By Todd Ceisner
BassFan Editor
For as much deep water as there is at Cayuga Lake, very little of it was put to use last week at the Bassmaster Elite Series in Union Springs, N.Y.
The outer rim of the lake and the sprawling grass flat at the northern end proved to be consistent producers of smallmouth and largemouth in all three phases of the spawn. There was no shortage of bites, but the bigger specimens seemed to be tucked away near docks or resting and recovering in the plentiful, stringy grass up north.
While it didn’t take near the weight to win that it did in 2014, Cayuga still produced at an impressive rate. Here’s a rundown of how the rest of the Top 5 caught their fish:
2nd: Jordan Lee
> Day 1: 5, 19-01
> Day 2: 5, 21-07
> Day 3: 5, 17-10
> Day 4: 5, 12-10
> Total = 20, 70-12
For Jordan Lee, there was a comfort level with the main tactic he used at Cayuga Lake because it’s similar to how he fishes for spawning fish in Alabama.
“They do the same thing at Guntersville,” he said. “They spawn in the holes and I catch them on the same baits. Finding the right area is key. Matt (his brother) helped me dial it in in practice. He got a few bites on a dropshot in practice so that’s what clued me in.”
Cayuga was a new venue for the 24-year-old and he said he’s growing more comfortable with how he approaches a lake he’s never been to before.
“To me going to a lake for the first time, you fish it like a new lake,” he said. “That can help sometimes. I feel like I’m getting more and more confident and I’m finding fish a little quicker. Fishing’s fishing. They’re all different. There’s always something on each lake that is the deal or certain areas that are always good. You pick up on those kinds of things each time. That’s why a lot of these guys are really hard to beat.”
Lee was tough to beat through the middle portion of the tournament as he dialed in an expansive grass flat that had largemouth milling around in the gaps and holes in the grass. He was blind-casting to those openings and more often than not, he’d catch good quality fish doing that.
“I wasn’t expecting much coming in based off practice,” he said. “Things just happened to go well in the tournament. Everything I did just worked out. I made the best of what I had.
“You don’t always need to be on the mother lode to have a shot to win. I feel like in some tournaments you can be, but this one I wasn’t on the mother lode. I just made good choices and found the right fish.”
He caught his day-1 weight sight-fishing smallmouth, but spent the majority of the final 3 days combing a section of the north end where the grass was scattered and thick. His day-2 stringer had two smallmouth in it that he’d found late on day 1.
“It wasn’t topped out and it was 3 feet down in some places,” he said. “The fish were bedding in the holes. There were holes all over the flat. I got into a certain section where it was 8 feet deep. It wasn’t a secret spot or anything. I just picked it apart and pitched to as many holes as I could.”
A methodical approach was a key to his success.
“I tried to cover a lot of water, but also tried to fish slow and be thorough,” he added. “I knew the fish weren’t going to be in the thicker stuff. I would use the holes as targets. What I liked about that area was there was so much scattered grass that you couldn’t dial that stuff in. I just focused on those targets and became confident in those.”
> Bed-fishing gear (smallmouth): 7’2” medium-heavy Quantum EXO Tour PT spinning rod, Quantum EXO Tour PT spinning reel, 20-pound Seaguar Smackdown braided line, 12-pound Seaguar InvizX fluorocarbon line (leader), #1 and 1/0 unnamed wacky hook, Strike King Dream Shot (green pumpkin sapphire), 1/4-oz. Strike King Tour Grade tungsten dropshot weight.
> He also threw a weightless wacky-rigged Strike King Ocho soft stickbait (hard candy) on the same combo.
> Dropshot gear (largemouth): Same rod, same reel, same line, 2/0 Roboworm Rebarb worm hook, 6” unnamed hand-poured worm (various bluegill imitation colors), same weight.
> Main factor in his success – “Having smallmouth to go to on day 1 because there were some big smallmouth. I caught a 5-pounder right off the bat. Then having largemouth to go to after that – I didn’t know the largemouth would be that quality.”
> Performance edge – “Probably my Lowrance (electronics) because I was out in that grass. I had different colors for my trails every day so I could see where I’d been and where I hadn’t been.”
Brett Hite post his second top-3 finish of the year at Cayuga.
3rd: Brett Hite
> Day 1: 5, 15-10
> Day 2: 5, 21-03
> Day 3: 5, 20-06
> Day 4: 5, 12-08
> Total = 20, 69-11
Brett Hite did what he does best at Cayuga – he fished in the grass all week.
“I had some history here,” he said. “I didn’t do well in 2014 and that upset me because it sets up how I like to fish – in the grass. I learned some stuff last time. I learned that these fish are really grass-oriented with some finesse tendencies to them.”
