Onondaga Lake 6/29 PM
Got out here on my own for around 4+1/2 hours starting at 1:30 pm. I started with a stretch I hadn’t covered with Terry over our last couple trips over here. It was a slow go with one hard fighting smallmouth all I had to show. I pretty much have fished my way around 80% or more of the lake by now. Next I found a stretch with some active fish and managed to spook more than I hooked but wound up missing a few nice bass and landing one. In an area we had fished the past two trips, I had a good hit on a spinnerbait but didn’t feel much weight as the fish swam towards me. I had a feeling it was a good fish and after a quick fight I slipped the net under a solid 31″ Tiger Musky – my first from Onondaga. It was a clean, healthy looking fish. I saw one other small Tiger Musky jump like a bowfin out of the water near where I caught the first one.
I wound up landing a few more bass and a nice perch to round out my day. At the end of my day I saw a few gar surfacing. Syracuse ESF researchers told me they trapped or netted an American Eel this morning along with some gar. You never know what may turn up in this lake!
Bass fishing wasn’t as good for me as it had been earlier in the month. Not sure if it was the full moon, weather conditions or just the areas I fished or my approach – it was probably a combination of all of those factors, but a lot of productive areas over the past two trips didn’t yield much this trip.