Author Topic: fishing on canadarago lake (Read 82878 times)

ATRAIN44 · « **Reply #150 on:** Jan 20, 2012, 06:53 PM »

Looking to switch things up a bit with a friend and make the small trek tomorrow. Coming from the Caroga Lake area and I have no knowledge of this lake whatsoever. Can anyone tell me where there is both safe ice and a solid bite. You don't have to give away any secrets, I just don't want to take a wasted trip. Sounds like a good perch bite is on, but what about the eyes? Any action?

piscesman · « **Reply #151 on:** Jan 20, 2012, 07:02 PM »

Head down the west side on rt 28 until you see the lake. There should be cars parked on the left in a place called Bakers Beach. Right on the water. Looking across the lake from there about 150-200 yards is a sunken island. Drops off all around to deeper water. The east side of the island goes to over 30'. South tapers off slowly. If you GOOGLE the lake and do a satillite view you can see the island. Make sure you have a flasher to mark the fish. You will catch many dinks but should find some nice keepers. Tomorrow and sunday look to be good days there depending on bite. Good Luck................
Kim

BTW!!!!!!- When you are driving through Richfield Springs OBEY THE SPEED LIMIT!!!!!!!!! They will ticket you. Hate to see a nice day shot to h***.

TheSystem · « **Reply #152 on:** Jan 20, 2012, 07:28 PM »

Ran out to my Cando after work today and braved the damp cold wind to put 50 perch on the ice in an hour and a half. Got 20 over 10", 30 under. 6" of solid good hard ice. Will be out tomorrow lookin for 'eyes.

TheSystem · « **Reply #153 on:** Jan 20, 2012, 07:47 PM »

Kowboy, you live on Cando? I'm a mile south of the lake house...

kowboyup · « **Reply #154 on:** Jan 20, 2012, 07:50 PM »

I live on the westside of lake across from the old state barn. Does anybody know if chapmans, think thats his name, in schyuler lake still sells bait?

WALLEYES INC. · « **Reply #155 on:** Jan 20, 2012, 08:04 PM »

Quote from: TheSystem on Jan 20, 2012, 07:28 PM

Ran out to my Cando after work today and braved the damp cold wind to put 50 perch on the ice in an hour and a half. Got 20 over 10", 30 under. 6" of solid good hard ice. Will be out tomorrow lookin for 'eyes.

But the perch limit is 25!

TheSystem · « **Reply #156 on:** Jan 20, 2012, 08:05 PM »

Brads bait in schulyer is open, but I always go to Joe's 4seasons up on the hill

'EyesInc - I'm a C&R guy, putting perch on the ice is just my what I say instead of "Putting fish in the boat"!

bahfishing · « **Reply #157 on:** Jan 20, 2012, 08:36 PM »

gotout today and had a good time. brought home my 25 decent perch and threw back probably 50+ dinks. hope to go again over weekend

TheSystem · « **Reply #158 on:** Jan 21, 2012, 07:05 AM »

Bah, those 25 medium perch would be 25 12" perch next year!

Mr. Freeze Miser · « **Reply #159 on:** Jan 21, 2012, 08:14 AM »

Sounds like we need to re-label the name of the lake to Dinkodarago

Mr. Freeze Miser · « **Reply #160 on:** Jan 21, 2012, 08:18 AM »

Boy the lake used to produce more hoggs than dinks...spent over 20 ice seasons on the lake with several very productive spots on the lake...i know guys are going to chime in and say we still catch hoggs...yes you probably do...but i am not going to wade thru 50 dinks to catch a couple of hoggs. Just my opinion though.

kowboyup · « **Reply #161 on:** Jan 21, 2012, 10:09 AM »

For someone whos fished this lake for over 40yrs ive seen it in the begining where it was just a typical lake then when i went in the service around 81 i remember coming back to a great lake then commercial fishing limit changes and the pressure has taken its toll on the lake. There r jumbo perch still there but it will never b the same again, like it was. I remember releasing 18 inch waldos because u knew u were going to catch bigger. Its ashame, thats why i started fishing Onedia for the first time. Its fun to catch alot of fish but as someone who loves to eat them its kinda of counter productive to fish on Cando anymore. If Oneida or Otsego was froze id b there and its just ashame to live here and really not want to fish it. Just my opinion

pete ferstler · « **Reply #162 on:** Jan 21, 2012, 10:21 AM »

Mr. Freeze Miser · « **Reply #163 on:** Jan 21, 2012, 10:36 AM »

Kowboyup...i have to agree...i used to love fishing Cando...but i have moved on to some more productive areas around the State that will produce a limit of hoggs that are worth filleting.

