Cayuga Jigging Report 7/16 - 7/18

[PCPete]

So I just want to start out by giving a large thanks/shout out to @Hermit, @Guff, and anyone else who has given me advice lately about how to figure out Jigging for lakers... Im nowhere near done learning however having our first successful Jigging trip was Awesome.

Monday the 16th at 6am we went out to AES determined to find the Lakers... we putted around until we found some bait-fish on the FF and saw the Lakers sitting under them. We were onto the fish pretty much right away and ended up pulling in the following two fish.

The one on the left was 5LBS according to my scale and the one on the right my Dad pulled in - These are our first fish ever Jigging for Lakers. Also we were completely unprepared for the fiasco that unfolded as we brought the fish into the boat... It took us 20 minutes to get dads fish untangled from the net and we realized quickly that Lakers don't have the longevity of some of the other fish we usually catch.

We tried unsuccessfully to revive and return either laker we caught from 100ft of water... I read a forum post a while back about Burping Lakers but I didn't recall enough about it to try it... It seemed to me when we put them in the water like they had air stuck in them somewhere and just floated around.... so we picked them back up with the net...

Tuesday 7/17 it was a little rough at 6am when we got up to go out fishing.... So we decided to go out to 100 FOW from the cottage were staying at about 1 mile north of Longpoint and try jigging again.... After putting around for 2 hours we were unsuccessful at finding the baitfish with the Lakers underneath them like we saw on Monday and headed into shallower water to catch Panfish.... However to our surprise we ended up boating this 26 Inch Pike...

It was very windy Tuesday and the waves got very large later in the day....

Wednesday 7/17 - The water was dead calm when we got up and so we decided to make the long 10 mile or so haul to AES to try some more Jigging.... The spot we had on Monday that was working well for us did not yield us any results today... We putted around for an hour trying to find the baitfish but were unsuccessful in doing so. By the time we were done there were 3 Foot waves and we decided to head back before it got any worse...

If anyone knows of and wants to share any possible Jigging Hot spots that are a little north or by Longpoint that would be awesome. Were here at the cottage till Sunday and would like to experience the thrill again but the long haul to AES and the weather doesn't always make it possible to go there. It seems like the wind storm yesterday may have changed where the baitfish are as well as we were not able to locate them today.

Thanks again @Hermit for all the help/advice and guides on the site - I picked up a baitcaster reel and the braided line with a Fluorocarbon leader like you reccomended there last weekend and the gear held up great for the 20 minute fight pulling that large Laker in.

[ddubs3]

That is a decent pickerel. Did you mean 24"?. You may have brought the lakers up too quickly. It seems if you bring them up very quickly sometimes they will never burp.

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[hermit]

You're very welcome, that's what the site is for and the rest of us here on the BB too. We all start somewhere and I got a lot of help in the beginning, I just like to pass it along.

In that vein I'd like to thank the late Toby Wood, who was really responsible for starting the laker jigging in the Finger Lakes region. It's a shame he isn't around to see how popular it's become and to share in the success. Others who helped me get started back in 05 I think it was were Copperliner and Laker, back when he posted here, and the rest of the jiggers who shared info back then, when we were ALL figuring this out. (It may be worth going back and rereading the old stuff, I was 'whetherman' back then.) I was pretty green to fishing the lake and learned a lot from a good number of folks. (You have Guff to thank for prodding me into getting the web site back online.)

Anyway, congratulations on your success! As for where, as you noticed they usually don't stay in one spot and you often have to go looking. Even if you aren't seeing them under bait, it's worth stopping and dropping a jig down in various places- they're often just resting on the bottom and the FF won't pick them up until they swim up to take a look at the jig. The fishing is often good enough around LPSP that you shouldn't need to make the run to AES.

Around Long Point, just North in front of Aurora is still good this time of year, as is the area where the deep water comes up to the Northern shelf. I haven't been up there at all this year but it usually holds fish until late summer (and then again in the winter). I caught one of my biggest lakers ever the third Sunday in July up there. South of LPSP is also a good place to look (it has different structure) as is right across the lake near Dean's cove, both N and S.

As for the demise of your fish, probably time out of the water. I don't usually burp them and crank them up as quick as I can, get the hook out, and back in asap. Haven't had a floater in years, only problem is sometimes you get a heavy bleeder then I keep those. Often they're burping in the net but I don't do it myself. I try to leave them in the net when in the boat with the net suspended across the seats, then stick the net back in the water to release them. I use a rubber net too. If I do take one out to measure I drop them in nose first and that's usually enough to get them headed back down. You may not want to spend the cash for a few days of fishing but a rubber net helps a lot with tangles and is much easier on the fish.

Congrats again!

[PCPete]

@ddubs3 actually I meant 26"... I am unsure how Or where 34 came from.... I'll see if I can edit the post.

@hermit I will be investing in a rubber net then... Time out of the water was likely a big factor here as it's the first time we have handled Fish this big in the boat. I'll try near LPSP again in the morning then. Thanks!

[ Post made via iPhone ]

[PCPete]

[gonefishing71]

new@this

congrats on a great day fishing, looks like you had a good time

I picked up a rubber net... and I'm very happy with it