Cayuga Lake water condition?

[bulletbob]

Took my 12 YO grandson out jigging saturday promising him his first Lake Trout.. He was so excited.. We were north of AES before sunup Saturday jigging.. Not a single hit all morning, not much bait or life on the screen either side of the lake. Awful.. Anyway as the  day progressed, I could see the water was  opaque and the color of pea soup mixed with milk.. Anywhere we stopped it looked the same.. We couldn't even catch a few sunnies,perch, rock  bass on bobbers with worms after we gave up laker jigging .. I would say as soon as our jigging spoons or  1 ox jig heads with shad bodies went  below about 18 inches below the surface they were no long visible to us. Not sure if this is the "algae bloom" I   have been reading about, but I can say this was among the worst visibility I have ever seen in 34 years of fishing the lake.. Was it just our lack of skill, or has the water color shut down fishing for other guys??.. We saw a bunch of boats all fishing hard around us, trollers too, but never saw a net drop or a fish  being fought as is usual when a bunch of boats are jigging in close proximity.. My grandson  LOVES fishing to a fault[I call him fish brain],but now he says he hates Laker jigging, never wants to try it again, and never wants to fish at Cayuga again!.. When we got back to the ramp at T park, that sick looking green/white water was in the lagoon at the ramp as well, and you couldn't see a foot down.. Never saw  it look like this.. Has fishing been off because of this, or did we just have an awful day?

[CHINOOKY]

Had similar experience  above at deans on Friday. Water looked like the Caribbean. Definitely algae bloom warning signs were posted at Deans. We still manages 50 perch but most were dinks and the keepers we manage were very skinny and stomachs were pulled in.  Bite was off for us on friday as well it should have been x4.  Once it breaks it usually really good fishing through fall or when lake turns over there's always something!

[bulletbob]

yes, we caught a few tiny perch also, but just a few weeks ago at the south end in Ithaca we caught some really nice panfish, bunch of big fat perch, huge Bluegills and pumpkinseeds, and a big rock Bass, just fooling around fishing from shore in Ithaca. That water just looked really bad.. Also saw a couple dead Crappies floating on the surface in the lagoon near the ramp.. Never saw Crappies  in  this section of Cayuga in all the years I fished it.. Maybe they hang near the docks in the marina, I never knew they were there.. Anyway,  I think Cayuga is off my list for a while.. I can remember year after year, decade after decade, jigging for lakers in July and August and the water was always clear, even in mid summer, unless a bad storm had muddied the feeder streams, but that usually only  lasted a few days.. Biggest problem we had years ago was certain winds or recent  storms might have had the lake full of weed fragments  making fishing  a pain.. Its only been  more recent years that the water turned an ugly green in summer.. I recall back in the 90's fishing in Cayuga from shore and the water was super clear, you could see rocks 10 feet down plain as day, and the rocks were clean, no mud, no algae, no brown slime, and you could see lots of perch and rock bass hovering around them.. Things change I guess.. Everyone wants a piece of these lakes, I get it, but the farms, wineries, and thousands of luxury homes  built on the lake edges are taking a toll in my opinion... bob

[regulator]

From Google, but I remember hearing of some significant agricultural spills/runoff events that are likely contributing factors for the excessive algae blooms:

 

Reports from 2017 and 2021 mention significant agricultural runoff incidents affecting Cayuga Lake. A manure spill in 2017 reached the lake via Salmon Creek after melting snow carried runoff from fields where manure had been spread due to a structural issue at a nearby farm's manure storage lagoon. In 2021, an estimated 100,000 gallons of liquid manure overflowed from a storage pit at Ashland Farm, reaching a tributary of Great Gully Brook which flows into Cayuga Lake. 

Impact on Cayuga Lake and the Surrounding Region

These incidents, along with ongoing agricultural runoff, contribute to nutrient loading in Cayuga Lake. Excess nutrients, particularly phosphorus and nitrogen, can lead to harmful algal blooms (HABs) that can pose health risks to humans and animals.  

• Harmful Algal Blooms: The presence of HABs has been observed in Cayuga Lake since 2017, and has been documented to cause beach closures and impact water quality.

[bulletbob]

 are guys still seeing productive fishing during these events?.. I am not all that sharp, just an average fisherman,  but when that water color gets this  bad, fishing dies for me. Others might have techniques  that get them fish when  I  don't....

