Otisco Lake 5/31
Guided past client Connor and his buddy Mike today for Tiger Muskies. The “ways of the Tiger” are gradually revealing themselves to this fisherman and today was a big step in the right direction. It’s never easy figuring out a hybrid – are they more like pike or muskies? My pure-strain musky experience is limited at best, so I have a lot of learning to do.
The guys really persevered today. We had 3 follows from small (19″ and under) muskies and 1/2 dozen or so largemouth bass to show with 2 hours left in the trip. And it was sweltering out there! But the guys didn’t give up! Connor spent the entire day (we started at 7 am) incorporating a “figure 8” into his retrieve. I learned this watching a musky master I had onboard a few years back. Some changes in his retrieve and a little wind helped too. But his “8” paid off with his first tiger- a chunky fish around 25″ or so. It was wild watching the fish show up seemingly out of nowhere. The guys had 4 to 5 fish in a similar size range (24″ to 27″) follow in the lures. So no slob sightings, but good fun!
Water temps reached 80 degrees today. Largemouth bass were spawning, as were a few smallies. Plenty of panfish – actually TONS of panfish were swarming the shallows and suspended over deep water. Our muskies were around perch today. Otisco has plenty of sublegal muskies swimming around. I’m hopeful that the ice-fishermen won’t decimate these classes of fish, but I’m not optimistic. I’m very much in favor of the newly proposed 40″ size limit currently being commented upon (see the DEC website.)
I was very happy with my new REVO Winch reel and 7′ long Fenwick HMX musky rod! I paired it up with 40lb Fireline braid and TyGer wire. In-line marabou Mepps Musky spinners and a Rapala Shad Rap (super-sized) did the trick today. These fish are fly-fishable, but it won’t be easy!