greenhornet73

I still can't believe I had to lose that fish, it was seriously heavy. Running a 4 oz. snap weight just barely behind the kayak about 60' down with the lure 20' behind it and the fish hadn't stripped much line yet and did a nose dive straight under the kayak and they still got me with what I am guessing must have been a dipsey 'cuz they were close enough that we were talking back and forth while my rod was doubled over clicking out drag. I didn't want to be a d@#k and tell them to back off but at the time I was just psyched to have a fish on with such a simple rig.

Holy cow combat fishing out there right now! Calm winds allowed me to to get out to the wall this morning before the fleet arrived and hooked up 60' down with a 20' lead to my NK spoon off a snap weight and had a visitor roll up from behind me as I was fighting it below the yak. before too long I was being trolled towards Canada and realized I was now wrapped up on one or more of their lines after they passed me. They got my only snap weight but at least got my favorite spoon back. Must have been a sight to see a kayak a mile out hooked into a large fish but give some space out there guys, I don't take up much room and not a lot of line out. Marking lots of bait and good hooks among it anywhere from 40' -80' down over 110'. Tried vertical jigging a little until traffic got heavy and headed back to camp so not to disrupt any boats paths.

haha i actually have fished in 4 foot rollers out in front of stony point. I turned green and chummed the surface for a couple minutes but never felt like I was going to tip. The near shore chop is harder to deal with than when I am over deep water. South winds don't allow the water to gain enough momentum to rock you too bad but north winds are brutal but great for brown fishing in the spring when they pound the shore for a few days straight

Thanks bowbender, since I fish out of a kayak my outings are completely dependent on the wind factor and have often had to fish from shore after driving an hour to find the forecast was completely off. If it is over 9mph I don't even go out.

I have yet to find an accurate wind forecast. I trust Accuweather for the weather but as far as wind speed and direction it is often not even close.

Wow that is a nice fish. My biggest Otisco eye went 10.5 but was only a fat 27" but haven't seen another like it until now.

the storms are fierce, don't be on the water when they hit. We got hammered here in Camillus (an hour southeast) for half an hour. Good news is we got at least an inch of water in that short amount of time.

Hey sorry to switch gears but any of you guys that fish the lake late into september I am just wondering how close to shore you move in for staging fish typically? I troll out of my kayak and usually stay around the mouth of the SR until the big runs start but if they are within reach I would love to fish fair haven since I am sure it is much quieter with boat traffic and less of a haul for me. I am comfortable only going out about a mile or less offshore so I can get to shore if bad weather is approaching. Looks like this years run will be a large improvement to the past 2 years unless this draught continues. Thanks for the reports, keep em coming.

I'm curious to see how everyone did out there this morning. I marked some fish here and there but couldn't get one to bite but did get a nice muskie to hit trolling a big husky jerk on my way back to the causeway but lost it in a mat of weeds he got himself into. At least I got to feel a couple powerful runs on the trolling rod before I had to pack it in.

I used to get at least 1 every winter under tip ups in front of the restaurant but stopped trying for them once they became scarce while spring walleye fishing. Good to know there are still some going in there. Footballs are exactly what they look like. My biggest was 24" about 12 years ago but I released it and never weighed it. I was guessing about 7#?

Nice job Justin! Are they still stocking browns? I thought they stopped the program a couple years ago? I'm going to give the West side of Otisco a try Sunday morning for the first time in at least a month, been fishing Skaneateles the past few weeks but ready for larger fish again now that my tennis (kayakers) elbow is finally getting better.

Hey Steelfire, there is a rental shack in the park that rents canoes and kayaks. I never rented one there so I don't know the details.

I only know surface temp over 30' was 71-72 on Monday but I didn't venture out into the deep with my kayak

I fish a lake down here that gets tigers stocked every year with a large population of very large fish. Many 40"+ but the bass fishing is incredible with 20"+ largemouths and smallmouths not uncommon. I caught a 20" smallie on opening night of walleye season this year. You would think those in charge of stocking would be more educated and aware of other lakes stocking and success rates.

That's awesome. That was 29 years ago so they actually may have been lake records since the stocking I believe only began in the early 80's

I used to fish Kayuta lake at my uncles camp as a kid and caught some really nice tigers there. He brought the photos to a tackle shop and the guy said we should have recorded the measurements since 2 of them looked like lake records. 1 was 31" and the other was 33". I think that was back in about 1987 or so haha. Brings back memories.