Late Season Turkeys

By Spider Rybaak

Wounded warrior Chris Jones and the two things that got him into the woods: his white-haired companion and an Action Track Chair.

As with all game, bagging a turkey is easiest—relatively speaking—early in the season. By now, most gobbler hunters have put away their camo and guns and picked up fishing or lawn equipment. Bad mistake: late bloomers are just getting revved up.

Stanley Ouellette, owner of Deer Creek Motel and Pheasant Shooting Preserve, (315) 298-3730, showed me last Tuesday.

“Spider,” he whispered, “we just got a nice jake. Want to take some pictures?”

“Sure,” I responded. “When and where”

“At the hotel, 1 p.m.”

“How come you’re whispering?” I asked.

“Because I’m working a bird right now and don’t want to spook him,” he responded.
“I’ll be there,” I promised.

Wow, I thought as I hung up. The guy can make a phone call while he’s talking turkey.

When I caught up with his group of seven, I was introduced to all of them, but two stood out: Chris Jones and Pat Donnelly; Stan is so modest and low key you hardly know he’s there.

Donnelly, President of Team E Outdoors, a hunting and fishing show which runs  September through February on Time Warner Sports, and is currently available on the Pursuit Channel, 6 p.m., on Thursday nights,  has access to an Action Track Chair, an all-terrain wheelchair. Deciding to devote several segments of his show to Wounded Warriors shooting the bird, he made a deal with Ouellette.

“Stanley provides us with accommodations, time, place to hunt and does all the calling,” admits Donnelly.

Jones is the Wounded Warrior. On August 27, 2011, while stationed in Iraq as a member of the 10th Mountain Division, an IED went off near him, compressing and twisting his spine, causing heavy loss of hearing in both ears and major nerve damage, among other things.

“I love to hunt,” admits the Watertown resident, “and this chair lets me get out there,” he says, sweeping his arm over the fields and forests behind the motel. “I couldn’t have gotten out there without it.”

I asked Stan what technique he used in drawing turkeys close, especially so late in the season.

“Runnin and gunnin,” he replied quickly, with a grin.

“Say what?” I retorted.

Kyle Ott, a member of the field staff for Lights Out Custom Calls, responded “Cover as much ground as possible, call to close the distance, giving him a shorter distance to cover when you call, then sit down and shut up.”

““How do you know when to stop calling?” I asked.

“Once I know he’s closing ground, responding closer, I stop calling,” he answered.

Rick Miick, a local fishing guide and the only one to bag the bird, butted in “Hens came in first today, talking right back to me, mirroring what I was saying. They stayed at the edge of the hedgerow. Not the jakes that were with them, though. As soon as they hit the field and saw my decoy, they broke with the live hens and came running for it. Dead jake.”

Unfortunately, Jones didn’t get a shot.

He recounts his experience: “Stan called three hens that actually pecked at our decoy before returning to the woods. A couple hours later, a couple more came out. But the one tom Stan attracted never came around the open side of our blind. His voice was deep, raspy…a real mature bird. Stan saw it and estimated it at three years old.”

Hunting turkeys is a good way to welcome spring. The weather’s warm, everything’s green and the turkeys are talking their hearts out.

Highly popular Salmon River guide Rick Miick, showing he can shoot turkey, too.

Kids Fishing Classes

By Spider Rybaak

Baldwinsville's Ethan Pruner with the first fish he's ever caught on a lure, and first smallmouth.

Mike Riordan’s dad planted countless memories by taking his boy fishing every chance he got. After his father died, Mike figured the best way to honor him was to pass on the many memorable lessons his dad blessed him with, and started day-long fishing seminars each spring at the Calvary Baptist Church in Brewerton. Over the years, his program has grown to attract thousands of kids and their parents, hooking them on this fabulous pastime.

