Thaw Progressing: Oswego Anglers Locked!

By Kevin Davis | 03/19/2015

The winter was brutal here in Upstate NY. There was more ice than I’ve ever seen. The Oswego River froze, we broke the all time record for the coldest February and Oswego Harbor was frozen solid. There was a month when I couldn’t even get the boat on the river. These fish saw no pressure.

I’d had it. In fact, I left and went to the Florida Keys for two weeks. There was no point in hanging around here. However, two weeks ago, I just couldn’t take not being able to get on the river anymore and I went to Lowes and bought a cheap chainsaw to cut my way through the ice and into the river. It immediately paid dividends. These fish have been biting ever since.

With the ice so thick the river wasn’t accessible to anybody for so long that the fish got a chance to settle in without being pressured. Fortunately, our weather has improved a little bit and some of the ice is breaking free enabling us to get back out on the river.

Keep in mind, the harbor is still frozen and we still have two feet of snow on the shore, but there’s a few bank anglers starting to come out and that’s only going to increase as the weather improves. For us, we’ve been having double-digit days for a few weeks. Some days we’ve caught and released up to 30 rainbows, steelhead an browns. It’s been insane.

Due to the frigid water our fish are holding tight in deeper channels where they can find slow water. We aren’t finding any fish in the faster water. There’s nothing there. Any place the water slows down you’ll find fish. The Oswego River is going to be good until we get flooded out by snowmelt or heavy rain, but with the slow thaw we’re experiencing that isn’t likely at this point. The 15-day forecast has highs in the 30s. I’m anticipating the bite continuing through the middle of April.

We’re running two main techniques right now: fishing jigs tipped with live bait and BorX O Fire cured eggs. What’s surprised me is the BorX O Fire cured brown trout eggs are out-fishing uncured eggs and it’s usually the opposite this time of year. Normally, I’m using cured eggs in the fall and early winter and then uncured later in the season. Meanwhile, I’m curing my single eggs in Natural and fishing them in white, blue and peach sacks. These colors work best in the clear water we have right now.

When I’m not floating bait, we’re tipping small hair jigs with wax worms or minnows. I’m catching rainbows, steelhead and browns on the minnows and have been dying my minnows in Chartreuse Fire Dye. I’ve found a way to dye these minnows and keep them alive, which has been almost unfair to the fish. Imagine fishing a live chartreuse minnow. We’ll focus on how to do this in my next blog. You’ll be amazed!

Editor’s Note: Kevin Davis operates Catch The Drift out of Oswego, NY. For more information on his multi species Oswego River steelhead trips please visit http://www.catchthedrift.com/.