Otisco Lake 10/21 + 22

Guided Otisco Lake for a full-day trip yesterday and a half-day today.  Here's how it went:

10/21:  I met Mark I. at the launch just before 8 am and we were soon underway.  Our hopes were running high with the new moon phase along with forecasted wind and cloud cover that were expected in the afternoon.  Morning conditions weren't bad.  I don't mind sun for pike/muskies this time of year, since it isn't very intense.  Mark worked spoons for the entire morning.  He did not have any hits or follows.  Had I known we'd be fishing gear all morning, I would've had more tackle for it along.  Make usually just does a break with the spoons in between long periods of fly-casting.  Surface temp of the lake was 59 degrees.  Water level is at least two feet down.  Later on, Mark switched out to fly-fishing.  Again - no grabs or follows there either.

10/22 AM:  Today I guided Kyle and Don for a 1/2 day trip starting just after 8:15 am.  It was raining a bit as I pulled up to the launch at 7:40 am.  Fortunately, the rain tapered off soon thereafter and then quit by the time we launched.  I told the guys about our tough fishing yesterday.  The guys both fish Conesus Lake and have caught Tiger Muskies along with pike before.  The west winds were gusting into the 20 mph+ range when we started.  Don brought along some of his own gear and managed a decent largemouth bass on a spinnerbait in fairly short order.  We tried some spoons as well as plugs too.  Don set into a good spoon bite and I got my big musky net ready - unfortunately the fish wound up being a bass!  A decent one, but they ain't muskies!   I did want to show the guys a technique worth trying on Conesus Lake, so I had a couple of blade-bait outfits set-up.  I tied in a small length of 15lb test TyGer Wire on each outfit, so incase they did get a grab from a musky, they wouldn't get bitten off.  Once the guys got the feel for the baits they had some hits and hook-ups.  Kyle lost what appeared to be a decent fish.  The guys each landed perch.

Years ago, I guided a woman - Margie, who was (and hopefully still is) an avid tiger musky angler on Otisco Lake.  She mentioned that it was a good sign to see what she referred to as the "teeny-bopper" tiger muskies around.  One thing I've noticed on my few trips out to Otisco Lake this year (I also fished with my guide-friend Kurt on his boat last week, and managed a good one while targeting walleyes) is that we are NOT seeing the bread and butter 22" to 32" fish this year so far.  Obviously there are some smaller fish around somewhere, but there aren't many.  I realize nobody is coming here fishing for 22" muskies, but these sub-par fish keep things interesting and provide good feedback for musky anglers.  For many novice anglers or people that just have never caught a musky, these fish can make someone's day!  Without the "teeny-boppers" around, we are basically casting for larger adult fish.  The only problem with that, is that they are much fewer in numbers.

The 5-year average catch rate for tiger muskies on Otisco Lake during the late-2010s and early 2020s roughly was one fish per 7 angler hours.  That's pretty good, but that takes into account sub-legal fish - which during most years is probably 75% of the catch.  A legal musky on Otisco has to be 36" long.  In a nutshell, catch rates have been much slower this year (for us and friends) than in previous years, and I'd say that it's mainly due to the lack of sub-legal fish.

Water temperatures are good now for pike fishing throughout the area.  The lake trout bite on Cayuga Lake remains hot.  Skaneateles Lake multi-species angling is also a great option this time of year.  I had a cancellation for Friday.  All my open dates are on my "Availability" or "Open Dates" post.  Just scroll under "Reports."