Cayuga Smallmouth Advice Please

[RiverRat22]

I’m looking for some help catching some smallmouth on Cayuga. I’m taking my dad fishing this weekend and would love to catch a couple smallies with him. 

 

This is my first year fishing Cayuga (moved here from Florida). I had a great spring catching largemouth and smallmouth but have really struggled to catch anything this summer. 

 

I’m not looking to steal anyone’s spot or anything. I just want some advice on what type of stuff to find them in. Should I look shallow or deep? Weeds or rock? Steep or gradual drop offs?  I mostly fish from the power plant south to Trumansburg since that’s where I caught them in the spring. Is that just a bad area?  I feel like I’ve tried everything and all I catch are perch and some random rainbows. 
 

Thanks in advance.
 

Picture of my boat. Feel free to stop and say hi if you see me out there. 
 

[Gill-T]

I am not an expert on Cayuga but I have fished for bass on a few of the bigger fingers. I would look for deep water around points. They are more pelagic than largemouths and chase alewife schools but they probably feel more comfortable with some rock under them.  Derp points allow for ambushing alewives while chewing on crawdads. 

[RiverRat22]

On 9/5/2023 at 9:51 PM, Gill-T said:

I am not an expert on Cayuga but I have fished for bass on a few of the bigger fingers. I would look for deep water around points. They are more pelagic than largemouths and chase alewife schools but they probably feel more comfortable with some rock under them.  Derp points allow for ambushing alewives while chewing on crawdads. 

Thank you Gill. I’ve wondered a lot about how pelagic they are. 

[Gill-T]

A couple years ago I was trolling for salmon and trout on Lake George. I was in the middle of the lake and couldn’t keep the bass off my leadcore with spoons. I couldn’t buy a bite on all the classic rock structure along the shore with spin tackle. At some point smallmouth determine the investment in calories to go roaming for bait outweighs pecking at crayfish in the rocks. 

[RiverRat22]

Part of what makes it hard for me to figure out is just how much bait there is. Between the perch, gobies, and alewives there’s smallmouth food everywhere I look. 
 

I found a spot last time out that was just loaded with gobies. I fished it hard but never caught a bass. Maybe I’ll try to find some areas with more alewives next time. 

[Gill-T]

If you can pull up on YouTube the Bass events that have been broadcast, you should be able to gleam some intel from the way and where the pros were fishing for them. From what I remember, guys were deep dropshotting in areas that had rock and some weeds.