Otisco conditions

[whaler1]

Good stuff! I swear by Yamaha outboards.


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[justtracytrolling]

Shane here at the campground marina has a tig machine here and does aluminum.

[justtracytrolling]

Probably could get your boat idling down better too!  He does boats 7 days a week and he has saved my ass many times and I've never lost a day of fishing.  I had to be towed in 1 morning after fishing all night and having a bad gas situation with Johnny walleye and lyke2fish...he had me back on the water by the time I woke up around noon.  4000 hours on my Mercury...

[justtracytrolling]

Fancy stuff is for catching fishermen... no need to break the bank to catch fish recreationally!  Nothing high end about my trolling setups until recently and the cheap old rods and reels I still have do their job.   

[greenhornet73]

Great, thanks for the info.  I’ll have to get in touch with Shane about the t-top.  Just got back from the lake after a 3 hour troll with my friend and his son who don’t fish much.  Dropped two heavy fish in mid fight, the second may have been a musky or a huge eye since we didn’t gain much line during the 3 minute tug of war that hit 28 feet down over 63’ on the rigger.  Both heavy hits came on the same stacker and had a couple quick releases as well.  I just set the lines and drove the boat and let them reel up all the hits.  I did grab one planer board hit and landed a 14” brown on a rapala.   Can’t wait to get back out there and land some.  

[justtracytrolling]

Smallmouth and brown trout  bite off shore is absolutely ridiculous last few days.  Walleye will go but its tough.  Last 3 mornings we have landed over 40 fish.  Tigers haven't really shown up much off shore.  Couple pics of the best 2 fish yesterday.  The walleye was just over 8 and the brown was 21" 

[greenhornet73]

Wow that brown is a football compared to the one we got last night.  It was slender but healthy besides the bite wound right behind its head

[dockdoctor]

Wow Justin.  You are killing it

[justtracytrolling]

I decided several days ago my boat limit on bass is now 3 per person no culling.  So basically keep 2 and keep a slot open for a bass that won't go back or something bigger.   Nobody needs a full cooler of bass!  My group of 2 this week kept 16 over 3 days and released more than they kept.  At least the walleye seem fairly safe for the time being...lol!  I've been getting many walleye groups to take just 1 less fish as a group when fishing is hot for 2 seasons now.  Once you get the technique down a nice walleye can actually be put back instead of in a cooler...scary coming from me!  I think it's important for guides and captains especially on smaller water to think more of teaching conservation and setting the example than pictures of huge limits.  I was as guilty as anyone, but it's never too late to do the right thing.  To end on a high note we seem to have a real nice school of 2018 natural reproduction eyes doing well right where I've consistently been finding yoy and 2nd year fish every summer since the DEC cut our stocking to every other year. Little guys are the only walleye in the lake that do the same thing every year, but they were just as hard to find the first year as any walleye!

[justtracytrolling]

Have my nephew and his friend in from New Hampshire out this morning and had to share these pictures...dandy brown for here...22".  The boys just got done saying they liked to eat Salmon... well this is as close as I can get here!!!  Looks like brown trout on the Traeger!

[Sk8man]

That is a beauty for there Justin. Those kids look very happy with their catch....nice work man.

[justtracytrolling]

Smallies are keeping us busy now!  These little rigger rods are working out very well with the kids.

[justtracytrolling]

[justtracytrolling]

Now we have a proper dinner!  1 more pass and we are off to the filet table.  Then it's time for the beach!  The boys have a nice mixed bag for the grill tonight.  My work is done mission accomplished!

[lyk2fish]

At a boy, those browns are nice sized, fun on that lighter gear man. 

[greenhornet73]

Nice job, that’s awesome!  My nephew has never seen a walleye so I am hoping to introduce him to an Otisco football soon.  Finally got my second downrigger working so I can finally get my max 5 rod spread going.  

[justtracytrolling]

Walleye are pretty tough so far this summer but I'm getting a fish or 2...went 1 for 3 on eyes this morning before the storm.  All big fish...the 1 we landed was over 8lbs.

[John Edward]

How has the algae bloom been, Did it clear up yet? My brother was up there about 3 weeks ago and said it was pretty bad.

Edited August 7, 2019 by John Edward

[justtracytrolling]

We always have a healthy algae bloom all summer.  It's not a negative thing at all.  We have had a few days where water quality was worse than normal, but I haven't seen any days that fishing was impacted much. The biggest factor for good summer trolling is low oxygen levels.  If oxygen levels drop it positions most of the fish above the themocline and it's lights out.  Unfortunately that isn't the case this year, in fact it we have had water going over the dam all summer.  Massive weed cutting has prevented dying exposed matted areas of weeds, and therefore there hasn't been decomposing weeds depleting the oxygen from the cold water.  The algae bloom will be here till after labor day.  Otisco has never had blue green (toxic) algae or heavy metals or any pollution incidents.  I can't name another lake where that is true.

[John Edward]

Oh okay thanks. I like to cast the weeded areas mostly verse trolling. He made it seem like it was very green as if you could write your name in the water 

[justtracytrolling]

The water is definitely green, but it's not on the surface and stagnant it goes down 20+feet and it's normal.  Take a water bottle and fill it and it's clear.  Weeds are holding a lot of tigers because they aren't showing up much offshore yet.  If aggressive tactics don't produce over the weeds don't hesitate to slow way down letting fall into the holes in the weeds or vice versa.  Jerk trolling at up to 4 mph over the weeds or outside of hard weedlines also produces on tough days this time of year.  If you catch me in the morning on the dock or let me know when you're coming I can give you some specific options.

[John Edward]

Okay thanks much appreciated on the info. Trying to figure out where I’m gonna fish this Saturday now that the rain probably blew out the rivers on me. Thought about going on Otisco. Haven’t been since 2017

[WalleyeKen]

Thinking about going to Otisco next weekend (9/8) to try for walleye.  I have never been to the lake.  Any recommendations would be much appreciated.   Do bottom bouncers and spinner rigs with crawlers work there?  

[greenhornet73]

Today I went for a late afternoon troll. 2 quick releases on the rigger and a miss on the planer board.  My landing percentage has been terrible this year.  I also lost my  planer board just out from the launch and it was too dark to spot it.  If anyone happens to find it I would be very grateful!

[greenhornet73]

WalleyeKen I have caught a few walleyes pulling my harnesses along the drop offs with bottom bouncers on the east and west sides of the lake but most have been caught trolling deep diver cranks.  I’m not the one to ask though about catching them consistently since I’m still trying to figure them out here myself.  It’s not like fishing Oneida that’s for sure