Ithaca wed.

[icedauber]

We are coming out to Ithaca on wed morning from Albany area. Some help needed. We will be looking for browns or salmon. I have riggers and boards. Do I need the riggers this early? I was going to start with small stickbaits and/or spoons. Will stay over in Kings Ferry wed night. Is it worth fishing south end of Owasco this early? Is the marina open for launching? Best answers get free rounds wed evening @ King Ferry Hotel. thanks

[Huntfrisco]

The schools have broken up so the search is on! Stick with the south end and work north. There is a ton of debris but it's worth checking the flats out of Tremain. I would recommend stickbaits with orane/chattreuse combinations

We were out Sunday, nothing spectaculiar! We boated six fish with the biggest brown 21 or 22 inches. The lake was flat and a cloudless day, which in my opinion are poor conditions.

Good luck

Ken

[ray koziatek]

FREE ROUNDS er um dude i know every inch of that lake like the back of my hand.......well ok i lied it was the free round talking.now seneca is more my speed but if you check some of the cayuga reports now that the snow is gone the creeks should be dumping some warm,and colored water ,if your there "early" taughannock park area would be my starting place targeting the little cove that is just on the north side of the creek up to the next creek(boy scout camp)frontenac point (tramunsburg and boardman creek moulth),after 9 am if that area slows then start circling out front of the park sorta following the mud line out .depending on color of water anything from yellow bellied,gfl,firetiger red,or firetiger chartruce sticks for the colored water to more natural stuff as the water clears .look for the temp line comming from taughannock creek sorta follow that out then turn right hand circle and do it again.oh if that little cove north is clear run some natural ,and purple and silver and black and silver and dont feel like you gotta be bouncing your stuff off the shore with boards as the 80 ft water will hold a few fish the fish will determin that but the near shore bite on seneca and cayuga just dont seem to be as good as it was a few years back,coors light please.thanks

[icedauber]

Thanks for the input. Both answers qualify for free rounds on wed.

[ray koziatek]

hmm capitol district,maybe there is more going on at the ol kings ferry motel than some might think.does your credit card reciept total for one night come to 5000.00............if so maybe i could find the time for that free round.good luck and post some pics (of the fish) any others

send to my pm

[stinger]

Will stay over in Kings Ferry wed night.

Haven't fished Owasco in a couple years so no help there. Cayuga would be my choice. Fishing has been pretty good but starting to slow down.

The launch at Lancing Park would probably be the best place for you to launch from. Puts you in the southern portion of the lake and easy access to the fishing grounds. Treman Park down on the southern tip in Ithaca is also and nice launch.

Surface fishing (flat lines from boards, in-line planers & down 10' to 15') is still productive and producing some nice Brown's and Landlocks (3 to 5 lb'ers). Check back on some of the Cayuga posts to see what has been working. Not much change, just fewer fish being caught.

Good luck out there. Be safe and have a good time.

Ray....Capital district huh :roll: , how come I feel another tax increase coming? I can see this trip showing up in the new (someday) state budget :shock: .

[icedauber]

We will go out of tremain tomorrow. The wind might be a problem going too far up the lake. If I was still a working man I would try to get the state to write this trip off as a fact finding mission. I wouldn't spend $5000 in King Ferry because I know the best pick-up line. 'Miss that is one mighty fine tooth'. Remember if you come out to capitol district area and ask for an "escort" they might ask. Do you want a spitzer or a swallower.

Thanks again for the help.

Look for the fear the turtle hat King Ferry Hotel tomorrow night.

[Zebedee]

Let me know how you do! I usually launch out of Dean's Cove (Across the lake from King Ferry) and I should have the boat in the water soon.

[icedauber]

Made it out to Ithaca around 9:00 wed morning. Whitecaps in the canal. Drove up to south end of Owasco. Water very cold, 36 in main lake. Found some 42 degree water shallow. 1 25" pike , 5 lb brown and a 20" salmon early release at the boat. Chartruse needlefish best lure. Went back down to Tremain on thursday. Worked the flats. Water temp 42 was best. 2 salmon , 23" biggest , 5 browns up to 24". Flo orange stick baits off of boards worked best. All fish taken under 30' water. Was a fun trip. Thanks for all the help. Ray K was right about 41 degree top water bite. It ws also nice to meet RustyRat thursday morning. Only bad part of trip was all fish over 20" had large lamprey marks. Includes the brown from Owasco. I will post some pics later. See you all around memorial day.

Also lost nice salmon that took appx 100' of line off reel, 4 jumps 3-4 ' out of water. Hook on treble streightened.

[browntrout]

I would be interested to see the markings on the brown from Owasco. There are no lampreys in there and we caught a bunch of lakers with open sores last year. The DEC said it wasn't VHS but weren't sure what it was.

[hermit]

Hey good trip! I fished further up the lake, didn't do anything until I got down near the yacht club and only made one pass through the south end where I caught one nice brown 21".

Water is only 38-39 up by the park, much warmer and much more fish friendly down south. Would've stuck around but I was on a mission to see parts of the lake I haven't seen. Saw them, but no fish there!

[stinger]

Nice report `dauber, thanks for participating. Glad your trip paid off for you.

Will stay over in Kings Ferry wed night.

Ray....Capital district huh :roll: , how come I feel another tax increase coming? I can see this trip showing up in the new (someday) state budget :shock: .

Since my last post here the state passed the budget :shock: . The results weren't as good for some of us as expected. State budget cut out the Law School at SUNY Binghamton and sent the money down state. There was a side bar on the budget that read something like, " pick up the tab at Kings Ferry Hotel after `dauber and his buddies have a fishing trip. We'll fund it with the money from the SUNY Binghamton Law School project"

[icedauber]

The mark on the Owasco brown was the same as the marks on the Cayuga fish. Ugly round circle almost the size of a quarter. This is the first fish that we have caught from Owasco in the last 4 years with a mark.

Hermit , were you trolling from a small boat around 11:30 yesterday? We were the lund running otter boats.

The fee from the King Ferry Hotel was to small to bother submitting. Will wait for next years budget.

Pics

Owasco Brown

Cayuga LL

Cayuga Brown

As Alton Brown would say. Good Eats!!!

[hermit]

Nice fish! I see what you mean about the lamprey marks. Yup that was me. I started up at Taughannock (slow and flat calm at dawn), tried a few spots on both shores on the way down and one more on the way back. Think they'll produce later but didn't yesterday, the warm water was the place to be.

[rustyrat]

Nice meeting you guys. Glad you got into some fish.

RR