Oneida Lake's Hot Weather Bass

Monster rock bass like this one punctuate the catch along the Long Shore.

Anglers worth their weight in rubber worms know Oneida Lake is one of the hottest bass spots in the Northeast. What many don't realize (including me, up until a couple days ago, anyway) is how shallow you can find smallmouths in the dog days of summer.

Wesley Coy, a colorful local who describes himself as "a jerk on one end waiting for a jerk on the other," showed me.

Not your average jerk, Coy makes extra income as a bass pro on the U.S. Angler's Choice Tournament Trail, a national circuit that holds seven competitions annually on Oneida Lake.

I told him I wanted to catch some largemouths and he took me to his favorite spot, "the Long Shore," stretching roughly from Shackleton Point east to the Oswego County line.

We drifted over a patchwork of weed beds, rock piles and boulders clinging to a wavy floor ranging from three to eight feet deep. The water temperature was 78 degrees.

Convinced bass preferred cooler water on hot, muggy days (air temperature was in the 90s), I braced myself for getting skunked.

Big mistake.

On my second cast, I nailed a smallmouth weighing well over two pounds on a spinnerbait.

Almost simultaneously, Wes got one about three pounds on a black/blue flake JDC Bass Bone hooked wacky style. Then he got another and another.

I switched to a YUM Dinger hooked wacky style on a 5/0 Eagle Claw Lazer, Wide Gap Worm Hook and started catching fish again.

Toward the end of the drift, bucketmouths finally made an appearance. We boated several ranging from one (mine) to three (Wes's) pounds.

In about three hours, we caught 15 keeper bass--including two 3 ½-pound bronzebacks--several smaller ones and some rock bass

At the end of the Long Shore we headed for the north side of Dutchman's Island. We caught several more, including the best of the day, a four-pound smallie that struck Coy's bait.

Next time I hear the usual: "Oneida Lake's smallmouths move to deeper water in the heat of summer," I'll politely agree and head for Oswego County's weedy and rocky shallows instead.

Wes Coy holding a typical Long Shore bucketmouth.

Wes Coy with a four-pound Long Shore bronzeback.

City Bass and Panfish

Sean Rae, an old Army buddy of mine from Texas, came up to visit family on Saturday and called me Sunday afternoon to go fishin'.

"What ya wanna go for?" I asked.

"Bass for the fun of it; crappie and perch for dinner."

"I know just the place," I replied.

It was hot and sticky and I thought about all we'd catch was some rays.

We launched at Wright's Landing on downtown Oswego's north shore.

Motoring out just far enough to get out of the launch area, we started drifting. He cast a spinnerbait and I ripped a buzzbait.

On his third toss he caught a largemouth of about two pounds. The next cast he took another, and another after that. By the time I switched over to a spinnerbait he had landed and released four largemouths and a 2 ½ pound smallmouth; one after the other; all of 'em over the submerged weeds between the yacht club and boat slips.

I couldn't buy a bass, but I got a 27-inch northern ½-hour later on the spinnerbait just below Breitbeck Park.

We continued working the south shore up to the smokestacks but the fish had lockjaw. We returned to the marina to try our luck at catching dinner.

I worked a 2” Mister Twister Exude Curly Tail on a jighead rigged to a spinner form; and Sean used a Berkley Gulp 2.5" Power Trout Worm weightless, hooked whacky style.

In about an hour we caught a couple keeper crappies, ½-dozen perch ranging from 7 to 10 inches and some sunfish and rock bass the size of small frying pans.

"You didn't tell me the fishin was this good up here in July," Sean protested.

"Yeah I did," I retorted, "but nah, you wouldn't believe me. Now ya know."

Larry Murowski, owner of the Oswego Salmon Shop

Summer Steel and Landlocked Salmon

Spey casting to a pod of salmonids in the Salmon River's Trestle Hole.

Last Tuesday I called Salmon River Program Coordinator Fran Verdoliva to find out if significant numbers of Skamania or landlocked Atlantic salmon rode upstream in the wake of this year’s first whitewater release on June 21-22. (Water is released five times each summer for whitewater kayaking and tubing.)

