CaptainEyes

Fireplug, You probobly wouldnt want to make the two hour trek over now. The fishing is starting to get tough between weeds and I think some of the fish are starting to get into their summer pattern. Besides, Conesus has just as many if not more big fish than here you just gotta figure out how to catch them. I am not sure if there is a night(alweif) bite on conesus but if there is obviously throwing stick baits are you first course of action otherwise youll want to troll and Im sure if you PM Justin he can tell you what to try and speed. Good Fishing Brent

That's a question for a biologist and could especially be true during summer months when they feed very little. These fish have been gorging themselves on mooneyes for several weeks now and usually have some in their stomach. I don't know how often individual fish feed maybe this one hadn't fed in awhile and was finally coming in at 3am.

Caught this one on a blue&orange J12 floater on a LONG pause. Fish had allot of fat and an empty stomach.

I got down to the lake around 3am caught a 20" eye at 3:15 and it started pouring thunder & lightning 5min later. Still quite a few eyes in shallow but the weeds are really starting to play havoc with anything that sinks. Sent from my iPhone using Lake Ontario United

That is great news Justin, do you know what time they plan on being there?

Let me make this clear - this is NOT about Justin or overfishing it was just some useful information that I recieved. Actually fishing on Otisco during the day has been better than in the last several years.

Les, you make some good points between balance and reminders... From talking with the DEC they seem to know what a great fishery Otisco is and while they utilize the information from the diaries they do rely heavily on there own data such as when they stock the lake in the spring and shock it in the fall for survival rates.. How's the fishing on Candandaigua? I lived there for 27years before moving to Otisco and I still own a house there on Rt.488.. I use to love the small mouth fishing on the lake.

I would like to get out tonight

Here is the last sentence from their email to me that was cut off when I copied it. "Otisco is the first water to be approved for this type of management and it is because the fishery that developed has been one of the best in the state. " Based on this email I have full confidence that the stocking of walleye in Otisco will never again be compromised... You and I firmly believe in the diary program and I encourage everyone to participate!!! As a marketing professional I firmly beleive the direct marketing/promotion of Otisco will not have any effect on the stocking program but could have an adversed effect on the overall fishery due to the high volume of anglers it is attracting.

I havent posted much on here this spring/summer due to the fact everyone seem's to be doing well on Otisco and the site has become too much of a brag board for my taste. We have had good discussions in the past on the lakes sustainability and past/future stocking program. A major discussion was the reason the DEC stopped stocking for a 3year period, I had been informed it was becasue they wanted to see if natural reproduction was occuring while others felt it was due to the lack of angler diary feedback. I contacted the DEC and have attached their response below. I was pretty confident in the reason for the three year hiatus but shocked to learn that Otisco is now on an every other year stocking program. Brent, We stopped stocking for three years in order to determine whether any significant natural reproduction was occurring. We were fairly certain that none was occuring but still had to confirm, as per our statewide walleye management guidelines. As expected we caught no wild produced walleye during the three years when stocking did not occur (because of alewife predation on walleye fry). Fortunately we were able to make the case that the walleye fishery is too good to walk away from and stocking was resumed. As of fall 2013 we completed a five year stocking "experiment" to determine whether our intensively reared walleye fingerlings from the Oneida Hatchery would work in Otisco Lake (and a number of other waters). Happily I can say that the survival of these walleye fingerlings in Otisco was similar to what we observed in the past from pond reared walleye fingerlings raised at our South Otselic Hatchery. Using the Oneida Hatchery in this way will essentially double the number of walleye fingerlings available for stocking around the state. However, even with these fish demand still is greater than supply. We are now managing the Otisco walleye fishery under a "Put-Grow-Take" scenario and 44,000 fingerlings will be stocked every other year. Region 7 Fisheries Office NYSDEC 1285 Fisher Avenue Cortland NY, 13045 (607) 753-3095 xt. 213

