Cayuga HELP ON CAYUGA-WK 7/20-28

[ri rory]

Hi folks,

Love the site!!!!

My wife and daughter and I will be trolling Cayuga for a week.  We are avid trolling enthusiasts but have not fished in the finger lakes in the mid summer in 12 years.  We have an 18' lowe  walkthrough ith a 90 yami 4 stroke and a minn kota ulterra up front.  A very nice fishing boat.    My concern is the fleas. I have never dealt with them, ever.   I have 2 Mag 5 downriggers with 150lb power pro downrigger line.  My 2 downrigger rods have 40lb fluoro down to a 10 lb leader to the bait. I can stack another rod on each DR if advised.   Off each side I use in line tx 12 boards with 1-2 oz trolling wts on 30 lb braid w/ a 10 lb fluoro leader to bait, or leadcore outfits 18 lb suffix with 10 lb leader to bait.  I generally fish a dipsy down the middle of 30lb braid and 10lb leader to bait.  I  am fearful I may not be able to troll with the pesky fleas.  Will I get killed by these critters or just annoyed?

 

I don't have time to set up wire rigs

 

we will be staying just south of Deans ramp.  We are fishing on mon 7/23 with the jigmaster captain John.  (I set this up to do something different and a backup if the fleas kill us-LOL)

 

Any advice??   Any suggestions??  Any Changes ??  what should I expect?

 

we troll everything from livebait with my Ulterra to flutterspoons, plugs and dodgers and flies with the big motor and trolling plate.  from .8 to 2.5 mph generally

 

Please help

 

thanks so much

 

 

 

[Sk8man]

You are correct in identifying the fleas as your main adversary right now ANY braid is probably going to present you with a nightmare trolling right now. With these continued high temperatures the fleas will be more and more concentrated as the days roll on and it appears that the fishook type water fleas are becoming very prominent and they are the most difficult to get off lines regardless of type of line. The line increased diameter approach works some of the time for some concentrations of fleas. When flea concentrations are very dense and especially the fishook variety NOTHING is immune to them clustering on the line or cable. This includes 150 or 200 lb test downrigger cable. Fleas in general tend to be easier to remove on wire line than the other line options and I would recommend changing over to wire on the riggers at least. If it were me I'd just add it to the existing braid and then double check the accuracy of the line counter afterward and then after flea season you can remove it and go back to the braid if you prefer it. The only other thing would be that regardless of the lines that you have out check them VERY frequently while trolling and it will be a PIA to do  probably but necessary to minimize huge buildups that prevent the line from coming in with a fish on (or otherwise). It is about all you can do. Look for places where the fleas seem less concentrated or perhaps absent.They vary greatly in concentrations both throughout the lake and within the vertical water column. You might be able to get away on the coppers with running them with minimal braid entering the water. Good luck.

Edited July 5, 2018 by Sk8man

[ri rory]

Skate-

 

thanks for your words of wisdom

 

I am removing braid from the riggers as the original wire is beneath

I have ordered 2 copper line combos with 30 lb copper.  I have not used wire in 30 years.  Any helpful hints are appreciated.

 

we try to troll  live sawbellies or sewn sawbellies  at 1.0 mph +/-, if fishing is slow, we switch to plugs and spoons and troll at 2.0 or dodgers and flies at 1.6

 

thanks again

 

[Skidplate]

I wouldn't recommend using a 10# leader 12# is good I just switched to 15# blue label it has a very small diameter.

[ri rory]

EVERYONE---------THANK YOU SO MUCH.

 

MY WIFE, 23 YEAR OLD DAUGHTER, AND I Had a great week at Cayuga 7/20-7/28

 

We had awful weather for most of the week and we did well.  I was prepared for the fleas because of this site as I had never heard of them.( I removed the braid from my riggers)

I put 100' of 40 lb mono on my downrigger rods.  I bought a set of copperline rods for the trip. I bought 2 sets of hammerhead spinners.

 

we fished with john Gaulke of Finger lakes angling zone on Monday  and caught 6 lakers and watched a giant Brown screw with my lure

 

We trolled around the downpours

totals

13 lakers-biggest 12lbs

7 salmon-biggest 8.5 (3 were 12")

5 browns-biggest 6 lbs

2 rainbow 4 lbs ea

1 smallie 3 lbs

 

we only saw the sun the last two days

 thanks for all your help

 

coach and family

 

 

 

michele lt

nicole lt

nicole rainbow

nicole brown

rory 8.5 salmon

[treerat]

Sounds like a good week

Sent from my XT1635-01 using Lake Ontario United mobile app

[Sk8man]

Great results ...good going