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After a humbling morning yesterday at Fairhaven I was looking forward to a relaxing morning on the home court of Cayuga. Headed out of Deans about 7 and was greeted with a flat lake and a strong sun. Decided to try the skinny water anyway and was rewarded with continuous action courtesy of a bunch of burly lake trout. Spoons or sticks on riggers or short cores......they didn't care, just kept hammering away at everything. I kept holding out to finish the box with a silver so released 7 or 8 fish and then near quitting time a brute decided to swallow a stick bait so I took the hint and called it a day. The fight in these Lakers was tremendous compared to those caught in deep water. No water-skiing the last 50 feet with these today but of course, they were only back 75-125 feet. Just a beautiful morning to be on the water.

Fished from just south of long point to the college all 3 days. Surface temps 48-49 in the mornings warming to low 50's by the afternoon. Stayed in 20 to 40 fow with a shallow program of in-line planners, slide divers and riggers down 20. Majority of the bait is still deep, but we found some in 35-40 feet. Perch shadraps and jointed J-7's on the in-lines, chicken wings and bloody nose stingers on the divers and goby bay rats or green ale wives on the riggers. All caught fish, all three days. Did 17 fish on Wednesday after a late start due to motor issues. Steady pick all day. 7lb bow and 5lb salmon on the boards that day. 25 fish boated Thursday and 15 on Friday morning. Boated a lot of Lakers in the 5 to 10 pound class on the gobies and stingers. We caught and released quite a few nice, young bows on the boards around 17 inches. Never touched a brown and only the one salmon. Another 5 or ten degrees and Cayuga will be on fire!!

Please join us in a new Facebook group called "Finger Lakes Salmon and Trout Fishing" I've created this group due to the original being totally unmoderated and rude people ruining it for everyone. Thanks 5/18 Launch out of Myers headed south. Got 2 miles south and realized the water was mud and wasn't going to be productive. We made a turn back north till I found better water. We fished from 6am-Noon under overcast skys the whole day. Dead flat and sprinkling. Very peaceful and calm morning. Even tho it was slow we enjoying our morning to the fullest. 6:30am our first board took a rip. My step son Dean was on the rod and doing well. After a nice fight he brought a nice 28" Female Brown to the Net. Being I told him we were her for the big one, we were overly excited to get a nice Brown early. Then we proceeded to land 4 legal salmon in the 18-20" range. Overall we only landed 10 fish by noon, but we got the right one 5/19 Headed back out from 6am-10:30am. Sun was out very early to a dead flat lake and a east wind. We worked the same area but stayed in a small spot that was very productive. The water was only a slight brown and we had another foot of visibility. Hoping for a bigger Brown was the name of the game but lets face it. 28' is pretty good! Around 7:30am we doubled up! Dean brought a large laker to the boat and I was fortunate enough to bring another Brown the boat. Dean slid the net under the fish and when it hit the floor I really couldn't believe it. It was a Very Large 29" Male Brown Trout. I didn't have a scale but I think he is my new personal best. The rest of the morning was similar to the first. 10 for 10. 5/20 Back at it again! We went to the same spot, of course! As soon as we set down it was game on. The water had turned from brown to and nice green. It was nonstop action including doubles and triples. Pure mayhem. Still hoping for the Cayuga lake giant we weeded through many salmon in the 16-20' range and many small browns. But due to no lack of effort we couldn't find a big fish. We landed 16 by 8:30am Great day on the water and some salmon for the table. Tight lines!

Went to Cayuga for first time this year, launched out of T/falls. Had a tough day started at 8:30 didn't have a bump till 1:30, ended up getting 4 lakers then, 150 an 300 coppers of the boards did the trick. 1 of the dipsy out 60 all spoon bite. Best was 60-70 fow also marked some out deep.

Reasons for the high lake level? Seems like we didn’t have much snow melt. We did have a 2-3” soaker rain but it doesn’t seem it should effect the lake level this much. And the past year or two is seems worse.

Lakers were shallow this AM (5/7) and apparently took advantage of the full moon to chow on perch, rockbass, goby, Alewife, and a fat senko-like soft plastic. boards with stick baits were hot till 9am, then nothing. all colors seemed to work

This is my first year perch fishing on Cayuga Lake. I've been fishing the buoys outside of Union Springs in the center of the lake (like 60 other boats) once a week for the last few weeks. It's a 2 hr drive from home to Union Springs. I also fished Owasco a few times. Can anyone tell me when the fishing will slow down? Thank you.

Attached is the entry form for the 2019 Barney and Bear's Fall Trout and Bass Derby. You can sign up at Bear's Baits, located at Myers Park in Lansing, New York. Any questions please contact Bear at 607-387-5576. Bear's Fishing Flyer Fall Derby Sept 2019 Mastor.pdf

Looks like the canal Corp is sleeping on the job again.

I’m hearing about lots of launches closing. Yuck. Anyone know about Long Pt.? I’m dying to get out.

First and foremost. Wish all the best to all the LOU members and hope all are safe and healthy. I live in northern PA and have fished Cayuga my entire life. With all that is happening is there any bait available for sale around the south end of Cayuga. I am looking for large minnows. I would assume bait and tackle shops are not deemed essential but didn't know if there are any hardware stores or other such places that may have what I need. Thanks for your time and input, be safe and good luck !

