Cayuga 7/3 Dean's

[Guppy35]

Had an awesome day of jigging today. Launched at Dean's at 5:30 this morning and ran straight across the lake to what I think people refer to as Aurora? 5 minutes in we landed our first laker and it was a steady pick of lakers from 5:45 - 8:00. Ended the trip around 10:30 with 21 fish landed. 20 lakers from 24" - 31", and a nice brown.

 

Around 9:30 I believe my brother hooked into a sturgeon. We had our drags set fairly tight, and it peeled almost 100 yards of line off the bait caster with its initial run. Got to the point where we had to chase it with the trolling motor before it spooled him. Thank you to the guy trolling solo that was gracious enough to pull everything in as we let him know we had one running towards the back of his boat. Unfortunately after a 6 or 7 minute fight, he broke off at the leader. Anybody else think it was a sturgeon, or something else? No head shakes, just a strong steady peel of drag.

 

Anyways, it was a great day on the lake. 50-70 fow was where we caught most, with 60fow being the sweet spot. Lunkerr City chartreuse paddletails and white w/ chartreuse paddle were hot today.

 

Sent from my SM-A505U using Lake Ontario United mobile app

 

 

[cinnamon fish]

I had a fish/freight train on the line yesterday that took me nearly 20 minutes to get to the boat.  I was in 270 ft of water and he peeled me straight down near the bottom several times, couldn't stop him.  I thought of a sturgeon possibly, because he felt stronger than just about any fish I've hooked into on Cayuga.  Turned out to be a 33 1/4" lake trout when I finally landed him.  I would've thought even bigger by the strength he fought with.

[Bassin Bob]

I've had some large Lakers turn into lead. Down they go. Stick out the fins and will not move. Last week I had a hit that if I wasn't on Cayuga I'd have thought it was a king. Screaming reel. Big laker. 

There has to be some very stout fish in the lakes. After all. When they hit 10 lbs, they start eating 2 to 3. Lb fish. 

[bulletbob]

 Could have been a sturgeon I suppose... More likely however- 1- Massive Carp in the 30-40 lb range.. They  are tough fighters in the 10 pound range.. At 20+  pounds in deep water?...  Near impossible for  jigging tackle..

 
 

 

 Best guess??.. Laker in the  35-40 inch 15-18 pound range.. They are out there... I have caught them in the10-11 pound range, and they don't come up off bottom easy in that weight range...  a soild 15 pounder on jigging tackle could spool you or break the line  depending on tackle and conditions

 

 Wild Card-  BIG Drum[sheepshead] in the 20-30 lb range..... bob

                                                                   

Edited July 3, 2020 by bulletbob

[suttontroller94]

Foul hooked fish is a possibility too. Sometimes they swipe at it and get It Stuck elsewhere

[Rickbgm]

I had one two weeks ago just slammed it off the rigger and peeled line off like a king. Thought I had one very large laker. Turned out he was about 6 lbs but was hooked right in the gill plate with a 3/0 hook on a fly. He wasn't happy about it.

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[WildLaker607]

Wow 21 fish landed sounds like you guys had a blast! Thanks for the report, I guess it pays to be on the water early. Could have been a sturgeon I’ve heard of them caught while laker jigging, could have been a massive laker too

Edited July 4, 2020 by WildLaker607

[Sk8man]

WTG Sean. I had a 10 plus rainbow here on Canandaigua a couple weeks ago that was double wrapped in the line and came in sideways and ran back and forth horizontally and it took me 20 minutes to get him in and it felt like I had a hundred pound weight on the line....so...who knows

[Skidplate]

Either foul hooked  or Laker over 12 lb I would think

Edited July 4, 2020 by Billy H

[bulletbob]

..Oh yeah forgot about tail or body hooked lakers.. a  7-8 pounder hooked in the tail can certainly spool someone with light tackle, its happened  seveal times to me while jigging,, Thought I had a lake record fish, and it turned out to be an above average plain old laker, hooked in the tail or body.... bob

 

[Guppy35]

Thanks for the replies.  I guess my thinking was that you would feel a laker doing it's typical headshake, but i hadn't thought about the fact that it could have been foul hooked.  We will never know, but that is one of the things i love about the finger lakes is that there is always that mystery!  Can't wait to get back out there.

[gonefishing71]

19 hours ago, Guppy35 said:

Thanks for the replies.  I guess my thinking was that you would feel a laker doing it's typical headshake, but i hadn't thought about the fact that it could have been foul hooked.  We will never know, but that is one of the things i love about the finger lakes is that there is always that mystery!  Can't wait to get back out there.

 

i would guess a big brown, lakers seem to turn into lead, they go up, and they go straight down

 

browns on the other hand, are like a 2 year old on a sugar buzz, 

 

sure beats working whatever it was

[GAMBLER]

I would say sturgeon.  The 34lb laker we caught on Lake O we didn't have to chase.  Once we got it unglued from the bottom, it made a lazy 200' run and then came in easy.