1/17/2011 Oneida Lake ice fishing report

Its hard to believe its the middle of january already, where does the time fly by tooo? It has been a very good ice fishing season already, but here comes the but. The big snow that we have had for the last couple of days is starting to create multiple problems, (1) it is getting harder to move around on the ice whether on foot or machine, its very close to the time where 4 wheelers are not going to be of much use and even sleds will have a hard time. (2) its supposed to keep snowing the rest of the week. (3) the bite for walleyes and perch this past weekend wasnt as good as its been for what I think are 2 reasons, big weather front that threw the barometer way off and tough conditions preventing guys from getting to the good spots they wanted to go to. If your forced to fish your secondary spots its a gamble whether the fish will be there. The Walleye bite has continued to impress this winter with overall size and quantity and even the number of shorts that are being caught make me feel like we have had a great recruitment from the hatchery the last couple of years and that the open water seaon will be good as well. I have heard of 2 walleyes this winter that were at or over 30″ and a phone picture of one of them that was said to be just over 8lbs!! Those are studs for this lake and Carl from the hatchery tells me that they net double digit fish every year out here but that is impressive and must have been quite the rush to see coming up through the hole. The Perch are starting to plump up already with eggs and I wouldnt be suprised to see them head to the shallow weeds in the next couple of weeks for pre-spawn. Lets all just hope that this big snow load doesnt sink the ice or slush it so bad that we cant get out there.
This coming weekend we would like to have the 2nd Annual “FREEZE YOUR RAT OFF” ice derby. The cost per angler is $10 and there are 4 divisions, Walleye, Perch, Panfish (Sunfish+Bluegills) and Crappie. We will be paying out cash prizes for the top 2 places in each division. This derby is based on LENGTH OF THE FISH, and weight will be used as a tie breaker. All fish must be caught on the frozen portions Oneida Lake. You may enter your fish here at The River Rat Tackle Shop on saturday until 4pm or anytime on Sunday up until 230pm. Any fish brought in after 230pm will not count. You do not have to be present to win. You must purchase your tickets here at the shop by 7 am Saturday morning to be in the derby.
Thank you
Matt