Launched out of Treman around noon. No problem with shallow water. 12 trailers in parking lot. Most of the boats we running along the east side. Only put one short board out to avoid interfering with other boats. Most of the boats were off the lake by 3:00. I should have paid attention lol. Fished til 7:00. Bumped speed up to 2.5 mph per recommendations from my last LOU post. Stickbaits. Ran up the east side around 2 miles. Back down. Ran west. 1 laker on deep blue/silver stickbait. Ran east. 1 northern. Ran up west side 3 miles. Notta. Cut back across lake and came back down east side. 1 twenty inch landlock on a perch stickbait. Hope this helps.

Launched a 21ft boat on the South end today.No problem.. Got Out on the lake around 3[30 this afternoon wind was straight out of the north .Very cold.Ran the boards out with stickbaits.I hate stickbaits.Had one hit and fish was on for awhile.Had another hit and caught a big pike he took both sets of trebles right thru his gills.A bloody mess. All the lures had debris on them when we pulled lines. I was suprised because I did not see junk in the water. BTW Furuno said 50 degrees on top should have been loaded with fish.

How’s the shallow water bite holding up? I’m about to get my boat up and running. The Bay Rat lures should be here this week. Chomping at the bit!

Anyone know the status of the launch?

Drove down Rt 34 today ,got a good look at the S end. West corner had lots of chocolate water . East corner had a lot of really stained water . out past the dropoff there was stained water with spots of not so stained water as far up the lake as I could see. It looked like the lake was up about a foot since the last time I looked. The creeks I seen were all running clear. What does this mean? We will find out tomorrow nite with reports and pictures from all the boats.......

Thank you to the folks who suggested where to launch on Cayuga. Launched on the south (ladder) ramp at taughannock. Trolled with big planars from Crow bar back to taughannock. Notta. Drove boat to south end and fished in 10-20 ft of water, 2 mph, shallow stick baits. Was shooting for landlocks, but landed 2 northerns and 1 laker. Oh well, maybe next time.

Went out around 3pm with family, ran sticks off boards, got 2LT and 2LLS, a great day. 39-40deg on top ramp was ok but Uber low water. There were some stockies in the ramp circling and waiting for pellets. I think maybe 5 other rigs in the lot.

Went out Sunday morning around 7:00am. Picked up one LLS right out of launch. Then ran to south end of lake and picked up 3 Lt. all cam on spoons between 20 and 40 down in around 80/100 fow

Launched Deans 10ish, water low but ramp was Just manageable with 22’ sea nymph. maybe 5 other boats, some perchin’ 39 on surface got some kinks out of the boat and rigging and managed my sons first Cayuga salmon. I was definitely more excited than he was. Storm t-sticks, old & new style, off boards, bright colors

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!!

Many thanks to Hank @ L&M for installing some electronic upgrades this month. This morning launched from Taughannock for the first time out with the new toys. Throttle control for pinpoint speed control?? Awesome!! Autopilot so the boat doesn't do donuts while fighting a fish?? Incredible!! Didn't use the Subtroll today, but stay tuned!! Pretty solid South wind early so went North on the West side to start, then angled across the lake and finished running South on the East side. Lake trout are scattered everywhere so had a steady pick of fish from 30-110 down in 80-400fow off spoon and sliding cheaters on the downriggers. Dypsey carrying a fly took 1 fish in 100 fow and another in the middle of the lake. All the trout were similar in size to the ones in the photo with half a dozen going back in the lake to fight another day. Spent the last hour trying some stickbaits and spoons in shallower water, 40-60 deep, wasn't quite ready to get in real tight. Just the one salmon ended up grabbing a spoon straight across from the launch so headed in with tonight's dinner and a batch of fillets for the smoker tomorrow. With better control of the steering I look forward to trying some shallow trolls soon!!

Launched out of Taughannock at 9:30am. Water level very low, usual for this time of the year. No issues getting my Fishmaster 196 in and out BUT if you launch out of here be wary of the ladder at the end of the dock. Not sure what has happened to it but it has very little bracing and appears as if it is ready to fall off. picked up around 15 lakers, all went back in and to my surprise caught a pike on a spoon with a spin doc in front of it. no landlocked. water temp was 39.2 from surface down to 70’.

Anyone know or hear anything on whether they might repair the boat ramp at Taughannock Falls State Park? The concrete is all busted up and it's tough to get any good traction pulling the boat out of water. It seems it got a lot worse over the past year. Small ramp, likely wouldn't cost that much to pour some fresh concrete and maybe add a few ribs for better traction. Would be a great thing if they fixed it for 2020.

A knee issue has kept me off the water and mostly out of the woods the past 2 months so very excited to get out this morning. Strong South wind made it kind of snotty out there but the fish didn't care about the surface conditions. North out of Dean's to get the push of the wind and ran a simple tight formation of 2 downriggers carrying spoons with sliding cheaters down 35-70 and a long copper carrying a flasher fly down the chute. Everything caught fish and was boxed out in 2 hours. Nothing huge, all 20-24 inches and some smaller ones tossed back. Took over a half hour to bounce through the waves back to Dean's but no complaints here. An early Christmas present to be on the water....can't wait to get out again!!