Gordon Mueller
3000-45 Stevens Street
Oceanside, New York
(516) 850-3689
muelle@us.ibm.com
Trip for Long Island Flyrodders Where: Finger Lakes and Cortland, NY area When: Thursday July 28 to Sunday July 31, 2005 Details: The home base for this trip will be my eighteen acre vacation property I call ‘Windmill Farm’ in Cayuga County, in the heart of the Finger Lakes region. This area is just gorgeous in the summer, with hundreds of vacation and recreation activities. The Farm is easily accessed from I-81, about twelve miles from Cortland, NY. My pride and joy of the Farm are the two spring fed ponds on the property. Both were stocked with Largemouth Bass, Bluegills and Crappie in 1975. The fishing has been strictly catch and release with barbless hooks for the past twenty years, so there are some very healthy specimens. The average Bass is about a pound, but I’ve caught several trophy ‘lunkers’. (The largest Bass I’ve ever caught was almost twenty inches long and probably weighed six pounds). I nickname the larger bluegills ‘piranhas’ because of their ferocity. Popping bugs, nymphs, woolybuggers and large dry flies will produce lots of action. You can fish from the bank, wade or canoe on the big pond. I guarantee you’ll catch fish! Worst case scenario, we buy a tub of nightcrawlers. In addition to our home base at the Farm there are many other fishing opportunities in the area. Downhill from the Farm, the pond springs empty into Owasco Inlet, which is one of the better known trout streams in the Finger Lakes. Because of my captive audience at the Farm, I’ve only just started to fish the Owasco, but I’ve had good luck with the native Brown Trout using small nymphs. In the spring and fall you get larger Lake run spawning Rainbows and Browns. Other nearby Trout streams are Fall Creek and the Tioughnioga River, which runs through Cortland. The local chapter of Trout Unlimited should be able to point us to some good spots. Fishing in the Finger Lakes themselves is also available. The closest lake to the Farm is Owasco Lake, with a marina only eleven miles away. Owasco is smaller and shallower than many of the other lakes and is considered one of the best fishing lakes in the chain. (Several years ago an episode of ‘The Fishing Hole’ was shot on Owasco Lake). Owasco species include Lake, Rainbow and Brown Trout, Smallmouth Bass, Yellow Perch, Walleye and Pickerel. Since I haven’t bought my Ranger Bass boat yet, I arranged a charter with a local guide for Saturday. Captain Dave Kukella of Fish Tale Charter operates out of Auburn, NY and fishes in either Owasco or Skaneateles Lakes, depending on wind and fishing conditions. Because of the depth of the lakes, the usual summer fishing technique is deep trolling with downriggers. If the fish aren’t too deep, I’m going to bring a fly rod with full sinking line. Depending upon how many members go on the trip, we can take turns on the charter and fish for smallmouth bass closer to shore from canoes. Dave’s charter rates are very reasonable. The village of Skaneateles located on the north end of that lake looks like a Norman Rockwell painting. The last time I visited Skaneateles, I saw a huge school of Smallmouth Bass hanging out at the end of a long pier right in the middle of the village. The water in this lake is supposedly the purest in the Finger Lakes and you can clearly see the bottom in thirty or forty feet of water. The other activity for this trip is a tour of the Cortland Line factory. I contacted Cortland Line via e-mail and they do offer tours from 8:30am to 2:30pm. After the factory tour, we can stop at the Cortland Line Factory Store, where they have good deals on tackle, discontinued items and factory seconds. (This would probably be a good place to buy raffle prizes for our meetings). Joe Wegzyn, the manager of the Factory Store, is also a good source of local fishing conditions. (There’s a link to Joe’s profile of the Tioughnioga River in the Cortland web site). In case it rains, another shopping opportunity is at the new Bass Pro Shop in Auburn, NY. If that’s not enough to do, there’s dozens of other things to do near the