mostlymuskies

I guess I should have just returned to the Buffalo Harbor today or tried Port Colborne Harbor & Channel's.No action at Dunkirk Harbor, back to Buffalo Harbor for the last day of NY Musky Season on Lake Erie & Upper Niagara River for 2014.Then it will be Upper Niagara River Canadian Waters and Lower Niagara River until December 15th.

Today I'm on the water in the Dunkirk Harbor.Near warm water discharge there is 46 degree water and 40 degree water in the channel going out into Lake Erie.Lots of Emerald shiners & smaller hooks like walleye & trout, but no big hooks seen so far.I have to get use to being in a friend's 14 ft open boat with 25 hp outboard.Winds coming after lunch so our window is going to be short.

John quit at 1 pm and had no hits, he did not mark any bigger hooks at all, only walleye an a small number of little bait fish pods. Water was getting browner from 20 + mph West winds when he finished for the day.

After about an hour with a hair dryer trying to thaw out the 2" of Ice over the snap part of the boat cover and 4" of Ice from the tires to the driveway, I gave up on today and will wait for tomorrow's warm up.Even the downeast rod holders were frozen closed.Getting out this November has been very tough between snow and wind conditions, but I refuse to give up yet.John Pensyl is in the Buffalo Harbor right now and has caught nothing so far.He said that he has marked smaller hooks that look like Walleye, a small amount of bait fish, but no musky hooks! Water temp is 39.7 degrees and maybe 1 ft of visibility.

West River cleaned up to about 3 ft visibility,East River still dark brown with limbs & trash everywhere.Buffalo Harbor still brown water and 39 degrees after last nights 7" of snow.I heard of one 49 " muskie caught jigging yesterday by Dennis Kreeze in the West River,3 other boats caught nothing.I got up this morning to find about 8" of snow on the boat & driveway, will be a late start today if I decide to get on the water.

Well I had to make a hard decision and move this weekends charters to next year due to brown water conditions in the Harbor with colder then normal water temps.I will still go out and crawl around at a 1.5 trolling speed out rolling in waves of Lake Erie for that 10% chance at a big girl! River could be clean enough by Tuesday for more night action!

Today the Buffalo Harbor only had about 5" of visibility, no action! Water temp cane back up to 39 degrees, out in Lake Erie was 41 degrees but floating limbs and trash every where.Hopefully by the weekend the water clears up a little.

If your fishing the West River the SW wind is better because it comes off the Canadian shore, NW blows again'st the river current and causes rolling short waves that are hard to fish in.Plus the water in the river is very dirty and would be cleaner by Saturday.

I will be in the Buffalo Harbor tomorrow morning trolling my Plows looking for Big Girl's!

Wow! Just left the Sheridan Drive Launch, the water is as dark brown as I have ever seen it before, no visibility at all! Going to take a few days just to get back a couple feet of clarity.

Winds still to strong to get out this morning.But Lake Erie winds pushed the water level at our end of the lake up 5 ft, pushing warmer water closer to Buffalo with 50 degree water at Windmill Point and raising the north gap water temp from 38 degrees to 43 degrees.Also from the end of the month comes 10 days of warmer weather and low winds, outside temps from 42 to 58 degrees.So the December fishing in the Canadian waters will be on with good weather in early December.I can't wait to get on the water tomorrow morning and see if the muskies are back on the feed after waters warming back up.

Winds today have Buffalo water intake water temp back up to 43 degrees from 38 degrees yesterday, so it looks like the 60 mph SW gusts are pushing in some warmer water from way out in Lake Erie.Today I got the Niagara Parks Personal to agree to drag the Ice out from around the launch dock and leave it in at the SBH until the end of November.So it is not over yet, still fishing once the winds go down!

Knotknot, I may not be far behind you if water temps do not steady out and stop making big cooling drops.I have to hope the next two days of high winds bring in warmer water from out in Lake Erie.Only 2 ft visibility now before the winds, I have a lot going again'st my chances going into the end of November.But again if your not out there you have no chance.We are looking at crossing the Peace Bridge and launching in Canada by Black Creek where the winds will come off shore giving a calm area to fish.

Well first the Small Boat Harbor is 1/3 iced in,50 ft around the launch dock and water is 34 degrees.North Gap is 38 degrees and very void of anything that swims.South Gap had a good number of big hooks, but no hits, water temp was 37 degrees.That is a 10 degree surface water drop since Sunday.Lake Erie in 36 ft was 41.5 degrees, West River was 41.2 degrees.John Pensyl caught a nice 45" muskie jigging tube early am.We also marked many good hooks in our regular west river spots, but no hits there either.Hopefully the 60 mph gusts coming for Monday & Tuesday will blow in some of the 50 degree water out in 100 ft area past Point Abino.

