ericmic1

Where are you going to setup shop Friday night? I will be on Chautauqua trolling around happy to be out. I am soo excited, havent slept well all week. I feel like I did when i was a youngster waiting for the 1st little game of the year. Everything seems to be going well: Boat floats, motor running great since i found a NON-Eth supply that doesnt cost a fortune, picked up a bunch of new sticks, rods, reels, etc...Picked up a pair of group 31 batteries to run the electric for a screaming deal ($60ea) (not optima but same ones I was paying $200 for before), wife is gonna leave me alone all weekend. She decided to stay home for the opener. Just gotta wait another couple of days....this is killing me! -ericmic1

just to add my non-muskie fishing 2 cents... Sunday was a great day, for me. The perch were really active in the bay opposite of long point, protected from the wind. 1st cast with small jig on ultralight and I hooked a toothy monster. He came up I got a peek then he proceeded to drop down and 2 shakes later snapped the line. Walleye were really active at night (which is my goal). That being said. Everyone has the tough days even when the stars are alligned. Just have to keep at it...its the law of averages, we just try to put the law into our favor. -ericmic

Hoping someone can help educate me on fall walleyes. I have been doing decently the past cpl of weeks Working sticks after dark and at dawn in the shallows. My questions are how long can I expect this pattern to continue? Is there a water temp that will force them to retreat deeper? Is there a decent technique I cause during daytime (haven't gotta any during the day)? Btw of the 7 keepers so far I have yet to find anything in their bellies to point to what they are feeding on, it's as if they haven't been eating anything. Which would make me think they would be even more active than I have seen. I am fishing the south basin. Thanks in advance and you Muskie guys seem to be doing awesome. I may have to invest in some tower gear and give that a whirl too!

Well, the new cottage is proving interesting and fun. Been catching Eyes pretty much every night. In the same spot (all within 100 yards of each other). Was perching yesterday using my ultralight, 4lb mono and a little jig, Thought I was stuck on weeds or a rock then my line started moving left and right. Fought for a short time and was able to convince this guy to visit the boat. Battle (wasnt much of a battle...he did whatever he wanted) lasted about 10 minutes, raised him 3 times, he went on 1 longer run and i was able to coax him back to the boat slowly. Was easily the largest freshwater fish I ever caught (previous record was a 33" Northern). He was hooked in the corner of him mouth and released safely BTW, In reference to the hat I am a Bills fan 1st and eagle fan 2nd.

Thanks Blue, No tournament for me right now. I have never targeted musky before and do not believe i have the gear to safely fight/land/release one. I will say this...I was fishing the sunken island near smith-boys (bass) and had something huge grab my jig...rip line out and snap my 20lb 832 line with ease...this was last saturday. So there are monsters in this lake...I know it!

I havent been around much due to real life. Just wanted to reintroduce myself to the forum. 1st I would like to thank everyone for the help they have given in the past, I know many are very secretive and rightly so, but also alot of you have been immensly helpful. I am ericmic1, the guy with all the questions, lol. I am learning as I go and always looking for tips. I primarily try to target walleye, perch and bass although I do find some smaller musky and pike around. Anyways, Wife allowed me to buy a cottage on Chautauqua, right near Happy Hooker, this august and we have been tooling around the south basin for teh past cpl of weeks trying to find fish. If you see me (red tracker targa) wave and feel free to either make fun of me or offer some tips! I am very familar with the northern basin and all the hot spots and have my own goto spots there, the south basin is somewhat of a mystery still. So, thats it, Hope you all do well in the tournament this weekend and stay safe, weather looks like it should be pretty solid. Thanks, -ericmic1

Saturday i was fishing the very south end started in 8-12 fow...with sticks and got nothing. About 8:15pm i moved to 30-35 fow marked the baitfish (alewives i think) and eyes running 20-25' down. caught 2 on that 1st pass with a reefrunner and a rap DT14...both were running about 18-20' deep. ran through it a bunch more but no more hits Since then notta on the eyes.

