Otisco Lake Wed. 11/22
I gave Otisco Lake a shot for less than a 1/2 day. The drive from Ithaca to Otisco takes forever. I left my place at 11 am and fought traffic in Ithaca, Dryden, Cortland and Homer. Pain in the butt! Finally got out around 1 pm. It was a 50 mile drive. I worked the northern portion of the lake around Turtle Bay and south for an hour without any signs of fish. Fished the remainder of the day on the west shore, mainly working areas I haven’t spent much time on. Had a hard hit but couldn’t connect – suspended fish over 20′ of water. Maybe a tiger musky or walleye. Didn’t feel like a bass or trout. H2O 47 to 48. I’ll be back eventually! Tough fishing as usual.
I’d rate this lake the toughest (or worst 😉 out of all the Fingers for fishing. The best action I hear of on this lake is at night or through the ice. Nightime fishing can be excellent in May/June and November. The lake suffers from oxygen depletion and an overabundant white perch/alewife population that pretty much limits the gamefish numbers. Bass do well, but the trout, muskies and walleyes need to be stocked, and stocked as bigger fish. No lakers to fall back on either and the browns aren’t surviving well past their first year or two in the lake. The high point of the day was finding out the marina was closed and I didn’t have to pay the $7 launch fee! 10 years ago the fee was $10 to launch! That’s what happens when the State doesn’t own an access site on a lake!