Shore Fishing the Oswego River in Minetto, July 24, 2015

This is without a doubt one of the prettiest and well kept parks to fish in. It's a hidden gem. Minetto is located between Fulton and Oswego and is literally just a couple blocks long. The official name of the park we fished in is Riverview Memorial Park.

The park has restrooms and a washroom for use for overnight boaters (and anyone using the park) with a suggested donation. It has beautiful flowers in a few picnic areas and overlooks the Minetto bridge and Oswego River. It has an accessible ramp that goes down to a boating dock.

Use the boating dock with caution. A boat came by and the waves of the boat almost sent my chair into the water. Children and anyone concerned with this have plenty of fishing space on the banks. 

There was a promising area at the end of the boat dock that dipped down into a ledge as it moved out from shore and was covered in shade. We weren't there long but I had several small hits and my proud catch of the day was a minnow that somehow caught itself while trying to get my weedless jig with a Berkeley honey worm. 

Shore Fishing the Seneca River at Onondaga Lake Park, July 22, 2015

This evening we started out at 6 pm. We went to Onondaga Lake Park off of Cold Springs Road. There is a ton of shore access in this large park but we went to the area near the Wegman's Good Dog Park (circled below). We wanted to go to Willow Bay because it was listed online as a great place to fish at the mouth of the Seneca River and Onondaga Lake but apparently there was a politician swimming event there tonight!

One of the many things I like about this park is the set up of picnic tables with grills near the fishing areas. 

This first fish I caught I didn't even know I had. I reeled it in and went to cast and thought "why does my worm look so big?". Its because I caught a round goby. I have never seen one before and they are the same color as the weeds and very small. They are an invasive fish originating from Russia believed to have been brought over on international boats. We had read that some people catch them to use as bass bait so we tried using it as bait with no interest from the bass. 

After catching a couple of these nuisances, I caught a rock bass. I used a weedless jig with a worm and threw it past the heavily weeded shore and let it drift to the edge of the weeds. 

8"- 9" Rock Bass

Weedless jig I found on ebay

I prefer to use a jig in this situation even though I don't use it like a jig and just let it drift because it is heavy and shiny so it attracts attention in the weeds and goes deep enough to where the fish are. I also use a split shot about 12 inches above to add a little weight to the cast. 

The next rock bass I caught was close to 12 inches. 

We had a family with kids walk by and get excited when they saw me pulling in this rock bass. We talked to them about it while it swam in our bucket.  We ended the evening at about 9 pm having caught three rock bass. 

Shore Fishing on Lock Island, Phoenix, July 21, 2015

Tonight we went to Lock Island in Phoenix, a popular fishing area. There is ample parking and several areas on the peak to fish, most are pretty weedy and rocky near shore. We went out on the larger boat dock to fish since we got there late enough that no boats were out. I circled the area on the map below.

We caught a baby rock bass on a spinner and worm. 

We tried jigs, worms, and weedless spoons and barely got bites. The bass were jumping when we first got there around 9:30 pm and stopped within 30 minutes. We drew the conclusion that we had gotten there at the end of feeding time. This has happened at a couple of the last places we have went so we think we should start arriving around 7 pm and not so late at night. 

Honorable Mention: The Bait Shop in Madison, NY

On the evening of July 16, 2015, we decided to travel down country roads to Leland Pond near Madison, NY. The DEC website said it had a nice platform to fish from and we were looking for a place that we hoped would be less populated.

Since the location of the platform wasn't an address we could put into Garmin, we put in the address of The Bait Shop, located nearby.  When we got there we found it was next to the pond and in a person's garage adjacent to their home. A very friendly woman greeted us and told us that she knits clothing for her friend's children while she waits for customers. To our surprise, she had just about everything you could think of in the garage, several lures I've never seen before and even Uncle Josh's Pork Bait which I have only ever seen for sale online. She had live bait including a large tank of minnows AND, you'll never guess, a fishing vending machine that rivals Phoenix's live bait machine. It had lures and everything in it. 

As wonderful as this little experience was, our experience at Leland Pond was lacking. We got to the platform and two men sitting on buckets had taken over the entire platform (which was pretty large) and did not appear willing to share the platform at all, even when I mentioned driving a long distance. We found a couple of areas across the street as possibilities but you would need waders and/or two functioning feet (I'm still in a cast from surgery) to navigate and balance on rocks near the bridge. This might have been a good place to fish but we will never know. I should also mention that every person we have ever come in contact with while fishing has been great to talk to (and it is one of the reasons that I love going fishing in Central NY) so these two guys were a big surprise. 

Shore Fishing the Oswego River Lock in Phoenix, July 16, 2015

Back to the Phoenix Lock (see my previous post for its location). This was a good white bass night. The lock was a lot lower than I've seen it and bass were jumping. There is also a ton of goose poop.

We caught this white bass with a spinner and worm.

The best part was watching the geese. There is something great about being somewhere random at a time of night you might normally be home watching tv to see what life is like for the rest of nature. While I sat on the edge of the walkway I watched a large group of geese waddle up the bank (that I didn't even know was next to me because it was hidden under trees ) and hang out for a bit before waddling off to their next place. 

Watching the sun go down.

