Reply With QuoteI'm telling you, it was awesome! The water was clear enough that you could see down 12 ft deep! The first day and my first time ever on the water, I pulled up on a shoal and I had a keeper on my second cast. He knocked the fire out of that GIZZ-4 !!! The rest of the day was filled with smallies all in about the 2 to 2.5 lb average size range. I later pulled out the double Fluke rig and started whacking them two at a time! It took me a while to figure out that once you catch a smallie, the rest of the school gets wary and won't bite for a while - so I set up a route where I went from shoal to shoal, making laps throughout the day and had an awesome time. There's no telling how many I caught because I finally just quit counting! On the second day, I went out and experimented with different lures on the same places. Other lures that worked were tubes, shad raps, grubs, and jerkbaits. I caught my first muskie ever that day. He nailed a fluke and was fun to bring in. They have some fight to them! Although he wasn't all that big, maybe a two or three pounder, it being my first ever was very exciting! I was very much impressed with the GIZZ-4. Anytime the fish hit it, they hit it HARD! Usually the ones that hit the GIZZ-4 were larger, however they were good at slinging that big bait out of their mouth - I wish they made one a little smaller. I had a real monster come unbuttoned, not sure how big he was but he pulled a lot harder than anything else I had caught. Anyhow, the second day ended at about 3 p.m. when a cold front moved in bringing high winds and rain. The lake churned up with 4 to 5 ft waves and thunder and lightning - I called it quits real quick! The rain ended during the night, the temperature dropped about 15 degrees, and the winds stayed at 10-15 mph and then kicking up to about 20 - 25 mph on my third day. The third day was one spent in frustration! The wind killed what I had going and the smallies wouldn't hit the double fluke rig or GIZZ-4. It was too windy to finesse them with a tube. Looking back now, I should have tried the Carolina rig more because it's the only thing that I could get good bottom contact with - oh well, you know what they say about hindsight. Anyways, my partner and I moved up into the river for a little bit of sight fishing. Largemouth aren't extremely abundant in that lake, but they are in there, mostly in the river that runs into the lake. Now, when I say river, it's not the typical river you think of. My impression of a river is similar to that of the Ohio or Cumberland - not very clear and having a little bit of current. This river however was clear down to probably 15 ft, no current, and loaded with boat docks on each side. It was maybe 100 yds or less wide. You could see the fish around the docks and cover quite well. With the clear water, not only was submergent vegetation everywhere in the lake, but it was in the river too! I totally messed up by not spending more time in it than I did - I'm kicking myself over that! Sometimes your stereotypical assumptions come back to bite ya! Anyhow, I hooked up on some fish and that's about all I can say about that day - you'll see it on television this fall, maybe around October. Then on my fourth day, I went out with one intention and one intention only - figure out the best way to fish the river, and see if there was any truth to the topwater bite I had heard about from some guys at the bar the night before. I went out with one rod, and one lure. The lure was one I had "borrowed" from a guy I was rooming with; well actually it was left on the antenna of his car during the night by the guys at the bar. Anyways, fished with the "borrowed" lure, a Gunfish, and absolutely whacked the smallies on it! Basically I did was work the lure parallel with the docks. The smallies that were hiding under the dock would come charging out after that Gunfish! It was so awesome! I mean they would make a wake to it and then it was like an explosion! I caught few a largemouth as well; mostly 2 to 2.5 lb largemouth, but they hit the lure with a little more subtleness than the smallies. The largemouth usually had to hit it once or twice before actually hooking up. Probably the coolest thing was when I caught a big ol' muskie! He completely crushed that bait! I wasn't sure what I had until I got it up to the boat! I hawged him in by the gills and got the bait out - man did he have the teeth! I should have gotten a picture, but didn't want to keep him out the water any longer. I would guess that he was really close to 30 inches long, but wasn't all that fat. He was definitely a blast to catch! Anyhow, it was probably the most fun day of the trip. The smallie in my picture/avatar was one of the topwater smallies I caught that day. It was just shy of being 4 lbs. I don't think I've ever had that much fun in one day, with one lure and being able to watch the fish charge the bait and the explode on it like they did! The next morning was my time to come home. I made a quick side trip to Niagara Falls to see what the big deal was. It was definitely worth going to. I had always wondered what the fish would do when they got to the edge of the falls - were they smart enough to turn around or just take the plunge - my question was answered when I say a huge grayish looking one go to the edge and then turn around and go the other way! The scenery was amazing and another one of those things I have on my "thing to do before I die" list now crossed off.
Oneida Lake is definitely one to go to if you love smallmouth fishing! They protect their smallmouth and largemouth fishery by protecting the spawn. During the spawn, no one may keep a largemouth or smallmouth bass – this means no tournaments, etc. because a largemouth or smallmouth cannot legally be put into a livewell. Sure, you can still go out and bed fish, but you have to release the fish immediately so that it may return to its bed. Basically the season for largemouth and smallmouth opens the third weekend of June and stays open until sometime in the spring when it closes for the spawn. When I was there, the season had just opened, which meant the fishing was unbelievable. The fish were in post-spawn and hadn’t really been pressured for a couple of months. There were many locals out fishing, and up there they keep anything they legally can. I had a few idle up to me to see what I was throwing because they were struggling, and I have a feeling that a couple of guys might be ordering a couple GIZZ-4 crankbaits! The locals up there are great! Around Oneida Lake, everyone fishes! Bank fisherman were a common sight, and everyone was just as friendly and nice as can be. I got heckled a time or two for my Kentucky boy accent, but it was all in fun – I heckled them a little too for their yankee accent
I had an awesome trip and recommend Oneida Lake to anyone! I hope to one day go back again, for it was definitely a trip I won’t soon forget!
Originally Posted by dcbasser
