Fall transition turns bass and walleye on before the salmon run

What's biting

What's next

Flow at gauge 04232050 is running low and stable at 17.8 cfs, so barring a rain event, expect water to stay clear and wadeable through the next 2-3 days. Water temp at 63°F should hold steady or ease down a degree or two overnight if the region sees any early-fall cool snaps, which is the trigger anglers watch for this time of year on the Finger Lakes.

On the bass side, the pattern described by Tactical Bassin this week — fish schooling on baitfish and adapting fast as "favorite patterns begin to fail" — is the one to lean on for smallmouth around structure and dying grass lines. Fishing the Midwest's note about fish relocating to the last live, green weeds as shallow cover dies off is worth applying directly to any weedy bay on Cayuga or Skaneateles. Their bladed swim jig recommendation is a genuine multi-species option here too, since it's built to draw bass, pike, and walleye in the same pass. Wired 2 Fish's reminder that walleye boats are gearing up for the shoulder season lines up with the same trolling-season ramp-up locally.

For timing, the coming weekend looks like a reasonable window if the low, stable flow holds — clear water and cooling temps typically mean better sight-fishing for smallmouth around docks and rock structure through midday, sliding into low-light trolling bites for walleye and lake trout at dawn and dusk. None of today's feeds carry a direct salmon report for these lakes, but the general fall pattern for Finger Lakes tributaries is a run that builds through late September and strengthens with the first real rain pulse — worth watching the gauge for a flow bump as an early signal, and checking current NY DEC regs before targeting fish in tributary mouths.

Context

None of today's angler-intel feeds carry a report specific to Cayuga, Seneca, or Skaneateles, so there's no direct comparative signal on whether this season is running early, late, or on-schedule for these lakes — worth saying plainly rather than guessing. What's available is general seasonal context: a gauge reading of 63°F in mid-September is in line with the typical late-summer-to-fall cooldown window for Finger Lakes tributaries, when surface and inflow temps usually start easing from summer highs but haven't yet dropped into the cold-water range that concentrates lake trout and staging salmon. The regional bass blogs (Tactical Bassin, Fishing the Midwest) describing the "fall transition" as actively underway elsewhere in the Midwest and South is consistent with what's typically expected on the Finger Lakes around this same calendar point — fish breaking off summer deep/offshore patterns and starting to relate to structure, weed edges, and bait pushes. The low, stable flow at 17.8 cfs suggests a dry stretch locally, which tends to delay the tributary salmon push until a meaningful rain event raises flows — a normal early-season holding pattern rather than anything unusual for mid-September.