Even if forty people are at Sylvan Beach, they still don't come close to filling up fishing spots on the canal wall at the opening of the Erie Canal and Oneida Lake. There are coveted spots for sure, on the South Side of the canal wall under the bridge where a portion of the Canal juts off South and the other end of the wall where waders walk out into the Canal. On the North side of the canal it is under the bridge and at the end of the other end of the wall before you hit the seasonal "no trespassing" area where the city has taken down the chained fenced area (seen in picture below).
I've learned a few things about fishing for walleye at Sylvan Beach. When I talked to a guy at Chapman Park, he showed me his lure, a 4 inch silver and black minnow that he painted red near the gills on it to imitate an injured minnow. Everything I read about Oneida Lake also said to mimic the minnows. However, this has not worked for me. I've noticed at Sylvan Beach you have the live minnowers, the crank/stick baiters, and the jiggers. My first night there I used an "injured" minnow stickbait for two hours on the North side of the wall. I was about ready to give up when I noticed the guy across from me pulling up walleye from jigging. I had a second pole in the car already rigged with a split shot, swivel, and #4 hook so I added a chartreuse Gulp fry to the hook. I wasn't expecting much but after the first cast and fourth jig, I got a hit. I pulled up a nice 15 inch walleye, keeper.
The guys next to me on the end of the wall at the canal opening left so I went jigging there. I pulled up two more walleye about 12 inchers and released them. I think there is something about the rig where there is no jig head and the weight is coming from the split shot which is up higher. It makes the fry wiggle in front of the fish in a more suspended way than a jig with a head on it which is meant to mimic something feeding off the bottom. Another thing to note is I was there much later than everyone else. People started leaving around 10 pm and I didn't start catching anything until then. Both times I came earlier and left around 8 pm, I didn't have any bites.
One of the nights I went and didn't have any bites I kept wondering why the guys next to me were staring at the water with their headlamps. All I could think is they are going to scare away the light sensitive walleye. When I moved closer to the more lit areas near the bridge I saw what they were staring at, thousands and thousands of minnows. It was unbelievable. I've never seen anything like it. I didn't notice the minnows the night I caught the three walleye but did notice them the nights I didn't catch any and the people around me caught very few. How are we going to catch any walleyes when they have a smorgasbord of minnows extending the entire length of the canal to feed on? Here is the best picture of the minnows I could take. This is an area of maybe just two- three feet and it looked like this the entire extent of the wall.
So between the comfort of the 24 hour lit wall (vs. climbing on dark rocks under Route 81), the more than ample parking spaces, the beautiful sunset and relative quiet (under Route 81 is hard to enjoy when all you hear is cars driving overhead), and actual fish catching, Sylvan Beach will remain my go-to walleye spot until ice fishing starts. I have a collection of some of the most incredible pictures from fishing here during different times of the year.