“A few fish came in,” he replied. “A nice steelhead was caught in the Schoolhouse Pool, and anglers reported seeing a few fish in other spots. But it’s still a bit too early for meaningful numbers.”

So I went up Saturday to try my luck. Using my Cabela’s Spey Combo, I worked one of my own creations (a white, cone-headed, rabbit strip streamer tied on a 1/0 hook) through a hole in the upper fly-fishing only, catch and release section of the river, about 200 yards downstream of the end of the Lighthouse Hill Reservoir tailrace.

A Skamania of about 10 pounds came out of the depths, nailed it, jumped clear out of the water when it felt the hook, looked at me with murder in its eye, and spit the fly back at me like it was bad meat. Shaken, I kept casting but my efforts were fruitless.

So I switched to an all purpose white nymph, on a #8 hook and caught a 12 inch brown and a couple fingerling landlocks—but didn’t see any more trophies.

Verdoliva says “the next three releases (July 5-6, July 19-20, and August 2-3) should draw good numbers of large Skamania and Landlocked salmon into the river.”

(An additional release will occur on August 30-31, but by then some kings will be running and the landlocked salmon normally beat fins back to the lake.)

“The Salmon River in July offers fly-fishing at its best,” claims Verdoliva. “The stream isn’t crowded, the fish aren’t spooked, and trophy steelhead and landlocked salmon will actually chase your fly.”

Summer is also your best bet for catching one of these bruisers on a dry fly.

After a rain, especially if the water gets a little murky, both species will hit worms.

Late June Walleyes on Oneida Lake

Todd Frank holding a 20 inch Walleye. Wantry Island is behind him to the right.

I fished with Todd Frank on Wednesday on Oneida Lake. For those of you unfamiliar with the professional walleye circuit, Frank happens to be NY's brightest star in this highly competitive and challenging game.

And he proved it -- in spades.

Having just gone through a couple of global warming-type days pushing into the 90s, a cold front moved in, all but shutting the walleyes down. We spent a good two hours searching for the beasts.

Oh, we found them all right, but they were shut down like city hall on Sunday. Luckily, we happened on schools of smallmouths ranging from 1 ½ to 3 pounds, sunfish and rock bass big enough to write home to Mother about, and white perch that hit so hard, the planer boards shuddered.

We nailed all these fish in weeds between 10 and 15 feet deep. Frank caught the majority-and the biggest-on an Orange/Yellow Northland jighead tipped with a worm; I got mine on the same color jighead tipped with a Gulp Alive 3-inch leech.

After a little while, we took off in search of walleyes again, running in all directions, checking out every transition zone, rock pile, and weed bed in the Oswego County piece of the lake.

Known nationwide for his trolling skills, Frank put them to work. We flatlined a Tail Dancer and Bomber on either side of the boat, 100 feet out, off planer boards; a Smithwick Rogue dragged down by a snap weight and a Tail Dancer on lead core, four colors out, ran directly behind the boat.

Frank watched the Lowrance LCX-113 hd for fish, and his intuition kept tabs on the rods (either that or he has eyes on the side of his head).

Between 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. we reached his goal; two limits of tasty walleyes ranging from 15 to 20 inches long; all taken 15 to 18 feet down in water 30 feet deep.

Frank seemed mystical, able to get walleyes to hit in the brightest time of day -- when just about everyone knows they're not supposed to, but - this is Oswego County, so why was I surprised that the fishing was far beyond the ordinary??

Frank holding two Oneida Lake Pumpkinseeds

Early June Yellow Perch and Walleyes

David Oulette unhooking a juicy Salmon River jack perch.

Brothers Dave and Stan Oulette invited me to go for perch in the Salmon River last Thursday.

Launching at Pine Grove, we headed downstream. Just past the bend in the river, we anchored 10 yards from shore, in 12 feet of water and cast upstream between the two islands.

