Annual Owasco Bass Tournment

[Jimmyfishny]

Just got back from the Owasco Bass Tournament. We couldn't ask for better weather or a better time on the water. We were going in a little blind this year since most of our focus the last few years has been on the big pond. We all took a half day Friday to prefish in order to find out where the the thermocline was set up and see if we could mark some fish. We found the best bait over 130 fow anywhere from 20-120 down. The bait was few and far between but we did mark a good amount in the middle of the lake so we decide to start there Saturday morning. Saturday was a slow start for us we only hit 3 fish in the first 4 hours a little frustrating but being able to put out 9 rods really helped us dial in what they wanted. Our set up included 3 dispeys, 2 riggers, 2 stackers, a copper and a side planner with around an oz of weight. (The side planner was not hit the entire two todays, we are thinking of getting into the lead-core game) Around 11am we starting marking much more bait and it was game on. I can tell you green did not work. It is usually our go to but for us I only moved 3 rods the entire trip with green. Rigger, Stackers, and dispeys all produced. Most fish came from 40ft down to 60ft. Best down speed was 2.0-2.3. We found a good amount of bait at 11am and just worked that area for 3 hours mid-day! We landed 10 fish in those 3 hours and lost another 5-6. We were picking through laker trout after lake trout mainly in the 3-6 pound range which we knew would not hold up so all were released. Then around 12:30 the lower rigger fired and 10 seconds later I saw a beautiful rainbow jumping behind the boat. It was a great fight with her jumping 5-6 times and finally hitting the deck. We boxed her and fished for another 30 min but wanted to get her weighted asap. Took a little break and went back out to the same area. We hit another 10 fish from 4pm-6pm, nothing of size until the stacker released and same story. Another great bow giving us a aerobatic show.

 

Sunday we ran to the same spot and same story plenty of bows, smaller lakers, but nothing of size. All released hit another 15 fish in the morning. Fishing was good but we had to pick up at 9am to get my brother on his flight home. Went back out at 11am and only hit a small laker.  It was mainly a spoon bit for us with only 2-3 hits coming off the flasher/fly combo.

 

All in all it was a great weekend lots of fish and we ended up taking 1st and 2nd in the bow division. Great competition out there and congrats to the winners in the other divisions. 11 pound 4 oz pike took home the lunker! It was great to see quality fish coming out of the lake. Several great browns came out, winner I believe was 9 pounds 4 oz. Last year the biggest brown came out of the inlet at 18in. Good to see stopping the walleye stocking is getting our trout to have a chance to grow!

 

Specials Thanks to Jack at the South Shore Marina for putting together a great tournament year in and year out. Can't wait to get back at it next year. Hope the information helps!

 

[alex1young]

Awesome rainbow! We got into a few browns and tons of good sized lakers but couldn't locate and bows at all.

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Edited June 23, 2014 by alex1young

[Bigfoot]

Nice 'bow.

The name of the tournament is actually "South Shore Marina's 14th annual Spring tournament".

There are 2 bass divisions, but I've never heard it called a bass derby.

I have fished this event for many years. it killed me to have to sit this one out due to other obligations.

[lyk2fish]

You wrote:  Good to see stopping the walleye stocking is getting our trout to have a chance to grow!

 

 

 

Just maybe it was the state reducing the amount of lake trout that allowed your trout a chance to grow.

 

 

 I can assure you all those eyes are on alewife not trout diets, and although they competed, no way have they ever competed like the thousands of lakers that vacum every smelt and alewife that go by it.

 

you wonder why there is so many 3-6 pound lakers?  By Fact,  that is a key reason to your lack of other trout species.