I was honored to do a presentation on fishing from shore in Oswego County at the last event held on March 29. The enthusiasm shown by the children and their parents was unbelievable. Everyone had questions…so many questions; enough, in fact to make me walk away deeply troubled. After all, how can a parent teach a kid to fish if he doesn’t know how to tie a knot, bait a hook, the difference between a fly and crankbait...?

After giving the situation some thought, I contacted Mike McGrath, of McGrath & Associates Carp Angling Services (315)-882-1549); www.marukyu.com/eng  and invited him to join me in setting up a series of kids fishing clinics designed to help students from 5 to 75 to learn the ropes. 

We held our first class last weekend at the Clyde River fishing access site at Montezuma National Wildlife Refuge. To no one’s surprise, it was a resounding success. You see, Mike is the Pied Piper of carp. Instead of using a musical instrument, he hooks them with an astonishing menu of goodies, chumming an area with grains and vegetables soaked in juice and syrup, drawing them from miles around to his feasts.

And they come…by the hundreds. Everyone within eye shot--on both banks and in boats--had encounters with the beasts; our students, most of all.

Mike ended up drawing fish ranging from 10 to a whopping 25 pounds. Needless to say, the kids and their parents were hopelessly hooked. 

I conducted classes on lure fishing.  While everyone was mesmerized by McGrath’s magic, I went off by myself and started working a Berkley PowerBait Atomic Teaser tipped with a Chartreuse Power Wiggler. In about an hour, I landed everything from smallmouths and crappies to bluegills and rock bass. 

After catching his fill of huge carp, Ethan Pruner, like any youngster, started looking for other spots. I caught his eye and he came over to see what I was throwing. I showed him, gave him a pack of each to keep, tied the combination on his line, instructed him for a moment on the art of jigging and before you know it he’s battling his first smallmouth…and the first fish he’s ever caught on a lure.

Mike and I plan on doing several more clinics in Oswego County this summer. The first will be on June 2, at the municipal dock just off the northeastern corner of the US 11 bridge in Brewerton, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Bait and instructions will be provided free, and loaner Shakespeare rod and reel combos—spin-casting and fly-fishing--will be available for the duration of the class. Anglers 16 and older must have a NYS fishing license. Children under 14 must be accompanied by an adult.

For more information, call me at (315) 633-1245 or Mike at the above number.

See ya there.

Mike McGrath holding Ethan Pruner's first carp.

The Ultimate Fishing Town Contest: Vote for your Town!

 

World Fishing Nework.com, the only 24/7 TV network dedicated to all segments of fishing, recently announced its Ultimate Fishing Town Contest, and invites everyone to help in determining the location. Oswego, home to two of the most famous rivers in the Northeast, the Oswego and Salmon, has two communities vying for the honor: Oswego and Pulaski. The town that wins the title will receive a $25,000 community donation, and will be featured in a segment on WFN as the Ultimate Fishing Town.

“It’s clear to those who live here that Oswego County has the ultimate fishing spots and the perfect destination for outdoor enthusiasts,” says David Turner, Director, Community Development, Tourism and Planning. “It’s time to tell everyone outside the state: Oswego has the top two Ultimate Fishing Towns in the Country!”

Voting is allowed every 6 hours and closes on May 31, 2012.

Cast your vote:

- Vote Oswego! http://www.worldfishingnetwork.com/uft/vote/oswego-ny

- Vote Pulaski!  http://www.worldfishingnetwork.com/uft/vote/pulaski-ny

For more information on Oswego County and fishing destinations in Oswego and Pulaski, visit www.visitoswegocounty.com.

Rain Soaked Walleyes

By Spider Rybaak

Don Hendrickson of Panther Lake holding a 24 inch pickerel he took at Cleveland Docks just after the rain.

Last Saturday morning, opening day of walleye season, a flotilla of about 30 boats was out in front of the house. Most were manned by participants of the Cicero-Mattydale Lions Club’s Walleye Derby. The field numbered close to 2,000 and nearly everyone caught something, even if it was just a perch. 

Writing for Syracuse.com, Dave Figura reports the $1,000.00 prize went to Daniel Van Meter of North Syracuse for a 24 ¾ inch walleye he took on a jig.

