looking for musky help

[delilah]

I am looking to get into musky fishing. I was wondering what kind of rod & reel,lures,line, I should use. . I live about 25 minutes south of lake ontario and about 40 minutes east of lake erie and the niagara river. Does anyone know of any spots in the area that holds the fish any tips or advice would be very helpful thanks.

[iiwhistlerii]

The first advise any responsible musky angler is going to give you is to be prepared with the proper tools for the job. 80+lb braid, quality leaders and sharp hooks are a must so when ur trophy does hit you have the best shot at putting her in the bag quick without overstressing the fish or even worse leaving a bait in her mouth. Release tools are just as if not even more important, a huge net like a frabil bog kahuna or Beckman magnum finsaver are a must. Knipex hook cutters will save a fishes life at some point during the season. Keeping yourself safe and minimizing release times by having an assortment of jaw spreaders and long needlenose pliers on board will hopefully have you prepared when the time comes. If you can attend a Niagara Musky Assosiation or Muskies Inc 69 meeting and you will find plenty of experienced anglers happy to share info and get you started. If put a few newbies on fish in the last 2 seasons and I always make them purchace proper release tools before I show them anything. Good luck out there, catch a slob and let her go!

[Thun]

Chautauqua is a great musky lake

 

http://www.mostlymuskies.com/reports.htm

[MuskyMark]

Hey there Delilah,

My name is Mark and I am a member of the Niagara Musky Association fishing club. We're a group of approximately 200 people living in and around the Buffalo NY area that love to musky fish. Our home musky fishing waters are in the Upper Niagara River and Buffalo Harbor. We also have a few members that fish the Lower Niagara River, the finger lakes regions, the St. Lawrence and Thousand Island region, and also numerous Canadian members that fish the various Canadian waters. I would highly recommend coming to one of our meetings which are held on the first Tuesday of every month at the Elks Lodge in Tonawanda, NY. They are free to attend and  if you want to learn how to musky fish the Upper Niagara River and Buffalo Harbor portion of Lake Erie this is the best place to learn. We have many very knowledgeable musky fisherman who are very friendly and eager to pass their knowledge on to those learning to fish our waters. We pride ourselves on practicing catch and release only for our fisheries and promoting conservation projects with locals groups and the DEC. If you would like to, check out our website at niagaramuskyassociation.ning.com. Our membership is $25 a year which includes a newsletter, picnics, banquets, tournaments, x-mas party and various club outings. We have several members that enjoy taking out new musky fisherman to our area out on their boats to teach our techniques and areas to fish. As far as equipment goes....that could take awhile to explain! lol.... We like to cast and troll the upper Niagara river but our primary technique is to jig large tube baits ( sizes 8" to 10" long). We have a group of club members that have started their own local bait company called Red October Baits (RedOctoberBaits.com) that makes the best tube jigs you can buy. They are a mainstay to use here in the river. We use 80lb PowerPro braided line and wire leaders, which one of our club members makes and sells at cost, in the river . Many of us use the Saltist reels. They are built like tanks. And most use a 7'6" to 8' medium heavy rod to jig. As far as trolling gear goes we usually bump out line up 100lb PowerPro braid with wire leaders on 8'6" to 9'6" medium heavy trolling rods, I use dipsy diver rods. Trolling lure we like are Hi Finn Trophy Divers, Legend Perchbaits  and Plow baits, Mr Toothy baits( made by a club member), and Joe Bucher DepthRaiders to name a few. I have only begun to scratch the surface of what we know around here to musky fish. I highly highly recommend attending a meeting if your serious about fishing our area for muskies. If you would like anymore info please feel free to email me at [email protected]. I would be happy to meet you at a meeting and introduce you to a few people if you would be interested. Any questions please feel free to ask.... Mark

[Ronix 51]

good recommendations...release tools are a must as was stated before and as far as rod and reels do your research and ask around about different gear. My recommendation is to put your money into a good quality reel first. Your style of fishing will change the more you get into it (once you get your first its a sickness from then on!) and you'll want a nice reel that can handle the abuse of muskie fishing whether its jigging big tubes or chucking 8-12" baits all day. I am a big fan of the revo toro 60s by abu Garcia but there are a lot of good reels out there- which one is right for you will be dependent on how you are going to fish and what your budget is.

 

Rod choices are endless but I prefer st. Croix and have used many different brands. Again, its different for everyone so do your research and make your choice based on others opinions and product reviews.

 

Join the local musky clubs and soak up info from the members so you can get a ton of info

[muskiedreams]

If you live in Tyrone, you must be famillir with Waneta lake. There is a healthy population of muskies there. Eddie Cragg of Reel Rippin' Charters lives out that way and charters for muskies on that lake. I belong to both The Niagara Musky Association and NY Muskies Inc. Chapter 69. There are members in both organizations that can give you advice on fishing Waneta. It is a little different than the big waters of the Niagara and the tactics are a little different. Since it is a small lake it is a good place to get started.

[delilah]

sorry for the delay but this is my friends user name and could not log in to thank all you guys for the help. I greatly appreciate all the info thanks

[panfisher]

I am not a musky fisherman. Just one who loves fishing and associated interests in general. I do know this....the DEC has trapped at least one musky in the past in Waneta well over 60lbs. This is approaching world record size. You live right there. There are some very decent fish in those waters. Take these people's suggestions and have fun with them.....!

