Tiger Musky!

Tiger muskies are stocked in Otisco and Conesus Lakes.  I don't get the chance to fish Conesus very often, but in that lake muskies are outnumbered greatly by northern pike.   You might catch 10 pike for every one musky over there.  In Otisco, tigers reign supreme - you get a bite-off and you had a tiger - plain and simple.   Tigers are the sterile hybrid of northern pike and (pure-strain) muskies.   They're raised at the South Otselic Hatchery, not far from Cortland and are stocked in order to give anglers an opportunity to catch a large, hard fighting exciting fish.   Tigers don't disappoint!    And they are beautifully colored fish.     Once in a great while I hear of a tiger coming out of Cayuga or Seneca Lakes.   I have yet to see one, but it is a possibility given that tigers are found in the Seneca River system. 

A 40" tiger can weigh 20lbs, and Otisco Lake produces fish like this every year.   Most of the Otisco fish run from around 25" to maybe 32".   At least the ones we've seen.   In the fall of 2007 DEC electrofished a couple 20lbers in around 5' of water at night near the north end of the lake.  No one was surprised.

Don't expect to go to Otisco Lake and catch a bunch of tigers, though it is possible.   If you raise one fish, you're having a decent day!    The pre-spawn May/June bass fishing can be excellent, and we'll be sure to gear up with some TyGer wire leaders, so when a nice musky is hooked (not IF, but WHEN), we'll be able to land it!  

The fish on this "species page" is a 34" beauty landed by my buddy Jarrod earlier in 2009 on Otisco Lake.  It hit a large tube jig.