With that in mind, he relied on a one-two punch of a vibrating jig with a swimbait trailer as well as a wacky-rigged worm and a dropshot for when he wanted a finesse change of pace.
“That was my combo,” he said. “I’d throw the Jackhammer (vibrating jig) a lot and have a spinning rod as back up once I found the areas.”
Hite likened the north end of Cayuga to a couple well-known sections of Lake Okeechobee and even Frank’s Tract on the California Delta.
“It’s similar to the Monkey Box or Fisheating Bay,” he said. “It’s a big area, but when grass is in the equation and shallow, it’s all fishable. On the lower end, you have to be on the bank or you’re in 200 feet. Up north, there’s just a lot more surface acres and I know the fish live there.”
His best area was up north in roughly 10 feet of water. There was grass all around, but he located a strip or vein of rocky bottom where the fish would be grouped up. He used his Humminbird 360 Imaging to dissect it and understand where the sweet spot was.
“The Humminbird 360 is a great tool for that style of fishing,” he added. “I like it for 20 feet or less, especially when grass fishing.”
His tournament started with a modest 15-10 stringer that left him in the 60s on the leaderboard. He was around plenty of fish on the north end – every time he’d reel one in from a particular spot, a group of fish would come with it, but he only caught the small ones Thursday.
On Friday, he got the bigger fish fired up and bagged 21-03. The trend continued Saturday as he caught 20-06 to pull into 2nd place behind Lee.
Hite caught all largemouth during the tournament after souring on the idea of running south to pick off spawning smallmouth.
“I caught a couple during practice when I decided not to go down south,” he said. “I spent 6 hours down there and it didn’t feel right. I had a good day 1 up here and came back and put my head down and found a bunch of spots.”
> Vibrating jig gear: 7’3” heavy-action Evergreen Leopard glass casting rod, Daiwa Tatula CT Type R (100 size) casting reel (6.3: gear ratio), 20-pound Sunline Super FC Sniper fluorocarbon line, 3/8-, 1/2- and 3/4-oz. Evergreen Jackhammer (green-pumpkin), 4” Gary Yamamoto Custom Baits Zako (green-pumpkin) trailer.
> Most of Hite’s big fish came on the 3/4-oz. version of the Jackhammer, which is only available in Japan. When he moved into shallower water on day 4, he downsized to 1/4- or 3/8-oz.
> The Zako is a segmented soft-plastic swimbait that pairs well with a vibrating jig. The Zako will be officially introduced at ICAST in a few weeks.
> Dropshot gear: 7’1” medium-action Daiwa Steez AGS spinning rod, Daiwa Exist 2500 spinning reel, 16-pound Sunline SX1 braided line, 8-pound Sunline Super FC Sniper fluorocarbon line (leader), 1/0 Roboworm Rebarb worm hook, 1/4-oz Reins Tungsten pencil dropshot weight, 6” Roboworm straight-tail and Fat worm (watermelon magic and margarita multilator).
> Wacky rig gear: Same rod, same reel, same line, same hook, 6.5” Gary Yamamoto Custom Baits Kut Tail Worm (watermelon candy), 3/32-oz. Reins Tungsten nail weight.
> Main factor in his success – “Figuring out that spot within the spot.”
> Performance edge – “My Costa sunglasses (amber lens with green mirror finish) were key to helping me see the edge of the grass. They made a huge difference.”
Jacob Powroznik spent most of his tournament searching for fish on beds.
4th: Jacob Powroznik
> Day 1: 5, 21-14
> Day 2: 5, 18-05
> Day 3: 5, 15-15
> Day 4: 5, 13-06
> Total = 20, 69-08
Jacob Powroznik was all-in on a sight-fishing pattern in 4 1/2 to 8 feet of water for much of the tournament. He targeted mostly largemouth, but wouldn’t pass up the smallmouth that were scattered around the grass flat. He said he employed some of what he learned from the 2014 Elite Series stop at Cayuga to his game plan last week.
“I learned that these fish do not go very far and they stay right there where they’ve been,” he said. “It’s a fantastic lake. I love it. Everything just set up perfect for them to be on beds. It was a full moon the night after day 2 of practice. The lake was 54 degrees in the middle. That told me they had to be spawning. I expected a big wave to move up. I just needed to be able to see.”
He saw just fine the first 2 days and he rolled up 40-03 at the halfway point.
“When you got into an area, there’d would be a bunch of largemouth spawning,” he said. “Different fish were using the older beds.”
