Cayuga lake Conditions

[Lily 2]

Just giving everyone a heads up the alge bloom seems to have cleared up.  The lake is back to its normal colors and clarity.  Weeds are still a nusance but have also cleared up after we have had some hard winds over the last week.  We now have replaced those head aches with fleas.   Fleas were terrible all weekend.  Sticking to everything including downrigger cable's.  Heavy mono did nothing over the weekend.  Be prepared to check your gear often for a while.  Even had fleas gumming up wire divers today.  Good luck all fishing remains great tight lines and be safe out there.

[Sk8man]

Thanks for the report. It underscores previous comments I have made about the DENSITY of fleas being the critical factor where diameter of line becomes basically irrelevant to the point that 150-200 lb downrigger wire becomes clogged and no matter what diameter or composition of line you are using becomes clogged with them.....very frustrating but that is the world we are living in now.

Edited August 1, 2023 by Sk8man

[MXFisher]

Thanks for the update. We went out this past weekend jigging and found the same thing. Decent water color for sure. Little fishing wise for us but should get better. 

[J Fish n]

Definitely can agree on the fleas being bad… even with blood run flea line on my poles, im setting a timer and pulling both downriggers on 15 minute intervals and still having well over an inch or 2 of fleas on my line. Still have Been catching rainbows out on Cayuga but the fleas definitely are trying to slow it down lol

[Lily 2]

Very true Les I have never really had much luck with all of the flea lines and heavy  diameter line.  When the fleas are bad they stick to everything and make a mess of everything.  As far as it effecting the fishing I have never recorded any change in fishing that I could say was because of fleas.  Fleas are temperature tolerant so I'm not sure how it affects trout and salmon species that don't spend alot of time in 70+ degree water. The effect they have is it makes it tough to keep rigs in the water for long periods of time.  If your stuff isn't in the water it's not catching fish.

[Sk8man]

Very true Good luck out there. Once the water temp goes back down things will be more normalized.