Chautauqua Trip

[Nalod]

Everyone has a humbling fishing trip. Mine was last week, but not just because of the fishing.

We started the trip (Saturday) with a Tornado hitting Mayville. I was first upset that I was not out before it happened to test if Musky bite better before or after a Tornado. I know Larry Jones was out there, so I will have to hear what he says about the bite.

I ended getting the boat in the water for the first time on Monday morning. I met Larry on the lake and followed a similar pattern he was using. It really was amazing to watch such an amazing fisherman do his thing on the lake! I was not able to get a bite on the morning troll, but it was still a great learning experience and fun to watch Larry's charter get 2 hits while I was in the area!

I lost my early week fishing partner on Monday afternoon and decided to spend time with the family and take them into the bays to do a little pan/bass fishing. That is when the boat decided that pan fishing was what it wanted to do. On Wednesday morning, the trip back to the cottage was pretty stressful. The motor just did not want to kick into gear. I ended up using the trolling motor all the way back (thanks to the new battery!)

BlueEye arrived Wednesday afternoon to complete the week fishing for Musky, but he was in for a surprise. We ended up taking the boat (slowly) to the nearest launch...and yes, a storm came through when we were doing this.

After checking everything that we know on the motor, we finally took the motor into the Chautauqua Marina for some repair. We met with Lou Clamente Jr and his father. They did everything they could without ordering new parts, but had no luck. We ended up renting the Marina's fishing boat for the morning and did a quick fishing trip that way. The boat was a lot nicer than I would have expected, but small beams and long lines make it easy for tangles! We did not have any luck in the morning. Everyone was struggling and giving a lot of thumbs down on the water. Looks like the Wednesday Night storm really flipped the lake.

The trip did not lead to any new pictures to share, but was again a great learning experience. Also, I really cannot say enough great things about Chautauqua Marina and the Lou's! They really took care of us and we really appreciate it.

When the boat gets fixed back up, I will be taking a redemption weekend trip!

--Joe

[BlueEye]

Nice report Joe. We all know how tough it can be out there sometimes. I would have LOVED to have fished pre-tornado or pre-cold front but unfortunately I picked the wrong end of the week to take off. By the time I got down there I had no boat and a huge cold front had just moved through leaving the fish inactive to say the least. Talked with Mike Sperry that same day and he was unable to get any hits either and said the lake would need couple days to set back up again after that cold front. Didn’t see any other boats out that day catch anything either – tough luck for us both with the boat breaking down and the fish turning off after that cold front. At least we got to meet to nice folks over at the Chautauqua Marina.

Hank – this means that when I pick up my new boat, I might dropping back off my old boat From what I was told it is something with the carborators. They gave me the kit number that we would need to order if we wanted to try and clean it out/rebuild it. As for now, I am stuck on shore Even uncle Jerry is under the weather so the Rebel option is out as well. I’m going to string up my bobber and worm setup now…

[zach]

anyone going this weekend? gonna do my best to get there saturday am. south end is my destination.

[NitroMusky]

not me...going to a friends camp on oneida in a few hours for the weekend

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[old man]

there are good people at chataqua marine. i broke down last year and ended up there. they could't have been more helpful. one of the guys there told me to fish suicks in front of the marina and he wasn't kiddin. i've done well in front of that place. i'm not fishin in august;i'm gettin ready for fall. doin' m and r on boat,motor,trailer,and truck. anybody check your power pro lately? that stuff gets bone white after a 1000 casts and looks like an anchor rope in the water. you better turn it around or paint it with a marker. i rented a place on grindstone island in late sept.50"or bust. i ain't gettin any younger.

[zach]

good luck old man- this year i switched from power pro to suffix braid and am really happy with the stuff. fished all day saturday in the south end trolling and it was really slow for me- only 2 hits and lost one of them- only one 32" for 11 hours trolling. boring- hot, lots of floating weeds and not much action, i knew i hated fishing in august. didn't see any other fish caught either but tons and tons of bait just south of the 86 bridge. now i want to make lures for the rest of august. anyone need any tuff shad copies? will have around 100 of them and plan on trying this whole lure thing out. thats right 100, spent all day sunday cutting blanks and cut 98 in one day. lots of sanding, sealing and priming to come. should have some ready in about 2-3 weeks. i want to give one away to each local musky fisherman to tell me what is good and what needs improvement. pm me if interested and let me know your favorite color. solgrande and muskylips- i know what color i will do for you guys already. nitro and gustofson let me know. old man- want to cast a crank? i would be happy to send you one also.

[Musky Lips]

No offense, but I am glad it wasn't just me. Fished Thursday, Friday and part of Sat. and Sun. I NEVER boated a fish. I had some chances but lost one trolling and had bites casting. Was starting to think that the musky mojo was gone. That was a TOUGH strech. Anyways, good to hear the updates and good luck to everyone this week/weekend. Back to the "grind" later this week. Zach, looking forward to the new "z-man" lures....let me know if I can be of any help..

[solgrande]

You bet zach....i`ve got those necks for ya too.How about a "foiled perch shad"oh ok a ft will do lol.Getting to that line i`ve gone to cortland master braid(bronze back brown) from pwr pro in braid as well as cortland endurance mono.I`m heading to chautauqua late october for a few days...nothing like a good frost and or a little freeze early in the am.Had snow and before too with high winds-that was fun(caught 2).

Sol

[zach]

larry jones mentioned one time that if you could get a original tuff shad in a round lip it out performs a coffin lip 3:1. got me thinking. bob- i foiled a newman trolling plug just to have my son drop it on the floor breaking the lip off. it must have been plexiglass b/c lexan wont break like that. lappers also have very brittle lips. lexan all the way here. i also talked to dale wiley who was also trolling the south end saturday and i asked him about why such a light clear coat on his lures. he explained the thicker the clear coat the more action you take away from the plug. i plan on doing an e-tex clear coat on these and it could be made tougher w/ devcon but etex is 1/2 the weight. i always thought the tuffs were good but over weighted and maybe this along w/ a round lip will get them bouncing and throbbing. just built a new turner just for the etex. i am thinking waneta and south basin chautauqua would be the best areas for these lures. bob- think jim reynolds would let me come over and let him watch work alittle? i am sure there are tons of tricks to learn.

[solgrande]

I can`t say...he might.Looks like i may be hitting the niagara sunday.Head out sat evening and stop at gander to pickup some red octobers...need any????

[zach]

do you want to buy any of mine? not really using them and have some good colors if you want some of them? i think i have 10 of them and 6 rigs. baby musky both sizes, green goblin both sizes and pumpkin both sizes are up for sale if you want them, most are already rigged. have twisted heads, casting heads, and the 2 and 3oz vertical heads. i will sell you mine cheaper than gander would. doesn't look like i am gonna do much fishing this month and just work on lures and fixing up the boat.

[solgrande]

Let me know what u want for them.I`ll give you a call later

[zach]

stockin' em deep and selling em cheap.

[Gill-T]

Hey guys, I RARELY target Muskies, but used to spend a week each year on Chaut. .....and occasionaly target muskies before the walleye started biting. We were always there during the August dog days. For what little time we spent chasing Muskies we did occasionally catch them by using downriggers in the deeper water of the NE side. I think a lot fish end up around those two 50' holes to find cooler water after feeding.