SOUTHERN N.Y. THREAD (L.I., WESTCHESTER, PUTNAM, DUTCHESS, SULLIVAN, ORANGE COUN

[Rather-B-Fishin]

Applepicker nice job!
Your status just jumped leaps and bounds from the rest of your generation, because of your excellent writing and passion for the outdoors!
Keep it up and be safe.

[moose66]

Did anyone hear that they stocked walleye in titrati? First I heard of it.

They have in the past I don't know the last time they did though. I've talked to numerous people who fish that lake a lot and they nor anyone they know have caught the "ghost Walleyes". I spoke to one of the girls this passed summer when I registered my boat and she said they are in there and if you catch one you have to notify them.

[Gamalot]

Walleyes are usually stocked as fry and only about 3-4 inches at best. The natural progression of if they make it or not has everything to do with their survival and how many of them don't get eaten before they reach reproductive age. I don't know the condition of the forage base in that particular lake but usually if there is an ample supply of bait fish such as Alewife or other minnow type food sources the chances are quite good some of the small walleyes will survive. What species of fish are in the lake is also a key. Bass and Pickerel are voracious feeders that will swallow any fish that fits in their mouth.

I suspect if they did stock small Walleyes in your lake it might take 5 or more years before any results could be realized. IMO it might be a smarter plan to begin stocking with Walleyes in the 8-10 inch size range at first giving them a fighting chance. This is a rather difficult plan however because some fishes do fine in hatcheries as small fry but not so well when they start to reach adult sizes. I do hope the waters are conducive to the eye population but only time will tell. A good indicator when you do catch the natural species of fish from this lake is what is in their stomachs. Best if you find saw bellies and other minnows instead of small eyes. I fish one lake that has a good base of very large pickerel and an equally good base of dink perch. In the guts of 24 inch pickerel I always find perch and sun fish and rarely ever anything else.

Gam

[mr.clean]

Hello everyone, thank you to the person who passed info. on "King of the Ice" contest onto mod. Adk Roy . I have not seen anything posted by Sullivan County fire deparments on their contests to date also waiting for an email reply from my contact with Monticello fire dept.
Applepicker glad we have encouraged you with our posts congratulations on your fish. I applaud you and all the other anglers who have braved the weather to ice fish this past few days.

Steve

[jiignut]

Rather-be-fishin,
Well said!

[Loudmouth879]

was gonna chase some jumbo perch today but decided to sleep in with the ridiculous temps this morning and head out this afternoon to chase some eyes on Greenwood

[kbaez]

went to harriman again today landed a handfull of jumbo perch and crappy. lots of flag action but 20 yard runs and would spit out the hook but other then that great day on the ice

[kbaez]

what type of hook is everyone using on there tipups I have a few #4 and snelled hooks witch I seem to ha e better luck with but having a lot of spit outs after long runs

[Lightsimage]

Hi, I live in New York, and although it is really difficult to fish, being a high school student and living in a densely populated metropolitan area, I still enjoy fishing. Thankfully, I have found some really good locations to fish around the suburbs of New York (Thanks local bait and tackle shops!).

Today, my faithful father and I set out to go fishing in our new favorite spot - a cove in Muscoot Reservoir - despite of the arctic temperatures predicted. Thank the LORD that we returned home, not only with all our fingers and toes, but also some photos of the fish we had caught: the biggest bluegill I have ever caught, and a beautiful little crappie!

I sincerely thank you all for your accurate updates on ice conditions and for informing and encouraging the next generation of anglers and young outdoors-people.

As a consequence of this forum, however, I have developed quite the longing, and what some might consider addiction, to ice fishing (at least until Mr. Jeff Sessions changes his narrative), but I guess loving fishing isn't quite the worst thing ever.

Now for some pictures:



Tight lines and be safe.

ApplePicker - way to go! Excellent post. I was on Muscoot today @ area 1 w/ my two nephews. We got skunked but a day of fishing is never a bad thing.
For those interested the ice is an even 8" everywhere we checked.

[Lightsimage]

what type of hook is everyone using on there tipups I have a few #4 and snelled hooks witch I seem to ha e better luck with but having a lot of spit outs after long runs

Mustad 3261 Live Bait hooks. Sizes 4,6,or 8 depending on the what I'm targeting.

[flounderman]

Light wire Aberdeen in sizes 1 and 2 for me. Shiner lightly hooked in front of the dorsal. The long shank helps. I rarely lose hooks. 

I'd up your hook size for better hookup. Good luck

[Gamalot]

I guess we all have our Druthers. I prefer small hooks and light leaders. I get more action with this combination and don't much care if a fish wins a battle every once in a while.