Yes but more like. 30mi

I finally had the opportunity to fish with Justtracytrolling and 315Angler last night into this morning. We fished from approx. 10:30 to 3:30 with the bulk of the catch between 12:30 and 2:00. We each caught 2 fish and I, my personal best 7lb. Great conversation great people and a special thank you to Justin for the invite on your boat. The only hard part of this fishing is not falling asleep at your desk after only a couple of hours sleep...lol I look forward to another outing this summer. And like Justin and Tim say "just one more fish"

Due to a long honey due list, Turkey hunting, and my boat not in running order I had only 4hr's of walleye fishing to date and nothing to show for it, until last night. I found myself a spot off the usual beaten path of shore fisherman and settled in too the mooneyes doing their dance thing and walleyes slurping all around me. After an hour of casting I finally had one on I reached up to turn my hat light on and damn... the batteries are dead. After a few minutes I was luckily able to net the fish.. I walked up the bank and set the net down to take the lure out of her mouth she then decided to flop out of the net down the bank and back into the lake!!! It was almost 4am by then and I was too tired to filet her anyways. Atleast that's what I am going to tell people. LOL

Muskidreams pm me your email and I will send it to you Sent from my iPhone using Lake Ontario United

I haven't made it out yet either. I stopped down the other night didn't see any mooneyes in shallow so I figured maybe a little early for casting but thought you mite pick up a few trolling. Let me know how you do on the pond side. Sent from my iPhone using Lake Ontario United

Your a 100% right Justin, we dont know what we dont know and if the hard questions are not asked we'll never know... Thankfully, this year we should know more with the anticipated 2014 full lake survey... Good Luck Sat morning sounds like its gonna be cool and rainy!!

I'm not debating your 30yrs of experience or personal avg walleye size or weight but, to answer your question many states and Canada have similar averages if not higher at rates of over 1fish per hour. But this discussion is about sustainability on Otisco and I consider myself a conservationist and because the DEC is under funded and under manned I have very little faith in the fisheries and wildlife programs especially given the liberal season' and limits. And, in Otisco's case the numbers of stocked vs caught and with the increasing number of lines in the water = the math just does not add up for sustainability the only caveat to that is if the lake continues to see a 11% plus survival rate of stocked fish but thats a huge if...... Justin I will take you up on the offer to go fishing with you I would like to see what other more succesful people are doing that I'm not.. Brent

like they say 90% of the fish are caught by 10% of the fisherman which is a true statement. However, I based my comment on the data provided by the DEC on stocked vs %that live vs total number taken yearly.. My concern with the increasing number of people fishing for walley is the sustainability based on the data. I expected the catch rate to jump big time this past year due to the fact we are finally getting over the hump of 3yrs NO stocking. Also, remeber that the NYDEC stating .2 an hour is good and .5 an hour is excellent is nothing more than NY biologist throwing a number out there for people to drink the kool-aid. If you compare other states catch rate you will see they are at 1 per hour or higher if we are not striving for sustainability and a catch rate compareable to those in other excellent walley fisheries than whats the point of keeping a diary?

It is nice to see a slight increase in number of participating diary anglers and it would be nice to see a larger participation as this only accounts for a real small percentage of the overall (walleye) take. Guy's have been trolling the lake for years but keep it to themselves I also know 2guys who actually do well jigging and the diary also doesnt account for the 100's of homeowners around the lake who walk out on their deck at night and catch there fair share as well. I hope the DEC increase's stocking numbers as I have wittnessed a substantial increase in the fishing pressure(past 5 year's) on this small lake (not sure if this site has anything to do with it) and I'm not sure I share the same setiment that there is a "ton" of walleyes in the lake. The DEC stocks 44,000 fingelrings annually with a normal 1%-2% survival rate which means the majority of the year class is caught every year. And according to the DEC there is very little if any natural reproduction on the lake so 44,000 is the number. Now, with this past year of 11% survival rate (super good news) what it means is that 2018-2019 should be banner years for walley fishing. One thing about this lake is it does not give up its fish very easily I had my worst year ever Ice fishing on Otisco I hope spring/summer goes the other way.

Are these still available? Sent from my iPhone using Lake Ontario United