Conesus tigers

[pikerperry]

Fished Conesus 4th. Hot , mostly cloudless day with no wind. Cast and live baited. Boated 1 26 inch northern. The highlight of the trip was seeing 3

TIGER MUSKIE SWIMMING AROUND OUR BOAT EITH THEIR HEADS AND GILLS PUT OF THE WATER !!!!

I read other posts about this anomolous behavior and it was remarkable to witness. 1 of the tigers circled out boat for 30 seconds and then, like the other 2 just slowly swam deeper out of site !!! Sooo cool and sooo wired at the same time !!! What are they doing ?????

Pikerperry !!!!

[ Post made via iPhone ]

[panfisher]

This is really a fascinating behavior! I have never witnessed it. I saw the pics of this in some previous posting at LOU in the past. Any ichthyologists or fisheries biologists out there who can offer any real info??.....

[rnsurfnturf]

Nobody has gotten an answer out of the tigers when they ask them!

I see it on Otisco ALOT and those fish would never answer me!

There are alot of different theories as to why they do it.....whats funny is I have never seen another species do the same thing...

not a pike or a muskie or a pickerel in waters they reside in....

[fbg14619]

I had caught a nice pike at Ibay a couple weeks ago and then saw an even bigger one swimming around with his head out of water like that. I thought he might have been wondering what happened to his little brother

[Consigliere]

Pike and musky do it too but no one (that I've read) has any definitive idea why.

[Ronix 51]

Ive seen all three do it but most of the times I see it they are pike/tigers. If you talk to any old timers they'll tell you that the fish are "looking for baby ducks" haha.

There are some more likely theories behind it though that I have been told...

1.) esocidae (pike family) are a physostomas fish...meaning that their swim bladder is connected to their stomach. So if they need to regulate the air in the swim bladder they may have to come up to the surface to grab a gulp of air.

2.) it may also have something to do with having just finished a sizable meal. If they've eaten something pretty big, they may be utilizing the warmer surface temps to help speed up their metabolism and assist digestion.

Those are the ones ive learned that seem the most realistic to me who knows I could be way off haha

[pikerperry]

This was too cool to see ! I have fished Conesus since the 1970' s and Otisco for the last 12 years and HAD NEVER SEEN IT BEFORE. Thanks for the replies. I like the air bladder theory but we were just north of MacPherson point in about 15 fow so doesn't seem like they were very deep that they needed to " decompress. " From now on I bringing my video cam I am a pike/Muskie nut and again it was too cool to see this ... Going back to Conesus sometime between the 17- 25 I'll post again after next trip

[ Post made via iPhone ]

[rnsurfnturf]

Honestly, In the past 3 years, we've probaly seen it a dozen times on otisco....

I'm probably getting out once a week most of that time ...

Last year , middle of summer , middle of the day dead flat calm and hot, me and a buddy chased a 3 ftr around in front of the over look with a trolling motor for about an hour....we got him to turn on a lure once close to the boat....

I do believe I got a couple pics on my old pc of that dude....

Just last week, I was motoring out from ryfuns in the toon and drove by a 20" doing the same thing on the muddy side ?

I like the theory of the air bladder as well, but then I saw the smaller fish on the flat shallow muddy side doing the same thing and now maybe the big meal theory is more believable?

Who knows , but it is very cool to see , none the less.

[Ronix 51]

Regardless of water depth a fish is always utilizing its swim bladder for buoyancy and position-management at different depths. The amount of hydrostatic pressure can change greatly from one depth to the next.

In the case of tiger muskie, muskie, and pike, fish that are not necessarily clear-cut deep or shallow water species but can be found to prefer pretty variable depths, have to regulate the gas in their swim bladders if they are moving from shallow to deep or vice versa depending on how long they may stay at those depths for. If they do not regulate the pressure they will expend more energy just to swim upright so they gulp in air or expel it to do so. Even at 15 fow there is a big difference in pressure.

