Syracuse.com - Otisco man, 92, still hunts and fishes to pass the time

[HuntingNY-News]

"I don't worry about anything. I do what I want, eat what I want. Part of life is being active and being interested in doing something," he said.

Mike Greenlar/The Post-StandardWilliam J. Martens Jr, left, and his 92-year-old father, William A. Martens, still hunt together.

Whether it’s hunting or fishing, 92-year-old William Martens still manages to get in his share.

“He’s incredible. I don’t know where he gets his energy and drive. Must be that World War II generation,” said his son, William Martens Jr.

William Martens was born in Massena. His mom died in childbirth, and his father took Martens and his two siblings to Otisco Lake back in 1921. Martens and his wife, Helene, live there with their son, William Jr., 53, the youngest of their four children. He founded the Otisco Lake Marina and is known around the lake as a diehard outdoorsman.

Martens was out on opening day of hunting season this past weekend, but he didn’t get anything.

It was just four years ago that the son received a call while he was working downstate, about 40 minutes outside of New York City.

“He called me to say he’d just shot a six-point buck behind my house,” the son remembered with a laugh. “He wanted me to come give him a hand. I ended up calling a buddy of mine who helped him get the deer out of the woods and to the butcher.”

Martens said the marina is on the former location of the Twin Oaks Hotel, which his father ran.

“My father ran a speakeasy back in those days. I remember mixing drinks for him (as a youngster),” he said. “During those days, there were only dirt roads around the lake.”

During the Great Depression, Martens, then 18, enlisted for five years in the Citizen Conservation Corps. He got a job afterward with Carrier Corp., but then decided to enlist in the Army during World War II. He served five years, traveling to North Africa, Sicily and Italy.

Getting out of the service, he turned the former hotel into the Otisco Lake Marina. He married his wife, Helene, in 1949. He also got rehired by Carrier, working as a supervisor.

He sold the marina in 1960 and continued to work at Carrier until 1974. He worked another five years as the mechanic at the marina, in addition to being a guard for the Onondaga Water Authority.

Throughout the years, he continued to fish Otisco Lake and hunt in the woods around it.

“I remember fishing Otisco Lake when I was a little boy,” he said. “My sister and I used to fish off the rocks before going to school each morning.”

Martens said he never really got into bass fishing, preferring walleye, trout and tiger muskie. This time of year, he said, he always used to catch two to three nice brown trout every time out trolling. Not this year, though.

When Otisco isn’t producing during the fall, he said, he drives over to Skaneateles Lake and fishes off the shore at Lourdes Camp for rainbow trout using worm-marshmallow rigs. He said he’s got “written permission” from the camp directors to fish there.

Two weeks ago, he caught a nice 20-inch ’bow at Lourdes.

Martens said he prefers hunting over fishing. However, over the years he hasn’t gotten many deer with his 12-gauge Remington shotgun.

“I just love being out in the woods and walking. I just can’t sit still. I’m out walking all the time,” he said, smiling. “ I just keep chasing them ahead of me.”

Despite what he says, Martens does put in a substantial amount of time fishing.

His son, William Jr., said he jokingly refers to his father as “The Old Man and the Sea,” because he’s often out on Otisco Lake trolling about in his 14-foot aluminum boat with its four-horsepower motor.

“I keep an eye on him with my binoculars. He goes out in all kinds of weather and some of the neighbors get worried,” he said.

The son said this past summer his father was on the far side of the lake when his motor refused to start.

“Next thing I know, I looked out there and he is rowing back,” he said. “He’s not one to stay indoors. He’s got to be outside doing something all the time.”

The son said his father has slowed down in recent years but continually wants to hunt and fish.

Is there a secret to his longevity? Martens said he quit smoking 30 years ago while a supervisor at Carrier. He also used to drink, his wife said, but he hasn’t in years.

8220;I don’t worry about anything. I do what I want, eat what I want. Part of life is being active and being interested in doing something,” he said. “I never was much of a man for sitting around.”

View the full article on The Syracuse Outdoors Blog