Inside Out Outdoors

As I said in an earlier post, we gave duck hunting another shot.  After all, the first attempt was not the most successful one.  I know the number of ducks in this area and knew if we could get a better day weather wise we would come close to limiting out.  Well, it turns out I was right!  The Friday before I came back down to NC I set out for the same spot with my buddy Brian...and my Gramps!  We got set up with the same spread of decoys as we did earlier in the week, knowing the ducks would be flying come sunrise.  This hunt was one of the best I ever had and turned out the best numbers yet as well!  Shoot, we had our first two ducks at first light! 

This was one of my favorite hunts of the week as I got to spend some good quality time with my grandfather who loves to hunt!  As I said, he already had a deer hunt for the record books killing a buck and two does all in the same day!  Also known as his best day of deer hunting in his life!  I'm glad I got to share that with him, so I was hoping this duck hunt would be another hunt that would make memories and it was.  We ended the day with 11 Mallard ducks - 6 Drakes and 5 hens.  With only one duck short of a limit, you can't ask for a better day than that!

Take a look at the photos in our Media section and, as always, enjoy!

-Paul Nicolucci

Last Wednesday I was able to get out to Owasco Lake and do a morning of duck hunting with my buddy Brian and his younger brother.  The morning was a brisk one:  heavy rain, 10-15 mile-an-hour winds with 30 mile-an-hour gusts coming from the N/NE and temperatures in the mid to high 30's!  Most people would probably have stayed in bed but I've had good luck in the past on rainy, overcast days hunting for ducks, so we decided this morning should be no different.

The morning started around 5:30 a.m. when we got our decoys out in the water and our blind situated on the shore of the lake.  By the time legal shooting time rolled around there were a good number of ducks flying down the lake, with a few pairs eying our decoys.  But, and this is a big but, the wind speed and direction were working against us in this regard.  We were, however, able to harvest one Mallard drake.  Once the wind died down by mid-morning, the birds had slowed their flight down the lake, but we did have one more single Mallard come into our decoys and he never made it back out!

I wish I could have gotten a picture of him but unfortunately I only had my cell phone with me and I had dropped it in a puddle at the gas station getting coffee and breakfast for my hunting partners, and since water and technology usually don't mix, it was not functioning most of the day.  He had three curls on his tail feathers though and was also a pretty hefty bird with very bright colors, one of the best looking Mallards I've seen in awhile!

Overall it was a great day hunting.  Keep an eye out for my next post which will have multiple photos of another more successful Duck hunt last

I also made it out deer hunting on Tuesday, however I only saw three does and none of them gave me a shot (they were quite a ways away from me when I saw them). 

-Paul Nicolucci

I'm currently in the process of preparing for an out of state hunt in New York,  heading up there tomorrow night and staying until the Sunday after Thanksgiving.  I make this trip every year for the opening week of the regular season and have three permits in hand:  two doe permits and a buck permit! 

I'm going to be hunting on land I've hunted for many years (it is all private land so a bit different from the usual hunting that Cory and I do in NC).  I've had great success over the last couple of years, so be on the lookout for hunt recaps and photos of some great deer (fingers crossed)!

I've also planned a couple of duck hunts on Owasco Lake this year!  The spot I'm hunting has been pretty good to me so far and I'm hoping nothing will change that fact this time around.

All that being said, I always forget how hard it is to get all the gear you need together for an out of state hunt.  Needless to say I have my hands full right now with work and trying to get everything packed.  Wish me luck :)

Happy Hunting!

-Paul Nicolucci

My last day of fishing on Owasco Lake was this past Friday.  My buddy Brian and I got out on the lake around 7 a.m. and we fished until around 1 p.m.  We had a very successful day, catching 7 Smallmouth bass.  We finally broke the 20-inch mark with one weighing in over 4 pounds!  On this day we caught all of our fish using live bait (Mooneyes).

I've attached pictures for your viewing pleasure, we captured all but one of the bass in a photo.  The fish we did not capture in a photo was 19 inches and weighed in at 3-lb, 2-oz.

-Paul Nicolucci

I started the day the usual way:  Getting bait at the South end of the lake.  My buddy Brian and I were set up on the water by around 7:30 a.m. and we had the first of many fish on by 8:00 a.m.  We were fishing in about 70 feet of water with minnows suspended at 20, 30, 45 and then one just off the bottom.  One Lake Trout hit at 45 feet and the other at 30 which is a bit unusual as they tend to suspend deeper in the water or lay on the bottom.  The Smallies were caught mostly between 15 and 30 feet.  After a whole lot of laughing, high fives, and reeling in fish we ended the day with 2 Lake Trout, 3 Small mouth Bass and 1 Yellow Perch.  I've included a bunch of photos and weight / length of each fish in our "On The Water Media" section which can be found here.  I'll also attach the photos to this post for easy viewing :)

-Paul Nicolucci

I arrived at Owasco lake for my first fishing outing in a couple of years up here in New York on Monday night.  My Grandfather picked up some Mooneyes and we decided to try our luck out where we usually fish.  We fished the evening and had no luck....not even one bite!  Oh well, that's fishing!  You won't catch anything if you let one evening deter you, so we decided to try again Tuesday morning.  We started fishing around 8 am and around noon we finally had some activity!  We had three bites, only one of which led to a fish in the boat:  A decent smallmouth bass that I landed.  The bass measured 17 inches and weighed-in at 2 pounds 2 ounces. 

