“I’ve can’t name another fishery where you can catch big largemouth like this in open water.”
That’s how Chris Zaldain described Cayuga Lake. He elaborated more on his theory that the largemouth (not smallmouth) have very little structure in which to relate, and thus the reason why they are continually roaming around.
“There’s 400 feet of water in this place, and the fish live in 35 or more feet of water this time of the year,” he said. “Right now, they are hanging out there following schools of bait fish.”
For Zaldain, it’s been game on whenever those nomadic fish pass over or near any type of underwater structure, from a boat wreck—where he landed a key fish yesterday—to an isolated hump or rockpile.
“Whenever I see bait fish brush up against any type of structure it’s just about a sure bet that I’ll get a strike,” he continued. “I can catch them quick really quick, but you’ve got to move on from there and try another area.”
That’s what Zaldain did yesterday at around 9:30 a.m. He went practice fishing for new areas to enlarge his rotation of productive spots.