[Lily 2]

The Caribbean looking g water is a seasonal event has happened for many years usally end of June through the first part of July.  It is a sure sign the lake is going to finally establish it thermalcline.  As.far as.fishing is concerned we fished all weekend and boated well over 60 fish in 3 days big rainbows lakes.and even got in to some salmon.   The fleas are a nusance but manageable.   With all the rain and miserable cold.may and June the lake temps are about a month behind schedule and so are the fish. By August the lake will clear up.   I've seen this many times.and it is not alge.   I've spoken numerous times with the biologist in charge of Cayuga and she has assured me in the past it has to do with the lake setting up.    Good look out there 

[Lily 2]

She assured me it had nothing to do with alge and was from the lake setting up.   I typed slower than I was thinking.   We had a trip on Tuesday and even then the water clarity had improved alot from the weekend.    Think dark cloudy days for presentation colors

[jk1]

So how long will this last?   what a summer of weird weather.  the last few days have been relatively nice, not overly hot......k

[Lily 2]

From looking back at pictures from the last 3 years the best I can say is that the lake will start to clear up in a couple of weeks to a month.   This year's color is alot like it was in 2023 and that cleared up in about 3 weeks.   How ever the lake temps were more on par with normal in 2023.  And this color change happened around late June and was mostly gone by mid July.   I'm not by any means a biologist.   I do record my down temps and surface temps and water conditions every trip we take and from my records the lake is 3 to 4 weeks behind schedule for what I would call an average.   I also fish the entire lake and I am fishing now where we normally would be fishing late June.  These are my personal records that I have I can't say for certain that the lake will be more or less cloudy by in a couple of weeks but I can say that it is definitely an annual event some years are "worse" than others but this is a normal thing to see.   The blue green alge we see is usally in the bays and more stagnant shallow water.   As far as bait being found I'm marking a ton of bait balls bot on side scan and on normal sonar every trip.   The fish are all healthy that we catch and this year the lampreys have been non existent.   Last year I spoke with the biologist numerous times about how many lampreys we were getting both fresh wounds on fish and attached to fish and this year that problem seems to be 100% better.   Fleas in the lake didn't really show up in force untill about 2 weeks ago wich is another indicator of the lake being colder longer in to the summer than I can remember.   It's been a cold gray spring 

[Pequod1]

Very good info Lily . Thank you.  I have not been on the lake since late June and have to agree, it was a delayed spring for sure. 
Bob, I know how disappointing it can be for your grandson. I have been taking my 10 yr old grandson out as much as we can . Last trip, we were skunked on Lake Ontario. I cut the trip short so as not to discourage him.  Thankfully, he still wants that salmon.

i might suggest you take him to Skaneateles, Owasco, or canandaigua. Your best chance at jigging up a laker out of the three would be Owasco and there are plenty of pannies there. It is more prone to algae blooms than canandaigua or skaneateles though. Good luck.

[bulletbob]

 I am familiar with Owasco, and have had very good success with Lakers there.. Skaneateles is my favorite lake for SMB and panfish, but for whatever reason, I cannot find the lakers there ever.. Never caught one never saw one caught!.. No schools of Alewives of course which is how I usually locate lakers. If I am not mistaken September is a very good month for jigging lakers on Owasco, about the time  the lakers in Cayuga start spawning.. Been a while since I've been there..  I told him we'll get him a few lakers before long, it could have been just  a  bad day.. bob

[Lily 2]

4 hours ago, bulletbob said:

 I am familiar with Owasco, and have had very good success with Lakers there.. Skaneateles is my favorite lake for SMB and panfish, but for whatever reason, I cannot find the lakers there ever.. Never caught one never saw one caught!.. No schools of Alewives of course which is how I usually locate lakers. If I am not mistaken September is a very good month for jigging lakers on Owasco, about the time  the lakers in Cayuga start spawning.. Been a while since I've been there..  I told him we'll get him a few lakers before long, it could have been just  a  bad day.. bob

As far as the jigging game goes I really can't give you much for information.  I  strictly troll.   I  can however tell you that the down temps are 50 degrees about 60 ft down.   Maybe try looking shallower on the bottom for bottom oriented fish.  Like I said before I can't help much with jigging but I know in my application that if you find the temps evenually the fish will be there.    Good luck tight lines

[Lily 2]

Water clarity has definitely improved fished all weekend did mixed bags of Lakers and rainbows Saturday and Sunday.