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taking a deep dive into cayuga lake smallmouth
Early June Bass Pro Tour event benefits from catch , weigh , immediate-release format
By Steven Bardin and Gary Klein
The early June return of the Bass Pro Tour to Cayuga Lake , New York – for Favorite Fishing Stage Five Presented by ATG + Wrangler – refocuses the world ’ s attention on the outstanding smallmouth fishery that thrives in this gem of New York ’ s Finger Lakes region . It also reminds us that there are probably a lot of fishing fans out there who might enjoy a deeper dive into Cayuga .
cayuga lake at a glance
• Cayuga Lake is the second largest of the 11 Finger Lakes in Upstate New York , spanning 42,956 surface acres , reaching a maximum depth of 435 feet and stretching north / south for a length of 38 miles .
• The lake has a two-tier sportfish population , supporting both cold and warm water species . The sportfish opportunities include rainbow trout , Atlantic salmon , brown trout , lake trout , lake sturgeon , largemouth bass , smallmouth bass , northern pike , bluegill , black crappie , yellow perch and channel catfish .
• Forage fish are primarily open-water species such as alewives , rainbow smelt , gizzard shad and various shiner minnow species . Larger forage species including yellow perch , pumpkinseed and bluegill sunfish also exist and are abundant at times . More recently , exotic round goby have established a thriving population , supported by their ability to consume zebra mussels .
• The upper end of Cayuga is shallower , with dense submerged vegetation that include milfoils , curly leaf pondweed , coontail and hydrilla . This diverse environment produced the New York state record 8-pound , 6-ounce bass in 2022 and is the primary reason the Bass Pro Tour events held here are so prolific .
what scoretracker ® data tells us
The June Cayuga event is one of three fisheries on the 2023 Bass Pro Tour schedule where we can compare data for the “ every fish counts ” format to the best-five-fish format . In 2022 , Bass Pro Tour Stage Six on Cayuga used a 2-pound variable minimum weight and turned out to be an extraordinary showcase of the fishery . In total , 2,532 bass were recorded into SCORE- TRACKER ®: 2,209 largemouth and 323 smallmouth . Dustin Connell won the event with a Championship Round total of 25 smallmouth for 96 pounds , 12 ounces . Dakota Ebare had Berkley Big Bass for the event with a Bass Pro Tour-record 7-10 smallmouth .
10 MAJORLEAGUEFISHING . COM | JUNE-JULY 2023