New York Ice Fishing Events

Dec 18th – Sapphire Gem – Owasco Lake – Auburn, NY
Hosted by: Dark Cloud

Owasco Lake is a “sapphire gem of purest ray serene seemingly born to shimmer unseen, away from casual tourist gaze.” (Slim Fingers Beckon, 1945) But Owasco’s beauty is now well known and certainly worthy of every tourist’s gaze, especially those visiting Cayuga County.

Owasco Lake lies entirely in Cayuga County. Its name is thought to come either from the Indian word Osco, which means “the crossing place” or from the word Wasco, which means “outlet” or “floating bridge.”

The lake is 10.7 mi./17.2 km. long and runs between the City of Auburn in the north and the Village of Moravia in the south. With a distance of about 25 mi./40.2 km. around the lake and easy to moderate terrain, Owasco is considered an ideal place to go cycling.

The maximum depth of the lake is 177 ft./60 m. The water is relatively clean and provides drinking water for the City of Auburn and several other municipalities.

Owasco Lake is mesotrophic, a clear-water lake with medium levels of submerged nutrients–in this case phytoplanton, a food source for small fish (and zebra mussels). This type of lake is usually healthy with a variety of aquatic life, and Owasco Lake is no exception.