Bigfoot

Owasco?

PM sent.

I used to have the same problem with the MI stinger scorpion hookups. I would lose way to many fish and almost all of the bigger ones. Now I land almost all of them. The standard hooks are JUNK! I replace them with a quality hook like the Owner ST trebles. End of problem.

When and where will they be available?

If two boats tie, they split the points for the two positions and their scores end up ending in .5 points. For example, if two boats tie for third, you add the third place points (48) to the forth place points (47), and divide the total (95) by 2. Each boat would be rewarded with 47.5 points. The next finishing boat would be 5th and receive 46 points.

Several points: According to the 2013 Owasco Angler Diary Cooperator summary, the number of surveys was 2000+. Surveys were sent out at random. I was ticked off at DEC at the time because we had been told at a state of the lake meeting that a survey was coming and we were even asked to sign up for it ( I stayed after the meeting to do this) I as cold water diary cooperator I felt I was a stakeholder- but I wasn't selected to participate. The Saunders Fishing Guide (1986) states on page 217 that: "At one time walleye were the principle gamefish in this lake. Their population collapsed after 1948". Also, I have been told that there was a high water event around 10 years ago, were it was reported that thousands of adult walleye were flushed from the lake into Owasco Outlet. That's a one way trip, once the go downstream, they can't come back. The number of warm water cooperators on Owasco is quite low (and some concentrate on bass or pike, not walleye) so the data DEC receives probably doesn't accurately reflect the conditions in the lake.

They didn't stop the eye stocking just because of the survey. Walleye, browns and rainbows did NOT thrive together. In fact the brown/rainbow fishery collapsed. Fishing in Owasco is nowhere near as good as it used to be. The first FLTA derby that I fished there (about 15 years ago) had several captains weigh in 3 lakers that weighed over 10lbs each. Maybe a dozen 10 pounders total were brought to the scales. How many this year? One or two? Also, there were to many lakers stocked and growth rates were terrible. You could look at the fin clips and see multiple years stockings that were all 18-20 inches. Owasco is a unique trout fishery.It is capable producing 20lb browns. It's not just another Finger Lake. The fishery is rebounding. Let's not screw it up by repeating the mistakes of the past.

The walleyes reproduce however alewives eat almost all of the walleye fry so walleye reproduction doesn't amount to much. Walleyes are expensive to raise. Walleyes were native to Owasco, however they died out decades ago after the alewives were introduced. The reintroduction of walleyes was only successful because a local club was willing to raise eye fry in small ponds to fingerling size, where the had a decent chance of survival in Owasco after stocking. DEC/Cornell did a survey that showed that more anglers wanted Rainbows/Browns than walleyes. DEC has long maintained that the fishery can not support quality fishing for both. DEC has no plans to stock eyes in Owasco in the future.

FLTA rules state that there are "no cancellations of tournaments". Lake is still open.....so I suppose it's on.

So much for my memory......

As I recall it was a walleye. It was caught on a point in the SW corner of the lake. After it was weighed in it was released and it stayed under one of the marina docks (Jack pointed it out to me)for a day or two.

I my younger days I used to fish the Owasco Derby on Saturday and the FLTA derby on Cayuga on Sunday. Don't know if my health will allow me to fish both this year. That's probably a Saturday night decision. One can't assume that the lunker will be a laker. Sometimes Owasco gives up a big pike or walleye and I have seen years when the lunker was not a laker. Although the Owasco derby is a two day derby, an amazing number of the contestants fish Saturday morning and do something else on Sunday. Also, there are anglers that fish for bass and perch, and have almost no chance of taking lunker.

We fished the south end, which was definitely not the place to be.... Anyway, the 10 browns and 2 rainbows brought to scale were ( by far) the most off fish weighed in a FTLA Keuka derby in my memory. If fact, in recent years there have been days where no in the club could find even one! The landlocks in Keuka still seem to be AWOL.

I didn't fish the derby on Canandaigua because the rules clearly state that you can only use one rod per person. Who trolls with just one rod? Outstanding fish- anywhere!!!

Marine patrols are different than road patrols, it is my understanding that if a county includes part of a body a water, they can (and sometimes do) patrol all of the body of water.

Who put this derby on? I probably would have fished it if I had known about it.....

1ST place in today's perch derby held on Keuka Lake by the Avon Anglers was 9.78 lbs. for 5 fish. Lunker was 2.45 lbs!!!!! Winning team consisted of Steve Labarr, Ron Thomas and Talon Wright.