He focused on three areas mainly and he pitched a soft plastic stickbait to holes in the grass.
“I fished the mid-lake a little, but the majority was on the north end,” he added. “It was just a big area. It was a needle in a haystack sort of thing, but when you found ‘em, you found ‘em. It reminded me of fishing the grass flat up north at Champlain. It’s about 10 feet deep with grass all across it.”
> Sight-Fishing gear: 7’4” medium-action Quantum Tour KVD PT spinning rod, Quantum Smoke PT spinning reel, 10-pound Hi Seas braided line to 8-pound Hi Seas fluorocarbon line (leader), 2/0 Lazer TroKar dropshot hook, V&M Baits Trickster (green-pumpkin), unnamed hand-poured worm (various colors), 3/8-oz. Elite Tungsten dropshot sinker.
> Flipping gear: 7’10” and 7’6” heavy-action Quantum Tour KVD PT casting rods, Quantum Smoke HD casting reel (7.3:1 ratio), 25-pound Hi-Seas fluorobarbon line, 1/2-oz. Elite Tungsten worm weight, 4/0 Lazer TroKar flipping hook, V&M Baits Swamp Hog and Baby Swamp Hog (blue haze, watermelon candy).
> The Smoke HD casting reel is the same reel used by Greg Hackney during his win at Lake Texoma.
> When the bedding fish wouldn’t commit to the dropshot presentation, he resorted to flipping a creature bait in the bed’s vicinity.
> He also caught a few fish on the Livingston Walking Boss.
> Main factor in his success – “My Costa sunglasses. I used sunrise yellow lenses and amber when the sun got up high.”
> Performance edge – “That Hi-Seas fluorocarbon. I used 8-pound test and with the water being so clear, I think that light line helped a lot.”
Koby Kreiger registered his best finish of the season at Cayuga.
5th: Koby Kreiger
> Day 1: 5, 18-14
> Day 2: 5, 16-06
> Day 3: 5, 19-01
> Day 4: 5, 15-03
> Total = 20, 69-08
To get a feel for what Cayuga Lake might have to offer, Koby Kreiger and Hank Cherry spent a couple days on Seneca Lake, the largest of all the Finger Lakes located just to the west of Cayuga.
“That put us on the docks program,” Kreiger said. “I saw some spawning and I knew the same thing would be going on (at Cayuga). That kick-started the whole week and pointed us in the right direction.”
He caught 18-14 quickly on day 1 sight-fishing and found another bay with some largemouth on beds that he saved for later in the event. He worked over some leftover bedding fish and managed a small limit on a topwater walking bait.
“I had a stretch of docks at the south end that I practiced on,” he said. “I went there and culled four of my fish, but I lost two 4-pounders doing that.”
That was the last time he made the long run down toward Ithaca.
“It was a long way to go for a gamble,” he said.
He started day 3 slinging a topwater and didn’t catch one until the eighth blow up. He then went back to the bay where he’d found some largemouth on day 1. He picked off a 5-pounder and then it got slick so he was able to hunt for more spawners. He added a 4-pound smallmouth before heading to his key stretch of docks up north to close out the day.
While Cayuga had plenty of docks, there were certain characteristics that separated the better ones from the others.
“The right dock stuck out the furthest and had the most shade,” he said. “It usually was the biggest platform on the end and there’d be water from 2 to 6 feet deep.”
> Topwater gear: 6’8” medium-heavy Powell Max 3D casting rod, Abu Garcia Revo MGX casting reel (7.1:1 ratio), 17-pound Berkley Trilene XL monofilament line, Heddon Super Spook Junior Saltwater Series (bone white).
> Wacky rig gear: 7’1” medium-action Powell Max 3D spinning rod, Abu Garcia Revo MGX spinning reel, 10-pound Spiderwire braided line, 10-pound Berkley Trilene 100% fluorocarbon line (leader), #2 unnamed straight shank hook, 5” V&M Baits Chopstick (green-pumpkin).
> Main factor in his success – “I have to give props to Gerald Swindle. I’ve been struggling all year and I had a terrible day 2 (at Lake Texoma) so I called him and we had a talk at the meeting (before Cayuga). He just told me to fish slow and don’t let the lake push you. When day 2 was going bad, I reminded myself to take it easy and relax; same thing on day 4. I knew those fish were there and I got them to bite. Listening to him and slowing down were key.”
> Performance edge – “My 12-foot MinnKota Talons were the most important piece of equipment on my boat. On Sunday, when it was windy there was no way I could’ve have fished those docks without them.”
Much of the tackle referenced above is available at the BassFan Store. To browse the selection, click here.
