Does anyone fish Canadarago lake anymore?

[Fishmaster C]

Haven't heard nary a work about Canadarago in a month.

Here's what I have observed:

1) The lake is down about 5 ft from this time last year
2) Walleye fishing has been declining since 2006 (last year was the worst)
3) Tiger muskies are few and far between
4) A lot of perch (average size is reducing) Less and less 12" + fish
5) Crappie are hard to find
6) LMB still pretty good 17"+ fish still common
7) SMB once in a while
Pickerel, all over
9) Bullhead , OK
10) Panfish, Ok

Anybody got anything to add?

[filetandrelease]

it gets a lot of pressure for such a little lake, just my .02

[crappiekiller315]

i agree 100% i fish this lake quite a bit myself and the fishery has declined ten fold over the last 5-7 years

[wellsley]

Haven't heard nary a work about Canadarago in a month.

Here's what I have observed:

1) The lake is down about 5 ft from this time last year.I agree the lake is down from last year but I think this is a good thing. Last year the water seem way to high.
2) Walleye fishing has been declining since 2006 (last year was the worst)Again I agree and not sure why.
3) Tiger muskies are few and far between. Although I didn't catch any last year I had many follows just couldn't get them to bite. Try east of the sunken island near a slight point north of the island. I had the largest tiger follow my lure I've ever seen. I would guess it was about 50" It was much larger then the 42" I've got on the wall.
4) A lot of perch (average size is reducing) Less and less 12" + fishWith a little work you can get a dozen or two 10" to 12" but your going to catch alot of 4 to 6" ones.
5) Crappie are hard to findI have never got a crappie
6) LMB still pretty good 17"+ fish still commonI would agree
7) SMB once in a whileIts been a few years since I've got a smallie go to goodyear.
Pickerel, all overThe longest one I ever caught 27" I caught there
9) Bullhead , OKWhile trolling for eye's we caught bullheads last year around the sunked island usiing a crawler on a worm harness
10) Panfish, OkIt seems that there is  a fair number of good size gils

Anybody got anything to add?filetandrelease is right especially ice fishing it seems to get good ice faster than otsego  and doesn't seem to be as windy. Otesgo is becomeing the place for eyes access is the problem

[crappiekiller315]

That's because little known to most of you there were 2000 walleye taken from cando and put in otsego and this was done last year

[ominousone]

I went out on Darago once this winter and let me tell you that its a wonder that there is a fish in the lake.  There must have  been a couple hundred shanties out there.  I love ice fishing, but I will say that the amount of pressure put on that lake in the winter is ungodly.  I only caught a couple nice perch so back down the hole they went.  I do love early fishing on the lake because of the extreme clarity, looks like you are fishing in an aquarium.  I'm mostly a bass fisherman, so I guess the decline of the other species leaves more bait for the bass to eat... but I'm a sportsman before anything else and I hate to see any lake get hammered into decline.  The only thing with decline is that it puts the word out that its on decline and pressure will start to lift.  People will only endure just so many days of junky fishing before they move on to the next lake.

[kowboy]

Been doing alot of river fishing was just wondering if anyone is fishing here and how they been doing, might go out this weekend there seeing as i live 2 minutes from the lake

[fishnutterbutter]

I've been fishing it for the last 6 or 7 years, and IMO the fishing's decreased drastically. 

[bigredfishing]

That's because little known to most of you there were 2000 walleye taken from cando and put in otsego and this was done last year

really ??  Exactly who did that?  

[crappiekiller315]

really ??  Exactly who did that?  

i was told this by several people and it was supposedly done by the state
there has been a increase in the catch's of walleye in otsego lake so take it as you will i believe it is true

[bigredfishing]

i was told this by several people and it was supposedly done by the state
there has been a increase in the catch's of walleye in otsego lake so take it as you will i believe it is true

yeah.  don't believe everything you hear.

the increase in walleyes is because the state, in conjunction with SUNY Cobleskill and Prof. Mark Cornwall has been stocking fingerlings in otsego since 2001 or so.  Eventually they grew up.   There's been a pretty strong population of good sized fish for the last 7 years, its only now that everyone is catching on.   We were electrofishing numbers of 25" fish back as early as 2004 while doing lake surveys.

In terms of walleyes being netted, unfortunately some scumbags netted a whole bunch of walleyes out of one of otsego's tributaries while they were spawning last year.  DEC is still investigating the matter, and patrolling the tribs alot harder this spring.


As for candarago, great place if you love bass, gets way too much ice fishing pressure.

Not really sure why everyone was so surprised that all they could catch was dinks after only a week or two of ice fishing.   WHERE THE HECK DO THEY THINK ALL THE BIG YELLOW PERCH GO??   They go into buckets and get taken home.

[Bluegillonafly]

Yep,  for a small lake there is simply too much fishing pressure.  But, the lake is absolutely chock full of small perch which is indicative of a predator/prey population that is out of wack.  Be it a bass or walleye, once they reach legal size, if caught they're going into someone's frying pan.       

[candojo]

I have to agree with bluegillonafly that Canadarago gets too much fishing pressure , many guys would love to get on Otsego lake however it's very hard to gain access being theres only one public launch and it's small at that with limited parking . So where do most of the locals go , you guessed it and unfortunately as bluegill said once the fish are decent size they're going home with someone . If the state would have went through with the launch at Glimmerglass maybe we would have less pressure on Canadarago , but  evidentally there's a lot of politics involved so that's not going to happen anytime soon.
                                                           

[crl1970]

Has anyone been having any luck on Candro?  Gonna start fishing it next week and was just wondering.

[crl1970]

Has anyone done any fishing on Candro lately?  How about Otsego?  Im thinking of hitting one of them these week for a few hours.  Hould love to catch a few Walleyes.