Reel Doc

SALE PENDING on the Super Ski Double Planer boards A pair of TX-44 inline planers 1 in package, second got wet a couple times,. A pair of Offshore inlines with the Lockjaw upgrades $70 each pair or take all 4 for $125 Located in Seneca Falls. Possible to meet on a Saturday when en route to Hamburg along the Thruway.

A gloomy start this morning but the first chance to hit the water in quite a while so my first mate and I were determined to make the most of it. Out of Dean's by 7:30 and despite surface temperatures around 39 decided to give some flat lines a try in the shallows. Not surprised when nothing fired so slid out beyond 75 and set some Flasher/flies off dipseys to complement the rigger spoons. The lake trout were hungry from 18" on up to this over 10 lb brute that despite a stout fight and a quick weight check swam off like nothing happened. A great morning on the water.....glad to get out early as by the time I was home eating lunch the skies opened up for the better part of the afternoon.

You can track the lake level off the Cayuga inlet buoy from this site.

WTG, Beauties all around. Glad to see you make it out there. Today's high South wind weather forecast kept me off the lake but it never looked that bad out there. By midmorning you were probably shedding layers with the warm up. Hope to see you out again next weekend

Nothing like a nice single malt to finish a day!!

Surface temperatures were consistently at 39 all morning.

Was thrilled to see the recent warm up but then the anxiety started about Thursday as I worried the deep freeze might arrive earlier than predicted and the weekend would be a no go. Got to Taughannock before 7 and greeted with calm waters. Decided to focus on the shallows and boated a couple nice ones in the first hour, then had a long dry spell. A South wind had started to put a little chop on the water, then about 9:30, the sky went dark and the wind shifted around to blast some cold air and little ice balls fell for 15-20 minutes. For the rest of the morning the lake was churning, and the fish didn't seem to appreciate it as managed to boat 1 more Laker and that was it. No complaints though as it was great to be on the water again after the month long freeze out. Wrapped up the day with a super dinner and writing this with a glass of Glenlivet in hand. Can't do much better for a February day!!

Gotta love this warm up. Hoping it holds into the weekend as Cayuga is calling!!

Awesome catch. All dedicated fishermen know patience is virtue and sooner or later reaps rewards. Continued success fishing this Winter and beyond

I'm a transplant so my first Cayuga smelting was in the mid-80's when came to Ithaca for college. Salmon creek was the East side hotspot. With the invasion of alewives and gobies the smelt numbers have really fallen off. Last Spring a few guys were filling buckets at some small streams but otherwise, not big numbers left.

We know how you feel as a deep freeze here for the past few weeks. Winter river Stripers sounds great. Post some pics next time you go out!

Glad to see you made it out. A couple animal emergencies this morning kept me on solid ground. Will try for next weekend.

Very nice. I didn't know you had your own backhoe!!

Thanks for the pic/update. Guess I'll be waiting for a little thaw for next weekend

That guy in the green coat looks familiar......

Very nice! Hoping to get there at some point this weekend! Thanks for the photo!

I'm afraid with temps in the single digits from now into Saturday that Dean's will be iced up solid for a while. Hoping we can get some Intel on Taughannock as if the bubbler is on it will be useable with a little work breaking the ice by the dock.

Thanks for the tip, I'll ask about it!

Yes, 95 % of Lakers I get from Cayuga are clipped. Been doing a diary for the DEC for a few years now.. Always look forward to the results when they post in March. I would love to know their system in order to get an idea on ages of some of the bigger ones

The luxury of living close to the launch allows for last minute fishing trips. I use the wind finder app and it's pretty reliable, but yesterday the lake surf was still coming strong from the South even though the wind started Southwest and an hour and a half later turned to come out of the Northwest. Definitely a lag between change in wind direction and the waves. Glad to get out as this time of year you never know when the next opportunity comes up

Hoped to get out Saturday but Dean's had iced up and didn't hear a status report for Taughannock. So.... today with the warm up we headed to Dean's this afternoon and despite a snotty surf from a South wind gave it a go. The chop was less near shore so put out a board and worked in tight for an hour but only picked up 1 Laker. The wind started to turn and the surf let up a little so snuck out past 75, dropped a couple dipseys with flies and game on. Non stop from 3:30 until dark, the flies had most of the fires but the rigger went a couple times too. A great way to spend a Sunday afternoon in January and still watch a great football game tonight.