Cayuga Again 7/3 7/4

[hermit]

Excellent fishing this morning up by AES. Started off slow and I tried a few spots, was thinking of making a big move across the lake when I hit the motherlode… of dinks. First three fish were 20" and under. Again started thinking about moving but the size kept increasing so I stuck around. About 8 fish in I caught my first bonus fish this year, a 17-18" landlocked. Think I hooked another but it was gone quickly.

One of those mornings where it started slow and kept improving until someone turned off the bite at 9:30. One minute there were fish everywhere and then they were gone. Okay it actually took two minutes but it was that fast. The wind died then too so maybe that had something to do with it. Pretty much stayed in 70-85 fow except when it slowed down tried out to 110 but nothing doing.

Got some 8 lbers and some of the smallest fish I've seen all year. I could see a big temp break in spots on the FF down about 60. Also had my first breakoff, two actually. First I was being lazy and finally wore out a knot after about 40 fish over the past few trips. It's good to re-tie every ten or so to prevent this sort of thing. This one was definitely my fault. Second time I'm not sure what happened, started to set the hook on a fish and whoops it was gone with maybe 1/2 lb of pressure. End of line was pretty frayed. I had been checking the leader pretty regularly but not every fish, who knows, maybe the fish took the jig deep and the line hit a tooth.

Very light fishing pressure, kind of surprised, one boat trolled past, saw another in the distance and maybe one other jigger showed up as I was leaving. Best day this year, 17 lakers and a landlocked hit the net. Two decapitated adult lamprey also got released. Dropped 5 or 6 other lakers I thought were stuck pretty good, oh well. Back at it tomorrow then away, unfortunately can't make the LOU-ALL.

The downward streak on the left is a fish that followed me up to about 20' or so. The one on the right is my jig. Fish came up, followed it close for 20' and whacked it down 40'.

[ERABBIT]

[BrookTrout]

Very cool, are the diagonals on the screen fish chasing?

[143447]

Nice weekdays on Cayuga are tough to beat! always seems quiet out there the big boys come out to play!!

[hermit]

BrookTrout,

The long diagonal on the left is a fish that did chase my jig almost all the way up but didn't bite and is going back down. The other long diagonal headed down was my jig and you can see a fish come off the bottom, a thinner line than the other fish hooks at the bottom. It approaches my jig, I start reeling around 60 fow- if you look close you can see two separate lines for a bit and then the lines merge as the fish gets close, about ten feet further up is the big black 'fish on' area starting at 40' down. Better than an Xbox!

t9 yeah it's nice when you don't have to worry about drifting into someone's trolling line or whatever... beautiful morning though a funny wind direction made boat control tough for the first couple hours.

[woody 184]

Hermit nice report... I tried jigging lake O the other day but the wind was pushing me like 1.8 sog on the GPS... I tried holding my ground with my trolling motor but could not do it.... I could see nice fish on the bottom with bait balls around just too Windy..... Woody

[BrookTrout]

Wow that is amazing how well you can see the action unfolding, very very cool. I might have to try jigging sometime just to see that live...

[hermit]

woody 184, too bad about the wind that could be a lot of fun with the huge lakers in Ontario!

Cayuga 7/4

Still pretty good fishing, came in spurts. First thing was very good, then a dead hour, then a flurry, then more dead time, then a flurry, etc. Not too much to report really other than good fishing. Kept moving around within the same area trying to find an active fish or two. Nice and calm but that isn't good for covering ground. Tried a new soft plastic, Berkely Havoc Subwoofer, with good results.

One thing I was thinking about from the previous jigging thread was for new jiggers, I spend a lot of time reeling in trying to provoke a strike. If you're using the FF you can react to the fish but with more than one guy in a boat either jig on bottom for a few 10-20-30 seconds and reel in, repeat, or drop it to near the bottom via counting and just start reeling back in like ManOverboard said in his Keuka report. Drop reel repeat. Anyway.. enjoy the week and weekend everyone, happy fishing to all.

[chugbug]

Woody , Have you had any luck jigging on the big lake , if so lakers or kings ? Wish I was closer to ontario I'd give it a shot , can you imagine a 25 plus king on a jig !!!

[woody 184]

Hermit and Chug the other day was my maiden voyage. I had planned on hitting Canandaigua but with the 4th of July I figured I would just stay clear away till monday.. so I figured I would troll for a few hours in between kids doctors appointments and other kid commitments.. But the Lake was whitecapping and to windy to troll so I brought all my jigging stuff and seen some nice hooks and bait on bottom in 85fow so I tried but the wind just kept blowing me off the fish.... Great Screen on the fishfinder but could not get the jig to the bottom.. If I can get a calm morning I know I can produce on Lake Ontario........ Woody

P.S I would Love a 25lb King on a jig.... Sounds like a Challenge.

[panfisher]

Have pondered the idea of jigging for lakers in the big O for years. But, since the boats I go on R not mine and I am a guest of friends who are in to trolling, my constant hinting on trying the technique always falls on unwilling ears. And the Big O is seldom ready for still fishing. Have had great fun with jigging on the fingers.... Woody 184... can't wait to hear your post of how you nailed slob 8 to 15lb lakers still fishing in Ontario... and the fight....!

[chugbug]

Its definitely do-able saw a show the other day they were on lake superior if my memory is correct , they were really out far in the lake at a small rock island with a small lighthouse jigging huge lakers , they were using normal jigs but tipping the hook with skin from other fish they had caught , the lake was dead calm at the time .

[guff]

GREAT picture of your ff Hermit. It is interesting trying to figure out how far away a bottom dwelling LT can see a jig dropping from above. Looking at this photo it looks like he saw it at least 35 feet above him and then he took off.

To me one of the great things about jigging and watching your ff is that you know ahead of time you are likely going to get a hit. The old heart gets beating knowing there is a good chance your line will stop, the end of your pole will head for the water surface and the fight is on. Kind of fits in the category of buck fever.

What is also a blast is to take someone out who is new to jigging and you watch the person's jig on the ff and when the LT is cooperative, tell the person "get ready for a strike", "get ready", "get ready", then wham, the person gets to feel the the full effect of the hit. Just too cool.

On a side note, 2 of us hit the north end of Seneca yesterday morning. Only 2- 28 inchers to show for it. There are a ton of LT up there but they were only in a chasing, non hitting, mood. We used one of the time worn fisherman's excuses, a full moon. Made us feel better anyways.

[guff]

Has any one here tried chug's idea of putting some skin on the jig???

[ERABBIT]

No Clue usta do that all the time.........

[PCPete]

@Hermit

Wow the picture of the FF helps alot as now I know what im looking for.

I hope to hit up AES this weekend.

Thanks