Hello fishermen, fishergals, fisherkids, & the latest cyber creation, fisheravitars:

    Another week, another cold spell here in central NY and as I tell my college students ":this is typical math weather...cold and calculating!" At any rate if you have a propensity to spend the winter chasing walleyes and panfish on the ice, the following will definitely be of interest to you.

    Cazenovia Lake has always been known as an excellent panfish venue for ice-fishing. This past week, it far and away out did itself by yielding a 13 lb. 8 oz. walleye. Rumor has it that Michael Kelly will have a picture of this grand walleye in this coming Sunday's PostStandard Outdoor column.

    In general, fishing has picked up a tempo on Oneida. Excellent yellow perch catches are being reported from the east end off Lewis Point and good walleye catches are being reported from mid-lake around the drop offs north of Shackleton Shoals. Big Bay is also yielding nice catches of panfish.

    You just might want to improve your ice fishing presentation with a dab of pheromone enhancement. Mustad's new fish attractant "Activate"  is now on the market and available at Bass Pro Shops in Auburn, NY. Activate comes in both a spray and gel format and has the ability to energize otherwise inactive fish. I have used the product on Oneida lake during the open water season and am thoroughly convinced it has improved my catch. Let me put it this way...why wouldn't you use an attractant which has come out of the aquaculture industry as a stimulant to induce fish to feed more frequently throughout the day?

    By now I have already given two trout and salmon seminars at Bass Pro Shops in Auburn, NY. This coming Sat., Feb. 10, I will present another seminar  at the store on late season Salmon Tactics; specifically dealing with harbor and river oriented salmon. I will close the presentation with a discussion of the fall offshore fishery for steelhead and adolescent salmon. My talk will begin at 11:00 A.M. and end at 12:30 P.M.

    Bob DelGiorno, radio talk show host in New Orleans takes the annual trek north to catch late season salmon. Here we see him with a 30# king caught at Oswego Harbor.

The contrast in the offshore catch vs. the harbor bound salmon is quite evident. The offshore species are at the early stages of their migrating life whereas the inshore fish are in the final stage of their existence. The techniques to catch each are quite different and that is what I will elaborate on this weekend at my seminar.

"SEA" you then,

cap'n tony