Cayuga Lake Trout!!!

Last weekend was a perfect mixture of work and play. The “work”—producing new teaching materials for WMAI with Michael Troxler from TroxlerMultiMedia—went super smooth. The weather cooperated and we shot all the footage we wanted (and then some) leaving time for fun and games!

Wilderness Medicine instructor Alice Henshaw in production for new WMAI course materials with TroxleMultiMedia

Our destination? The eastern shores of Cayuga Lake, Union Springs to be exact. Union Springs is a nice little village well known for catering to fans of fishing. The village hosts several bass tournaments each year and as it happens the Barge Canal Bassmasters Tournament was just getting started when we arrived at about 5:30am.

Wilderness Medical Instructor Alice Henshaw fishing Cayuga Lake

They had a great turnout for the tournament so by the time we let them clear the launch area we were on the water by 6:30 or so. Brian has fished Cayuga before and had a spot in mind, about 4 or 5 miles south. Lake Trout are predators and are always on the hunt for smaller fish so we headed to a spot where the water depth abruptly changes from 26 feet to 60 . This is exactly the type of spot where these clever lake trout will push their food supply—this morning it was yearling sawbellies—up against the ledge for easier snacking.

Sawbellies, a member of the herring family, are one of the main forage fish for most of the game fish in the Great Lakes.

Brian knew exactly where the fish were and what they were doing and it’s not because he’s a “fish whisperer”—it’s because he knows his fish and has great equipment and knows the best way to use it. His set up includes a Humminbird fishfinder I-Pilot linked to a Minn Kota Riptide Trolling Motor with auto pilot and spot lock. Says Brian, "Find the bait fish and you'll generally find the predators. Once over your target, Spot Lock holds your exact location via GPS which is critical to staying over the fish”. The lure we used today was a Half Inch Silver Vibe Minnow from Bearpaws Handpoured Baits.