Mr. Freeze Miser · « **Reply #164 on:** Jan 21, 2012, 10:39 AM »

Forgot to mention....I consider a hogg perch anything over 12"

JG · « **Reply #165 on:** Jan 21, 2012, 12:06 PM »

What's the latest on Ice Conditions? Thanking about heading out tomorrow.....

bahfishing · « **Reply #166 on:** Jan 21, 2012, 03:07 PM »

theres a good 8 inches. if you are going for perch be prepared to catch 10 dinks to keep 1 decent 1. Good luck

kowboyup · « **Reply #167 on:** Jan 21, 2012, 06:10 PM »

10 to one is going to b agood day on cando, depends on what u want to keep. like i said yesterday i caught between 60 and 70n perch and didnt keep a one, going to go out thursday i think and hit some of my waldo spots with articicejigger, better to maybe catch some waldos then fish for dinks

TheSystem · « **Reply #168 on:** Jan 21, 2012, 06:39 PM »

Everybody and their mother on Cando today! I'd say over 100 guys in every possible location on the lake - north end, south end, hyder, sunken island, deep channel, all over. Hope some of them were selective harvest/C&R. Had over 300 perch today between me, BigJim and Dad, out of them, 4 were over 11", one a 12 1/2 fattie, WHICH WENT BACK TO BREED. Lots of ice. Lots of action. few biggies. I believe oxygen levels are changing with the increased ice and snow cover, although I am still fishing over good green weeds. Damp and cold snow made for real hard pulling of sleds and shantys. Will try to expand my horizons tomorrow....

TheSystem · « **Reply #169 on:** Jan 21, 2012, 07:07 PM »

Also, there is no doubt about the changing fish patterns on Cando, but I blame that completely on angler catch/release rates, although there is no statistical data to back that up. Do you remember 200 guys ice fishing Cando in the 70s and 80s?

arcticicejigger · « **Reply #170 on:** Jan 21, 2012, 07:42 PM »

very nice system! imma buy u a beer if i ever get to meet ya! for releasing that fatty perch! need more guys like you out there!

TheSystem · « **Reply #171 on:** Jan 21, 2012, 08:04 PM »

Well we gotta fish together bud. AND there happens to be a local bar that caters to "our type" of guys!

perchpopper · « **Reply #172 on:** Jan 21, 2012, 09:49 PM »

I think Kowboyup pretty much sums it up , there are some jumbos in the lake but it will never be like it was years past.C&R would definitely be a start but i'm willing to bet with all the people that are out fishing and many having traveled from long distances that there are a lot on perch leaving the lake that would have been in the 11-12'' class by next year . There's not much that can be said as they have every right to keep 25 perch , our only hope is that more guys are like the System and maybe take a few for the table but also just go out and have fun . I remember years ago when a 30'' walleye was caught in front of Bakers beach by a local guy , that we will probably never see again , i hope i'm wrong .

arcticicejigger · « **Reply #173 on:** Jan 21, 2012, 10:12 PM »

next week system! im off for 3 weeks! ew la la!

lyk2fish · « **Reply #174 on:** Jan 21, 2012, 10:46 PM »

Remember fishing in the early 80's as a kid, many dinks everywhere.

Remember late 80's when you could drop a three lure rig and get doubles and triples of average size perch. During this time I remember looking up the lake at the expansion crack that would usually run across the the lake from below the boat launch across to the island and see many fisherman near the 100's ( on years when oneida wasn't froze or on an off year.)

Remember the early 90's when you had to SEARCH, and many times the finder(or flasher) was blank at every hole, until you had a black out of huge jumbo hoggers that were fed primarily on Daphnia Pulex species or applesauce as we called it.

Remember the mid 90's when we were on the east side hammering hoggers by the buckets if you wanted.

Then came the Zebra's that dented the daphnia population

Then came the limit restriction ( which I agreed with), cause before it, Cando was the commercial place due to their size. It was were guys got their biggest bang per buck when oneida was off(ask any tenured person still working at Marion Manor on Oneida).

Then came alot of early spring thaws that ice went out too early and the late ice slaughter didn't happen.

From this came many major year classes of perch

Then came the alewife that shifted walleye predation. Not saying YOY perch still aren't tasty to the eyes, but Alewife are like candy.

Alot of change here.......I feel from my knowledge and study of fisheries that theres a boom in perch population as we saw in the early 80's, and not enough predation from both man and fish together to get the numbers down so they can grow larger.

