Captain Tony Buffa

Fishing Report #12

05/23/07

Hello, Mates, Matees, Deckhands and stowaways:

Time for the weekly fish tale!

During the past week I have split my time between ponds. Oneida has clearly turned the corner. The instability affiliated with colder than normal temperatures throughout May is now replaced by the more predictable walleye behavior associated with warmer water.

I am now on a daily basis finding responsive walleyes at the transitions in the deep water. The twenty to thirty and thirty to forty feet ledges are finally playing host to bottom feeding walleyes. Midge fly larvae and zooplankton (the tiny crusty creatures) are the main attraction in the deep water. Walleyes will feed heavily on this menu until this year's hatches of fish enter the diet by July. Stay the course, fish deep, either by jigging or drifting with "bottom bouncers" tied in tandem with a spinner and nightcrawler.

Three generations of the Buff family, from Burnt Hills, NY Joe, Chris and Sarah along with friend Jeff Wilson jigged their way to a respectable catch of walleyes. Sarah just finished her freshman year at Sienna College and needed a day of walleye and water therapy to relieve the stress of final exams. As you can see she held up her share of the catch. Grandpa Joe, dad Chris and family friend Jeff provided the expertise which Sarah very quickly emulated.

What does it take to catch a limit of "eyes" on Oneida? A pair of Joes, a Bill and a Phil as in Joe, Bill and Phil Kocher and Joe Farrell. The Kochers and Joe Farrell known for their work in law enforcement handle a fishing rod with the finesse of scratch golfers. Their dad, the late Emil Kocher was considered the best walleye fisherman in the Syr. Police Department and passed the skill onto his sons. Here they are with a limit of 12 walleyes which were jigged in 30 feet on perch, and firetiger sonars.

Jim flood of Syr. and sales manager with Auburn Armature boated this 23 inch walleye on a perch colored jig tipped with a nightcrawler while drifting in 32 feet of water off of Larkin Point in Lakeport. So far this has been the largest of the season.

Phil Roe, Hamilton, NY, Joe and Art White, Oneida, NY know all about catching browns on lake Ontario. Phil is now in his 16th. year pursuing early season trout. He treats himself and his guests to an outing each month from April through October. Here they are with the limit which they caught between 5:30 A.M. and 7:15 A.M. on stickbaits trolled on the surface and spoons trolled at 8 to 20 feet below the surface.

And a final a word on the Lake Ontario fishing. The inshore brown trout fishery has entered the fragile stage. Be prepared to fish from first light through 7:00 A.M. in that 8 to 20 feet along the shore. After that, it's time to move offshore at around 100 feet and fish the surface for steelhead and down to 35 feet for king salmon. Doug Niesh, Syr. and a maintenance engineer at VanDyne boated this 12 lb. steelhead while trolling in 120 feet of water just outside of Oswego Harbor. His fish hit a watermelon NK fished on the surface at 2.8 m.p.h.

Until next tide,

cap'n tony