Gam

[Loudmouth879]

what type of hook is everyone using on there tipups I have a few #4 and snelled hooks witch I seem to ha e better luck with but having a lot of spit outs after long runs

I use #6 circle hooks and never have any issues.... most the time the issues I have are with the fish trying to eat a minnow that won't fit in their mouths.... caught the muskie at the bottom with a #6 circle hook

[Loudmouth879]

Fished for 3 hours chasing the eyes managed 3 perch and 1 white perch.... Greenwood lake had 7" of clear black ice... only kept the 10" and 11" perch

[bigace]

Any info on rockland lake. I’m sure it’s 100% safe ice. I don’t know why they are taking so long to open it

[Gamalot]

Tasty dinner there LM. I hope who ever shares it with you knows the pain and joy you had to endure to provide it. I think my gauge here got up to a balmy 7 degrees today and if you add in the wind chill it was probably closer to 20 below. My hat is off to all who fished in this crap but just for a few seconds so my hair won't freeze.

Gam

[fishfighter]

Fished this afternoon on Lake Superior. We had a bunch of flags. Managed to catch a few small crappie a few perch and a bunch of pickerel. Would have caught a few more but the kids were doing most of the chasing. Marked a lot of fish on the hummingbird really finicky.  8 inches of ice. No one else out there.

[BGIII]

Wanted to head up to Lake Gleneida this week.  Its about an hour away from me, does anyone know if it has safe ice?

Drove past it a couple days ago and saw it had ice but didn’t see anyone out there, try calling big wave bait and tackle in Mahopac.

[BGIII]

Fished Lake Oscawana in Putnam County yesterday in the -8 degree weather(brutal cold) thank god for my Mr. Heater and my Cabela’s tent. Had a lot of flags but only landed 4 yellows, 3 jumbo crappies, a pickerel and 2 cats. Today however went out on Cross River Reservoir in Westchester and limited out on brown trout by 9am including one just shy of 5 pounds and nabbed a few nice yellows, had to throw back 2 trout. Had about 6-7 inches of ice out there. Oscawana had almost 10. Here’s a pic from this morning

[MJD3561]

Does anyone have any recent reg info on electric auger usage on NYC reservoirs? I know the gas powered ones are a no go...
Thx.

[Lightsimage]

Still "under consideration", still not allowed.

[DON-E-ICE]

I have seen 10-15 guys using drills on the reservoirs over the past 4-5 years.

[GreekUPS]

I think the 40v lithium batteries are the issue.

[egriffin70]

I was on West Branch this season and seen guys using the lithium augers.  What’s the difference when I bring my Marcum with a lithium battery in the pack that’s bigger ?   

[jiignut]

 Better to ask for forgiveness than permission.

[Iceman23kids]

Hit Sylvan lake today after work and got  3 rainbows and 6 crappies between 2' -10' down in 30 feet of water .Flasher was going nuts the whole time. As a bonus found a tip-up frozen solid since I'm guessing since sat lol. Still had a live shiner on it. Flag had name and number so it won't be hard to return. Flag was up and curiosity was killing me so had to drill it out and see.

[Rather-B-Fishin]

what type of hook is everyone using on there tipups I have a few #4 and snelled hooks witch I seem to ha e better luck with but having a lot of spit outs after long runs

I have experimented for years: circles , trebles and singles of various sizes.
From my experience- hook #6 or 8s' depending on the species and almost always 5' of 6 lb P Line for a leader. I was catching, not targeting, 3-5 pound smallmouth bass repeatedly yesterday on #8 single owners on 6 lb line.
I would love to stick with circles but find they are very picky as to the size of the baitfish you are using with them, which can make the difference between a hook up or miss.
I have read that trebles in general offer more probability of a hook up but offer less gap to keep the fish on in some situations, third point; the bait do not run as true and lastly, ethically they have much greater potential for doing significant damage to a fish.
But once again everyone has their preference

[Coldfusion]

Fished Lake Oscawana in Putnam County yesterday in the -8 degree weather(brutal cold) thank god for my Mr. Heater and my Cabela’s tent. Had a lot of flags but only landed 4 yellows, 3 jumbo crappies, a pickerel and 2 cats. Today however went out on Cross River Reservoir in Westchester and limited out on brown trout by 9am including one just shy of 5 pounds and nabbed a few nice yellows, had to throw back 2 trout. Had about 6-7 inches of ice out there. Oscawana had almost 10. Here’s a pic from this morning

Nice catch on Cross River!

[Coldfusion]

Hit Sylvan lake today after work and got  3 rainbows and 6 crappies between 2' -10' down in 30 feet of water .Flasher was going nuts the whole time. As a bonus found a tip-up frozen solid since I'm guessing since sat lol. Still had a live shiner on it. Flag had name and number so it won't be hard to return. Flag was up and curiosity was killing me so had to drill it out and see.

Nice rainbow! How thick was the ice?

[NYBasser]

Fished today with a small group of friends from 8 am - 2 pm, decided to leave right as the weather started getting nasty. Had a banner day as the perch pretty much bit their heads off. Caught some real nice slobs. Also released 3 pickerel that were caught on tipups.