Oneida Lessons

[Miss em]

Decided to do some ice fishing on Oneida this year for the first time to try to catch a walleye.  We have 4 trips under our belt and have done decent on the walleyes and a few jumbo perch.  we are walking from the South Shore launch so we don’t get out too far.  Just been setting up in 20 to 26 feet and been doing the jigging rap thing.  Pretty random spot, usually nobody within a half mile of us.  Walleyes seem to bite for an hour around 4 PM and we have done well getting them whenever we see them on the fish finder.  Pack it up by 5:15, haven’t gotten them after that.  Not crushing them, but we had three meals of walleye and perch this week.  My son is a senior in high school this year and he has gotten into it with me and I am enjoying the tent time with him, as I know next year it will be a lot of solo trips.

 

My observation is, just like any fishery, looks like 5% of the fisherman get 95% of the fish.  Love to get one of those 5 gallon pails full that I see pictures of but I think we have to put a bit more time in to make that happen.  We are persistent mothers, we will figure it out.

Edited February 19, 2021 by Miss em

[Miss em]

Couple pics

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[Crafty Jay]

Thanks for the report. Hard getting info from the diehards out there. Can’t blame them tho. Great job grinding it out and finding the fish.


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[Miss em]

Skunked this afternoon in the same area. Short walleyes bit for 10 minutes just after 5.

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[Sk8man]

Welcome to what I call the "light switch" phenomenon where there is a flurry of biting right before dark (late afternoon) and then somebody throws the "off" switch and nobody home

[Pequod1]

I drove around the south shore launch about three weeks ago after an unsuccessful trip to Lewis Point. Looked like a nice area to park and fish out of.  Seems like not as many people go there or was it because I was there on a Monday. I intend to try out of there this week someday, weather permitting.

[Miss em]

FWIW, we have been fishing in front of the island and towards the point to the West. 20 to 30 fow. Our mild success seems to be random at best. Another meals worth of filets tonight, 30 fow was best. No. 5 jigging raps in a green glow tiger deal and purpleescent has been good.

It has been east getting out there with snowshoes, doubt you will make it out there without them with the warmer weather coming. Probably be a real mess by next weekend.

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[idn713]

On 2/19/2021 at 7:34 PM, Crafty Jay said:

Thanks for the report. Hard getting info from the diehards out there. Can’t blame them tho. Great job grinding it out and finding the fish.


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I kinda don’t get this. It’s the most walleye populated lake in the state besides Erie. Yet people treat it like a Rochester pond with 2 fish left in it. 

[Yankee Troller]

Nice job, and it's great your son is getting involved as well. On that lake it really helps to have a machine of some sort to get around unless it's glare ice.

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[Miss em]

I wouldn't even know where to go if I did have a machine! lol   Just been fun getting out.

[FISHIN' ADDICTION]

If you try lewis point you better be there a couple hours before sun up on a weekend, it fills up quick!!!!  chapman park is another popular spot not far from south shore launch that you can get to fairly deep water quick.  you really need navionics for this lake, whether it be the phone app, handheld gps or I put my helix 5 from my kayak on my snowmobile so I can see contours.

[Yankee Troller]

58 minutes ago, Miss em said:

I wouldn't even know where to go if I did have a machine! lol   Just been fun getting out.

 

Download Humminbird's FishSmart app on your phone and then download the Onieda Lake map. It's wicked detailed.

[Miss em]

I know the lake very well from my hours of trolling out there.  Just don't know the hot spots that hold those buckets of big perch! Going to try to get out on the north side this weekend before the ice turns to mush.  

[Pequod1]

you convinced me to give it another try Friday.  I intend to not go where people  tell me its great. Seems to be the kiss of death. The perch I caught last October were excellent size. It must have been a great year class 3-4 yrs ago.

[Miss em]

We tried the north shore this evening between Cleveland and Godfrey, 30 to 40 fow. Don't know if it was us or the bite, but we sucked. One perch and some short walleyes. Marked plenty, just no interest.

We walked out without much problem. Should stay tight overnight and be easy to get around on in the morning.

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[Sean Youngblood]

 I fished the north shore today also. Hiked out of Edgewater. Defiantly a tough bite. Marked fish all day. Few short eyes and a few Perch. Beautiful day to be  out.

[Pequod1]

I had a fair day yesterday out to Shackleton from the south shore boat launch.  There were some slush pockets that I had to power through though.  I bet they will be worse today and tomorrow but should be good again after the  freeze up on Tuesday. 

One thing that worked for me on the perch was to pound the bottom with a #5 jigging rap and once they showed up , I dropped a black tungsten down with waxies. They pounded that immediately.  And all these years I have been doing the jigging rap and minnow head thing. I’ll keep using the jigging rap morning and late afternoon for eyes but going to the tungsten for perch the middle of the day.

[Sean Youngblood]

  Blue glow #5 rap is my go to for Oneida. My best eye bite came mid day. Got 2 that may have been 15 and broke one off on a hookset.

[Miss em]

Had a good day today. Out in front of South Shore Launch. Tried a 20 foot spot we had had caught perch in before. Only 6 for the first few hours. Moved out to our spot that had been good for walleyes in 26 feet around 11:30 and it was really good. Perch bit til 1 and then it was a walleye feast. Quit at 3 after being in C&R mode for an hour. Learned a few tricks today on getting the lookers to bite. Lure below was a stud today.

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[Miss em]

Set up in the same spot as yesterday around noon. Crazy walleye action the first 15 minutes. Two keepers and 7 barely shorts as quick as we could get lines down.......then wind came up and was dead the rest.of the afternoon. Starting to realize that is less about lures, techniques, etc and more about the right place at the right time. That will probably conclude my Oneida lessons for the year.

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[Sean Youngblood]

Going for my 2nd and final lesson in the AM. Nice job Miss em   Thanks for the reports.