Pavlot strikes again on Cayuga!

Ruszyk wastes no time getting the rust out...

April 29^th marked the start of Salt City’s 2007 paper trail on Cayuga Lake. The day proved to be a fun outing for most of this field of 14 participants. Overall weather conditions were comfortable and fish cooperated. Contrary to some angler’s recent opinion about Cayuga, several guys were fortunate enough to prove Cayuga still holds some big bass. Several 4 – 5 lb. fish were landed and rumors about bigger fish “coming unbuttoned” have even surfaced.

First Place: Team Ruszyk / Pavlot – 32lbs.

Ruszyk reported that his fish came fishing an area of cattails where the water temperature was a few degrees warmer than the rest of the lake. The water conditions were stained and the temperature was in the low 50’s. His 7 fish day (most good keepers including one good one over 4lbs) was spent throwing a 3/8 oz. black and blue Jig & Pig. Dave pitched towards the structure and with a very slow retrieve hopped the bait to the boat. Dave claimed that there was no real predictable pattern to the bite, but most fish would stalk the bait for several yards before the strike.

Welcome back Dave!

After hitting a few spots with little success early in the event, Mr. Pavlot decided to meet up with his partner in the cattails. Tom had a similar experience to Dave landing 8-9 good fish including a 5lb. 2oz lunker. Tom pitched a Zoom Baby Brush Hog with a ¼ oz bullet weight. He also fished slowly in order to attract the Large Mouths. Watch out boys, Delta is coming and TP is Hot!

Second Place: Team Krause / Barker – 20lbs. 7ozs.

Howard Krause has started 2007 where he left off 2006 - “in the money.” According to Howard, his non-boater for the tournament (Ralph Alexander) reportedly offered double the typical non-boater fee to go to his spots. This paid off for Howard who boated several Large Mouths while fishing in about 9’ of water. Howard was using a Shaky Head Worm in the 52 degree water. Again a slow approach proved to work best.

Way to go Howard!

Pat Grady lost a “Mail Box,” but Eric Barker seals the envelope landing some beautiful Large Mouths while fishing a marina. Eric was pitching a black and brown Jig and Pig in 2-5 feet of water around the docks. The fish were scattered about the 50 degree water. Most of Eric’s bites came while “dead sticking” his jig. Eric caught about 8 or 9 fish in the day. Keep it going Eric!