My buddy Brian came out with me after work around 5 pm and we decided to just cast some spinnerbaits over rock and weed beds.  We had a successful couple of hours, with Brian landing another nice bass about an inch shorter and one ounce smaller.  I caught a small Northern Pike (21.5 inches / 1 pound 8 ounces) which we released.  We also got a couple of good-sized Yellow Perch and some other panfish.

I've included some photos of the bass and the pike that we caught.  We are fishing the rest of the week as well and I'll keep everyone posted with our catches! 

-Paul Nicolucci

I just wanted to post a short entry about my trip to Upstate New York during this week.  I'll be spending a good portion of my time fishing on Owasco Lake for bass, trout and panfish!

I made the trip a couple of years ago and had great success during the first week.  We almost limited out on bass with a mix of Smallmouth and Largemouth!  As I've said in previous posts, I grew up near this lake and have a lot of experience fishing it. 

I'll be mixing up my fishing, everything from still fishing with live bait to casting spinner and stick baits.  Might even do some trolling!

Be on the look out for pictures and, if I'm able to, I'll try to get some video of the trip!

-Paul Nicolucci

I had the pleasure of getting out on Owasco Lake while I was home in New York last weekend and my girlfriend Jackie and I had a very successful 3 hour fishing trip.  She had not been fishing in many, many years so I was being tested.  We only had about four hours of daylight left and this would be our only chance to fish during the weekend.  I started the trip by making a stop to the local bait shop at the South end of the lake; we purchased 18 Mooneye Minnows to use as bait.  We then traveled back to the dock, packed the boat and headed out.  Being under the gun for time, I went to a  "honey hole" that my Grandfather has taken me to for as long as I can remember, and we placed four poles in the water, all baited with lively minnows.  After about 10 minutes, we decided we should eat our sandwiches before the fishing consumed all of our time.....well one bite in and the fishing took over!  We had 9 hits in three hours, hauling in 6  Lake Trout (the limit in NY State is 3 per person, per day ), all of which were over 20 inches in length.  We were fishing in about 80 feet of water and all but one of our hits were on the bottom.  It has been my experience that the Lake Trout prefer the deeper water and usually cruise the bottom.

The largest of the 6 ( pictured above, was caught by Jackie ) was a 26-inch trout with an estimated weight of about 7 pounds!  Quick tip:  If you don't have a scale available to you, as long as you measure the length and girth of the fish you can estimate the weight quite accurately here.  Once we had our limit, we headed back to the dock to show off our catch to our family who was quite surprised at our quick success. 

This trip goes to show just how successful you can be if you know where the fish are during a certain time of year from past experiences and know the diet of the fish you are going after. Of course we had some luck on our side, even given all the perfect circumstances you are not guaranteed a successful trip!  I was able to share this trip with my girlfriend and the smiles and excitement she had made it the most rewarding part of the trip for me.  Even if I did not catch a thing, just seeing her with that Lake Trout with a smile from ear to ear made the trip well worth it for me.  We all need to remember that sharing the outdoors is just as rewarding as experiencing it on our own...if not even more rewarding!

I've attached some of the pictures from our trip to this post and also added them to our Media page.

If you ever find yourself out on Owasco Lake, remember the rigs and bait I detailed in previous posts and hopefully that gives you a jump start on the competition!

The Egg Sinker Rig is a popular rig among lake fisherman. This rig is not only easy to tie, it also provides a couple of other benefits:

1) This rig can be fished at all depths including the bottom, with great ease.

2) The rig allows the fish to take the bait without feeling any resistance.

The rig is tied by first taking the end of your line and tying on what ever type of hook you prefer.  When I'm fishing for trout or bass using live bait, I  prefer a size 10 or 12 treble hook when using live bait.  The smaller size hook allows the fish to more easily take the bait without feeling it.  Usually letting the fish "run" for a couple of minutes before setting the hook ensures that you will have good hook placement. If you plan to do catch and release, a larger circle hook allows you to hook the fish quickly in the mouth and allows for a better chance of release after the fight and catch.

The second step to tying this rig is to cut about a 12 - 18 inch leader above the hook, leaving you with 12-18 inches of line with a hook tied at the end of it.  Set this aside for now.

Now take your egg singer and slip it onto the line attached to the rod/reel.  I then usually follow the sinker with a plastic bead to ensure that the sinker does not drop over the barrel swivel.  Once the egg sinker and bead (if you choose to use one) are in place you can tie one end of the barrel swivel below the sinker and attach the hook/leader to the other end of the swivel.

The knot you use is up to you but I use the Improved Clinch Knot.  The Improved Clinch Knot is very easy and quick to learn and tie.  Once you have the rig tied, you can place your bait on the hook and lower the rig into the water.  The bait fish are free to swim on their 12-18 inch leash and when a fish grabs them they won't feel an instant resistance.  Another point to note here is that if you let your fish run, the egg singer often times falls to the bottom of the lake and the fish can pull line through it freely, however when you go to set your hook ensure that you have any slack in the line tightened otherwise the fish could be straight in front of you and your line is pointing someplace else due to the placement of the sinker.

I hope this gives you some good insight into the Egg Sinker Rig.  If you have any questions on the uses or details of tying this rig please let me know.

- Paul Nicolucci