That’s a big one for Oneida Lake. You see, while larger fish have been wrenched from these productive waters often enough, the average size for an Oneida Lake walleye is about 18 inches.  

My neighbor, Reed, nailed his limit, all ranging between 16 and 18 inches. Unfortunately, his girlfriend and her father, who went with him, didn’t catch any. At least the father got a sunfish; his girlfriend got skunked.

Ironically, one of the pike he caught came on her rod. She asked him to hold it for a second while she checked the eye or something at the tip and right when she handed it to him the fish hit. A proud, ethical woman, she wouldn’t take credit for a fish she didn’t catch. Still, she probably feels a little ticked—but all that should go away when she’s eating it.

Both days of the tournament were blessed with decent weather. The sun shined a lot and there was just enough wind to keep the walleyes active without making it uncomfortable for the competitors.

On Monday it turned nasty—into great walleye weather. When I headed out to go surf fishing that evening, I planned on hitting Lakeport’s Lake Oneida Beach Association. But it was too calm. The wind was blowing out of the south so I headed for Cleveland.

Good move. My lure encountered stiff resistance on the first cast. So stiff, in fact, I couldn’t stop it. 

 Whatever it was, it just took off, slowly, deliberately, like an elephant trying to shake a mosquito off its butt.

...And that’s all she wrote. I listened to my line sizzling through the waves. Before I knew it, I could see my spool in the moonlight. A couple seconds later it’s empty, and in a heartbreaking snap, I’m without line, lure or fish. Believe me, that’s enough to grab your attention on a soggy night.

Fortunately, I had 150 yards of Berkley’s new Nanofil in the trunk. By the time I returned to the bank, the rain started. I tied on a black/silver Challenger and cast into the blinding deluge. It was blowing so hard I couldn’t get out more than 20 feet, and even then, only if I put every ounce of strength I had into it. And forget about straight…I had to cast to the left just to have it go out in front of me.

Five minutes of that, and I’m getting wet. The rain is crawling up my sleeves and through my sneakers. Nose running, glasses streaked, hair pasted to my cheeks, I figure I might as well call it quits. And then a beautiful, golden-sided “eye” nails it. 

After landing him I actually thought about casting out again. But the elements presented a convincing argument against that.

On the way home the sky cleared up momentarily and I saw guys fishing in the surf in Cleveland, Sylvan Beach and Lakeport. I stopped to watch the one standing off the decaying breakwall south of Cleveland docks and actually saw his rod bent, straining against a fish. But before he could land it, the clouds blew into the face of the moon and darkness stole my sight again.

The rain over the past few days is sure to raise water levels. Culverts will spew a stained flow, turning the water near shore cloudy. The wind will pitch in by driving warm temperatures--and the bait--into shore; it’s the perfect storm for walleyes in the surf.

Rich Bolster, Constantia, with a keeper walleye taken from the bank.

"Surfin'" Oneida Lake Style.

Don Hendrickson with a walleye this time.

Last Chance Dropbacks

By Spider Rybaak

A nice domestic male rainbow caught in Downtown Pulaski.

Unseasonably warm weather turned March into the balmiest month of the year – so far. A  lot of steelheaders who came up to the Salmon River last month expecting to be blasted by winter’s last snow and cold ended up fishing in short sleeves. One Fort Drum angler I met complained, in a distinctly Southern drawl, “ Y'all, I expected to get snow-blinded , not sun burnt!”

Just then, he set the hook on a steelie and admitted, “But I ain’t complainin’…Fish On!”

While the bite, and weather, remained great the first week of this month, the second and third weeks saw cold temperatures riding high pressure systems. The weather had a curious effect on the fish. As often as not, they’d hit in the early morning but as the sun swept over the water, they’d shut right off. Hot bite one day… off the next… it was enough to make a quiet man mumble to himself in public.

