ONEIDA LAKE DIEHARDS THREAD 2012

[BudMan]

Love it when they are hitting sonars. Lots of fun with that tied on.

[Hollywood]

Good to see you out there again too, Mr. Hookinup!
Fished with my Dad & a buddy from 9-3, got 4 before it went flat then it got tough. Wind picked back up about 2 and we finished around 3. We got most on sonars but my buddy took the last few on jigs. Everyone I talked to today headed in with a limit.
My Dad, Cubby & I with a few...

[Dark Cloud]

Nice to see Billy get out Mr. Hollywood. 

Tank and I did well today also. Wasn't Oneida but we got plenty of eyes then hit the creeks and pounded some trout...
25 incher, released... 

[reeleyz]

Nice job guys!

I fished with my wife this morning from daylight until noon. The weather was nice. It took us until about 11:30 to jig up a limit. It was a slow pick all morning with a couple of whites mixed in. These were taken in 14' - 22' on bucktails.

[fishhooksul]

had to work until 5:00 today. did'nt get out until 6:30. got 1 sheephead, and 1 pickeral. going in the a.m. the mornings are alot more productive for me . hopefully it's a good morning. lastnight i worked until midnight. got in the boat at 1:00, and the *^%*&% boat would'nt start !!! . found a short in the ignition wireing. runns good now, but totally sucked last night. it's got to get better.
   the fish fry at 3:00 a.m. was great. thank you to fm, coach, roadkill, and walleyebob. lance how was your head feeling this morning ?   later...

[gatorsin09]

geez you guys are killin me with the 'everybody i talked to limited' stuff haha. after getting into walleye for the first time last year and having such great success in late may and june i was pumped to get out there this morning. figured with all the spawning early talk my late may knowledge would help me out but not at all! i was surrounded by boats on the west end but just didnt work out for me.givin up on the derby and headin out monday morning to try to figure this out

[FISH ON]

The night bite is good, Just got off the phone with my brotherinlaw and he has his limit right now and his dad is working on his. The full moon seems to not effect the bite tonight. Trolling with sticks.

[coachwarner]

had to work until 5:00 today. did'nt get out until 6:30. got 1 sheephead, and 1 pickeral. going in the a.m. the mornings are alot more productive for me . hopefully it's a good morning. lastnight i worked until midnight. got in the boat at 1:00, and the *^%*&% boat would'nt start !!! . found a short in the ignition wireing. runns good now, but totally sucked last night. it's got to get better.
   the fish fry at 3:00 a.m. was great. thank you to fm, coach, roadkill, and walleyebob. lance how was your head feeling this morning ?   later...

Thanks  Sully, for letting us put the boat in at your place. the onshore  fish fry was fantastic !!    FM didnt  get wet this time , He even caught more fish than me (every squirrel finds a nut once in a while) who could ask for anything more.  sshhh......whisper, FM is in quiet time right now

[Hollywood]

geez you guys are killin me with the 'everybody i talked to limited' stuff haha..................... to try to figure this out

To be fair here, the guys I was talking to were charter captains or guys that could be if they chose to....average years of fishing Oneida...about 30, maybe more. And every one struggled badly fishing from the boats last year on the opener. All were fishing in different parts of the lake yesterday.

Here are a few thoughts I hope will help you in figuring it out...

1) Think about where you're fishing & why. Yesterday morning I thought about the rain we had, the colored water coming in the lake and where the wind had likely piled that up...and thats where we started.

2) Don't worry about where all the other boats are fishing.

3) Have a decent fish finder & get confidence in what it's telling you. If there are fish there, figure out what they want. If they're not there- move, sooner than later.

4) From a boat, in water over 12', choose between jigs or sonars. One or the other will work but some days they prefer one over the other- mix it up. In shallower water, over weeds or at night add stickbaits or rattlebaits to the menu.

5) With jigs or sonar- if you feel a hit (or even just extra weight, like you picked up a weed, REEL until the rod loads up, then give a short hookset. Trying to set the hook with 40 yards of line out will lose you every fish but the ones that took it so deep they hooked themselves.

6) You'll "figure it out" a little bit with every trip you make (IF you're thinking about what happened & why things worked or didn't work, why they were here but not there, etc.). But no matter how many years you fish out there, there will be days that lake will baffle the crap out of you, they just get further apart...and that helps keep it fun! Good luck!

[fishhooksul]

got my limit in 8 casts this morning !!! 21", 18 1/2", and 18" walleyes. was back at the dock by 8:00 a.m. things are looking up. the boat ran great !! is FM out of quiet time yet ?? all fish were caught on 1/2oz black jig with tinsel in 12fow.   later...   AIN'T LIFE GREAT !!!

[FISH ON]

Great report Hollywood, Thanks for the info. Fish On.

[coachwarner]

got my limit in 8 casts this morning !!! 21", 18 1/2", and 18" walleyes. was back at the dock by 8:00 a.m. things are looking up. the boat ran great !! is FM out of quiet time yet ?? all fish were caught on 1/2oz black jig with tinsel in 12fow.   later...   AIN'T LIFE GREAT !!!

Not yet  Glad to here you got into some fish and the boat is running good

[Sluggo / NY]

Glad to see that someone's having fun.. I got stuck having to work this weekend! Daughter's baby shower and out of town guests next weekend. Both boats in the garage and ready to go.. but no time! >:(Good Fishing, Sluggo (Chris)

[LOA]

I am curious. I bought a ticket to the oneida walleye tourney put on by the lions club I believe. On the opening night i went 2/3 one keeper one short. The keeper was 16".

On saturay night I got one nice smallie, lost something big and landed one walleye after dark. It was slightly over 23", maybe 23 1/8". We ate it last night. Should I have entered this fish? I have no idea what size fish has a shot of winning anything. I didn't figure even 23" + would have a chance and didn't think It would have been worth the hassle to try and keep alive with no boat/live well.

Would you guys have entered it? I'm just thinking for future years of what the minimum size would be to bother entering a fish

[Simplecarppieguy]

Here's the pcitures from yesterday..