Cayuga Winter/Spring fishing on Cayuga

[Reel Doc]

With deer season over I'm hoping to hit Cayuga when the weather cooperates from now through April but I've never fished it this time of year.   Summer and Fall I've typically worked from 120 fow and deeper with spoons on downriggers and flasher/flies on dipseys or a copper down the chute.  

What adjustments should I make now?  I do have some inline boards for shallow fishing but never used.  Don't have stickbaits but Christmas is coming so should I have certain styles on my list?  Thanks in advance for your input.

Greg

[Fishstix]

Planer boards with the smallest sutton they make trolled on top.

Slow as the water is cold.

Stickbaits you will get all kinds of responses . If the waters clear  black/silver .black /gold

waters stained/ chartreuse.  Sometimes you need a orange belly on the stickbaits.

 

Have a cell phone. good marine radio, dependable motor,not many out there if you get in trouble.

Good luck keep us posted.

[Big Spoon]

Fish are everywhere right now, from 10' to the middle of the lake.  Last weekend we had good success jigging in 75 FOW, but took bites from as tight as 60, all the way out to 130.  Make sure to cover ground, as the fish were spread out.  When I was standing on the bulkhead at Taughannock I saw a fish at my feet, 2' off the wall.  Most of the silver-fish marks we saw were down 25' or so. 

 

Be safe, and don't forget the law states all passengers in a vessel <21' which is underway are required to wear a life jacket. 

https://parks.ny.gov/recreation/boating/documents/PFDLawsofNewYork.pdf

[Lewis863]

Echo what he said above about safety please ending up in the water unless you are in a survival suit is certain death.  Loss of an engine if you don’t have a backup will put you in a very dangerous place so have secondary propulsion and wear a pfd.  Just as a frame of reference the coast guard would not authorize a water launch to get you for the auxiliary due to temperatures.  All that said good luck be safe catch fish

[vogel451]

 

We fished a handful of times in February last year on Cayuga.  We found Lakers in 80-120 packed full of Gobies and zero Alewife.  We ran a summertime spread and had a 20 fish morning.  I believe since there Gobies are around the Lakers don't have to chase Alewife down 250' in the winter.  They are able to stay shallow and eat gobies.  

Edited December 19, 2018 by vogel451

[Reel Doc]

Read you all loud and clear with safety being a priority!

What speeds do you drop down to in cold water?  Is there a point where the slow speed kills the action of the lures?

With stickbaits are certain sizes, styles critical, (ie floater/divers, deep divers, solid or jointed).

Is there a certain increase in water temp in Spring that triggers a change in fish habits?

Sorry lots of questions but nothing else to do this time of year. 😉

[Lewis863]

The only difference would be id target about 1.7 at the lure, flasher spinner bee combos, small spoons, try a spread of variety see what hits...which is my lower end, realistically the fish typically hang in cold water anyway its just that they will be more spread out...

[Iceman1983]

Stick baits seem to work this time of the year real well......Fish are in all depths like everyone says. Just throw some different


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[Iceman1983]

Just throw some different depths out there with some different stick baits and see how you do. This is my favorite time fish with fish being everywhere from try surface to the deep. And be careful......sounds a little overboard but doesn’t hurt to invest into a surviver suit this time of the year especially if you are going out alone.


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[chowder]

Hey, I'm all set to go. Give me a shout- the lil boat is 100% hot to trot