This week the weather has been closer to normal; and the fish and anglers are acting like they’re supposed to. Most of the steelhead have spawned and they’re heading back to the lake, feeding like there’s no tomorrow.

While a few stragglers and late spawners – punctuated by domestic rainbows and early running landlocked Atlantic salmon – can be found throughout the stream, the main body of chromers is in the lower river, from the village of Pulaski down to the Douglaston Salmon Run.

In the middle of the week I decided to try my luck and fish in downtown Pulaski, within earshot of US 11.

On Tuesday, I used my JW Young centerpin outfit to float-fish a bubblegum-colored Berkley floating Trout Worm through the current at the foot of the Village Pool. In less than an hour, I landed a brilliantly colored, five-pound domestic rainbow, and lost two.

On Wednesday, I switched to my Spey-casting outfit and threw a stylized olive wooly bugger I got at Malinda’s Fly & Tackle Shop & Lodge (315-298-2993), over in Altmar. Using a Rio SpeyVersiLeader (got that at Malinda’s, too) with a 3.9-inch per second sink rate, I was able to swing the fly through the rapids right into the sights of a famished, three-pound steelie hen. She slammed it with the ferocity of a killer whale, almost throwing me off balance.

The fishing’s real good over at the Douglaston Salmon Run, according to river keeper Garrett Brancy. He offered, “Several of our guides (private guides who fish the DSR regularly) report everyone’s catching fish; a mixture of drop-backs and domestic rainbows, and a few smallmouths.”

“The Douglaston Salmon Run closes on the last of April,” he adds.

Which is only right; the smart money is betting this weekend will see the last of this spring’s run of steelies melt out of the river. If the typical spring weather of the last couple of days holds up, the bite’ll be a good one, adding a wonderful taste of normalcy to a spring seasoned with uncertainty.

A female steelie caught in the same area as the male above.

Bullheads and Crappies: Bank Fishing’s Rites of Spring

By Spider Rybaak

Matt Nies and son Jackson with a couple typical Toad Harbor bluegills.

An old wives’ tale says that bullheads go on their spring bite when forsythias bloom; screwy weather notwithstanding. And while Lake Neahtahwanta saw some early, incredibly fast and furious crappie action the last couple days of March through the first week of April, bullheads are a little more patient and stayed true to their normal schedule.

And, you won’t find a more convenient place in which to catch these thorny delicacies than this lake on Fulton’s West Side.  You see, not only is it located right at the shoulder of NY State Route 3, it boasts a pier and restaurant a stone’s throw from the highway and offers ample shoulder parking and fishing access on about a quarter of its shoreline.

What’s more, these normally nocturnal feeders are famished right after their winter-long snooze in the mud, and hit as eagerly in broad daylight right now as they do after dark. And that’s a good for school kids, working folks and others who don’t cotton to fishing half the night.

Equally exciting is that this year the rules have changed, allowing anglers to use three rigs instead of two, so you can still-fish worms or shrimp on bottom with a couple rods and dangle a minnow below a bobber on a third in case there’s a school of late blooming crappies snooping around the shoreline looking for love or food.

Another Oswego County hot-spot for these popular panfish is Oneida Lake’s Toad Harbor. This year everything’s swarming in at once. In fact, over the past week, you were as likely to catch a batch of bluegills as you were a limit of crappie or bushel of bullheads.

Toad Harbor is notorious for game fish species that are out of season this time of year, and you can’t avoid catching them, especially if you’re using minnows, jigs or other lures for crappies

One of the most common is the pickerel, an ancient critter that hails back to before the ice age. The smallest member of the pike family, these toothy game fish are important for maintaining a healthy prey/predator balance. Unfortunately, some guys treat pickerel with extreme prejudice, like they’re unaware the species is native to New York. Hate to tell ‘em, the reason there’s so many pickerel in the lake is because they’re filling in for the northern pike that are being slowly forced out by loss of habitat. You see, nature abhors a vacuum and is replacing the pike with their tinier cousins.