farm. My home town of Ithaca, at the south end of Cayuga Lake, is a lively college town with lots of shopping and excellent restaurants. The Cayuga Wine Trail is a group of fifteen small wineries that offer tours and tastings. (King Ferry and Long Point wineries are close to the farm). There are dozens of beautiful waterfalls in several state parks. (Fillmore Glen State Park in Moravia is the closest). If you’d rather golf than fish, Fillmore Golf Club is three miles away and open to the public. (‘Fillmore’ refers to the former President, Millard, who was born near the Farm). Facilities at the Farm are rustic, but semi-civilized. There’s a small cabin on the Farm with electricity, electric range, refrigerator, wood stove, gas grill and running water (including a shower). There’s plenty of space for campers in the field or woods. What I don’t have is TV or a phone, so bring a cell. For members who don’t want to camp, there are several name brand hotels in Cortland, at Exit 11 off I-81 (Hampton Inn, Holiday Inn, Comfort Inn, etc.) There are also dozens of B&B Inns in many of the small towns near the Farm. Itinerary Thursday 7/28, afternoon and evening · Setup camp at Wind Mill Farm or check into hotels in Cortland. · Pond fishing for Bass and panfish. · Cookout at Farm. Friday morning , 7/29 · Tour of Cortland Line factory. · Shop at Cortland Line Factory Store and get local advice. Friday afternoon and evening · Trout fishing in Owasco Inlet, Fall Creek and/or Tioughnioga River. · Pond fishing for Bass and panfish. · Cookout at Farm. Saturday, 7/30 · Lake fishing in Owasco or Skaneateles Lakes with Fish Tale Charter and canoes. · Tour local wineries, waterfalls, scenic villages, etc. · Group dinner at Mineral Springs restaurant (Prime Rib night!) or Cascade Grill. Sunday, 7/31 · Last chance for pond or stream fishing. · Strike camp or check out of hotels. · Drive back to Long Island, with possible detours to Delaware or Beaverkill rivers. Directions to Wind Mill Farm (315 Powers Road, Locke, NY) The ‘Fast’ route from Long Island. 1. Take the Cross Island Parkway or Clearview Expressway to the Throgs Neck Bridge. 2. Take the Cross Bronx or Bruckner/Deegan Expressway to the George Washington Bridge. 3. After crossing the GWB, take the New Jersey Turnpike to I-80 West. 4. Take I-80 West across New Jersey, through the Delaware Water Gap, into Pennsylvania, to I-380 West. 5. Take I-380 West until it merges with I-81 North in Scranton, PA. 6. Take I-81 North through Pennsylvania, back into New York. 7. See directions from Binghamton, NY. The ‘Scenic’ route from Long Island 1. Take the Cross Island Parkway or Clearview Expressway to the Throgs Neck Bridge. 2. Take the Bruckner Expressway to the Bronx River Parkway. 3. Take the Bronx River Parkway to the Sprain Brook Parkway. 4. Take the Sprain Brook to I-287 West (Cross Westchester) 5. I-287 merges with NYS Thruway (I-87). Take Thruway North across Tappan Zee Bridge. 6. Take Thruway North to Route 17 West. 7. Take Route 17 West to I-81 North in Binghamton. (Enjoy scenery along Beaverkill and Delaware). 8. See directions from Binghamton, NY. From Binghamton, NY 1. Take I-81 North to Exit 12, Homer. (Exits 10 and 11 are Cortland) 2. At end of exit road, turn right onto NYS 281. 3. Take NYS 281 to NYS 90. (look for traffic light and Mobil station. If you want to ‘cheat’, buy nightcrawlers from vending machine at Mobil station). 4. Turn left onto NYS 90. 5. Take NYS 90 about ten miles. Look for Chipman Corners Road. 6. Make next left turn AFTER Chipman Corners Road, onto Powers Road. (Look for sign to Fillmore Glen Golf Club on right side of road. Road sign for Powers and Toll Gate Road are on the right, not left side of highway). 7. Take Powers Road to the end. Just before Stop sign at Booth Hill Road, turn right into Wind Mill Farm. Look for red barn. Note: Trip should take between 4 ½ to 5 ½ hours from Long Island, depending upon traffic getting out of the city. I usually take the ‘Fast’ route up and the ‘Scenic’ route back. The Farm is 262 miles from my home in Oceanside.
Cortland Hotels
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