Cayuga Jigging question

[JJBat150]

Hey guys, new to the forum, been lurking for awhile, and have some quick questions.

Family will be camping at Taughannock Falls State Park last weekend in August. Long story short, looking to take 18 ft boat out for jigging lakers, but don't know enough yet about this lake. Any information on the Park's boat launch and general area would be appreciated. I do have navionics and am starting to study the lake's contours.

Sorry for shortness of the post, I'll create a more formal introduction when I've got some free time.

Thanks.

Jim Bator

[hermit]

Hi Jim,

Welcome to the site. Taughannock is a great park and you'll be there at a good time for fishing. Your Navionics will be a big help, look for shelves and humps in the 80-100 foot range North of the park. You shouldn't have to go too far but the fish do move quite a bit at times, so checking out areas up towards Little Point and up near AES (the power plant a few miles up on the East side) is a good idea. The launch is well protected and you should have no problems there. Have fun and fire away with more q's if you have them.

[lakerchaser]

The laker jigging will be hot when you are there.1 -1.5 ounce jig heads with a tube should get the job done. Like alec said 100 feet of water should be a good start. Sometimes 120 is even better.Any of the points near the falls where it drops off should be productive and just south of the salt plant too.I think Alec sells jigs if you need weight.Good luck and have fun.

[CaptSpike]

What type of rod are you guys using for jigging lakers? Also is that the preferred method due to fleas and grass? I'm heading out next week and if we get blown off Lake O we head to Cayuga (with the right wind). Trolled it before but never jigged for lakers.

As far as trolling are you guys using the heavier line to avoid the fleas with lighter leaders? If so I'm assuming the same rods I am using on Lake O will work with the lighter leaders.

Thanks,

Spike

[hermit]

Rods are a good stiff bass rod usually, you want enough backbone to feel a 1 oz jig when you bounce it, too mushy and you'll miss hits. Depending on model med-heavy to heavy. See what the specs say on your rods. 6'6" or 7' although I've heard some guys say they prefer shorter and longer. A lot of hits (most) will come when you're reeling in so it's not a deal breaker if you have something a bit lighter.

Preferred, well by some, I prefer it because I can't afford downriggers and wire dipsys, also my motor is loud when trolling, and like the light tackle. Can't speak for others but it's just another way of fishing that works. Plenty of folks trolling out there. If you're set up right the fleas aren't too bad same as Ontario like you said.

[CaptSpike]

Thanks for the reply.

Spike

[bulletbob]

The area around the park [ west side of the lake], both north and south of the park has very rugged, uneven, irregular bottom, with lots of steep drop offs, big peaks and deep valleys.. You can be in 60 feet of water and within 1 minute if the wind is blowing be in 10 feet or 250 feet. Keep that in mind if its windy unless you have a good bow mounted trolling motor, or a way to stay in the productive depth areas [70-120 feet].. The east side of the lake for at least a mile or two north and south of the power plant has a more even, more predictable bottom contour, and to me is easier to fish in the wind.

The wind is usually blowing due north or due south on Cayuga In other words, you either blow up the lake or down if its windy, and it usually is...

The east side of the lake has much more uniform bottom, and IMHO is a better choice for extended drifting in the wind as you can stay in the zone much easier.

If you find some fish in say 90 feet, you can drift in that zone for a good while unless the wind is really raging.. If you can keep your boat stable in the wind, either side of the lake holds fish.. If you don't have an electric motor, the wind can make it very tough to jig efficiently.. There are some extremely rare days where your boat will hardly move, but DON'T bet your life on it.. Every single trip I have made this year , I have encountered extremely strong winds, and raging white caps.. Every time out since the spring. I go when I can, I can't pick my days.

You can catch a lot of nice lakers jigging.. Look for bait and fish from 60 to 100 feet, jigging in the neighborhood of the bait balls. You'll do ok.. Just be aware of that wind... bob

[panfisher]

The one thing about jigging for lakers is that U can really appreciate the fight those guys give...much more so than trolling!

[ERABBIT]

Jim Bator , low bridge so don't have your jigging rod sticking up to high before you pull out into the lake..............we'll be waiting to read your report GOOD luck and have FUN !!!!!

The one thing about jigging for lakers is that U can really appreciate the fight those guys give...much more so than trolling!

