Otisco Lake 10/16 + Seneca Lake/Watkins Glen 10/17
Guided “Bobberman Perry” and his pal Dave over the past two days. Trips with them always provide a nice break from the usual thing and I really do enjoy watching the bobbers go down. They bring their own gear and bait and I provide the boat and some guidance here and there. It’s all about pike and muskies for Perry. Other species need not apply! We take it easy and don’t move around a whole lot. Maybe hit three or four areas. It’s about relaxation!
Otisco Lake 10/16: Met the guys around 9:15am at Otisco Lake Marine and we headed out. The forecast was calling for heavy winds and some rain but for most of the day we got lucky and avoided it. Things got off to a good start near the Causeway with a couple good hits. The guys found some good bait up in Auburn on a place on Turnpike Drive.
I’m pretty sure a Tiger was lost, then a 14″ largemouth made it aboard. Dave had a hellacious hit that wound up snagging his rig on a tree or something. Then Perry had a great hit and run. He set into a very nice fish that fought and fought. Was it a 35″ tiger? Maybe a big walleye? Nope – it was a channel catfish around 5lbs! Perry was as disappointed as I was elated. I love channel cats and now have a good photo for my species page! They have been showing up in decent numbers on Otisco Lake this year (aka “Big Bullheads.” No doubt an illegal introduction. But the lake is probably perfect for them – muddy with current at the outlet, poor oxygen and not a lot of predators.
A move up the lake resulted in one Tiger around 25″ for Perry. Another good hit was also missed. All in all a fun day with the bobbers, though landing or at least seeing the missed fish would’ve been nice. Water temp was around 61/62.
Seneca Lake 10/17: We met at Watkins Glen around 10 am. Conditions weren’t great for pike with light to non-existent winds and a clear sky and high sun, but we gave it our best shot. The bait the guys got wasn’t quite as “pike sized” as what we had yesterday. I guess we’d cleaned the guy out of the “big bait.” Oh well.
Perry had most of the action yesterday, but today was Dave’s turn. Fishing was slow in the AM with one pike landed casting lures. We had a few hits on the minnows, but it was slow. Perry still-fished while Dave did a little casting in addition to having a minnow out. A couple small pike came on the bait (22″ to 24″ fish.) Dave did great on spoons later in the day with a 33″, 34″ and about 3 or 4 other decent 25″ fish as well. We did see a Landlocked salmon and what appeared to be a couple browns (in different areas) in close to shore cruising around. Water temp was around 58/59.