A Time to Teach

Caughdenoy resident Gerald Donegan holds son Robert's first largemouth bass.

Under the proper conditions, kids'll take to fishing like minnows to water. And the best time to get them hooked on this exciting, lifetime activity is right now.

You see, a youngster's attention span lasts as long as the fish are hitting. When they clam up, everything else that's going on takes center stage. Peepers peeping, frogs croaking, turtles basking, heron's fishing, all become distractions. While lessons in nature are good things, the object is to keep the child focused on catching fish.

And that's easiest and cheapest to do from now through mid-June. You see, spring raises water temperatures, triggering warmwater species into spawning mode. By now, some like northern pike, walleyes and perch have done the deed and are basking--and feeding--in the shallows.

Others like sunfish, bass, catfish, and carp are just getting started. This draws them to muddy flats and weed beds near shore, within easy reach of bank anglers. (Bass season opens the third Saturday in June. Right now bass season is catch and release only, with artificial lures.)

Equally productive habitats right now are tributary mouths and rapids. Fish that have just spawned are famished and tired. Since current carries food, all they have to do is rest on bottom or behind structure and open their mouths.

The best bait to use depends on the species you're targeting. For instance, if you're specifically going for crappies, northerns or pickerel, minnows will work best. However, if you're just out to have a good time and don't care what you catch, worms will do.

Make the experience visual by using a bobber. Not only does it allow you to see the bite, it keeps you out of rocks and other snags. Stick with the smallest bobber you can so the fish feels the least resistance possible.

If you'd rather not handle live bait, try lures. The best, all around bait is a bucktail jig. A jighead flavored with a YUM or Powerbait grub (1- to 2-inchers for panfish, 3-inchers for pike and walleyes) works well, too. Or try crankbaits like Rat-L-Traps, Smithwick, Rogues, Bombers and Rapalas, working them just fast enough to give them some action.

Oswego County is loaded with productive, shallow water habitats. Look at a map and you'll see a web of fishing spots. Just pick a city, village or hamlet on water, and rest assured it has public access.

Then add a kid with a fishing pole and watch the fun begin.

For more information go to http://www.visitoswegocounty.com/ or call 800-248-4386 and request an Oswego County Hunting & Fishing guide.

Daughter's first fish.

Granddaughter's first fish.

The Eyes of May

Palermo native Rick Emmons with a nice stringer he took on the Oneida River in Caughdenoy on May 11.

Oneida Lake is your best bet in the Northeast to catch a batch of walleyes for the frying pan. But it's not Oswego County's only hot spot for this delicious critter. Indeed, the Oneida and Oswego Rivers are every bit as productive right now.

The reason is that water temperatures are pretty mild this month, allowing walleyes to hang out in one of their favorite habitats, fast water. Come mid-June, the surface layer will heat up to uncomfortable levels, forcing walleyes to beat fins for the rivers' darkest depths, or back into the lake.

This also creates the ideal situation for bank anglers. In the old days, villages sprang up at the site of rapids because dams and mills were built to harness water power. More recently, locks were built to facilitate boat traffic. As a result, river rapids generally offer a lot of public fishing access.

So I went out Monday afternoon to try my luck. I started in Caughdenoy. As I pulled into the lot, Rick Emmons, a Palermo resident, was just leaving. I asked how he did and he showed me a stringer containing several nice perch and a 22-inch walleye.

Psyched, I started casting a Rebel. Within a half hour I caught an 18-incher. I fished for another hour, caught a feisty two-pound smallmouth and a Sheepshead twice that size.

I split, went to Phoenix and fished the plunge pool below the floodgates on the east shore where I caught a smallmouth of about 1 ½ pounds. Schools of huge carp, some over 25 pounds, were in the gate, trying to figure out a way to get under the barrier.

One bumped into my lure and the treble hook sunk into its pelvic fin. The fish took off like a freight train. My 6-pound test strained as the drag squealed an agonizing protest. Fortunately, the fish shook off before it tore all the line off the reel. The way that fish was moving, I'm pretty sure it's in Canadian territorial waters by now.

Up in Oswego, the bite is fair. Larry Muroski, owner of the Oswego Salmon Shop (315-342-2778) tells me the fish are ranging from six to nine pounds.

"My customers brought in two last week that were over 11 pounds," claims the colorful bait monger.

A good number of these fish are being taken from the river walks on both sides of the stream. Bucktail jigs, leeches, worms fished plain or on spinner-rigged harnesses, and crankbaits like Smithwick Rogues, Rebels, Thundersticks and Rapalas are taking fish.

Charter boat captain Greg Gehrig, owner of K&G Resorts (800-346-6533), reports that the bite has been a little slow the past couple of days, attributing it to the cold fronts that have been sweeping in out of the north. Still, he's been leading clients to one or two huge walleyes each night, between dusk and 3 a.m. His favorite lure is a number 18 Rapala in Firetiger or Black/Silver.

