Syracuse.com - Want to catch an Oneida Lake walleye? Here's how

[HuntingNY-News]

When it comes to fishing from shore, timing and location are important. The most productive approach is to get out in the early evening and, if possible, fish through the night until early morning.

Timothy Whipple with his 27 3/4 inch walleye.. the biggest caught in in the 2009 Cicero-Mattydale Lions Club Walleye Tournament on Oneida Lake.

The walleye fishing season opener is Saturday, and it’s time to start making preparations and going through your tackle.

But what if you’re a beginner and you’ve never hooked a walleye, which rank at the top of the menu for most freshwater fish fanciers in Central New York?

I talked this week with three walleye fishing guides — Tony Buffa, of Bridgeport, Ted Dobs, of Verona, and Ray Brown, of Auburn — for the skinny, the bare-bones basics of catching these fish.

I had them focus on approaches that work on the No. 1 walleye factory in this area: Oneida Lake.

Buffa issued a caution.

“Some of this information is just our best guesses,” he said. “Opening day is always a crapshoot. Legally, we can’t be on the lake ahead of time to try things out.”

Tackle and line

The best bet for shore fishing and drift fishing from boats is a spinning outfit with a medium-heavy, 6½- to 7-foot graphite rod and a reel spooled with either 8- or 10-pound Berkley Fireline or NanoFil line, the experts said.

The guys all agreed that although that Fireline and NanoFil fishing lines are more expensive than other lines, they’re worth it. They don’t stretch, “are very sensitive to the feel” and because of their smaller diameter (compared to monofilament and fluorocarbon lines) cast farther and more consistently than most everything else being sold.

David Lassman/The Post-StandardThree good lines for fishing for walleye: Fireline and Nanofil for drifting and shore casting, and lead core line for trolling.

Casting from shore

All three anglers said timing and location are crucial. The most productive approach is to get out in the early evening and, if possible, fish through the night until early morning. The idea is to catch walleyes as they move toward shore to feed on baitfish such as shad.

Casting and slowly retrieving 3- to 4-inch floating stickbaits, such as Rapalas, usually works best. Good colors are black and silver or blue and silver.

Submitted photoJacob Hirshey, of Syracuse, caught this 25-inch, 5-pound, 6-ounce walleye while wading from shore during the evening on the east end of Oneida Lake. He was casting a black/gold Countdown Rapala, using a slow, steady retrieve.

Possible locations include the canal wall at Sylvan Beach, the public fishing access area in Brewerton (at the I-81 overpass), or, if you get permission from private property owners, places like Lewis Point.

Dobs recommended wearing waders to get out a bit to avoid the weeds, algae and debris on the shoreline. “The lake is low and it’s going to be nasty this year.”

Drift fishing

The go-to approach many will be using Saturday will be jigging with a black-and-purple bucktail jig tipped with a night crawler.

The technique is simple: As you drift, cast the jig ahead of your drift so it reaches the bottom. Jig it and reel in as the boat moves toward it. This way it stays on the bottom and the angler has greater control of its action. Experiment with slow or quick retrievals. See what works.

A mild wind can be your friend. Too much wind can be a pain, making it difficult to keep your jig on the bottom. Experienced anglers slow their drift by tossing “drift bags” into the water. The bags are attached to the boat with a rope.

Brown recommended 3/8- to 1/2-ounce jig heads for the mild days and 1/2- to 5/8-ounce jig heads for the windier ones.

Other proven lures include Heddon’s Sonar blade baits, which are also jigged up and down from the bottom and can often trigger a response when the walleye bite has slowed. Try silver for sunny days, gold for overcast ones and clown- or fire tiger-colored lures when nothing else is working, Dobs said.

David Lassman/The Post-StandardProven walleye lures: (from the top)perch-colored crankbait, a black and silver Rapala, an XPS Minnow, a blue and purple bucktail jig and a gold Heddon Sonar blade bait.

A number of anglers also catch walleye using worm-and-spinner rigs, which can be slowly trolled, drifted or cast at a variety of depths. Another technique is to use hard plastic lures, such as deep-diving crankbaits or suspended 3- to 4-inch stickbaits, such as Rapalas and XPS Minnows, with a slow retrieve.

Without getting too complicated, black and silver or blue and silver, along with perch colors, are often the best bet, Buffa said.

All three anglers agreed the best time to fish from a boat is from just before the break of day to mid-morning, and then again from 5 to 8 in the evening.

As for locations, they noted that reports from the state hatchery in Constantia have indicated that the fish spawned earlier than usual this year, so by opening day many should be in deeper water, as opposed to clustering around the mouths of streams. Having a depth finder and fish finder on your boat is a plus.

Drift-fishing anglers should target rocky points and areas around buoys 109, 113, 119 and 121 in 30-40 feet of water — and particularly around “the hump,” located a few hundred feet southeast of buoy 109. Another good stretch is along the north shore between Constantia and Jewel in 32-38 feet of water.

“I’d head out to Shackleton Shoals, a six-mile shoal in the middle of the lake,” Dobs said. “The fish spawn there, and there’s enough rocks and depth changes to give the fish what they’re looking for. With all the rocks, sand and different depths, you can really gauge where the biting fish are at. It’s a good testing ground.”

Trolling

This is an approach some 25 percent of boat fishermen use on opening day, Brown said. It’s effective, but it’s not “active fishing” (involving casting and retrieving).

“Trolling is a whole other ballgame,” Buffa said. “Some anglers are very good at this, others just get out and burn gas.”

The guys in the know have the right rods and reels, planer boards, an array of proven lures, a GPS device and a depth finder.

The trick is to keep your boat moving in the 1.5- to 2.1-mph range. No faster.

Buffa and Brown said the beginner can go out and buy a special trolling rod and reel, along with a spool of color-coded lead-core line. The color of the line changes every 30 feet, and the lure sinks five feet for every 30 feet of line let out.

Anglers should tie 35 to 50 feet of 20-pound monofilament line on the end of the lead-core line. Then, take a barrel swivel and add 6 to 7 feet of 6- to 10-pound fluorocarbon line. Finally, attach the lure to the end of the fluorocarbon line with a snap, or clip.

“Once you see the fish marks (on your screen), it’s a no-brainer,” Buffa said. “Trolling, you can cover a heckuva lot more water and once you figure out where the fish are located and at what depth (with a fish finder), you then figure out which direction you’re going to troll from.”

Walleye trollers generally use floating stickbaits, including Rapalas, Smithwicks and Thundersticks, or spoons such as Michigan Stingers. Once again, black and silver or blue and silver, or perch colors, are often the most effective.

The best time to be out is just before dawn through mid-morning and 5 to 8 p.m. during the evening. A good starting point would be between Constantia and Jewel in 32-35 feet of water.

“And with the new law, each angler aboard can use three poles,” Buffa said.

Submitted photoDenny Tyler, of Onondaga Hill, with his big Oneida walleye.

Know the law

The walleye season kicks off at 12:01 a.m. Saturday. The statewide minimum size is 15 inches, and there is a limit of five fish per day. On Oneida Lake, only three fish a day can be kept. On the St. Lawrence River and Lake Ontario, the minimum size is 18 inches and the daily limit is three. It’s the same for Cross Lake and parts of the Seneca River. For more, see the DEC fishing guide.

State record

The state record for walleye is 16 pounds, 7 ounces. The fish was caught by John Fluder on May 22, 1994, on a Mister Twister jig in the Kinzua Reservoir in Cattaraugus County.

View the full article on The Syracuse Outdoors Blog