Shore Fishing the Oneida River in Caughdenoy, August 9, 2015

We had two people tell us we should fish Caughdenoy, near Central Square. One said catfish were great the other said walleye and top water lures. So we figured we should check it out. Caughdenoy is very small and its biggest attraction appears to be fishing at the dam.

lower section of the dam

There is pretty fantastic shore access on both sides of the dam with ample parking and it is a peaceful body of water. 

Fishing Tales: When we first arrived we met a man who was selling used tackle in front of his van. He said he had been there for four weeks and told us that right in front of him was the best spot. We then watched him snorkel for lures and tackle. He went out in his pants and shoes and snorkeled until he brought up more tackle to sell. He said he was low on sinkers so he was snorkeling at that moment for them. He talked about the messes people left and how he cleaned them up and how some kids had thrown out a rope and left it and when he brought it up he found the biggest selection of tackle he'd ever seen stuck to it. He was also kind enough to swim out and unstick my hook from a rock after a gobie snatched it and ran with it. He told us to avoid the rocks and gobies, throw out a worm with no sinker or split shot and let it not go down far enough to hit gobie territory. Gobies are horrible invasive fish and it was disappointing to find them at such a prime location.

We tried top water lures and worms without anything to weight them down and only got gobie hits. We tried both sides of the dam with no luck and left. 

What a fisher sees as a prime drop off when approaching the water

high section of the dam