I've done some jigging and lots of trolling , last two years I went to a lighter reel with my spoon program with lite rods........the fight is as good as jigging BUT you don't get the WACK fish on that you do jigging...... now I agree a 22" laker on a dipsy or flasher fly rig will not show you what he has like he will jigging BUT on just spoons it a good fight !!!!!!!

[JJBat150]

Thanks everyone for the info! One of the things that drew me to this site is the willingness to share info and help out the new guys. Been fishing most of my life, but always willing to listen and learn from others.

I did post a formal introduction here

[JJBat150]

Went out Yesterday morning (8/26) , hitting the water about 6:30 with my wife & 2 daughters. We stayed North of T-Falls on the west side and once I got the lay of the bottom figured out, we were marking baitfish @ 60-70 ft in 100-120 FOW, and what appeared to be bigger targets on the bottom. Not having a trolling motor, I'm utilizing a drift sock with 2 lengths of rope attached to it so that I can adjust how it's hooked to the boat depending on how the wind is turning me. (Still a work in progress; seems like every time I go out, the boat rides the wind differently, so haven't figured out the best pattern for tying it down yet), and the way the wind was blowing out of the south, and coming around Taughannock Point / Delta (not sure of the real name) it was tricky trying to stay on a good productive line.

Anyways; we made a few passes through without any luck. The girls were starting to get bored and their stomachs and minds were anticipating a previously promised camp-fire cooked breakfast so rather then have them become bored and loose interest in this new-fangled fishing technique, we headed back to the cabin around 9:30 had breakfast and proceeded to enjoy a day taking in the Taughannock Falls experience sans water flowing over the falls.

We headed back out on the lake around 5 PM, and took a quick run across the lake to take a peek at Meyers Pt and the salt mine, then headed back to the same area north of the park. We started out around 100-120 FOW, and were half-hearted fishing / snacking sandwiches / enjoying the quite time, and we weren't really seeing much action. The boat drifted into 80 FOW and almost miraculously the wind died down and the boat seems to sit perfectly still in the water. I was talking to my wife, not really paying attention, when I got a good solid hit, but once I started reeling it in, lost it. After that it was game-on for the girls... although we didn't boat anything, it was classic "video game" action on the fish finder. We could watch the jigs drop and marks come up from the bottom to take a look-see, but we couldn't get any takers. We threw a bunch of different colors mimic minnow tubes and even a few spoons at 'em, but nothing seemed to work.

Although the fishing was a bust, the lake was almost smooth as glass, and just being able to spend time out on it watching the sunset, enjoying peacefulness and my daughters' excitement was enough to make the short getaway worth it.

This morning my Wife & I woke the girls up at 6 AM and asked them about going out again, but they both voted on sleeping in, so we just sat drinking coffee, looking over the water and again enjoying the time-away and conversation.

[hermit]

I can't speak for anyone else but it's been tougher out there recently with a lot of the "looker" action you describe. Sounds like fun though and thanks the update.

[lavarock64]

Keep at it JJBatt -

When starting jigging, the key is time on the water. If you put in your time the pieces will come together. Sooner or later you will also hit a trip when any thing you put down there gets a hit (not just a look).

Agreed Alec - this last weekend was very slow for us. We did have a first though. My fishing buddy landed a 4 pound largemouth off of a baitball in 80 feet of water - you just never know...............

[BIGHERG]

I can't speak for anyone else but it's been tougher out there recently with a lot of the "looker" action you describe. Sounds like fun though and thanks the update.

:::::::::::::::::::

I have the same problem with the "LOOKERS". Been a lot of "Lookers" and few "takers" lately, at least bigger fish. Lots of tail biters too!

Driving me nuts

[guff]

Couple of thoughts:

On the tail biters. It drives me wacky to have that happen. If I run into this I switch over to a tube with a treble hook adaptation. Hermit has a great picture of the rig under his "Shad jigging spoon for sale" entry. A NO. 1 SHARP treble at the tail end of the tube works good for larger size LT. I may get a few less hits but my actual hookup rate REALLY increases.

On the lookers only problem. I have seen a lot of this on Seneca this year. More than other years it seems. The only suggestion I could give is that sometimes the LT will go from lookers to hitters at some point during the day but maybe only for a short time. This seemed to happen on Seneca this year at say 1:00 to 4:00. Makes for a long day but can be worth it sometimes. But as lavarock says, when they finally decide to cooperate it more than makes up for the "lookers only" syndrome. And if you are watching the LT on the FF screen as they attack and then slam your jig it doubles the fun and the excitement. Your girls would be begging you to go out again I bet.