Oneida Lake Walleye blitz. 2012

[Shane Muckey]

I ran down Friday for an hour to see if the ice was a good even 5 inches..about 4 3/4 's good black, so we all got together Saturday and today at Oneida..Fished with a bunch of friends..Waited this long for Ice and set my alarm wrong, what a disaster, raced to Oneida and was fishing about 2 hours late... My buddy Ryan already had a dozen eyes on the ice when I got there...Walked out in a ground blizzard with Icefreako and stopped half way out and set up camp, we picked at the eyes, had about 18 keepers on the ice by 2 pm, then made a move for evening, what a great blitz at dark, we ended up with 43 keeper eyes on the ice by sunset, bet we could have done 60 easy if we got there at daybreak, it was that good...there was 6 of us out there fishing together, bet we conservatively put 130 keeper eyes on the ice Saturday and half the guys left before the evening bite. I Ended the night with a nice 25 inch 6.3/4lber personal best for ice fishing, also landing 24 was a personal best as well for me, even without hitting the daybreak bite... what a day, I'll never forget it....... ;D

Went back today, only a quarter as good as Saturday, left around noon, I put 11 keeper eyes on the ice before I started looking for perch, never found the perch either days, everyone was hitting the eyes today, just not as fast paced as yesterday, not sure how many, bet our group did 50 or 60 when I left, we were kind of split up serching today.... wind was getting brutal on my hands, heater was froze....Well see what happens with the weather tomorrow...

2 days limit to clean......

[Biggtymer33]

Is there not a limit on Oneida? 43 on the ice seems like more than a 6 man limit?

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[Steelman]

Is there not a limit on Oneida? 43 on the ice seems like more than a 6 man limit?

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3 walleye over 15 inches... http://www.dec.ny.gov/outdoor/41034.html They can catch that many but he never said they kept them. He shows 6 fish with the caption "2 day limit".

[Finders Keepers]

NICE!!! One of these days I would like to venture over that way and give eyes a try. Is it safe to say that a flasher is a must? I have camera systems, but haven't needed a flasher as of yet since I have only targeted pike and perch. What depth were the eyes coming at and how much water were you over?

[Pequod1]

That is the most impressive catch I have ever seen for Oneida. I know you guys work hard at it. Congrats!

In my limited experience, I would recommend a good flasher for Oneida. The few times that we have gone there, the eyes I caught showed up on the unit and I had to move the jig to their level. And, even though it is not safe now, the snowmobile and Atv helped us locate some nice perch last season.

[Shane Muckey]

Is there not a limit on Oneida? 43 on the ice seems like more than a 6 man limit?

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just a figure of speach, we landed 43 eyes, but they were released quickly...

we caught and released 37 eyes kept 6 between the 2 of us on sat. , those 6 on my sidewalk are my 3 from saturday, and my 3 from sunday.....

130 landed .....dozen on the ice....ect, its like saying how many made it too the boat c&r ed most of the day looked for perch, but couldn't find them...

[gert9888]

would any of you guys be willing to fill me in on a depth or an area of that lake I dont need to know really anything else except the bare minimum I live in binghamton and have never fished oneida. wouldnt have the slightest idea on where to go just a very broad area would be great. I know what it takes to find fish on the ice... a lot of drilling and running any info would be great thanks

[gert9888]

by the way awesome catch

[Shane Muckey]

Only the west end and east end have safe Ice right now, the middle 70% is not safe and or open... I'm not saying where I was fishing because if someone died fishing where I was say tomorrow , I couldn't live with my self..Theres really no fishable water deeper than say 29 fow right now, so we were shallow looking for perch when we found this school of eyes, it was a complete suprize..my buddies were out today, the school moved and nobody could find it. Fun while it lasted. hope this helps gert.

[gert9888]

thanks snagger I would really like to be able to get one legal eye thru the ice this year. down here we have the whitney point res. I fish it all the time but a lot of 6-9inch walleye but thats it i got one last year that was 17 so only an inch shy. maybe the little pond up where u are will produce this weekend thanks again

[Fish Hunter]

We had crazy action in early March a couple years ago, but not like that!! WOW!!

Vexilar was so full of marks, you could hardly see the the jigs.

They were taking everything we threw down the hole.

Have never seen that before, or after.

Usually plenty happy with a limit, and a few perch.

[choo-choo]

Uneffinbelievable !!!!Way to go Snagger and buddies ! I,m down here trying to jig up a stray walleye and a few crappies and perch.....and you guy's are "personal besting" on numbers and size with walleyes !!!

That sounds like one of those special, epic days to remember forever!!!!! Off the charts ,Snagger!!

Now you've got to figure out why they were in that location, on that day, at that depth, in those numbers, and so willing to bite, for so long a perod of time !!!

I don't think you could have done any better than that even if you were fishing in the hatcheries ponds and raceways!!!

I hope you can find them again.....great job .

