28"
6/1 Owasco Lake: I started off June with a full-day trip with Chris. He's one of these people that always seems to pick a good day to fish - we had a great tutorial trip on Keuka Lake last summer, with trout, bass and pike caught over there on numerous different types of lures. Today he wanted to get a better handle on Owasco Lake pike fishing and the spoon technique I use, so that's what we did today. It felt more like April or even late-October out on the water today than the first day of June, that's for sure. I had long underwear and my winter wear on for the whole day on the water. Winds were fairly strong out of the west blowing into the mid-20s mph range. My rig was the only one at Emerson Park when we launched at 7:30 am.
In our first area, Chris dropped two hookups from smallish northerns - fish in the 23" to 26" range. He then landed a chunky 18"+ smallmouth that hit the spoon. Working other areas resulted in a few more pike including a 30"er, which was the best fish of the day. Other hits were missed and hookups dropped. Chris also landed a largemouth and he had a lot of follows from yellow perch, which are abundant in this lake. We tried a little bit of casting stickbaits for bass/trout and Chris managed a smallmouth. He even lost what appeared to be a small silvery trout (rainbow?) on the spoon for a few seconds.
We spent a couple hours trying what I feel are some trophy pike areas. We gave it a good go, but did not encounter any "gators." To end the day, we tried a couple of our earlier areas for a short time without luck. The west wind made boat control a chore in a lot of areas. Fortunately, I have a drift-sock and good batteries on my Minn-Kota Terrova. Fun day with fairly steady fishing. Chris got quite a bit of confidence with the spoon set-up.
Not bass fishing much today, but we'll take this action while casting for pike!
Nice pike just over 30"
Water temperatures remain around 54/55 degrees in this lake. Pike are fairly widespread with some fish on weeds and others just hanging around on featureless flats. We saw a fair number of perch today all throughout the lake.
My availability post is up to date. June dates are booking up fairly fast. I am not running any doubles this month or next month. If Cayuga Lake really lights up for lake trout in August/September, I'll run some then. Right now, I'm waiting for the laker bite to get back on track. Bass fishing is still hot on Skaneateles Lake. I expect another 2 weeks or so of decent pike action, but getting the right conditions is important. I'll be doing more scouting on Cayuga Lake shortly to see where the best lake trout bite is at.