Otisco Lake 6/18 + 19
Guided “Bobberman” Perry and his pal Dave over the past two days for Tiger Muskies on Otisco Lake. I provide the boat and anchor and the guys bring their gear and bait. It’s always a nice change of pace to anchor, throw out some minnows and wait for bobbers to go down.
The guys have caught some beautiful fish over the years on a lot of different waterways. The challenge oftentimes comes down to getting good bait. A dealer that’s really come through recently is Dave’s Bait and Tackle on 1421 Turnpike Rd. in Auburn. His phone number is (315) 209-4115. We were all excited when the guys showed up with some nice suckers and large golden shiners. What often passes for “pike bait” these days are what we used to call “bass minnows” – puny 2″ to 3″ golden shiners. We want BIG bait for BIG fish!
Perry and Dave are on vacation when we go out, so we start around 9 am or later and we generally set up “camp” and don’t move around a whole lot. Sometimes it pays off, sometimes it doesn’t. But on Wednesday we had good conditions and in our second area Perry managed to land a 32″ musky that was in great condition. The fish are really fighting well! We had very few hits. Dave had a hit on a spoon and one big perch gobbled a big golden shiner, but that was it for day 1.
Today we started near the area of the lake where we’d caught the musky yesterday. In short order, Perry nabbed another chunky Tiger – this one was around 30″, and again, fought great. We had some other hits but nothing to show.
After the front came through, the winds picked up and clouds cleared. I had found an area last year that looked promising for muskies (and walleyes) and we set up there. Perry was reeling in a sucker quickly when it got hammered! FISH ON!!! I could tell this was no “teeny bopper” Tiger – this was a solid one! After a great fight and a lot of dancing around the boat trying to find the right netting opportunity, I slid the net under a 38″ Tiger! What a fish! Great big mouth and teeth, and it was in great condition. We snapped a few quick shots and let it go. Perry had landed a 40″er before and lost a bigger one years ago, but this was his 2nd or 3rd biggest ever, so it was quite an accomplishment. A nice smallmouth and perch were also landed. Great day and I’ll be doing some fly-fishing guiding here shortly, looking for our first one on the fly. I will have some good photos to put up once I get time, which unfortunately won’t be real soon looking at my schedule.