Reports 9/23 – 9/27

I was able to guide and fish some different lakes and areas this past week.  Here's the breakdown:

9/23 Cayuga Lake out of Union Springs:   Guided Leo and Ada today for a full day targeting pickerel. Dropping water temps have made for good pickerel action up here near Cayuga Lake's north end.  We had solid fishing today with around 13 or 14 pickerel landed - most running around 20" long.  We had one bonus pike at 28".   Another boater we talked to caught a nice pike, so maybe their numbers are up in this part of the lake.  I used to do pretty well here for pike in the early 2000s.  Notable was that we didn't contact a single bonus bass today.  Bass fishing has reportedly been tough up here lately.  The hot summer could have driven schools of bass deep and/or south.

9/24 Cayuga Lake out of Union Springs:  Decided to check out the bass fishing up here with my pal Mike for the day starting at around 9:30 am.  We worked a few bass areas up here and down the lake a bit.  No luck on bass at all!  We did manage some nice pickerel to 23" but did not contact a single bass.  In one shallow area Mike did spot a very nice one around 4 to 5lbs but we had spooked it.  Water temps were in the mid-60s.  Water level is down around a foot.  Weed growth looks very good.

9/25 AM Skaneateles Lake:  Guided Greg here for a 1/2 day starting at 8 am.  This lake is around 2' low.  It was a sunny Friday and the launch filled up before noon.  We had a fun day with Greg nabbing a 17" smallmouth bass on his first cast.  He caught a few more plus a bunch of rockbass, a perch, a 21" landlocked salmon and a small walleye.  So we had a nice mix of fish despite the sunny, fairly calm conditions (which can be tough fishing here.)  Fish came on dropshots, swimbaits and soft jerkbaits.  Getting back in was a bit of a hassle with boats trying to launch as well as pull out.  I don't miss summer fishing on this lake one bit, but plan on fishing here regularly from here on through the fall, winter and into next spring.

9/26 Cayuga Lake out of Myers Town Park:  Yesterday it was back to my home base and main summertime target species - Cayuga Lake and lake trout.  My AM trip was with Dan and his father Dan Sr.  We started at 7:30 am.  Fishing was fair on the morning.  We had good winds that cranked up into the teens and likely low 20s by around 10 am.  The guys landed 5 nice lake trout.

My PM trip was with John.  John runs a very successful business downstate and is just happy being out and relaxing.  He doesn't fish very hard but we still had a nice afternoon.  He landed at least 4 solid lakers and came close to having a beautiful rainbow within the first 10 minutes of our day.   Fish came from around 90' to 130'.

9/27  Owasco Lake out of Emerson Park:  Guided Dean today, who usually fishes with his brother Scott, who happens to live near Toronto.  With the travel ban going on, Scott wasn't able to join Dean today.  These guys have fished with me since around 2006 and we always have a great time.  Dean brought amazing sandwiches, cigars and his jerky, which is distinctive and fantastic - so even if no fish are caught, we make sure we enjoy ourselves on the water!

Winds were forecast to be high today out of the south, which is why I picked Owasco Lake for us.  We tried some different tactics including some early pike fishing, which did not pay off.  The water is still a little bit too warm for pike fishing the way I like to fish them.  I expect good pike fishing here in a week or two.

Lake trout action was good and Dean landed 6 nice ones and missed quite a few.  He hooked a brown around 3 or 4lbs that got off near the boat.  He also had some hits from a smallish rainbow.  He did land a decent smallmouth on a soft jerkbait and he missed a couple good ones as well.  Overall a fun day and some satisfying fishing despite the wind.  And that wind blew!