Fishing Conesus this week for the 2nd time ever. Saturday was great...bunch of pike largest was 31"...Sunday was a washout but from the dock I landed 2 more pike and 5 LBM's. found walleyes suspended 20' in 30-35 FOW. Largemouths seem to be everywhere Will post pics when I get back home Saturday Weather is tough... We are in the south west corner of the lake...Anyone have any tips for getting these spring eyes in the boat here? The pike seem decently easy to find although I am new to targeting Northerns. -ericmic

I agree! 2ChjLMbXVrU

I am heading for a 9 day stay on Conseus Lake. It will be my 1st time there and was hoping for tips on areas to fish. I will be targeting Walleye, Bass, and eSox. How bad are the weeds...is there an algea bloom in effect? How are the conditions? Any tips are greatly appreciated...I will be staying in the NE area. I was looking at the maps for the lake and I think the north basin east side looks like it may hold some decent fish.

Will hit chautauqua lake opening saturday/sunday. then the lake erie rockpiles through seneca shoals until 3rd week in may...then full week of chautauqua for eyes to stock the freezer.

What area are you in? I know of a few in western ny

When we were looking at renting our first cottage at Chautauqua I looked at We Wan Chu. They have alot of silly rules and will fine you if you break them. I am not affiliated with IrwinBay cottages but we stay there exclusively as Julie is very accomodating. Including allowing us to check in early, check out late etc.. Last may there was a 1 day gap between our last day and the next rentals 1st. She let us stay in the cottage until we felt like heading home..very nice. Her docks are in good shape and if you just want to catch crappie you can usually limit out in a few hours there. Actually...dont stay there...then there will be more open days for me to choose from!

we stay at Irwin Bay Cottages. Julie has a nice setup there..at least for us http://www.irwinbaycottages.com Tell her Eric Michael Sent you!

Well conditions were COLD COLD COLD. Launched Friday evening caught a few smallies and bunch of perch in the mayville flats. Drizzle was constant so everything ended up soaked (more on this later). Saturday: hit the holes near dewittville (skunked). Moved to Warners Bar and got a bunch of perch. Went to sandy bottom across from long point got a 36" muskie on accident. I was fishing a worm harness that was still rigged and apparently a perch hit, although I didnt feel it at all (it was a dink) when the pole bent and I fought him for about 5 minutes. Perch had front hook and muskie had perch and rear hook set. was memorable. Sunday: started in the flats with nothing to show then moved to the dewittville holes. Got a bunch of white perch and 1 eye. 6 other boats doin the same thing. Back to the drizzle. Well i have a short somewhere now. My engine alarm sounder wont STFU. with engine off/on or unpluged it crackles and pings loudly. I no longer get the single beep when starting the engine. I went under the dash and found more then a little moisture so instead of storing the boat at the marina I will be re-wireing this winter. Yay me!

I was drifting in the upper niagara a cpl weeks back between strawberry island and grand island. There must have been a muskie convention going on. In 6fow i counted 5 different muskies...only wish I had the right gear that day I can only imagine tryign to catch a larger muskie on 10lb test while fighting the 1.6mph current with my 48lb thrust electric. Man that would be epic for me!

Heading down this weekend...anyone been fishing for eyes? Looking for an updated report so I dont waste the weekend. Since its just me and the wife (she is a fair weather fisherwomen) I will be solo most of the time and will update each evening.