Remember, pickerel are a game fish that deserve their protected status and should be released without any further harm…until their opening day, the first Saturday of May. Then you can take them home and savor their incredibly delicate flavor.

Another species that finds “The Toad” to its liking in its off season is the largemouth bass. Last Monday, small schools of hawgs prowled the food-rich waters within easy eye-shot of anglers. One guy I was talking to about the crappie bite couldn’t keep his mind on our conversation, explaining “not while the biggest bass I’ve ever seen are swimming around me.” (Bass season opens the third Saturday in June.)

One of the two 13-something-inch Crappies I caught on April 12 at Toad Harbor on a Berkley Power Teaser tipped with a Berkley Honey Worm.

A couple ladies relaxing while fishing from the bank.

Fulton's Brian Kirby, and daughter Kristie, admiring a juicy bullhead they caught bottom-fishing with worms in Lake Neahtahwanta on April 15.

Fulton resident Charles Pollack with a bullhead he took from Lake Neatahwantha over the weekend.

Browns Abound

By Spider Rybaak

Captain Lee holding Dave Rath's first fish of the day.

May’s warmth in late February, winter winds in mid-April, robins and daffodils in early March...It’s enough to make self-respecting anglers wanna hang up their rods until June. Fortunately, Lake “O” is a huge pond and its fish don’t pay much attention to today’s screwy weather patterns. And its bread-and-butter  fishery, brown trout, proves it.

This year, the pack ice that normally encircles the big pond all winter long like a pie crust was gone in February. The unseasonably warm temperatures lured anglers to the lake’s banks and piers like Northern nightcrawlers draw robins from the South. The first-of-March bite was great, with more guys catching huge browns from the bank earlier than anyone can remember.

Gutsy charter boat operations like Good Times Sportfishing of Lake Ontario , LLC (607) 768-9121; www.goodtimessportfishing. net ) embraced the propitious weather as a rare opportunity to extend their fishing season by a couple weeks and launched their boats early. Captains Nick Lee and George Haskins invited me to go with them on April 4, this year’s maiden voyage.

As luck would have it, the weather reverted to more normal patterns that morning and when I left the house at 5:30 a.m., stiff northwesterlies greeted me at the door. I went back inside to get my Spey casting gear, half expecting to be fishing the Salmon River at 6:30 a.m. instead.

The 40 years of collective fishing experience the captains packed under their belts, combined with their 30’ long Sportcraft Express with a 10 –foot beam, gave them all the confidence they needed to cast off. I was skeptical but when I came aboard and felt how solid the craft was, I figured: hey, this might work.

We spent the first half-hour or so trolling around the mouth of the Salmon River looking for water with a little color. Slightly muddy water came into view south of the “Sticks” (lights on the jetty at the mouth of the Salmon River).  We ran through it half-heartedly because this color was caused by waves stirring up the sand on the beach—productive, on occasion, but not what we were looking for.

“We didn’t get much run-off this year,” explained Capt. Lee, a local science teacher. “So the insects, worms and other delights normally pumped into the lake this time of year are in short supply. But the unseasonably warm weather has compensated by causing insects to hatch and plankton to bloom early. Bait converges on these events and the browns are sure to be there, too, “ he continued.

“Without the normal run-off, we don’t have the numerous schools of browns that hang out in the shallows most years,” added Captain Haskins.  “But the schools we do locate are bigger and we catch 90% of our fish in 10% of the water.”

We changed course to a northern heading, hoping to find some pea-green water (the color of plankton) in the Salmon River’s plume. Before we got to the “Crab Legs” (secret charter captain’s code for a local landmark) less than a mile north of the river, a nice brown hit one of the Michigan Stingers we were flatlining off planer boards.

Dave Rath, a former Oswego County legislator, and member of the County’s Tourism Advisory Council, was on board. He expected me to take the first fish. Well, I thought he should be first. We didn’t come to blows, but by the time we hashed it out and he lifted the rod, the fish was off.