 

Read this :

Interaction between adult lake trout abundance and recruitment of stocked salmonines in Cayuga and Seneca Lakes

 

 

By Dan Bishop who is one of the top fishery guys now in Cortland. Dan is a great guy, but he shared in this thesis that to many lake trout stocked in lakes were the blame for lack of abundance or recruitment as its called of other trout species, which would include Browns, Rainbows, etc. This set a precident that was all but ignored after heavy stocking of laketrout in Owasco lake..........rainbow and brown declined due to forage decline, but something had to be blamed........and the walleye that were being stocked took it on the chin.

 

 

 

congrats on your win, great to see a nice rainbow pick. They are an awesome fish

 

But please get more facts than a state based opinion before you blame the fish that I love and fish for in that lake.

 

How about we all agree it was a little mis-management, and not just the walleye, ok 

 

Kevin Truman

Edited June 24, 2014 by lyk2fish

[Jimmyfishny]

Kevin,

 

Thank you for providing me more information on this topic. I guess most of my information is based on heasay, I should be more informed about the topic before I offer my opinion on a public form. The lake trout population is extremely high on that lake with a lot of cookie cutter sized fish. My hopes is that the lake will be better managed so we can see the rainbow and brown populations continue to thrive. We have been fishing the bass tournament for 24 years. (We call it the bass tournament because it always falls on the weekend bass season opens). Our first 10 years were spent on Otisco lake but we saw a significant decline in trout population on that lake so we switch over to Owasco. My understanding is the walleye population on Otisco exploded which lead to the decline in the trout population. Again I do not have all my facts since I was just a young kid in those years. Kevin, do you have link to Dan Bishops research that I can better educate myself on the issue?

 

@alex1young- it was a pleasure to meet you on Sunday. Congrats on your win and what a beautiful brown! Look forward to seeing you at the tournament next year!

 

Some additional information that might help other anglers- our spoon leads were 30-40ft off the ball which seemed to work the best

Also I lost three fish on dispeys running 10 pound test from the dispey to the spoon. I will never again run 10 pound test off a dispey again. Even ran a snubber with the 10 pound test and still has break offs. 20 pound didn't seem to make a difference on the amount of hook ups and didn't have the line break. 

 

-Jimmy Page

[Bigfoot]

There was never a walleye population explosion on this lake. Alewives eat walleye and laker fry to the point where both species would disappear in Owasco without stocking.

DEC dumped surplus lakers into the lake one year, at a time when the walleye and laker population was high. This was turned out to be a huge mistake and abundance of predators hammered the forage base.

The result was a bottle neck in lake trout growth where several age classes were all about 20-23 inches indicating that growth was seriously stunted. This has noticeably improved in recent years as a result of the elimination of walleye stocking and reduced stocking of lake trout.

When FLTA fished Owasco earlier this month 2 lakers over 10 pounds were brought to scale as well as several rainbows and browns. These are clear signs that the lake is returning to it's balance. The "bottleneck" in the laker age classes is gone. Each age class is a different size, as one would expect in a healthy population.

The decision to stock walleyes was always a political decision with the DEC yielding to local pressure. The worst fish and game management decisions are made when we take wildlife management decisions out of the hands of the pros.

[lily]

I've been having the same problem with break offs with 12 lb fluro from dipsy to spoon. Never had break offs with 20 lb mono. Lost quite a lot of fish and lures with quick strikes that didn't even trip the diver this year

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[justtracytrolling]

The Otisco walleye have not exploded, but there is a good population.  As far as the brown trout decline goes the browns are stocked over 12" in length and I doubt the walleye can be blamed for the lack of success.  The reason the browns dont do as well is a lack of dissolved oxygen in the deeper colder water.  Last year we had plenty of water all summer and fish were able to survive deeper, but 2 years ago lake levels dropped and so did the oxygen.  Keep in mind that syracuse uses far more water from otisco than skaneatles, and it provides the water for 9 mile creek also.   Walleyes feed on alewives, perch, etc not trout in Otisco!  Everyone has a tendancy to blame someone or something when they dont succeed fishing....remember these lakes are stocked and managed and it isnt a perfect system.  Nice job on the eyes Kevin! Did you win?