Shore Fishing the Salmon River in Pulaski, July 13,2015

First of all, this is "off season" for the mad Fall rush of Salmon fishing in Pulaski. The web said it was good bass and panfish biting this time of the year. There are tons of maps that give parking and walking/wading access to the River for miles. http://www.fishsalmonriver.com/Maps  However, what we were looking for was an accessible platform. We found a great platform at Port Ontario, Route 3 and 13.

There is also a nice walkable area over rocks and off the platform in the shade under the bridge. 

                                              

I kept getting hits on worms in front of the platform in the shade but when I switched to my favorite yellow bug jig, I got a pretty good sized perch. 

We continued to get hits of small perch in the weeds to the right side of the platform. 

We left and came back for the evening and caught a few more perch. Note: if you need a cleaning station, there is one just inside the entrance to Selkirk Shores State Park down the road.

Fishing Tales: 

A couple of guys gave us minnows, worms, and a bag of canned corn before they left. They said they had hits from trout on the corn. They said you can string three of them on a hook at a time for good results.

 From our catch, I made a perch dish using this recipe: Sauted Lake Perch Recipe

Shore Fishing the Oswego River Lock in Phoenix, July 5, 2015

Phoenix is one of my favorite places to shore fish. We started out only going to the lock and not to the far more popular area at the tip of Lock Island on the other side of the channel. For the lock, there is parking right off the bridge at State Street and Culvert Street.

There is only one time I have fished the lock and NOT caught something. This was our first day fishing here and I caught a bullhead within 10 minutes of tossing in a spinner and worm.

Within about an hour, the guy at the end of the walkway came down to us and said he thought there were gar down at his end. We went down and in very visible shallow water you could see a large group of gar. 

Gar Fish at the lock

But my all time favorite part of fishing in Phoenix was coming across the 24 hour live bait vending machine across the street next to the ice cream shop! 

Fishing Tales:

Apparently there are large carp in the lock area. The guy across from us said he was fishing for them. Within an hour or two he and his son surfaced a mammoth carp, what he thought was around 40 lbs. It broke their line before they could bring it in. 

Shore Fishing the Jamesville Reservoir on July 3, 2015

It appears there are two good designated shore fishing areas for the Jamesville Reservoir, the Jamesville Beach Park and the upper half near the dam. Since it costs to get into the park and parks usually close at a certain time, we went to the dam. The public parking is on County Garage Road and pretty easy to find if you put Onondaga County Dept of Transportation (Jamesville) in Garmin and look for the public fishing access sign.

Note: Some people park on Route 91 and access the opposite bank but cars are ticketed and there are no parking signs all along the road. 

We stated near the dam. It is tricky to avoid the weeds while fishing on the bank but doable. The dam itself it posted but a lot of people swim and fish on it. There really isn't a reason to fish on the dam when you can fish right next to it.

Grassy area next to the dam wall

The best fishing areas we have found here are in the alcoves created by the landscape. 

                                              

Today, I caught a couple of small to medium sized white bass on a spinner with a worm after dark. 

The best part is, we got to see fireworks in the distance for the 4th of July celebration, while we fished. 

Shore Fishing Oneida River, Rte 11, Brewerton, July 2015

I have to mention this area because a lot of people go there and it is easily accessible and actually lit all night long BUT in all of the times I've went, I caught one sole small SM Bass and nothing else. It is located off of Walnut Street near Route 11. There is parking and plenty of fishing access along the walkway.

We have seen several large fish of different varieties swim by but not a one of them interested in anything we have to offer. The local bait shop said that at other times of the year, "you can fill buckets". The only hits I've had has been on worms near the edge of the walkway and the small bass caught on a jig. 

However, we did get a picture of Venus and Jupiter when they were visible in the sky together for the first time in 2000 years. That was pretty cool.

In sum, I really like this area, I just wish we'd catch something!

Shore Fishing Oneida Lake at Sylvan Beach, June 29,2015

We heard that due to the walleye hatchery, Oneida Lake was a popular walleye fishing haven. Even though this time of the year they were probably out in deeper water, we thought we'd still give it a try. We stopped at East Shore Bait and Tackle shop first. I always like to stop at the local bait shop before fishing to get the latest information on what is hitting and because the lures they sell are going to be tailored to the type of fishing that is local. The bait shop advised we fish the walkway on the South West side of Fish Creek opening to Oneida Lake just under Route 13.

We were casting with worms and bait sticks while everyone else that came up to the walkway jigged right along the edge of the walkway. Unfortunately, not us or the jiggers had any hits. We came away with some beautiful photos though. 

Shore Fishing the Oswego River in Oswego, June/July 2015

For shore fishing in Oswego, we started at Linear Park which was listed as "excellent [accessible] shore fishing". First, it was really hard to find. Second, the reason it was hard to find is it is no way accessible to anyone with disabilities. There is a small picnic area then you need to walk down stairs to get to the walkway by the river with a fence preventing you from easily sitting down to fish. So we went behind Subway on Canalview Drive.

A portion under the bridge is fenced off so you can stand and fish near a picnic area. We went to the edge of the fenced area and set up chairs. Just be careful not to park in the residential parking lot, they will put a notice on your car if you do. There is plenty of public parking. 

My dad pointing at the fish that are taunting us

We were told by my uncle, who has had good luck here late at night, that walleye hit crankbaits in this area. We had a couple of hits on worms and my dad had a sunfish that got away (yes, I just told the world about the getaway sunfish!). I tried a couple of jigs but really didn't get much to hit. 

It's beautiful at night though.