Bullheads and Crappies: Bank Fishing’s Rites of Spring

By Spider Rybaak

Matt Nies and son Jackson with a couple typical Toad Harbor bluegills.

An old wives’ tale says that bullheads go on their spring bite when forsythias bloom; screwy weather notwithstanding. And while Lake Neahtahwanta saw some early, incredibly fast and furious crappie action the last couple days of March through the first week of April, bullheads are a little more patient and stayed true to their normal schedule.

And, you won’t find a more convenient place in which to catch these thorny delicacies than this lake on Fulton’s West Side.  You see, not only is it located right at the shoulder of NY State Route 3, it boasts a pier and restaurant a stone’s throw from the highway and offers ample shoulder parking and fishing access on about a quarter of its shoreline.

What’s more, these normally nocturnal feeders are famished right after their winter-long snooze in the mud, and hit as eagerly in broad daylight right now as they do after dark. And that’s a good for school kids, working folks and others who don’t cotton to fishing half the night.

Equally exciting is that this year the rules have changed, allowing anglers to use three rigs instead of two, so you can still-fish worms or shrimp on bottom with a couple rods and dangle a minnow below a bobber on a third in case there’s a school of late blooming crappies snooping around the shoreline looking for love or food.

Another Oswego County hot-spot for these popular panfish is Oneida Lake’s Toad Harbor. This year everything’s swarming in at once. In fact, over the past week, you were as likely to catch a batch of bluegills as you were a limit of crappie or bushel of bullheads.

Toad Harbor is notorious for game fish species that are out of season this time of year, and you can’t avoid catching them, especially if you’re using minnows, jigs or other lures for crappies

One of the most common is the pickerel, an ancient critter that hails back to before the ice age. The smallest member of the pike family, these toothy game fish are important for maintaining a healthy prey/predator balance. Unfortunately, some guys treat pickerel with extreme prejudice, like they’re unaware the species is native to New York. Hate to tell ‘em, the reason there’s so many pickerel in the lake is because they’re filling in for the northern pike that are being slowly forced out by loss of habitat. You see, nature abhors a vacuum and is replacing the pike with their tinier cousins.

Remember, pickerel are a game fish that deserve their protected status and should be released without any further harm…until their opening day, the first Saturday of May. Then you can take them home and savor their incredibly delicate flavor.

Another species that finds “The Toad” to its liking in its off season is the largemouth bass. Last Monday, small schools of hawgs prowled the food-rich waters within easy eye-shot of anglers. One guy I was talking to about the crappie bite couldn’t keep his mind on our conversation, explaining “not while the biggest bass I’ve ever seen are swimming around me.” (Bass season opens the third Saturday in June.)

One of the two 13-something-inch Crappies I caught on April 12 at Toad Harbor on a Berkley Power Teaser tipped with a Berkley Honey Worm.

A couple ladies relaxing while fishing from the bank.

Fulton's Brian Kirby, and daughter Kristie, admiring a juicy bullhead they caught bottom-fishing with worms in Lake Neahtahwanta on April 15.

Fulton resident Charles Pollack with a bullhead he took from Lake Neatahwantha over the weekend.

The Best Fishing Spots for the Whole Family to Enjoy Catching a Crappie

To the untrained eye, the title to this posting may sound a little, well…tasteless. But to fish eaters, the word crappie is enough to spring their palates to life.

Also known as calico bass, a majority of anglers polled in an informal survey before press time ranked these former panfish as the tastiest in the group. They’re so delicious, in fact, they’re also called strawberry bass.

Right around the turn of the century, they were elevated a notch to semi-game fish status--they have a size limit, and daily limit but no closed season. Oh, everyone who knew anything about them always felt they deserved the distinction and the protection that goes with it. After all, they’re one tough fish to locate and catch -- for most of the year, anyway.

In the spring they’re easy. Gathering in massive schools in shallow water to spawn, and convalesce afterwards, they’re very fisherman-friendly from mid-March through May. Early in the season, they’re super aggressive because they’re spawning; afterwards, they’ll hit minnows and tiny lures with abandon because they’re famished. Either way, you find a school and chances are you’ll catch dinner for the entire family.

Mom teaches her boys to fish off the public pier on the north shore of the Oneida River in Brewerton, New York.

One of the boys admires a crappie!

Late last week I went to Brewerton to fish at the municipal dock on the north shore, just upstream of the US 11 bridge. I had dropped by earlier in the day and saw a couple guys nail a bunch so I went home to get my ultra-light gear. When I returned about 2:30 p.m., a guy who hadn’t been there earlier was leaving the dock, a batch of perch, rock bass, and sunnies with a couple large crappies in hand.

I tried my luck and got a hit right away. It got loose but I could see from its silver flash that it was a crappie. I fished for a while longer, caught and released a couple nice largemouths, and then nailed a strawberry bass that went all of 11 inches.

After putting up a very respectable fight, I landed him as gently as I could. Since I was facing a deadline and knew I wouldn’t be there long enough to catch dinner for me and my sweetie, I released it.

A family fishes for bullheads at Lake Neatahwanta, in the park just off NYS Route 3 on the west side of Fulton, New York.

Fishing from the park platform on Lake Neatahwanta, Fulton, New York.

That evening, I went over to Fulton’s Lake Neahtahwanta to see how the bullheads were biting. It was a bit early and the sun was still out so no one had any in their buckets Still, one guy claimed to have caught a couple that he released.

Some anglers fishing from shore, at the foot of the park that goes out into the lake in the park off State Route 3, said bullheads have been hitting with regularity for the past few nights. The fish were averaging 1 ½ pounds.

In addition, he continued, some crappies were also fairly cooperative, especially on tube jigs and curly-tail grubs fished on spinner forms, Beetle Spin style. Lake Neahtahwanta has always been a local crappie hotspot, but for some reason, the lake’s population doesn’t turn on until the sun goes down. Oh, they can be caught in daylight, but the bite is far better in the early evening and around dawn.