And that was all right because it only took about five minutes for another fish to hit, a nice five-pounder; and five minutes later, another hits…then another. The bite was steady for the next ¼-mile or so.

When we turned the boat to run back down, all hell breaks loose. We had doubles a couple times; and three on once. While several were small, running one to two pounds, the vast majority (I stopped counting after 15) were five pounds and a couple tipped the scales at 10 or better.

The browns should stay in the shallows into next month when warm temperatures will force them deeper.

So get out there at you’re earliest chance and catch browns so close to shore, you can skip a stone from the boat to the sand dunes.

Dave Rath fighting a brown while Captain Nick Lee tries unhooking one just landed.

Captains George Haskins (left) and Nick Lee holding a couple 10-pounders, the day's best.

The good Captain's performs the day's final service.

Football Browns from the Bank

By Spider Rybaak

Jamey Bond, caretaker of Mexico Point State Park, and son Jericho with a couple of browns they took off the west breakwall off the mouth of the Little Salmon River.

Oswego County offers world-class fishing opportunities for every temperament. Take bank fishing, for instance. No matter what time of year it is, something’s hanging out close enough to shore to reach by casting. In early spring, the game fish of choice for landlubbers is the brown trout.

We’re not talking your typical two-year-old stocky that the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation throws into “cricks” to sweeten a stream angler’s chances of catching something to write home to mother about. We’re taking about veterans of a couple years of running free in Lake Ontario, growing three to five pounds, so big they’re called football browns. They resemble America’s favorite pigskin so closely, cousin Staash (rhymes with gosh) claims “if your grip is good enough to hold one of the slimy things you can throw it into the end zone, making it spin like a bullet all the way.”

While just about any Lake Ontario pier, breakwall or beach makes a good casting platform, Oswego County’s waterfront is superior because of our tributaries. After all, the Oswego (the lake’s second largest feeder) Salmon and Little Salmon Rivers run through here; as do numerous skinny creeks like Grindstone, Catfish, Rice and Sage. Slightly stained by run-off, and a couple degrees warmer than the lake, their plumes reach deep, hooking the appetites of browns, dragging them inshore to bask in the comfortable temperatures--and indulge in a feeding frenzy on all the baitfish hanging out in the balmy zone.

One of the hottest spots is off the mouth of the Little Salmon River in the hamlet of Texas. Public breakwalls line both sides at stream’s end. The western structure, the longest, is on the grounds of the Mexico Point State Park (from NY 104B, head north on Mexico Point Drive), a facility run by the Town of Mexico. The east side’s belongs to NYS Park’s Mexico Point Boat Launch (from NY 104B, head north on Cty. Rte. 40.)

Equally popular among local anglers are the stained waters where Grindstone Creek pours into the lake at Selkirk Shores State Park (head south on NY 3 about three miles from the NY 3/NY 13 intersection). While the fishing is most consistent off the park pier just north of the stream, running a lure through the current just off the mouth gives you a good chance of catching a bonus steelhead heading upstream to spawn.

Beach fishing is good off the mouth of Deer Creek, which feeds the lake a few hundred feet north of the Salmon River’s mouth. Running through a wildlife management area of the same name, get there from the NY 13/ NY 3 intersection by heading north on NY 3 for about 3 ½ miles, turning left on Rainbow Shores Road, continuing to the end, turning left on the dirt road, bearing left at the fork ½ mile later, and continuing to the WMA’s parking lot. From there, walk south along the beach to the creek’s mouth.

If you’re into urban settings, the city of Oswego offers a couple popular beach sites: one at the end of 6thAvenue on the west side of town, and another at the end of East 10th1/2 Street.

Good baits to use are blue/silver and green/silver Little Cleos, and gold or silver/black back crankbaits like Smithwick Rogues, Thundersticks and Rapalas.

A brown trout taken at Selkirk Shores State Park last weekend by the author.

Fishing scene: Pier at Selkirk Shores State Park.

Pier view of the sunset: Selkirk Shores State Park.