Using a 2-inch YUM grub, I caught perch ranging from eight to 11 inches in each of my first 10 casts, and then it was every other throw after that.

The brothers kept pulling in perch in rapid succession on minnows. In less than two hours, we had enough to feed us and our families a couple times over; and that's after releasing the 20% that was less than eight inches.

"Spring perch fishing used to always be like this," claims David. "Then the cormorants did a number on them. The DEC's cormorant controls reduced the birds' numbers to the point perch populations are coming back."

Stanley says they'll be here as long as the water is relatively cold, for another week or two.

While we were getting the minnows, Karen Ashley, employee at the local bait shop on NY 3 in Port Ontario, told us she and a some family had good luck with walleyes ranging from 18 to 22 inches in Sandy Pond last week. As proof, she showed us the fillets.

"Troll worms on Stico Spinners in front of Carnsey's Wigwam restaurant," she advises.

Oswego Harbor's Late Spring Bite

Capt. Gerry Bresadola and I fished Oswego Harbor May 28. Figuring the early bird gets the first worm, we left the dock at 6 a.m. By 6:20 we were trolling between the detached wall and west wall. Running three Michigan Stingers off downriggers in depths ranging from 14 to 20 feet, and flatlining another on lead core three colors out, we moved around the harbor in a circular pattern, heading a little further north with each pass. I watched the rods with great anticipation.

At 10 a.m. we landed two browns simultaneously; both small. Agreeing that gas was too expensive to waste chasing little fish, we called it a day. Curious why the bite was so meager, I asked Gerry if he could come up with an explanation. After all, in 1997 he led a client to a 33 lb. 2 oz. brown that still reigns as NY's record; so I figured if anyone knew something about the species it had to be him.

Quick as a chinook striking cut bait, he replied, rather poetically for an old salt: "The answer is blowing in the wind."

And that's it in a nut shell. The wind was blowing out of the east, scattering warm water, and the browns, all over the place. If it had come out of the northwest, blowing cold water inshore, the trout would have stormed in to bask in the mild temperatures the Oswego River pours into the harbor.

But all wasn't lost. Before heading home, I went to Wright’s Landing to try my luck with a grub-tipped jig. I nailed a few palm-sized Bluegills, a 10-inch rock bass and some yellow perch ranging from eight to 10 inches.

Local tackle shop owner Larry Muroski says panfish, including some crappies, have been hitting well at Wright’s Landing and he expects they'll continue to for a little while. He also reports that some huge walleyes are being taken near the H. Lee White Marine Museum by guys tossing grub-n'-jigs for panfish.

Strange but True: Capt. Bresadola tells me the client he led to the state record brown trout was himself named Brown; and cleverly adds: "The next day I went looking for someone named Chinook to take fishing."

Scott Brown holding an Oswego Harbor Brown. Photo by Captain Gerry Bresadola

Andy Brown holding a sheepshead. Photo by Captain Gerry Bresadola

Late May Crappies and Northerns

Crappies are still in Sandy Pond. They've moved out of the boat channels, creek mouths and shallow bays into open water. Many of the large females are still holding eggs. They're hitting minnows, glow jigs and small bucktail jigs; fished plain or tipped with a minnow. Work 'em slow.

Another hot spot right now is the upper Salmon River Reservoir. I was out a couple days ago with local guide Stan Oulette, pictured here. We had to search for them, drifting and working buckeyes along the edges of windfalls and points, and in holes he just knew were fishy. We nailed a lot of rock bass and a few smallies that couldn't keep their mouths shut, too.

On Wednesday, Dave Wood reported the northerns in the Salmon River estuary were very cooperative and large this year. I tried my luck and nailed a 30-incher by drifting a large shiner. I no sooner landed him and another hit, but cut me off. Not bad, considering I was only out for a little over an hour.

A school of decent-sized smallmouths was hanging out around the mouth, from the lighthouse downstream. They weren't exactly jumping into the boat but some did hit on a spinnerbait, Rat-L-Trap and silver Daredevle cast under and around the docks, and parallel to the rocks.