Cayuga Lake 2 A.M.

[skanperch]

I went down to toss a few casts off the dock at 2 AM, hoping to tie into a passing LMB. It was a beautiful, flat calm, moonlit nite. I was astonished to witness the lake alive and boiling with spawning sawbellies - they were everywhere, for as far as the eye could see and the ear could hear. Their overwhelming abundance quickly extinguished my desire to fish, as they were so numerous, the odds of any game fish finding my lure among them were too remote to pursue.

But their presence ignited a curiosity on my part............ I'd have thought it to be far too late in the season, with water far too warm to have any inshore sawbelly activity , much less an onshore orgy. It made me realize how little I know and understand about one of the most abundant and important species in Cayuga. When IS their spawning over? How high a temp CAN they tolerate? When do they hatch? What is their growth rate? How long can they live? How can they be spread out over deep and cold water in the day, but be in 3 feet of water by night, moving into August ? That is an incredible temperature tolerance.

This was a real eye opening experience for me...... and I set out to search for research on our Finger Lakes sawbellies, but could not find much online. Can anyone on this forum point me in the direction of some comprehensive research on these fish? I would dearly like to understand more about them. It could help bump up my trout take.

this was in the Aurora area of Cayuga, on the east shore.

[PolarBear]

are alewives the same as sawbellies????

[skanperch]

yes, alewives, sawbellies, mooneyes.......... all the same fish