Cayuga Cayuga 3/8

[Reel Doc]

Late night working with the horses so didn't get on the water until after 8.  Went out of Taughannock and focused on running stickbaits off a big board in shallow water.  Never tried this before but with the new autopilot working I was relying on it to keep the boat from getting grounded.

Well, it worked out as while setting the first line it was barely 50 feet behind the boat and the first salmon of the day slammed it.

Ran Bay Rats in greens and blacks in 20fow or less and 20 minutes after the first had a double.  The second fish was a good one as the drag was singing but unfortunately was gone before I got to it.  Did half a dozen circles around the hot spot and pulled in fish every time, some nice salmon and a couple sturdy lake trout.   One of the salmon had a big lamprey mark, first one I've seen on a Cayuga fish in quite a while.  Hoping it was a rare find.

The sun came out around 10:30 and the bite shut off but already had plenty for dinner, released a few, and made it home by noon so could enjoy a nice afternoon with my wife.  A perfect Sunday all the way around!!

[vogel451]

We must have been doing circles together   We fished same area, had four boats around us.  Similar results.  6 Lakers 4 keeper salmon in the 18-20' range.  Tight Lines!

[Reel Doc]

3 hours ago, vogel451 said:

We must have been doing circles together   We fished same area, had four boats around us.  Similar results.  6 Lakers 4 keeper salmon in the 18-20' range.  Tight Lines!

Funny you say that as there were 3 trailers in the lot when I got there and I passed 2 boats on the East side early on then didn't see anyone until I went back to the dock.  By then easily 15 rigs there.  I'm guessing you all went to the South end??  Anybody find Browns?

[Doc]

Late night working with the horses so didn't get on the water until after 8.  Went out of Taughannock and focused on running stickbaits off a big board in shallow water.  Never tried this before but with the new autopilot working I was relying on it to keep the boat from getting grounded.
Well, it worked out as while setting the first line it was barely 50 feet behind the boat and the first salmon of the day slammed it.
Ran Bay Rats in greens and blacks in 20fow or less and 20 minutes after the first had a double.  The second fish was a good one as the drag was singing but unfortunately was gone before I got to it.  Did half a dozen circles around the hot spot and pulled in fish every time, some nice salmon and a couple sturdy lake trout.   One of the salmon had a big lamprey mark, first one I've seen on a Cayuga fish in quite a while.  Hoping it was a rare find.
The sun came out around 10:30 and the bite shut off but already had plenty for dinner, released a few, and made it home by noon so could enjoy a nice afternoon with my wife.  A perfect Sunday all the way around!!

Nice! We had a decent morning too, went 17 for 26, all salmon except 2 rainbows. A lot of short hits. Kept 7, all in the skinny water as well.


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[Trouthunter]

Wow all beautiful healthy salmon about how long & what they weight about

[suttontroller94]

Park was a zoo sunday. They really need to put signs up to keep people from parking their cars in the boat trailer parking that aren't using the launch. When I was there if another boat launched they couldn't have parked their rig however there were tons of empty single parking spots... It's ridiculous

Edited March 10, 2020 by suttontroller94

[Reel Doc]

10 hours ago, Doc said:

Nice! We had a decent morning too, went 17 for 26, all salmon except 2 rainbows. A lot of short hits. Kept 7, all in the skinny water as well.


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Nice catch, and with all those hits/catches certainly loads of fun with constant action!

If memory serves, you were boxing out with Browns and Pike this time last year.  Have you changed techniques or is the lake fished out of Browns and Pike?!  

[SwedishFish]

Beautiful Fish! Going to make the drive from Rochester this Saturday. Will be my first time fishing Cayuga. Planning on launching a small boat out of Taughannock. Any recommendations on going north or south from the launch? I'll try staying shallow based on your guys success!

[tangledline]

23 hours ago, Reel Doc said:

Funny you say that as there were 3 trailers in the lot when I got there and I passed 2 boats on the East side early on then didn't see anyone until I went back to the dock.  By then easily 15 rigs there.  I'm guessing you all went to the South end??  Anybody find Browns?

 What size Bay rats you using? They are a great lure

 

[Reel Doc]

7 hours ago, tangledline said:

 What size Bay rats you using? They are a great lure

 

Well, since I'm a rookie to shallow water trolling I looked back at old posts on this site for Spring fishing and picked up a couple of Bay Rat short shallow divers, S3's, and long shallow divers.  Sunday only used the shorts and S3's as they did the job.  Seriously sharp trebles too as while taking a treble out from a snarky salmon the second treble on the lure managed to gore my thumb.  Definitely a faster wake up call than my coffee.  One of those, "Damn, I hate when that happens", moments.

Swedish Fish,  I'm not sure it matters what direction you go just stay shallow and fish should find you.  For me the lines off the big board out to the side of the boat outperformed the chute line at least 3 to 1.....but as mentioned above, first time fishing in such shallow water since my college days casting from the discharge at Milliken.  Good luck Saturday.

[WildLaker607]

On 3/9/2020 at 9:16 PM, Doc said:

Nice! We had a decent morning too, went 17 for 26, all salmon except 2 rainbows. A lot of short hits. Kept 7, all in the skinny water as well.


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You kept 7 salmon out of Cayuga? I hope you had at least 3 people with fishing licenses on board

Edited March 12, 2020 by WildLaker607

[land locked]

14 hours ago, WildLaker607 said:

You kept 7 salmon out of Cayuga? I hope you had at least 3 people with fishing licenses on board

 

[Doc]

19 hours ago, land locked said:

 

Thanks land locked! I will bite my tongue and not respond to the post above this one..... They have probably contacted LOU admin trying to track me down lol 

[Doc]

On 3/10/2020 at 7:32 AM, Reel Doc said:

Nice catch, and with all those hits/catches certainly loads of fun with constant action!

If memory serves, you were boxing out with Browns and Pike this time last year.  Have you changed techniques or is the lake fished out of Browns and Pike?!  

I will gladly send you a pm Reel Doc.... too many trolls, haters and jealousy on here....  

[SwedishFish]

On 3/10/2020 at 10:32 PM, Reel Doc said:

Swedish Fish,  I'm not sure it matters what direction you go just stay shallow and fish should find you.  For me the lines off the big board out to the side of the boat outperformed the chute line at least 3 to 1.....but as mentioned above, first time fishing in such shallow water since my college days casting from the discharge at Milliken.  Good luck Saturday.

 

Thanks Reel Doc! I appreciate the advice!

[Reel Doc]

3 hours ago, SwedishFish said:

 

Thanks Reel Doc! I appreciate the advice!

NP

Pretty stout West wind here today but forecast says it will ease up somewhat for tomorrow.  You'll know at the launch how to handle it but might find hugging the West shore will give a smoother ride than the East side.

Be sure to let us know how you do.

Tight lines!!

[Doc]

On 3/10/2020 at 10:23 AM, SwedishFish said:

Beautiful Fish! Going to make the drive from Rochester this Saturday. Will be my first time fishing Cayuga. Planning on launching a small boat out of Taughannock. Any recommendations on going north or south from the launch? I'll try staying shallow based on your guys success!

South 

[SwedishFish]

South 

Thanks Doc!


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