The Jumbos may not be in the quantity they once were, but they are still there. Anyone who sight fishes knows this. A big school comes in, you see some jumbos but you also see a ton of little ones that attack your lure first before a jumbo can get it.

catching fish of small size at every hole you drill isn't a sign that you have too much human predation in you'r fishery, it's a sign that you don't have enough.

too many fish + same or decreasing forage base+ lack of balanced predation (Man/Fish) = reduction in growth rates or stunting.

in my mind this is a piece of the cando puzzle right now.

perchfilet · « **Reply #175 on:** Jan 22, 2012, 06:27 AM »

LYK2Fish- Agree with much of what you have to say. First zebra mussels, then alewives have changed the dynamics of Canadarago. A 25 perch limit
was late in coming, but at least it is now in place. I don't think though that fishing pressure is causing the reduction in large perch, I agree with
you that lack of predation on small perch has caused an explosion in the perch population and therefore you have 100 "dinks" to every jumbo
perch. I certainly don't know what the answer to solving the problem is, but I'll relate what I think is an interesting comparison. I sometimes fly
into a lake in Canada to fish for walleyes and northerns. The lake gets very little fishing pressure. The problem there is you need to catch 10
"dink" walleyes to get one keeper. Again there is not enough natural predation on the walleyes, though the northerns eat some. It's also interesting
that on this lake there are hardly any perch, catching one is very rare. I guess there are plenty of predators for the perch. I still love to fish on
Canadarago, both summer and winter, but I wish there was some way to get the lake back in "balance".

TheSystem · « **Reply #176 on:** Jan 22, 2012, 06:55 AM »

lyk2fsh - great post that was really informative and well explained! You clearly know what you're talking about. I agree with everything you said, and boy have I seen the lake change due to first, those darn zebra mussles, and more recently those darn alewives. The biggest fish in the lake do not have to feed as often as they used to, due to the ever present alewive buffet.

AIJ- I look forward to some fishing trips - I've got a lot of time off coming, I'll take some then.

BIGJim223 · « **Reply #177 on:** Jan 22, 2012, 10:02 AM »

Of the pile of fish we caught yesterday, I kept 4 medium (9-11") for a perch dinner last night. The biggest, maybe 11" was a male with nothing in it's belly. The other 3 were females and they were stuffed full of 1" alewives. Surprised that they would even hit a jig as full as they were! At times yesterday there were an estimated 100 fish on my video screen all rushing for my teardrop jig as it went down. All were dinks. At one point I caught 9 fish in a row as fast as I put the jig back down there. I stopped re-baiting it as they would hit the bare jig as well as the baited one. It became a game to try and keep it away from them, so that I didn't have to unhook them. Good to have fast fishing, but I would trade 10 of those 5" fish for one 12-13" fish that I would release anyway.
I had a school of alewives go through my camera view again yesterday, and saw perch snapping them up as they went through. Also saw a very nice walleye go cruising though my view, was not even interested in my offering.
I agree with the poster above, not enough predators eating first year perch, as the alewives are so abundant. Where are the pickerel that were always so abundant? With schools of a hundred perch congregated around my jig, would you not think that pickerel would be there too gorging themselves? They are probably full of alewives also, I'm sure.

BIGJim223

lyk2fish · « **Reply #178 on:** Jan 22, 2012, 02:30 PM »

Yeah guys, please don't think im trying to know it all, just my observation over the years.

Im sure there are many other factors in play.

Good point on the pickerel BigJim

as I said in the otsego post a while back, Alewife are an awesome bait. think about it, they become abundant in short order, they offer more caloric energy than daphnia or scud, they have no spines, and fish love em. I have watched this happen in the finger lakes and it makes big fish.

Maybe time to go back to a #3 nickel pimple, castmaster, holograph bullet spoon, or do-jigger

TheSystem · « **Reply #179 on:** Jan 22, 2012, 05:29 PM »

I moved off of my busy perch grounds today to look for 'eyes in deeper water around the island. Not very successful at that, had 15 tip ups out, only 3 hits, 2 perch, and one VERY heavy fish 30 ft down that broke/cut my green ice line! Darn! Ended up with some good perch anyways, 5-6 10" and Dad got one 12'+ slob, all still swimming. Many people out on the lake today, more dog walkers and skiers than fishermen! Lots of guys around the Hyder and Sunken in the AM but almost all left by 2...must have been slow fishing. In sad news, the Fattie that I posted about releasing yesterday met her untimely end at the hands of my neighbor today...I feel bad, but I gave her the warning last night and she didn't listen! Good eats buddy!

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Author Topic: fishing on canadarago lake (Read 82878 times)