Syracuse.com - CNY shoreline fishing hot spot: Willow Bay at northeast end of Onondaga Lake (11th in a series)

[HuntingNY-News]

"It's the intersection of two fishing worlds. You can catch fish from the lake and fish from the river," said Daher, who works at Mickey's Bait and Tackle shop in North Syracuse.

James Daher calls it one of the "prime shoreline public fishing locations" in Central New York.

It's Willow Bay, the stretch at the northeastern section of Onondaga Lake that begins off a rock jetty and stretches up the Seneca River to the Route 370 bridge.

"It's the intersection of two fishing worlds. You can catch fish from the lake and fish from the river," said Daher, who works at Mickey's Bait and Tackle shop in North Syracuse. "The fishing is quite lucrative. Very infrequently do anglers leave this area without catching something. "

The popular, picturesque area is contained within Onondaga Lake Park and split by Long Branch Road. There's picnic tables and bathrooms. In addition, there's a constant flow of walkers, joggers and roller bladers on the paved path that winds through it.

Daher noted it costs nothing to fish there. The top two fish caught are carp and bass, but anglers also reel in all types of panfish (bluegills, sunfish, perch, rock bass), along with bullheads, catfish and the occasional northern pike, pickerel or tiger muskie.

Yamil Rivera, 10, of Baldwinsville, holds up a nice bluegill he caught on a worm.David Figura | [email protected] 

"The most popular method is casting out a worm and letting it sit on the bottom," he said.

Daher noted the smallmouth bass fishing from shore at times can be "phenomenal," particularly durin the early spring and fall as the fish migrate back and forth from the lake and river following the bait fish.

The stretch has been the location of numerous carp-fishing tournaments, in addition to the Free Fishing Weekend derbies, which has been held for the past nine years during the state's two free fishing days in late June.

Richard Zoll, of Solvay, who was Willow Bay on Tuesday with his camera taking pictures of wildlife, said he grew up in the area and constantly fished the lake from shore as a kid.

"Back then, it was mostly carp and bullheads," he said. "But with the cleanup of the lake, you're seeing more bass, pike and lots of other species of fish."

Tuesday afternoon, several youngsters escaped the hot, humid weather by fishing in the shade underneath the state Thruway bridge along the stretch. They were using worms and catching bluegills and round gobies.

"There's a lot of gobies here on the bottom," said Brandon Lucio, 12, of Lakeland. "You can use them to catch bass. There's a lot of bass in here. I've caught them as big as 3 to 4 pounds. I caught a 5-pounder once using a gobie as bait."

"And on the other side I've caught a lot of pickerel," he said.

The youngster noted there's "a lot" of carp constantly moving through the area lately..

"The carp are spawning and going nuts jumping in the water," he said.

SUGGESTIONS NEEDED:

I've profiled 11 CNY shoreline hot spots since beginning this series last summer. Have a suggestion for a location I should visit and write about? Send your ideas to me at [email protected]

View the full article on The Syracuse Outdoors Blog