Conesus Lake Muskie Lures.....

[Vettman69]

I been fishing for a long long time, never have caught or targeted a muskie...the time has come to target tiger muskie in Conesus lake this week. a local gave me some tips on using large black/yellow bucktail spinners....does anyone have any suggestions on what lures to use to help me catch my first tiger muskie....I always practice catch and release, no matter what is in season or not.....your help will certainly put a smile on my face and always be appreciated. I will post a pic of what I catch and certainly thank you for your help....Please Respond and please include what colors to use with the type of lure....THANKS SO MUCH!

Craig

[devoknevo]

I caught three tigers last year speed trolling( about 5mph) right down the middle of the lake with a blue and silver Newman muskie lure. Good luck.

[Ronix 51]

recently caught my first tigers this year out of there... the 2 came on a 6' grandma in alewife color (the lake is full of them as im sure you know) twitched over weeds in about 15 fow. Keep in mind this was almost a month ago so the water was much colder so I am not sure where they are located now. Im sure there are a bunch still in the weed beds but the bigger ones are probably a tad deeper in about 20 fow. My biggest (41') came in about 22 fow on a break where it dropped to 40 fow but the lure was maybe 6-9 feet down. Hope this helps im still new to figuring them out in that lake but thats been my top lure on that lake all season long

[bloodshot]

caught a 39 1/2 incher last week in the middle of the lake of mcphersons pt. trolling for eyes. Hit a reef runner down 22 ft. Good friend of mine uses 6-7 inch swim baits in natural colors and gets them all the time there. He, last fall caught a 42 incher. That was the biggest I have ever heard of from there. Any one know of any bigger?

[Ronix 51]

http://www.myfishfinder.com/fishing_for ... pic=3578.0

[devoknevo]

Just ask Zach, He's the muskie GURU around here!

[Ronix 51]

^ yeah he might know a thing or 5 haha

[Vettman69]

who's Zack? how do I reach him(screen name)?

Thanks so much for the replies everyone, keep em coming!!.....I am building my muskie arsenal as we speak

[Ronix 51]

search for the post on here titled "tiger time" its an article that talks about how in the midst of the hottest days in the summer when surface temps peak they move in real shallow, its an interesting read im looking forward to putting it to test this year. Conesus has some big tigers (as well as huge northerns) so make sure ur using at least 50lbs braid with a nice sturdy baitcaster the tigers are an unreal fight and very aggressive

[Vettman69]

thanks for the reply Mike, great article!!! keep em comin....still searchin for the infamous Zach...haha

[NitroMusky]

He must be working hard on lure orders... He's usually a motor mouth here.

Either that or after Saturday he figures he needs some 'practice' before the tourney ...and with that, let the smack talk begin!

[zach]

I wouldn't call myself a GURU at all! Last year the small Phantom Softails were hot for me and actually did all my tigers on that one bait and all in the same general area. It seemed as if all the tigers showed up shallow at one time and I was there. It lasted a few weeks and then it was over with low light being the best. The little guys (<30") came in first and the bigger ones followed shortly after. I only go to Conesus if I have a few hours to fish and can't make it to Waneta or I am too poor and don't have much gas $, lol. That's all, nothing special, just did some reading and tried it out. I didn't get any tigers on blades (bucktails or spinnerbaits) which I find weird but they sure did eat up those jerkbaits in shallow (less than 6'). Best luck as I don't think I am going to mess around with them much this year. Being a father to a 3 year old takes up most of my time now. Good fishing and tight lines guys! Read this article!!!!!!!!

http://www.fishinfo.com/fishing-article ... _485.shtml

This was the article I found and I talked to Tony Grant 2x over the winter at the shows about tigers and this article.

[bigbrookie]

great read zach. although i've never fished conesus, i have spent countless hours fishing otisco. i also had good fishing in the hotter part of summer in shallow weed beds. we would normally find tigers on the deeper edges on the weed beds, or on some kind of stucter in deeper water (points, rock piles, and steep drops) basically all year. however, thier was a time every year where the deeper waters would slow, and the weed beds would hold the fish. figured this out after having a very slow weekend and decided to switch to bass in the beds and bam!! 2 35"+ within an hr. managed a few more that summer in shallow and noticed the same thing the next year. havnt really fished for them regularly in about 7-8 years. you guys got me wanting to head down to otisco tomorrow and try get a wolf!!! i'm still looking for my 40+ fish from there. might have to head a little farther west and give conesus a try sometime also. gl all.

[bigbrookie]

oh ya, forgot to mention to vettmen about lure choice. we fished rediculous amounts of hours using everything in our boxes always coming back to a few proven tiger catchers. our best in shallow was always blue and silver jointed rebels walked on the surface or big white buzzbaits. deeper water was always big white spinnerbaits and perch suspending rouges (any suspending should work). we also got fish on shiners, but i always liked getting slammed with the rod in my hand though and personally never really liked using shiners. gl