I haven't targeted muskies as I do not have the gear for the trophies ones (yet)....but... I havent been there in June but what I can tell you from my mid-May report is they are everywhere. We couldnt avoid them chasing. L ast august I spent 2 weeks on the lake and every morning until about 11:30 they would chase. Caught 1 that hit the rockbass I had just hooked into with a harness...was hilarious! Dewittville Bay, Prendergast, Mayville flats and the bay between Bemus and Long point are the normal spots for musky. Not a ton of info but I hope it helps. Good Luck

Weather started off cold and by Wednesday was 80. Begininning of the week was tough fishing. We couldnt consistantly find perch/bass or walleyes. We did however find that the musky population is not hurting as they were chasing everything we threw in every location we went to. Had a couple hookups too and landed 1. Weeds are starting to cover many of the smaller bays and should provide some decent edges to troll along but they were not well formed this week. We tried Prendergast, Long Point, Dewittville Bay, Irwin Bay,South Basin sunken islands, Bell Tower, etc etc etc with very little to show for it. Perch started becoming aggressive on Tuesday and were no issues to find/catch, mostly 7-10". Large Mouth Bass were dormant. I think they are pre-spawn as from our dock I could see a dozen sitting in less than a foot of water. Couldnt get them to move at all and they weren't protecting anything. On thursday evening we found the EYES. In the Mayville flats 4-8 FOW. The smallest we caught was 18.5" the largest was 22.5". The weeds were not in thick yet so we were able to slow troll a Wallydiver (Perch color) and I was using a Thunderstick JR. (Yellow/orange). Wife caught 20 Rockbass in less than 2 hrs drifting on Warners Bar. It made her happy to outfish the rest of us in the boat...even if it was just rockbass. Anyways There is the report for now...Thanks Eric

I am heading there, for the week, tomorrow. Any reports out for this past week for Walleye/Smallies? Will post my report as I can (yay new broadband laptop card). Thanks

Started around 6:00am Saturday. Fishing was real slow. Good news/Bad news...wife caught her 1st fish (ever) 18" smallie whle drifting the outside edge of a sunken island on the far south basin, goodnews is she had fun, badnews is fishing is...er was an escape (joke). We boated a few bass (large and smallies), bunch of perch and 0 walleyes. Later in the evening after a good nap we went out about 8:00pm and drifted/trolled 13-20' between the big yellow marina and Irwins Bay (north basin). Had a large musky strike but the friend who was trying to bring him in has no idea how to set drag, line slacked and it spit the hook. Sunday: Started at Prendergast 7:am caught a 16" Walleye, so now my brother beleives they do exits, we were 12 fow, drifted into 3fow and landed a few largemouth bass just cause we could. Wasn't a spectacular weekend but we fished alot and had a good time. So fishing is a competition on my boat, it adds another level of fun for us. Rules are simple: 1pt per fish, any fish 15" = 1pt + 1 bonus pt, any fish larger than 15" = 1pt +1 bonus + 1pt per additional inch. Saturday Scores: Wife = 25 (we gave her a 5to1 handicapp) Brother = 4 Friend = 3 Me = 2 Sunday Scores: Brother = 4 Me = 3 Friend = 0 Going to hit lake erie/upper niagara this weekend.

I have been going to Chautauqua for a few years now. The north end certainly has more bottom dimension to it while the southern section is pretty flat (except for a couple spots). Places I have done well are: 1) southside of Prendergast point near the creek outlet in the early morning (seems to shut down around 9:30am everytime) - usually hit walleye and boat load of largmouth bass jigging 3-7" worms/leeches 2) Dewittville bay canal outlet mid/late morning for Musky, Mid afternoon for Garr 3) Long Point southside for Large/Small mouth anytime 4) Irwinbay trolling along the weedline for Walleye and Smallmouth early morning 5) Chautauqua Institute Bell Tower dusk-whenever lots of crappie and white perch, or are they white bass (i can never tell). 6) The whole freaking lake....all day long....every other cast....YELLOW PERCH, Small little buggers last year but this year should be bigger. I have never done great with artificial minnow/cranks here but spinners (with 2-3" grub trailer), worm harnesses, jig presentations have been great for me. I avoid live bait here because of all the starving perch and sunnies, Anyways I will be there for opening weekend then back again for the week of May 16th. We stay at Irwin Bay Cottages, owner is real nice and they have power at the private docks. Thier ramp is real narrow/shallow though so I launch at Mayville (its free). Hope this helps and I will post info after each of my trips.