This is probably one of the best years for ice fishing opportunity in several years. The ice is a little thin in spots, but most nights are below freezing and the lakes are making new ice. There hasn't been any snow for a while, so the walking and safety factor is better. Wind can make fishing very difficult and uncomfortable and even that has been calm.
The power of the expanding frozen water is immense. There are a few docks left in every year and they are starting to twist into scrap. The sound of the ice flexing its muscles, especially in the quiet of night, sounds like a giant moaning. Long raised pressure cracks result, so that you need to be careful navigating.
These cracks and ridges weaken the ice and can be open water points, too. Also, some kind of boot ice cleats is necessary on the slick surface that melts smooth in the day and refreezes each night.
The Bass Pro Owasco Lake Ice Fishing Derby is scheduled for Feb. 19. Register at Cascade Grill on the south end or the Gas Station at the Traffic Circle. The northern access is through the Emerson Park - there are very few private access areas along Route 38, but Cascade at the south has some parking. Ensnore Road point in Scipio has some access and parking too at the bottom. That area is pretty much lake trout only, while fishing over about 100 feet of water.
Some really large lake trout are caught through the ice each winter. Swedish Pimple lures with a piece of minnow are jigged just off the bottom. Tip ups, with large enough spools of mono to get the line needed down and also for the fish to run with, are also used. Usually a few tip ups out of each bunch are baited and set close under the ice for brown trout cruising just under surface.
There are lots of lake trout in Owasco Lake. They are heavily stocked and are aggressive feeders, probably to the detriment of rainbow trout and salmon. It sounds like the salmon run in Pulaski from Lake Ontario has been very sparse, too. Management of these lakes is very difficult with the advent of new factors like zebra mussels. DEC just doesn't have the resources to get a handle on the problems.
Deer are probably starting to get stressed, so make sure neither you nor any dog hassles them around. They are gathered up into larger groups or "yarded" for energy conservation. Deer stomachs turn into winter mode at this point unless they have been on a consistent regular feeder like cattle.
The bacteria and enzymes in their stomachs change to process woody roughage, so they aren't able to digest corn, etc. You can feed deer all the hay and corn they can eat, and ironically they will then be most likely to starve to death.
You will literally kill them with kindness because they fill up with your feed and won't browse the only natural food they can exclusively digest to nourish their systems. You cannot feed legally, anyway; cutting brush is the only solution, and that is not realistic. Unfortunately that is why they eat the bushes around your house.
Deer are pretty well suited for winter survival. They can stand up pretty much like a person to reach high branches and have very sharp hooves to dig though the snow too. Their coats are hollow hairs that are very good insulators. We have very good winter cover and feed in Central New York. I don't believe there has been a winterkill around here in recent memory.
Lower doe numbers versus bucks usually means first heat breeding, early spring birth and older larger fawns going into winter. This results in much higher survival chances during hard times. This is another major benefit of quality deer management. It's a good time to get after the coyotes, because they likely pestering the herd and target fawns.
Have lots of winter fun and be very careful out there.
Winter Trap League Results:
Shooting at their home club, the 5-man team for Camillus posted 248x250 points this past weekend, with only two lonely birds escaping their sharp-shooting skills intact. Perfect 50s were posted by Len Kallfelz, Pete Kehoskie and Urb Womer; 49s were scored by Rich Calloway and Bill Parfitt, all for Camillus.
Weedsport high-gun shooter was Dusty Archambo (48). Falcon: Doug Holmes, Rod Roberts (47s); Otisco Lake: Al Reich (49). High Ladies (45s): Dottie Wells of Falcon, and Jan Rinnger of Otisco Lake.
The next scheduled shoots are at Weedsport this Sunday, Feb. 6, and at Falcon Sportsmen on Feb. 13, starting time 8 a.m.
Kozlowski, a local sportsman who is the president of the Owasco Watershed Lake Association, is The Citizen's outdoors columnist. He can be reached at
alkoz@baldcom.net
These cracks and ridges weaken the ice and can be open water points, too. Also, some kind of boot ice cleats is necessary on the slick surface that melts smooth in the day and refreezes each night.
The Bass Pro Owasco Lake Ice Fishing Derby is scheduled for Feb. 19. Register at Cascade Grill on the south end or the Gas Station at the Traffic Circle. The northern access is through the Emerson Park - there are very few private access areas along Route 38, but Cascade at the south has some parking. Ensnore Road point in Scipio has some access and parking too at the bottom. That area is pretty much lake trout only, while fishing over about 100 feet of water.
Some really large lake trout are caught through the ice each winter. Swedish Pimple lures with a piece of minnow are jigged just off the bottom. Tip ups, with large enough spools of mono to get the line needed down and also for the fish to run with, are also used. Usually a few tip ups out of each bunch are baited and set close under the ice for brown trout cruising just under surface.
There are lots of lake trout in Owasco Lake. They are heavily stocked and are aggressive feeders, probably to the detriment of rainbow trout and salmon. It sounds like the salmon run in Pulaski from Lake Ontario has been very sparse, too. Management of these lakes is very difficult with the advent of new factors like zebra mussels. DEC just doesn't have the resources to get a handle on the problems.
Deer are probably starting to get stressed, so make sure neither you nor any dog hassles them around. They are gathered up into larger groups or "yarded" for energy conservation. Deer stomachs turn into winter mode at this point unless they have been on a consistent regular feeder like cattle.
The bacteria and enzymes in their stomachs change to process woody roughage, so they aren't able to digest corn, etc. You can feed deer all the hay and corn they can eat, and ironically they will then be most likely to starve to death.
You will literally kill them with kindness because they fill up with your feed and won't browse the only natural food they can exclusively digest to nourish their systems. You cannot feed legally, anyway; cutting brush is the only solution, and that is not realistic. Unfortunately that is why they eat the bushes around your house.
Deer are pretty well suited for winter survival. They can stand up pretty much like a person to reach high branches and have very sharp hooves to dig though the snow too. Their coats are hollow hairs that are very good insulators. We have very good winter cover and feed in Central New York. I don't believe there has been a winterkill around here in recent memory.
Lower doe numbers versus bucks usually means first heat breeding, early spring birth and older larger fawns going into winter. This results in much higher survival chances during hard times. This is another major benefit of quality deer management. It's a good time to get after the coyotes, because they likely pestering the herd and target fawns.
Have lots of winter fun and be very careful out there.
Winter Trap League Results:
Shooting at their home club, the 5-man team for Camillus posted 248x250 points this past weekend, with only two lonely birds escaping their sharp-shooting skills intact. Perfect 50s were posted by Len Kallfelz, Pete Kehoskie and Urb Womer; 49s were scored by Rich Calloway and Bill Parfitt, all for Camillus.
Weedsport high-gun shooter was Dusty Archambo (48). Falcon: Doug Holmes, Rod Roberts (47s); Otisco Lake: Al Reich (49). High Ladies (45s): Dottie Wells of Falcon, and Jan Rinnger of Otisco Lake.
The next scheduled shoots are at Weedsport this Sunday, Feb. 6, and at Falcon Sportsmen on Feb. 13, starting time 8 a.m.
Kozlowski, a local sportsman who is the president of the Owasco Watershed Lake Association, is The Citizen's outdoors columnist. He can be reached at
alkoz@baldcom.net
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