For more information go to www.visitoswegocounty.com or call 800-248-4386 and request an Oswego County Hunting & Fishing guide.

Pen-Reared Trout and Salmon

Capt. Gerry Bresadola (red vest) receiving a $1,000 donation from Brookfield Renewable Power for the pen rearing program in 2008. General Manager John Elmer (sport coat) gave the award as David Turner (shirt and tie), Director of Community Development, Tourism and Planning Dept., and several volunteers look on.

Without a doubt, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation deserves the lion's share of the credit for Lake Ontario's world class steelhead and salmon fisheries. Still, legions of average Joes and Janes, either single-handedly or in small groups, have made generous contributions to the effort, too. One of the best, most productive examples of citizen activism is the pen-rearing going on right now at the Oswego Marina.

It wasn't easy starting the program. Gerry Bresadola, a charter boat captain many credit with being the brains behind the movement, and of a cast of local characters, including Mike Conroy and the late Jack Quinlan, got the ball rolling. "We argued with the DEC for three to four years for cooperation," says Bresadola.

When the authorities finally agreed, other locals joined in. Mike Dalonzo and Greg Hackett built the pens. The Oswego Marina put the cages into the water and allowed them to be anchored to its docks for the duration, and removed them after the fish were released.

Currently, DEC supplies 40,000 kings and 20,000 steelhead annually. Charter boat captains operating out of the Oswego Marina feed the critters five times a day.

This year's batch came in on April 15. Bresadola says water temperatures are rapidly rising to the maximum the fish can tolerate (mid 60s). He expects the cages will be towed out beyond the lighthouse on or around May 13, and the fish will be released in the open lake.

There are good reasons for keeping the fish temporarily penned up. One is to give the salmon time to imprint to the water so they'll return to the Oswego River in three and a half years to spawn

Another reason is to give both species a fighting chance. You see, when things were still in the theoretical stages, cormorants were eating the stockies almost as quickly as the DEC released them. Organizers hoped the pens would give the fish a measure of protection and a little time to get acquainted with their new surroundings.

The fish respond to the special treatment very favorably. "They don't want to leave when the gates are open and we have to coax them out," says Bresadola.

Sportsmen who are drawn to the ancient arts of hunting and fishing are fulfilling humankind's biological role as the natural world's greatest predator. The guys who participate in the pen rearing program go one step further and practice another strictly human gift: stewardship of natural resources. They do it selflessly and without fanfare.

But don't take my word for it. Instead, visit the Oswego Marina at 3 Basin Street, and check out the five pens bearing silent testimony to the patience and dedication the charter captains devote to nurturing Lake Ontario's future trophies.

DEC personnel preparing to fill the pens with salmonids

Pen being stocked

Steelhead coming out of the pipe

Center-pinning for Drop-backs

Capt. Richard Miick and a nice 13 lb. (our biggest of the day) chromer.

From the looks of the title, you'd think this posting was talking some arcane form of English. Well it is, in a way -- you can call it pinheadspeak.


I was introduced to center-pinning last Wednesday, April 22, by Captain Richard Miick, owner of Dream Catcher Charters and Guide Service (315-387-5920).


"Forget about fishing as you know it," advised the captain. "This is a whole new ballgame."


He wasn't kidding. The road to pinheadom isn't an easy one. It took me at least a half hour just to get casting down pat, and I kept tangling the line around me, the rod, throwing it into the trees, you name it, all day long. But Miick is a good, very patient teacher and by the end of the day I had landed two chromers, and joined the fraternity of the ancient order of pinheaders.


Center-pinning is the most effective and primitive way to take river steelhead. The equipment consists of a single action reel without a drag, just a clicker, and no frame around the inside edge of the spool-it's open like an open-face reel. You cast it by holding the spool in place with the pinky on your right hand while simultaneously sweeping the line off to the side of the reel, away from the handle, with your left hand.


Pressure on the exposed spool by the sides of your pinky and ring finger lock it, stopping the line from coming off the reel, as well as acting as your only drag.


The rod is generally 13 ½ feet long but can go a couple feet longer.


The terminal tackle consists of a float, and a set of split shots pinched at six inch intervals down the line. The most successful anglers attach a barrel swivel about four feet below the float, and an 18-inch fluorocarbon leader below that.


Bait is generally an egg sac, a bead or Berkley Powerbait Trout Worm.


Cast or drop the float into the current, preferably in a seam, leave the spool free so the line follows it downstream. When the float submerges, apply pressure on the spool with the pinky, set the hook and the fight is on; unless, of course, you got "waved": a wave blocks your view of the float.


