Guided the 8th and 9th on Cayuga Lake out of Myers Park, the 10th on Owasco Lake and then back to Cayuga on the 11th.
As an update: The month of October is now booked. November is filling up but keep in mind that dates that month often need to be cancelled or rescheduled due to the weather.
10/8 AM Cayuga Lake: We had good conditions for our 1/2 day trip out of Myers. Ed, Gary and Paul had a very solid day with 14 nice fish landed up to 29". It was a catch and release day with one deep hooked fish kept. Ed does a lot of kayak fishing and enjoys trolling for salmon and trout on Cayuga Lake. We had some nice wild fish in the mix.
10/9 AM Cayuga Lake: I knew the wind/weather was going to be a big factor on the 9th. Dick originally was hoping I could pick him up at Sheldrake near his summer home via boat but it was pretty clear that wasn't going to happen. We thought about rescheduling the date, but Dick's "boys" (both adults) were only going to be up for a couple days so it wasn't the best option. "When in doubt, go out" and we did. We had to deal with what the lake gave us so we didn't venture too far from Myers/Taughannock. The guys did land three nice fish with a couple lost as well. Gordon caught a 28"er which is his biggest fish to date. Everyone was amazed at the size of our trout here on Cayuga Lake! The guys usually fly-fish around Pennsylvania and were impressed, despite the slow fishing and tough conditions. We've been having luck on white, Arkansas Shiner (Lunker City Shaker 3.75") and Black Shakers as well.
10/10 AM Owasco Lake: After the tough bite and heavy wind on Cayuga on Saturday, I decided that my trip with Bob and his son Andrew might be better off done on Owasco Lake. The guys drive over from Manlius, which is much closer to Owasco anyways. The wind was brutal as predicted in the morning. I headed to an area that is pretty sheltered and the guys had some good luck. First fish was Bob's 28" laker - a very solid fish on this lake. The guys wound up getting three more and losing another 4 or 5. Another fun day despite the wind. The warmth and sun at times made for a very pleasant day despite the rough water.
10/11 AM: Had a last minute booking with Skip, who has done a bunch of trips with me over the past two months. He was joined by Rick and his sister Karen. Skip wants to fish from 9 am to 1 pm. No earlier and no later! In late August and September that schedule worked well for us, but today it did hurt us a bit. I motored over to Taughannock to pick them up via boat just before 9 am and we had fairly light winds. By the time I set us up a ways north we were in two footers. We had a little bit of a bite window with 5 nice lakers (including three around 28") hooked and one of those getting off just before I was able to net it. Our bite slowed as the waves picked up. I tried one last effort at moving us but apart from one hit it didn't pay off. As we headed in - go figure, the lake calmed right down. A lot of my trips over the past month have had intense bite windows. No fish (or very little action) for the first hour or two or three, then a big flurry. Sometimes it's the opposite with a flurry early on and then the fish quitting. The fish I cleaned today hadn't spawned yet.
Funniest part of the day was when Rick landed a nice 28" laker that had a big lamprey attached. The lamprey came off of the fish and slithered right into Karen's tote bag. Now she had a dilemma! Was she going to remove the eel-like creature? We let the lamprey fester for a bit before I pulled it out of her bag but it was hilarious. Of all the places the lamprey could've ended up, it wound up in her bag!
I still don't have any information on the egg take this year. My buddy Mike who usually is on the vessel got sick on the first day and due to the Covid-19 going around, he had to get tested and couldn't work. I know it was completed in three days. Once I get word on how the fish were looking and anything else of note, I will post it.
