SYRACUSE, N.Y. — Keith Sensening traveled from West Virginia to Oneida Lake with the hope of experiencing the quality largemouth and smallmouth fishing for which the fishery is known during summer.
On Friday the bend in his rod indicated more was on the line than a trophy bass. The strike occurred as the co-angler slowly hopped a drop-shot rig along a rocky shoal in 14 feet of water.
Forty-five minutes later the fish came to the surface. Much to his surprise the trophy was a lake sturgeon, guessed by Sensening to weigh more than 100 pounds and measuring 5 feet from head to tail.
“At first I thought it was a big catfish,” said Sensening. “But we found out otherwise when it surfaced.”
The fish was so large and awkward to handle that bringing the catch on board for a picture was impossible.
For the record, the fish slurped up a 3/8-ounce SureSet jig rigged with a double-tailed soft plastic crawfish. The battle was on with a 7-foot medium/heavy Duckett Fishing Micro Magic Pro rod. He reeled it in with a Quantum Energy PT reel spooled with 12-pound P-Line.
Lake sturgeon all but disappeared from Oneida Lake until 1995, when the New York Department of Environmental Conservation launched a restocking program. The fish are raised at the DEC Oneida hatchery near the lake.
The lake sturgeon is protected and fishing for the species is prohibited, although occasional hookups are possible. Sensening’s catch is proof the restocking program is working, although females don’t reach sexual maturity until age 16 or later.