Being well-versed in the art of fishing, I hooked my first steelie, at least a15-pounder, in less than an hour-I had several hits before that but just couldn't get things right. It must'a been a fresh fish because it fought ferociously for 10 minutes before spitting the hook, much to the delight of my aching pinky, and right bicep.


That afternoon, from 2:30 p.m. to around 7:30 p.m., we hooked six fish and landed four ranging from six to nine pounds, all drop-backs.


And that was a poor showing.


That's not my opinion- it's Ricks.


"I took a client out this morning and we hooked about 20, landing a dozen of 'em," claimed the good Capt. "I've seen many days of 25 hook-ups. In fact, I consider it a poor day if we don't connect with fish a couple dozen times."


We went out again Sunday, April 26. It was hot, and I didn't think any fish would be left in the stream. But it was loaded with 'em. We did better than the first day, including a 13-pounder. Miick says they should be in the Salmon River until mid-May.


However, at the end of the month through to mid-August, Skamania and landlocked Atlantic salmon will move in. Miick says the power company's monthly water releases for tubers and kayakers draw great numbers of fresh fish into the whitewater, offering the hottest summer fishing for trophy salmonids in the lower 48 states.


Center-pinning is capturing the hearts of anglers plying the rapids of Great Lakes tributaries. It's a tough system to master and beginners should hire a guide the first time out, or risk frustration and heartache.


For a list of guides or a copy of the Oswego County Fishing and Hunting Guide, visit www.visitoswegocounty.com or call 800-248-4FUN.

Launching at the Altmar Access Site


Captain Miick with one of Wednesday's drop-backs

What a difference a few days make. Launching at the Altmar access site, 80-something degrees - on April 26

Jason "Goose" Kollbaum, a district manager for Best Buy, showing off a steelie taken just below Ellis Cove

Landing a nice drop-back below the Trestle Hole

Sun setting over the Salmon River

Road Gardens

Grape Hyacinth emerging

Driving around the county, picking early season panfish hot spots for my readers, exposes me to a world of surprises. One of the greatest is perennial: the fabulous gardens of wildflowers punctuating the roadside at the Three Mile Bay/Big Bay Wildlife Management Area on the north shore of Oneida Lake. It's like a rainbow fell to earth, its impact splashing colors on the floor of the forest's openings.

To the uninitiated, a posting on flowers in a fishing and hunting blog might seem kind'a off message. But the vast, silent minority who actively indulges in the natural world, finds it quite appropriate. You see, even the most fanatical angler has to tip-toe through tulips or smell the roses sometimes. And it would be impossible to find a hunter who doesn't find the silent beauty of a forest, field or marsh magical and spell binding?

April sees the colorful curtain drop. Oh sure, unseasonably warm years have been known to sprinkle the countryside in flourishes of color by late March, but this month is a sure thing: its first week fires fresh shoots through the mat of last fall's fallen leaves; the second and third weeks string clumps of lush, trembling colors over the new growth erupting over the countryside.

The wildlife management area offers two separate flowery habitats--marsh and upland-- right at the road. A tour of the place can be had in fifteen minutes or less, and you don't even have to get out of the car -- but it's more fun if you do.

Heading south on Toad Harbor Road, vibrant hues pop out of the austere-looking ground right at the first dip in the pavement. A swampy area spotted with mounds of earth--the remains of ancient tree trunks--graces your view with crops of trilliums, red and white, pushing up among emerging ferns.

About a mile later, hook a left onto McCloud Road. Just beyond the last houses, keep your eyes peeled on the left shoulder. Shortly, clumps of grape Hyacinths will appear, their purple, cone-shaped clusters towering a couple of inches above a carpet of adder's tongues (aka trout lilies).

This spot is a good place to get out and walk into the field. A chorus of peepers will sing for you as you walk among the plants. At the tree line, the floor becomes littered with weathered boulders decked out in lichens.

The trees, many well on their way to old growth, range from gnarly oaks to majestic shag-bark hickories.

Back on the road, head downhill towards Phillips Point. At the bend, adder's tongues line the shoulder, and stretch back into the woods, their yellow flowers curling back, providing a resting place for the sun's rays.

The WMA is easy to reach. Take I-81 to Central Square, exit 32. Head east on State Route 49 for three miles, turn right on Toad Harbor Road and the flower show begins beyond the golf course.

Adder's tongues coming out

A crop of grape hyacinths preparing to explode into bloom.

Shagbark hickory

Crappie Time on Big Bay

Two crappies for the bucket.

Robert Frost called early spring "mud time." Granted, there's a lot of it around, but the soggy dirt springs good stuff, like the best crappie bite of the season; the surest way under the sun to paint smiles on the mugs of folks itching to break cabin fever.


Last Friday morning I called a friend who prides himself as an Oneida Lake specialist, and asked him how the crappie fishing was. I could hear his teeth grind just before he growled "There ain't no crappy fishing around here."


