October 10, 2020: gradually clearing skies and a high in the low 70s. I made the call to take a trip to Cassadaga Lake for what I (correctly) assumed would be my only musky trip of the year. I wanted to get out a least once before the steelhead showed up, and we had some cold nights prior that I hoped would get the fish feeding. I also wanted to see if I could get my dad into a musky; he doesn’t fish much but caught his first steelhead and laker this year, so I figured adding another to the list would be cool. We loaded up kayaks and headed out.
We arrived around 2:30 pm, which was kind of late. The weather was beautiful by early October standards. I took the opportunity to soak up one last bit of sun and forewent wearing a shirt. It was warm, but there was that slight nip you always feel as fall arrives, not quite enough to give you goosebumps, but enough to let you know where you stand.
We fished for two hours straight. Nothing, not even a sighting. We let the gentle breeze take us up the shore and worked the weed edges heavily. The weed beds weren’t exactly as I remembered them being; I don’t know if this was because I was out a bit later than usual (usually I take a trip in late September) or it was the cold nights, or my memory is just shot.
We worked the entire west and north shoreline before trolling back southwest to where we started. I figured I would work my go-to spot for 15-20 mins before calling it a day. Sure enough, about 10 minutes in and bam, fish on. I could tell he was pretty small, especially by musky standards, but it made for a relatively easy fight and net.
We fished for about another 20 minutes, no dice. I was a bit disappointed my dad hadn’t hooked into anything (I would have much rather he caught the fish than myself), but I was certainly very happy that I had caught a musky. Although the musky at Cassadaga are pretty small and usually 2-4 hours are required to catch one, it’s still fun to get out for these elusive fish. Overall, a good trip in my book.