[Ronix 51]

I am not a musky fisherman. Just one who loves fishing and associated interests in general. I do know this....the DEC has trapped at least one musky in the past in Waneta well over 60lbs. This is approaching world record size. You live right there. There are some very decent fish in those waters. Take these people's suggestions and have fun with them.....!

 

well over 60 lbs...? I think you might want to check on the accuracy of that...

[panfisher]

Ronix 51....Hah! I did expect some doubt about that. This was in a publication back in the early-mid 90's, I believe by the DEC, talking of the efforts and status of muskie propagation efforts in Waneta and Lamoka. It stated that specialized large muskie traps were set about the lakes in order to survey and document data on said fish. One was trapped that weighed upward of 65lbs. I'm sure if one did not see this for themselves they would not believe it.....and some would not even if they did read it. This was not some bogus publication, even though I cannot recall the name of the publisher (conveniently a doubter might think). But I am not one to give and spread phony info either. No offense taken, as I myself was definitely impressed by the info. Evidently this same fish was known of before by the surveyors. Everybody knows muskie get that large and I don't know for sure but I believe this was not referring to tigers. In Chautaugua I personally, with others in the boat, have seen an absolutely HUGE muskie swim slowly right under our boat in clear and shallow (maybe 8-12ft) water while smallie fishing. This thing swam under us like it owned the lake and was out for a morning "swim around the pond" on a nice day in May! Paying absolutely no attention to us as we stuck our rods (6-61/2 ft light- ultralight bass poles) in the water as far as possible in attempts to maybe touch or get some response to us as it swam slowly directly under the boat like a submarine. It looked like a champion heavyweight prize boxer, complete with obvious scars from broken off fishing lures around it's jaws; it had that swagger...But I digress. Some other "into it" musky (and not necessarily so) fisherman must have read this same article. I know some musky fisherman do not believe they exist in Seneca. I caught a small one there and saw a pic on the front page of New York Outdoor News of a 22lb fish taken there about 4years or so ago by a fellow from my town. I say "why not?" If they can get that large, why should they not be somewhere and get that large....? Anyway, I will try to find that article precisely and post a link or the article itself maybe (it was in print, not online). I found it very interesting as I am sure anyone might. And delilah, U R in the right place to conveniently pursue your growing interest in musky fishing, no matter how big they get there .....

[Ronix 51]

I've seen/have the trap-netting data from DEC of muskellunge spawning surveys done on waneta lake from the 80s to mid 2000s...I can confidently tell you that that is not even close to accurate

[Ivan]

This is not anywhere near the original topic, but it's interesting.  Because muskies get larger than most fish people have seen or caught, I think their size tends to get exaggerated.

 

A 40lb muskie is huge.  It takes a low 50" fish with a big girth 25"+ to get that weight. Most muskie guys will never catch a muskie that heavy.  They might get a 50"er, but it probably won't weigh 40lbs (legitimately weighed)

A 50lb muskie takes a 55"+ length and a huge girth of 27"+.  A legit 50lb muskie (weighed) is pretty rare and probably doesn't exist in Waneta or Chautauqua. You would want to look places like the Georgian bay or the St Lawrence River, maybe Buffalo Harbor back in the day, but even then...not very common.  Some of the MN lakes like Mille Lacs can produce fish like this now.

A 60lb muskie may or may not exist anywhere, let alone Waneta.  I can think of a couple from the Georgian Bay that were supposed to be that size, but nobody can seem to agree on the authenticity.  Even the new muskie world record organization (whatever Ramsell's group is called) has a 59lb muskie as their current world record, after dropping the 60lb minimum requirement.

 

What do you think max potential is for a place like Waneta of Chautauqua, Mike?  Do you think either lake could produce a 50lber?  I would like to think Chautauqua could with it's size/depth, forage, etc, but I've never seen/heard of anything close being caught from there.

[Ronix 51]

Ivan,

 

I definitely agree with the exaggeration. As far as max growth potential in those lakes I wouldn't be the one to ask but I would imagine either system could pump out some very nice fish especially if they were managed differently stocking-wise. There have been some very heavy fish handled in the trap nets from both lakes but keep in mind it's in the spring time and those fish are plump full of eggs so their weights are misleading. As far as big fish goes my money would be on Chautauqua too for the reasons you stated and less fishing pressure/surface area than waneta does (greater odds of a fish avoiding being caught and clubbed over the head before it can grow bigger)

[mostlymuskies]

I really believe that most muskies on Chautauqua Lake when they reach 50", if they get there, are near the end of their life span because of how warm the water gets durring the summer months.I have caught and seen caught 50" muskies at Chautauqua Lake and personally I h ave caught 47" to 48" muskies there that had more girth then the 50" fish.I believe 40 lb muskie from Chautauqua Lake are very rare, but not impossible, I have never seen one.I believe Dr.Dave's 51"er, that was very fat was 38 lbs.I don't know what Chad's 51 3/4" Fattie weighed.

Capt Larry

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