Walleye, Northern Pike opens at midnight... anybody going

[Robhuntandfish]

Its a big night around here tonite.  The walleye/pike opener at midnight.  In my  younger days i would be out there at midnight., Many nights came home with a limit by 2 am and my limit of beers too!   But the lake will be busy this weekend.  I actually will be fishing for northerns in the Dacks tomorrow even though i live right on Oneida lake.  Too many people opening weekend and i have a secret northern spot I am headed for early am - two hour drive but its usually worth it. Never see another boat there and can only get the rowboat with a 4hp on the lake.  It was always a neat event though , all the people fishing the banks/wading and the creeks for the spawners that are left.  The fire department is usually out selling hot coffee and cocoa and hot dogs etc... 

Best of luck if your going out.   

its always fun to drop a 40" + northern in this little boat with 2 guys!  lol ( not the lake we are fishing this weekend in pic but I use this boat in the dacks a lot and some local ponds) 

Edited May 4, 2018 by Robhuntandfish

[grampy]

Sounds like a lot of fun Rob!  Good luck and keep safe.

Maybe I can get the winter cover off my boat this weekend???  Have a lot to do with little time this weekend!

[sodfather]

That’s awesome I did a midnight walleye fish night one time was a lot of fun..

[Fletch]

Good luck! Man when I was young and dumb(er) we used to canoe off Sylvan Beach to the broken up boulders at the end of the pier. Tie up the canoe and stand on the boulders with the waves breaking over you as you casted Repallas for walleyes. All in the pitch dark. Man we caught a lot of nice eyes doing that and only close to died a handful of times lol!!

 

My boat is still in storage, my morning calls for a turkey sit I think then I got days or more of lawn cleanup, trees down, yard ripped up..... Apple/pear trees to plant......so much to do.....

[Robhuntandfish]

9 minutes ago, Fletch said:

Good luck! Man when I was young and dumb(er) we used to canoe off Sylvan Beach to the broken up boulders at the end of the pier. Tie up the canoe and stand on the boulders with the waves breaking over you as you casted Repallas for walleyes. All in the pitch dark. Man we caught a lot of nice eyes doing that and only close to died a handful of times lol!!

 

My boat is still in storage, my morning calls for a turkey sit I think then I got days or more of lawn cleanup, trees down, yard ripped up..... Apple/pear trees to plant......so much to do.....

lol we probably shared some of the same water at times.  I used to wade off the Sylvan beach every year for the opener.  And we did best on the gold/black back rapalas!  Yeah those waves get a bit scary on that lake.  

[Jeremy K]

My buddy and i attempted to do a night time fish for some eyes a few years back . Worst storm i ever was apart of ,scared the crap out of me.

[BigVal]

Usually I'd go out at midnight for eyes but I'm out of town and it looks real windy at home anyway. Good luck Rob and other guys who go out! 

[Robhuntandfish]

55 minutes ago, BigVal said:

Usually I'd go out at midnight for eyes but I'm out of town and it looks real windy at home anyway. Good luck Rob and other guys who go out! 

yeah think a lot of people might not go now.  There is a tornado watch for Oneida county now til 10 pm.....  batten down the hatches! 

[Pygmy]

Good luck, Rob....Hope to see some pictures of some big gators...

IMHO, northern are one of the best eating fish, once you take the Y bones out of them...

[silent death]

Nope may into June IAM striper fishing 

[turkeyfeathers]

19 minutes ago, Pygmy said:

Good luck, Rob....Hope to see some pictures of some big gators...

IMHO, northern are one of the best eating fish, once you take the Y bones out of them...

Never eaten northern pike. Always “too bony “ as I’ve been told. Sorta crazy their cousin the yellow pike so different in bone structure. Hey Dan , girls and I headed your way ( Ithaca ) in late July.  Wife has cat conference in Cornell. Daughter and I planning on fishing somewhere 

Dad weeks before his passing and I talking about blue pike on Lake Erie. Betting most people have never heard of 

[Robhuntandfish]

1 hour ago, Pygmy said:

Good luck, Rob....Hope to see some pictures of some big gators...

