Otisco Lake 8/20 – 21
Got out for two days (despite the threatening weather) with “Bobberman Perry” (whom I would like to rechristen “Catman Perry” but I don’t think that nickname will fly) and his friend Dave. Those of you familiar with my reports know that when they come out with me they bring their rods, rigs and bait. Tiger Muskies were the target.
The bait these guys got ahold of this trip was exceptional! Big Golden Shiners like we used to see throughout the area back in the 1970s and 80s when “pike bait” meant 4″ to 5″ shiners. None of these “bass minnows” masquerading as pike bait. They also brought a couple pounds of sucker minnows! Now that’s what I call being prepared.
8/20 AM: Our fishing yesterday started out promising. Perry had a bobber takeoff and hooked a solid fish that ran some line out and put a deep bend in his rod. Was it a 40″+ Tiger? Nope. I saw it dive under the boat – it was a foul-hooked 29″ Channel Catfish! Beautiful, quality fish, but Perry wasn’t impressed! I held it for a couple photos before we sent it back into the drink. Next fish was better for Perry – a hard fighting 34″ Tiger! The fish nearly went through my landing net, but Perry didn’t think it would be a problem. But the rubber was starting to wear out and I was concerned. It would throw an interesting wrinkle into the fishing today.
The T-Storms rolled in around 12:30 pm, so after 3+ hours we called it a day. Better safe than sorry.
8/21: Perry wasn’t sure if we should even attempt fishing today after looking at the 100% chance of rain and thunderstorms, but we decided to play things by ear. We made the right move! We started around 8:30 am and after 45 minutes or so we had to run back in and wait out a line of storms (which mostly avoided us except for some heavy rain.) After an hour we got back out and headed north to our area from yesterday. We could hear thunder in the distance all around us, but it never seemed to come close! Weird!
Dave nailed a bass. Then Perry got a Tiger. We had another Tiger that cleared the water aways away from the boat! Great jump. We made a couple moves and then Dave nailed a 19″ bass and a few others. Perry nabbed yet another solid Tiger then Dave caught one and then another on a sucker minnow and spinnerbait respectively. Nearly all the Tigers were beauties. The five we landed today ranged from a 29″er up to over 36″, with most going 32″ to 34″ and thick bodied. The fights were great and the condition of the fish also excellent. We had three go through my net and I had to adopt a new netting/musky handling technique. Dave’s 36″er not only jumped incredibly, but it went through the net and also got hung up on the anchor line! It was crazy, but we landed every Tiger we hooked. Perry wound things up with a 24″ channel cat! We had bonus yellow and white perch along with other bass. My replacement netting is ready to roll and we’ll be all set for the next guided trip.