Syracuse.com - Oneida Lake walleye tough to lure due to large numbers of gizzard shad

[HuntingNY-News]

“There’s no guarantees,” said one angler. “That’s what keeps you coming back.”

Mike Greenlar/The Post-Standard Walleye anglers fishing from shore on Oneida Lake in recent weeks have been seeing it. It explains why they haven’t been catching as many fish as in past years.

“Sometimes when you’re out there, you can see the walleyes — (surfacing) or their eyes in the water,” said Mike Sattler, of Cazenovia, who has a cottage on the lake in Bridgeport and fishes off his dock. The rub is that there’s also an unusually large number of gizzard shad, their favorite food, all around.

“Your lure is just one of tens of thousands of baitfish in front of them,” he said.

Randy Jackson, senior research assistant at the Cornell Biological Field Station in Bridgeport, confirmed what Sattler and others are reporting. “There are a lot of shad out there,” he said.

Jackson explained that baitfish schooling around the shoreline in shallow water is the reason that fall fishing for walleye on Oneida is so productive year after year.

The prime time to fish is at dusk and an hour or two into darkness, or just before daybreak. It’s the “crepuscular” part of the day. As a result of the changing light, the baitfish become temporarily disoriented, making them easy prey.

Some anglers fish right from shore, others don waders and get in the water. Others fish from boats. Many keep fishing right until ice begins to form on the lake.

Anglers cast floating lures called stickbaits, which are similar in size and color to gizzard shad, which are almost all about 1½ to 2 inches in size. The lures are reeled in slowly, with occasional small jerks thrown in. The action simulates a hurting fish and attracts the walleye.

Al Daher, co-owner of Mickey’s Bait and Tackle in North Syracuse, sees a lot of customers this time of year.

“The bite is on. They’re catching them. But it’s hard to compete with that kind of forage,” he said. He and his brother, James, went out Wednesday night with this reporter. We got skunked.

Don Berti, of Cicero, has been a student of the fall walleye bite on Oneida. For the past 10 years he’s kept a log of his outings, listing his catches, the locations and the conditions.

He said he limited out (three fish, 15 inches or longer) his first time fishing on Oct. 15, and “hasn’t sniffed” a walleye in three subsequent outings.

“There’s no guarantees,” he said. “That’s what keeps you coming back.”

View the full article on The Syracuse Outdoors Blog