IMHO, northern are one of the best eating fish, once you take the Y bones out of them...

Thanks, def will if we get some once we are back in cell range. We will most likely catch and release . But the big ones are easy to take out the Y bones with pliers. And they are good eating.  Although if I break my personal record of 43" I'm gonna be tempted to wall hang it.  Lol.  Prob not unless it pushes 50".  If one takes a lure too deep we would keep it though.  

[REDNECK4LIFE32]

I know the lakes and ponds around me like franklin and union falls for walleye don't open till the 15th of may due to spawning. Northern might be another story but can wait to get on them. good luck fishing and stay safe.

[Pygmy]

2 hours ago, turkeyfeathers said:

Never eaten northern pike. Always “too bony “ as I’ve been told. Sorta crazy their cousin the yellow pike so different in bone structure. Hey Dan , girls and I headed your way ( Ithaca ) in late July.  Wife has cat conference in Cornell. Daughter and I planning on fishing somewhere 

Dad weeks before his passing and I talking about blue pike on Lake Erie. Betting most people have never heard of 

I'd love to take you and your lovely daughter out on my boat..Late July should be good timing  for perch and smallmouths on Keuka lake, or perhaps Cayuga, which is closer to Ithaca...I am not as familiar with Cayuga as I am Keuka, but I'll bet I can find us some fish...

[wolc123]

21 hours ago, turkeyfeathers said:

Never eaten northern pike. Always “too bony “ as I’ve been told. Sorta crazy their cousin the yellow pike so different in bone structure. Hey Dan , girls and I headed your way ( Ithaca ) in late July.  Wife has cat conference in Cornell. Daughter and I planning on fishing somewhere 

Dad weeks before his passing and I talking about blue pike on Lake Erie. Betting most people have never heard of 

A neighbor, up at my families place on the St Lawrence, used to clean all the 22" and larger pike that I could catch, in exchange for the Y-bones.   He removed all the meat as one big slab, cutting right thru the ribs with a fillet knife, and took off the skin.  Then he used a straight- razor to cut out the sections with the y-bones, which he kept to pickle.  Apparently, that is some type of delicacy up there.   I was thankful for the big slabs of meat with no bones.  The northern pike fishing has really dropped off up there in recent years.  We use to get 3 or 4 for every bass, but now we often fish all day without one.  That don't bother me much, because I never learned how to get all the y-bones out of them myself and I prefer the taste of the bass in the summer.   It is also nice to not have to double up the last foot of line to avoid "bite-offs", which were very common otherwise when the pike infested the waters.   Finicky bass are a lot easier to entice on a single strand of fluorocarbon line in the clear water.    

We use to do a lot of pike fishing in May on Silver lake and I was able to get most of the y-bones out by first removing the top meat and dorsal fin.  That cut exposed the tips of the y-bones and if you stayed outside of them, you could remove good sized slabs of boneless meat from the sides.   I often missed a few, and after a trip to the Alex-bay hospital, when my brother-in-law got one stuck in his throat one summer, my wife said - no more pike.  Now I always make sure to freeze enough bass, to last the full year, so I don't have to depend on those May and Early June pike for food.   Back when we fried fish, I liked walleye and perch a little better, but bass are better baked or grilled due to their higher oil content.  That and the fact that they out fight a walleye about 3:1, and are a lot easier to locate, means walleyes get very little of my time these days.    

A couple things I do miss from the pike is the way they hit a jig and the anticipation when bobber fishing with shiners.  unlike bass, from which a strike is difficult to detect (and impossible under the influence of alcohol), the pike would practically rip the rod out of your hand when they struck.   Also, you can be almost falling down drunk and still see that bobber go under with the shiner.   Ah, the good old days.      

Edited May 5, 2018 by wolc123