[Shane Muckey]

Uneffinbelievable !!!!Way to go Snagger and buddies ! I,m down here trying to jig up a stray walleye and a few crappies and perch.....and you guy's are "personal besting" on numbers and size with walleyes !!!

That sounds like one of those special, epic days to remember forever!!!!! Off the charts ,Snagger!!

Now you've got to figure out why they were in that location, on that day, at that depth, in those numbers, and so willing to bite, for so long a perod of time !!!

I don't think you could have done any better than that even if you were fishing in the hatcheries ponds and raceways!!!

I hope you can find them again.....great job .

A small storm was just to the south of us in Pa., drove down in a 2 inch snow fall.. Barometer was in the high 2990's and steady with cloud cover most of the day, the fish hadn't seen people in months, the day before my tracks were the first to spud out that deep, they were dumb we were the first guys and weather was perfect... Had friends there Monday 3 guys 3 eyes, thats it.. Much lower baro pressure, plus no snow patches on the ice, all black.... back to reality for a while....

Hey Choo Choo, me and my buddy didn't bring our shanties, fished in the weather, could easilly done more if we weren't warming our hands all day...live and learn...

[muskybob]

Dang, nice catches SNAGGER, thanks for the report & pics.

[Shane Muckey]

Fished Wednesday thursday and Saturday..heres a few reports and pics.

Awesome Oneida Lake Sunrise.

Wedsnesday:

We spudded our way out to 34 fow on the northshore of Oneida Lake yesterday, found a few spots where my spud went threw with 3 hits, about 4 inches of black ice, where I was fishing was about 5 inches black, after I heated the ice from my heater in my shanty, top got a little sandy like snow ice from the rain that soaked in it the other day, Freds foot went through 2 white spots on the way in ...... old drain holes..Ice is in freeky form in the middle, think I'll stick to the far west or eastern ends til it's gets a bit thicker... Fish came in spurts, lots of dead time, but quick flurries from time to time, I landed 16 eyes, 13 keepers, 6 jumbo's and a burbot.....not too bad a day...Nice reeling them up out of deep water for a change....Perch are choaked with buckeyes.. Time to head back to last weekends school of walleye.

Thursday:

Another great Morning on Oneida Lake.....

The funnest part of today was when a second walleye tried to fit into my six inch hole with the one I had on..After that I just dropped the jigging rap down about 12 feet under the ice, stopped looking at the fish finder and got 9 keeper eyes by watching them with my eyes, it was cool as hell, they would swipe at it blindly like 5 times before they hit it..., it was crazy, I kept pulling it out of there mouths, had to disipline my self to wait for them to flare there gills open and wait for the rap to dissapear..just incredible action between 9-10am..I put 18 keeper eyes on the ice by 11am, dumped who knows how many...1 perch and another burbot.... then left a little after noon...back hurt and was tired, wish I could of stayed, nice fishin with you boys out there... Freddy was on fire" when I left, 30 on the ice and counting.....just spectacular.

Only been on the ice 3 half days and one full day and landed 66 keeper eyes this year...what a year. Ice was 5 1/2 - 6 inches black, but some yellow water in a few spots, lakes rising from runoff, hope she holds.......where are the perch?

Saturday:

Fished Constania again Saturday morning, quite a few folks out Saturday compared to thursday, looked like most were enjoying themselves .....not the first time theres been current going between the Islands for out there for me, but usually you have 14 inches under you when Oneida's currents are racing towards rt 81, not 5.5 inches of crap ice... 3 March's ago it was ripping through there, if you u...sed a spoon, it woudn't show up on the flasher, had to drill a hole in the direction of the current for it too show up, yep a used the spud on a few white cracks out there, some open drain holes to hop around from recent rains, alot of bubbles in the ice in the afternoon, plus had to wade through water like it was March when you got back..I decided to not fish sunday after looking at the bubbles in the ice.

Fished with a pile of friends, it was a good time, heard alot of laughing going on around me...everyone did better than me on eyes, I couldn't find them to save my life, Fred did 9, John limited quick..ht did 4 , and so on....so I made a move deeper and hit 34 perch instead, tossed 3 sandy pond perch back and kept 31 Oneida jumbo's.... all on jigging raps, very agrressive bite...only managed 2 eyes by 3pm, then it looked like a storm was coming so I left, might have been able to do 50 on the perch if I stayed, they were just getting going around 1pm.. Ht had to give me my third eye.... thanks bud....thank god that idiot on the fourwheeler with 2 very young kids on both rear fenders didn't go in, I was scared as hell watching him drive by with 2 2man shacks in tow, I could care if that fool drowned, but the youngsters, OMG it was frightning to look at...I think I'm staying off Oneida for a while, atleast the next 5 days, too spongy on most of the northshore for me, now a foot of snow covering up the hazards.... stay safe if you go.

[Shane Muckey]

short vid of saturdays open water holes.

http://s647.photobucket.com/albums/uu200/snagger69/?action=view&current=icehole.mp4

[adam2000]

that was fun