Inside Out Outdoors

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 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

When most people think of stream fishing the first thing that comes to mind is fly fishing.  I myself have never picked up a fly rod and hit the streams, instead I've always depended on an ultra light spinning rod and reel.  My preferred setup is an ultra light rod that is about 5 feet in length paired with an ultra light reel with 4lb mono line.  A pretty good combo would be the Browning Micro Stalker.The 4 foot 8 inch length makes this a great choice because it is easy to cast with low hanging cover or flip out into a pool of water with brush all around you. 

Some of my favorite light lures for trout fishing are the Phoebe and the Panther Matrin.  Both attract trout like you could not imagine in streams.  I've gone out more than once and limited out using just these two lures.  Now there are some limitations to using ultra light spinning gear.  It is best to fish the pools that you find in the stream and deeper portions of the stream so that you can keep your lure at a depth that the fish are feeding.  If you try casting your lure into extreamly shallow water all you are going to do is get hung up on some rocks.  Shallow water is the one place where fly fishing will really out performs ultra light spinning gear.  However, fish love the pools.  If you find a decently deep pool and catch one fish keep casting into the same pool, chances are there are a few more hungry trout just waiting for something to swim by.

If you have never tried ultra light spinning for trout I'd recommend you give it a try.  If nothing else it's a different way of fishing for them that you might find works for you and it is pretty cheap to start up!

-Paul Nicolucci

Everyone has to admit that they have an all-time favorite fishing lure.  It might take you a couple of minutes to really figure out which lure is your favorite, but think back to a time when the fish just were not biting and try to remember the lure you looked for in your tackle bag.  I know that I always seem to fall back onto the Rapala Jointed Minnow in the FireTiger color combination. 

I've fished this lure in a variety of ways from casting under docks to trolling, all of which have been successful.  I really like this color combination in all water conditions, it has the color for murky waters and also fish don't seem to mind the bright color scheme in clear water either.  It has a great swimming action when trolled or retrieved at a moderate speed that fish just can't seem to resist!

The species of fish that I have caught include Smallmouth Bass, Lake Trout and Brown Trout.  I'd really like to hear from some of our readers as far as what their favorite lure is.  It's quite interesting to see what others fall back on when the fishing gets tough!

Happy fishing!

-Paul Nicolucci

While I might have just gotten "turkey fever" yesterday, today it turned chronic.  I couldn't even get out of town without having to stop in the middle of the road so a hen could cross in front of me...to go to a gas station of all places.  That's right, she walked from the parking lot of a Mexican restaurant to beside the parking lot of a gas station.  In the Asheville city limits.  In the middle of the day.  Yea, I guess you could that got me fired up just a little bit.

It's April.  The weather is warm, the sun is out, greenup is well underway even in the mountains and I was fishing Hatchery-Supported trout waters today.  My fiance had to come up to Asheville, NC for some things this week, so we left Charlotte Wednesday afternoon and made our way to her mother's house just outside of the city in Woodfin.

Ah, smell the Spring flowers in bloom?  See the gray, misty fog rising up the hills?  Hear the rush of cold, clear water as it flows down the side of forest-covered mountain?  Wait, are those flakes of snow in the air?  As March becomes April, all of this can only mean one thing:  The hatchery-supported trout season is opening this weekend in the North Carolina mountains.  A drive this Saturday along back roads such as highway 209 in Madison County and Brown Mountain Beach Road in Caldwell County will lead to multiple sightings of Subarus (and Fords, Toyotas, heck, maybe even a Datsun or two) parked on the side of the road with wader-wearing, ultralight rod-wielding  men, women and children getting ready to try their hand at catching a few freshly stocked trout.  They may throw Panther Martin® in-line spinners, cast out a red worm they just dug-up or even put a bright yellow kernel of sweet corn on their hook.  All that matters is they are out there doing what they love to do, enjoying the beauty that is found in every deep valley and spending quality time in the outdoors.  If you want to join in on the fun, be sure to buy that license (you'll need a trout license too), follow regulations (and check those signs!) and bring a cooler to take your limit home to the frying pan.  And yes, don't be surprised to see some white stuff flying around or on the ground.

-C.B.

Enjoy solitude?  Ever wonder what lies in remote stretches of water?  Up for a challenge?  Then prepare yourself to practice until you are perfect, fight through tangled brush and get knee deep in water because fly fishing is the just sport for you.

We've all seen, at some time or another, a photo or video of someone effortlessly whipping a fly rod and line above their head, making a perfect cast to the perfect spot.  A smile then appears on the angler's face as a fat hungry trout rises to take the dry fly they precisely landed over it.  It is images like this that inspire many to try their hand at fly fishing, even if they have no idea where to start.  Because of this, we've decided to help clear up the "water" and put together some information into a 3 part series, designed to head you in the right direction.  The intended result?  To make you that angler with the smile on their face.