To me though that isn't necessarily a reason for the "surfing", its just a weird but cool behavior to see its like they don't even care that you're there when they cruise by

[old man]

they just do it to taunt us

[rnsurfnturf]

I saw another small 20" tiger on the way back to the dock doin it friday night.

I actually stopped my pontoon boat 5 ft away , shined my flashlight on him for about 5 sconds before he disappeared.

His entire head to his gills were out of the water and his mouth was wide open.....

I'm stumped!

[Gill-T]

You would probably making the same facial expression if you just tried to swallow a sunfish whole with those prickley fins.

[deezee]

Back in the late 90's I was floating around in an inner tube just north of Old Orchard cove when I saw this head sticking out of the water and heading my way. I thought it was a big turtle at first. He continued to come right at me as if stalking me. He got close enough that I finally had to direct some splashes at his mug. He turned away but kept circling in the area. I began to wonder if there was such a thing as fish rabies! This was late afternoon on a mid summer day. So I paddled my way back to shore, grabbed a net and jumped in my little runabout with my girlfriend. He was heading back south along the shore but we were able to track him down. We cruised up to him and my girlfriend was actually able to net him without much difficulty. I don't recall the exact length but he was a decent sized fished. Maybe 24"? I always wondered if he had something wrong but the fact we could net him suggests to me he was under some sort of duress. I don't know if that's the case with all pike\musky exhibiting this behavior but it may be a clue.

[pikerperry]

Fished Conesus 22 Sept. 2012. Used slip bobbers and also cast a variety of lures. Got 1 26 " Northern on live bait in the bay just north of MacPherson point. Got 1 nice tiger who was about 36 " at the north end in 16 fow and again on the slip bobber.It wasw mostly cloudy with winds form the north. My fishing buddy caught 7 bass casting. We did not get any Esox hookups or follows castin. The afore mentioned tiger thew the hook aqt the boat but it was a decent hybrid. We DID NOT see any more surfing tigers or northerns. We are going to Champlain 8-10 October for pike . Shoild be a good time. I have seen some great pics of " hybrids " cross between northern pike and chain pickeral...the are bright green with the lima bean spots along with yellow vertical bars .. Very cool looking fish. Has anyone caught these ?? What are these fish called ?? Would love to land 1 5lbs. or over.

[old man]

fished conesus today,7am to 1pm. caught 5 decent pike on spoons,nothin special. had one slow follow by a small tiger. water was 63.

looks like this one had a cat for breakfast

[pikerperry]

Fished South end of Seneca last week. Slip bobbers and shiners...got 6 pike....largest 36 inches and 12 lbs. ..4 of the 6 were over 30 inches...lost another at the boat..hope to go again soon..all were nice , healthy fish....good fishing but makes me yearn for the golden days in the 70 s and 80 s when Seneca was THE BEST PIKE FISHERY EVER ....

[panfisher]

Never seriously fished Seneca regularly until the early 80's. What a great fishery! And still a really good northern population. I have said before, and I sincerely believe, that there must be some really large pike alive in that lake. I mean perhaps 35lbs +! Now, before you go sayin' (or after), "what R U nuts?," just consider all of the factors. Pike love cool waters....plenty of that. The big ones like deep water to roam in and out of. And the food base there is, well, really really good. Add the fact that people generally target other kinds of fish there and do not pressure the pike much. And I'll bet any big ones break off before anybody sees them. These factors exist in many waters in NYS. But there are plenty of happy pike in Seneca, for sure. If dedicated "pikers" were to frequently target northerns in Seneca, instead of just incidentally picking them up fishing for bass or salmonids or perch (as I have done!), I'd be willing to bet you'd start to see some formidable fish being caught there. Just sayin'.......BTW, I also cannot believe with all of these favorable conditions, the pike just do not live long enough to get big enough to be trophy sized. Fish continue to grow as long as they live, and there are really good conditions for long life for pike there and in several other waters in NY.