Thinking he was off his rocker, I shot back, say what!!!??? Then it hit me he was probably just having a bad day and I explained, softly "You know, calicoes, man, strawberry bass."


"Oh, those guys," he replied, loosening the death grip that was causing his phone to make cracking sounds. "They should be hitting at Toad Harbor."


Seeing an opportunity to research two blog entries at once, I called my sweetie, Susan, invited her to go on a flower search with me (more about that in another posting later this week) and we set out for Three Mile Bay/Big Bay Wildlife Management Area, two individual parcels of public land covering 3,945 and 120 acres respectively, on the north end of Oneida lake.


You couldn't fit another car into the parking lot at the Department of Environmental Conservation's Toad Harbor fishing access site, even if you tried wedging it in sideways. My wait for a parking spot paid off a few minutes later when an angler and his adolescent daughter came down the trail, put their fishing tackle and a five-gallon pail holding about a dozen nine- to 11-inch crappies in the bed of his pick-up, and headed home for a Good Friday crappie dinner.


Toad Harbor has two man-made cuts into the swamp. The one right below the parking lot had some anglers but they had just started and didn't have anything to brag about.


I headed down the hard packed dirt trail. About 100 yards later I came to the second harbor. People were lined on all sides, and just about everyone boasted crappies.


Most were taken on small minnows; some responded to spikes and mousies. Everyone was fishing with bait suspended a foot or two below tiny bobbers.


The window on this bite isn't too wide and it'll probably shut in a week or so.


To get to Toad Harbor, Take I-81 to Central Square, exit 32. Head east for about two miles, turn south on Toad Harbor Road, then right on Shaw Road about three miles later, and follow it to the fishing access site on the right, just before the end of the road.

Angler's ring around Toad Harbor.

Crappie time at Toad Harbor: fun for the whole family!

Oswego River Perch

Off the wall in Phoenix, New York

Draining the Finger Lakes, Oneida Lake, and numerous creeks and brooks in between, the Oswego River pours down a gentle slope, dropping over 100 feet on its 20-something-mile run to Lake Ontario. And while its last mile or so is famed worldwide for exceptional autumn salmonid runs, the rapids along this mighty stream's entire length draw some fantastic runs of perch each spring.

Spawned by the marriage of the Seneca and Oneida Rivers in the hamlet of Three Rivers, the Oswego flows leisurely for its first few miles. In the village of Phoenix, it comes to its first drop and dives about 10 feet, creating heavy current; a siren's song for ice-out perch.

Oh, they're in the canal below the village's northernmost lock all winter long and locals drill through the ice to get at ‘em. But when the river swells with snowmelt, the heavy current sets them into high gear, drawing them to Phoenix from as far away as the upper dam in Fulton. When they arrive, they roam around looking for a way further upstream and sweep in and out of the slow moving water in the lock's channel.

Anglers have been getting their daily limits of 50 for over a week now, and the action is expected to last for another two to three weeks. This year the game is noticeably larger than in the past, typically ranging from seven to 10 inches long.

Minnows, spikes and mousies work best right now. By the middle of the month, worms will be effective, too. Fish on bottom, or suspend your bait below a bobber and set it three to six inches off the floor.

Perch will be drawn to the rapids in Fulton and Minetto, too. Unfortunately, access isn't as easy as in Phoenix where there's several hundred yards of shore access with parking. Still, dedicated anglers hike trails down to the bottom of the locks in Fulton; while gung-ho perchers have been known to fish the Minetto area in hand-launched boats.

Gallon for gallon, the city of Oswego offers more easy access than all the other spots combined. However, the action usually starts a little later than upstream. But that's cool, since most anglers are still fishing for steelies right now.

When the perch start hitting in a few days they'll be active all over town, from the pockets and eddies in the rapids to the canal, harbor and Wrights Landing. What's more, they'll be joined by crappies and sunfish in Wright's Landing; and rock bass the size of small frying-pans will move into the marina area in May.

Oswego Salmon Shop's Larry Muroski says "bullheads are being taken at night below Breitbeck Park on leeches, nightcrawlers and redworms."

Spring delicacy from the bottom of Phoenix, New York

Another one for the bucket...

April Steelheading in the city of Oswego.

Kyle Wright to Speak
Onondaga Audubon, the group that brought you Derby Hill Bird Observatory (see post "Raptor Row," March 24, 2009), announces Kyle Wright, official hawk watcher at DHBO, will give a presentation at the April, 15, 2009 monthly meeting, to be held at Beaver Lake Nature Center, 8477 Mud Lake Road, Baldwinsville; 315-638-2519. Mr. Wright's program will focus on work he's done in the past in places stretching from Newfoundland to Hawaii. For more info, contact Gerry Smith, Onondaga Audubon President, 315-771-6902.