Cayuga Lake

This lake provides excellent year round open water fishing for both warm and cold water species.

Gear and fly-fishing for Landlocked Atlantic salmon is available from January through May and again in November and December. This fishing is concentrated in the southern third of the lake.   It varies year by year.  Cayuga Lake is currently in an "up cycle" with landlocked Atlantic Salmon, brown trout and rainbow trout showing good numbers!     I'd rate the fishing for these salmonids as good as anything I've seen in the past decade, so enjoy it while it's here!

The largemouth bass fishing has been very good over the past couple seasons with large fish and numbers showing a rebound.   Tournaments recorded good weights with many 20lb+ bags for 5 fish limits.    Smallmouth bass numbers are currently down.   Some people feel numbers are down around 50%.   So if you're after smallies, you may want to fish a different lake - like Skaneateles or Canandaigua/Keuka until Cayuga rebounds.

Cayuga's pike fishing has been fair to good, but not great over the past two years.  The good classes of fish in the early 2000s seem to have moved through the fishery, though Cayuga still offers up some of the best chances for 35"+ fish.   Hopefully we'll see some successful pike spawning soon on Cayuga.  Cayuga does still offer up opportunities for some big northerns.   Pickerel are found lake-wide but are particularly abundant at Cayuga's north end and provide good sport throughout the late spring and summer.

Lake trout are the dominant cold water fish in Cayuga Lake and they run large here.  Fish average 4 to 8lbs, with plenty of larger fish available.   The jigging typically starts off at the lake's northern basin then moves south.   These fish fight hard and taste very good.  I love fishing lakers on Cayuga Lake!

Longnose Gar are available on Cayuga Lake from June though August.   They provide an excellent fly-fishing opportunity.   Gar run from 30" up to around 37" typically, though on occasion larger fish can be caught.   Hot, windless days are best for gar fishing.

Bluegills and sunfish averaging 8" long can be taken readily from late April through June on Cayuga Lake.   These panfish are a blast and taste great!  

Other species found on Cayuga include freshwater drum, yellow perch, crappies, channel catfish, bullheads, white perch, lake sturgeon and carp.   Cayuga Lake has around 55 to 60 species of freshwater fish in it.   It is the most diverse of the Finger Lakes "fish-wise".   I look at Cayuga as the Finger Lake's version of Lake Champlain.

The launch at Taughannock Park is bubbled and kept free of ice in the winter, so launching of boats is available year round. Cayuga’s winding basin helps keep waves at a manageable level in many parts of the lake during windy days. Ice fishing is available at the north end of the lake during most years.