Seneca Lake out of Sampson State Park 7/20 + Cayuga Lake out of Myers Park 7/21

As I drove over to Seneca Lake Monday morning it was pretty clear to me that the Cayuga Lake algae bloom had subsided.  A text from Angling Zone friend/client Zach confirmed this.  The green flakes appeared around 3 weeks ago.  Sunday's wind and the accompanying cold front seems to have ended the bloom.

7/20:  Guided summertime regulars Leo and Ada for a full-day trip starting at 8 am.  They do not want to fish before then, so be it.  The late start hurt us a bit - when we arrived at our fishing area, the fish were chasing our jigs hard!  We had some top-notch opportunities for maybe a half-hour, then the bite slowed.  After that, we spent the rest of the day exploring and fishing hard.  By 2 pm, the winds, which had kicked up around 11 am, diminished a bit and our bite picked up again.  They kept a limit of lake trout running to 30" long.  All were hatchery fish.  As usual, some fish were dropped and we released a small one.  Good day and we had a chance to try some different areas.

7/21:  I was psyched to see how Cayuga Lake was fishing today.  Mark I. had the date booked and Cayuga Lake by far was the best choice.  We had steady somewhat strong south winds in the forecast, which ruled out Seneca Lake's mid and northern sections.  Owasco Lake is a haul for Mark.  In a nutshell, the lake currently has around 3' to 4' of visibility.  Fish are well-distributed throughout the lake from what I could see.  The fishing was OK today - not bad but not great.  I'd say "good."  Mark had some small lakers, and a few better ones along with a nice 23" rainbow.  He had other better lakers hooked up and had hits from brown trout.  Seneca Lake is still fishing much better in general, but Cayuga Lake is a viable option.  Some weedmats were floating around as well.  We caught fish on white/chartreuse and the rainbow came on black.

I expect Cayuga Lake to get better by the week.  Fronts can affect the fishing - we had fairly unsettled conditions today and a lot of wind Sunday night.  Today's storms and the weather map forced our hand a bit and we weren't able to necessarily fish where I wanted when I wanted, if that makes sense.  We were very lucky today to get in the full-day trip and avoid the numerous storms (some severe) that went through the region.  Cayuga Lake was a good call.

Next Wednesday is open for guided trips - that's it for July. My August availability is excellent on weekends as of this writing and decent on weekdays.