Syracuse.com - Clay angler surprised by big brown trout on Oneida Lake on opening day of walleye season

[HuntingNY-News]

"I saw some fish breaking the water feeding on bait in 15 feet and I assumed it was a school of smallmouth." .Submitted photoClay Mike Cusano holds up a nice, 4.93-pound brown trout he caught on Oneida Lake opening day of walleye season.He wrote: "I caught it on a Lucky Craft Pointer 100 suspending jerk bait. "I saw some fish breaking the water feeding on bait in 15 feet and I assumed it was a school of smallmouth."Two casts with the pointer and I hooked a fish. Saw the flash of brownish-gold so I assumed it was a thick walleye, but then the fish started to fight in a rather weird circular spinning motion – so I assumed bowfin."As it got to the net, my partner Burnie Haney and I both said “It’s a trout?!”…. Pretty cool. Only the 2nd trout of my life and both have come from rather unique places. (I wrote two years ago about how Cusano landed a big brown on Onondaga Lake on opening day of trout season.)"This fish, because we had a IGFA certified scale (Burnie’s), gave me some size perspective regarding the brown I got on Onondaga."That fish on Onondaga was bigger than the 7 lbs I guesstimated it at – apparently I’m much better at estimating the weight of bass than trout.

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