Oldman, You better get out today, Monday & Tuesday calling for gale force winds!I will head out a little late at 10 am, want full light to look for floating logs as I head up river toward the harbor.Always half submerged logs coming down the river for a couple days after gale force winds on Lake Erie, with brown water it is hard to see them,so you run much slower as well.

After not seeing comerants & seagulls in the Buffalo Harbor yesterday with 40 degree water temp, meaning no bait fish! I found a NOAA Lake Erie surface temperature map, out past Point Abino to Turkey Point the surface water temperature is still 50 degrees, most likely all the Bait Fish schools are out there!

Be careful if you decide to go on the water today, when the water is this brown it is very hard to see floating logs and other debris that come down river after gale force winds hit Lake Erie.Also yesterday the Town of Tonawanda Boat Launch had lots of Ice on the ramps and had capped the launch docks.I'm giving this afternoons rain a chance to clean up the ramp and I will get out Sunday.25 mph SW winds coming with this afternoons rain!

Today I took a ride to the river, then up to the Harbor, to check out the water conditions.The river was mud brown with about 4" visibility.The Harbor was even darker brown water.But what I noticed right off the first eye scan across the harbor, there were no comerants or seagulls, a sign of lack of bait fish.The last Lake Erie surface water report had the lake down to 40 degrees.So I'm assuming that with the snow melt off on the harbor shore edges and run off of the Buffalo River the water temp in the Harbor most likely is colder then 40 degrees.So I will give it to Sunday to warm up a little and then run up from Sheridan Drive with my boat to check it out.I'm assuming that the Small Boat Harbor Launch is most likely snowed in because it was in line with the snow ban.Can't get there to see first hand because NY Route 5 has a driving ban still, so no way to get to the SBH.

Well everything changed about going out today when I walked out the door to the boat this morning.Yesterday I cleaned all the snow off the boat cover and it was dry from the heaters under.Today the cover had 4 " of Ice all around the edges where it snaps and a big I've cycle hanging out the bilge drain, can't put the plug in.Also melting snow from overnight had formed on the tires freezing them to the driveway.I guess we have to wait for tomorrow mornings warm up to get on the water!Darn new boat trailer is to long to fit the boat in the garage!

Water clarity is turning to the good, now 4 to 5 ft.I will give it ago at noon tomorrow from the Sheridan Launch.A little window of NW 20 mph winds will allow me to run the gauntlet to the Buffalo Harbor, before the next big winds and big melt off that will bring back brown mud color to the water.(Mike I know you were to have gone on your Charter tomorrow, but there is no way for you to get here under the driving bans in place and also what I'm doing tomorrow is putting myself in possible harms way, I would never do that with clients)

Now I have the waiting game to see what falls into line for fishing as far as how cold the water went down in temp, maybe 4 Degree drop to 45 degrees, maybe dark brown water with nothing fishable, maybe all launches will have snow dumped in them or the winds may not lay down to get out.Time will tell after the warm up Sunday & Monday!

I have not fished Cassadaga Lake for a couple years.Most action for me has been casting Suick's in firetiger color at the point of the big bar that comes off the white boathouse on the village end.When the water temps go up in August it is very tough fishing there, you need to find the temperature breaks where the under water springs are.I have also had luck trolling the middle lake early in the season before the algae bloom with Wiley 5 1/2" Jtd and Baker Baits 5" in firetiger color.When trolling at Cassadaga Lake they like a slow presentation of 2.5 to 2.7 mph.

Back in the early 70's when I started muskie fishing it was very hard to get any information on anything related to hunting muskies.Even the old guys would change to a lure they were not using on their rods before they came to the dock, just to throw you off.I said to myself that I would never be that way, tight lipped on info.I believe the only way the sport of muskie fishing can grow is by helping others and teaching them when you can.This also gives me the chance to bring up proper catch & release, tools etc and how important it is to consider a reproduction mount and to let her go so she gets bigger and can spawn again.I also believe we as muskie fishermen have to show a presence to the NYSDEC especially if you want them to continue working to improve NY State Muskies.Being quiet and not helping others may some day mean the sport of muskie fishing will be gone.You can tell people exactly how, when &; where, only a small percentage of Fishermen ever take what is given to them or they do not apply it correctly.

I have a friend that caught a 50" muskie trolling there 3 years ago in late November when water temp was below 48 degrees.

If the water is gin clear in the Harbor move out into Lake Erie to 35 ft depths and troll with smaller crankbaits like Hi-Fin Trophy Divers Jtd down 25 ft at 2.5 mph.Pay close attention to bait fish schools, gizzard Shad look like little hooks or pepper dust, emerald shiners the Bait balls will be solid.Find Gizzard Shad you will find Big Muskies!