Welcome to the Otselic Valley Fishing & Heritage Association site!

Saturday, May 20th 2023

Join us for the 14th Annual South Otselic Fishing & Heritage Day

Saturday, May 20th 2023

Join us for the 14th Annual South Otselic Fishing & Heritage Day

Saturday, May 20th 2023

Join us for the 14th Annual South Otselic Fishing & Heritage Day

Eagle Sculpture Raffle

Don't miss the raffle of a life size Bald Eagle carving ($300 value), donated by Savage Carvings. Tickets available at the Welcome Tent in the Town Park on May 20th, or send a check to OVF&HA, P.O. Box 113, South Otselic, NY 13155. Tickets are $5 each or $20 for 5 tickets.

Valley View Cemetery Tour

11am and 3pm, Mike Foor-Pessin will lead a guided tour of the cemetery that will highlight Grace Brown’s life at the beginning of the 20th century. Learn the true story that inspired a town and then a nation to honor her innocence and mourn her tragic passing.

Ducky Derby

Try your luck at 1pm at the Gorge Creek Bridge! 1st place: $200, 2nd place: $100, 3rd place: $50. Tickets for each duck are $5, please email Andrea Lehmann at ALehman@ovcs.org to purchase a ticket. Proceeds to benefit the OV FFA and the OVF&HA.

15

Years Established

About Otselic Valley

Celebrating our Rural Nature, Culture & History

The Otselic Valley is home to scenic trails, ponds and Otselic River fishing spots which locals treasure for their beauty and history. Browse our site to discover all the hidden gems that make our valley unique and valued.

  • Local towns are named after a river flowing through it, the Otselic, which is an Oneida word for "place of wild plums".
  • The hatchery rears pond-reared walleye fingerlings, and rears small lots of wild, heritage-strain and Temiscamie brook trout. Annual production is 15,000 pounds of fish. Brook trout are stocked with fix wing airplane (bush pilots) as well as helicopters in the Adirondacks.
  • Over 10 square miles (26 km2) or about 7,000 acres (2,800 ha) are state-owned forest lands open to the public for forest-related recreation such as hunting, bird-watching, camping, fishing, hiking and cross country skiing.

In Memoriam of Gary Sweet

1949 to 2021

The Otselic Valley Fishing & Heritage Association (OVF&HA) lost one of its founding members in August 2021. Gary Sweet was an avid fly fisherman and past president of the Chenango County chapter of Trout Unlimited. He was a Board member of the Otselic Valley Fishing & Heritage Association and served as its Vice President for several years. He participated in the annual Fishing & Heritage Day, where he taught and demonstrated fly tying and fly casting. Gary also shared those fly fishing skills during several Boy Scout jamborees and events. He was a member of the Chenango County Grange and was NYS’s coordinator of the fish stocking program for Chenango County. The members of the OVF&HA are grateful for his contributions to the organization, his willingness to do whatever was necessary and with his own unique sense of humor.

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