The Angler Magazine is thrilled to add Justin Walts to our field expert team. Justin is a Retired USMC Infantryman and competitive Bass fisherman who grew up locally in the Carthage area. Though Justin competes at the tournament level for bass on fisheries like Lake Ontario, Champlain, Oneida and St. Lawrence River, he is also an expert angler of many other Upstate NY species and his recent fishing accomplishments are becoming quite impressive. In 2016, Justin took 1st place at the Black Lake Rod and Gun derby and won 1st place in the Northern Pike division in the 2016 NYS Winter Classic www.nyswinterclassic.com.
Last year, Justin was appointed as the National Promotional Staff Coordinator at Fish Allure www.fishallure.com, which is a highly effective press-on your lure scent tab attractant. Justin actively participates in many community events involving angling, and will be guiding out of Chaumont Bay Marina in Chaumont, NY in 2017. Jay Money (Justin’s alias) will be offering his tips and tactics from a professional angler’s perspective and The Angler will be keeping you informed on his 2017 tourney results.
For the remainder of the ice-fishing season and then during the 2017 Bass season, Justin will be offering methods and insight that will help maximize your angling efforts. Feel free to contact Justin involving any community or promotional fishing events at Justin.J.Walts@icloud.com
Here’s Justin Walt’s North Country/ Golden Crescent Area Ice-Fishing Report
Chaumont Bay – Chaumont has had a decent walleye and perch bite, but the recent warm temperatures, wind and rain brought havoc to Chaumont Bay in the way of ice jams and unsafe ice around Johnson Shoal.
St. Lawrence River – Bays near Ogdensburg have been supplying anglers with good quanities of pike and walleye. I had the opportunity to share some ice time with Rob Williams (NYS Winter Classic week 1 winning walleye 9.27lb). We targeted pike and ended up catching 21 northerns in the 3-7lb. range. Lake of the Isles has been reporting lots of perch averaging in the 10 in range.
Black Lake – Black Lake has put a lot of smiles on angler’s faces with limits of crappie, walleye and northerns. Golden Shiners have been the trick for big walleyes and northerns, with the biggest fish coming in the 10-15-foot zone. Fish Creek Bait has a great supply of golden shiners.
Cranberry Lake – Cranberry Lake has blessed anglers with limits of big perch and crappie, if you know how and where to find them. This lake is a targeted spot for monster Northern Pike.
Perch Lake – Perch Lake has been HOT with big pickerel and many northern pike in the double digits caught recently. Fishing pressure doesn’t look to have slowed down the bite either.