Oneida 8/3 algae bloom

[MadPerry]

I have never open water fished Oneida until this past weekend.  It's a terrific ice fishing lake, that I have visited many times.  And no doubt spring/summer/fall are usually good as well.  But, we struggled because of the algae bloom that has taken hold of the lake.  Only managed 1 eye to the surface from jigging over 20fow.  Tried trolling and caught a jumbo perch on a spoon off downrigger.  Spent a lot of time cleaning weeds off lines.  Because of the bloom, visibility was maybe 2 feet.  I know this is a good lake, we just caught it at a bad time.  Look forward to returning in the fall and winter.

[Steelman]

Its been pea soup for a month out there.  Makes things different to fish but the fishing is still good in these conditions.  Just some days are better than others.  Find clean water when it gets tough its out there but takes some fuel to find it.

[MadPerry]

Had no idea it was like that for so long.  I've never seen such water.  We launched out of Oneida Shores Park and went out beyond the islands.  Was putrid the whole way but did improve the further we went.  Made me wonder how it looked at the Sylvan end.  Do you know if that condition is the same from top to bottom in the water column?

[Steelman]

I suspect so, I had to turn the sensitivity down on my graph cause it was a cluster mess from top to bottom.   Lake is like this every year.  Sounds like you fished the dumping grounds?  That is where I was finding nice pockets of clear water chasing bait fish around looking for eyes.