At 2,214 acres, Otisco is one of the smallest bodies of water in the Finger Lakes chain, but it has sufficient depth, structure and forage to grow large norlunge. It bottoms out at 70 feet and has sloping points, steep dropoffs, and extensive weed beds. Alewives and white perch are so abundant in the lake that state biologists have nagging concerns about maintaining a proper balance between predator and prey.

For reasons I've never quite understood, August has always been prime time for connecting with an Otisco norlunge. You'd think the big boys would be scared silly by the personal-watercraft jockeys who race up and down the small lake on summer afternoons. Instead, the dog days always seem to bring on the bite.

Trolling off the deep weedlines and across the major points is a good way to catch Otisco tigers in August. So is casting spinnerbaits or buzzbaits in the shallow, muddy south end or in Turtle Bay, a lily-padded cove on the east shore north of Amber. You can pick out some likely spots of your own on the contour map that the DEC's Region 7 office in Cortland keeps handy. Their number is (607) 753-3095.

Getting to Otisco Lake is easy. It's only half an hour's drive from Syracuse, near the geographical center of the state. Take U.S. Route 20 east of Auburn about 12 miles (where there are numerous motels) or west about the same distance from the LaFayette exit on Interstate 81. Turn south on Route 174, which leads directly to the lake.

The only public boat launch is a tiny carry-in site at the west end of the causeway, an old roadbed that divides the lake near its south end. Most boaters launch at one of two private marinas on the east shore, off Otisco Valley Road.

THOUSAND ISLANDS
By now, most New York Game & Fish readers have heard about New York's controversial state-record -- and former world-record -- muskellunge. Caught by the late Arthur Lawton in 1957, it supposedly came from the Thousand Islands region of the St. Lawrence River and weighed 69 pounds, 15 ounces. Doubts about its authenticity led the National Freshwater Fishing Hall of Fame and then the International Game Fish Association to expunge the fish from its record listings a few years ago. As of this writing, DEC officials were considering wiping Lawton's catch from the Empire State record book, too.

Most of today's muskie-chasers couldn't care less. Let's face it, Lawton's "record" is nearly half a century old. We're more interested in the behemoths that swim in the St. Lawrence these days -- for it so happens that Thousand Island muskies of 50 inches and up are more common now than they have been for decades. Lately, even the magic 60-inch barrier has been breached, and in recent seasons, several river guides have reported catching muskies that weighed 55 pounds or better.

As with the Niagara River, the St. Lawrence fishery owes its renaissance in great measure to the many conservation-minded guides and clients who've had the good sense to put muskies back alive. During the 1980s and '90s, the catch-and-release ethic took hold in the Thousand Islands. Instead of directing successful clients to taxidermists, guides took lots of pictures and handed out catch-and-release certificates and muskie paintings to happy anglers. The result is that very few muskies of any size are kept any more.