Chautauqua Temps

[walleyehunter]

How are the surface temps on Chautauqua?  Are they getting too hot for muskie fishing? 

[Ivan]

I was there for the holiday weekend. Most of the time i saw 77/78 north. I saw as high as 81 on Sunday in the north end around 1:00. We quit. I’d imagine it got hotter this week. I know there are still boats muskie fishing this week. We will be going to our camp this weekend again. As much as id like to fish, I’ll probably skip the muskies, do some work around camp, and maybe do some bass fishing or something.

 

This was a hot topic on Facebook this week. It got pretty ugly. There was some name calling directed at some of the guides on the lake.

 

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[old man]

It’s sad that no matter what the subject is these days people get mean and rude about it. Too many people today can’t disagree and debate like grownups.


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[zach]

We also will be taking time off til temps drop. Time to build baits, do some gardening, pool maintenance and boat repairs.

 

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[walleyehunter]

Thanks for the info guys.  Whats the "safe" temp you guys keep an eye on for to start fishing again?

[Ivan]

Thanks for the info guys.  Whats the "safe" temp you guys keep an eye on for to start fishing again?

 

Somebody from my camp said they are seeing 83 north now. Thats very hot and has high potential for causing mortality to caught muskies. I don’t know that there is a magic number. If 80 and above is too hot, is 79 safe? I saw somebody say 75. That seems a little extreme maybe, but I don’t know that there is scientific evidence to back this. Marc Thorpe (St Lawrence and Ottawa) seems to be pretty vocal and somewhat of an expert on the subject. Again though, I don’t know his credentials other than being a long time guide and experience with big fish.

 

I know what my own experiences are. I’ve been doing this fairly long time...22 years now and we have released thousands of muskies from our boat. Hot wAter is harder on the fish. Bigger fish are tougher to release well. Also, just because a released muskie swims away, it doesn’t mean that it doesnt die later and never float. I heard recently that only 10% of dead muskies float (no idea if that’s true). It’s also my opinion that Chautauqua muskies are fairly fragile and stress easier than muskies we have caught other places, for some reason. I rarely net or remove muskies from the water at Chautauqua regardless of temps the last couple years. If you net and/or remove muskies from the water to measure or take pics at Chautauqua right now, I think there is a high percentage chance they won’t make it. We have a 50” skin mount from a fish 2 July’s ago at Chautauqua that wouldn’t release, and I don’t want that to happen to us again.

 

 

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[Ronix 51]

16 hours ago, Ivan said:

I was there for the holiday weekend. Most of the time i saw 77/78 north. I saw as high as 81 on Sunday in the north end around 1:00. We quit. I’d imagine it got hotter this week. I know there are still boats muskie fishing this week. We will be going to our camp this weekend again. As much as id like to fish, I’ll probably skip the muskies, do some work around camp, and maybe do some bass fishing or something.

 

This was a hot topic on Facebook this week. It got pretty ugly. There was some name calling directed at some of the guides on the lake.

 

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Where was this thread?

[Ivan]

I saw a few different ones, but the particular one I referenced was on someone’s personal page.


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[gobyslayer]

me personally i just wait for fall to set in on the st lawrence. i would rather wait to start fishing for musky than to catch one and have it die because of high water temps. we i guess in my age group have watched the decline of the fisheries and protecting what we have left should be a very high priority for all of us..  till fall we have bass, walleye, perch etc to catch... wow i wonder at what point did i turn into a old person...lol

 

[White Wolf]

Just an opinion, but 78 is very high risk for mortality, especially with a deep hook probably near 100% fatal. May not be too bad for a stocked fishery, but I stop fishing at 75 on my home water's which are natural reproduction only. As do almost all the successful and knowledgeable anglers that I personally know

[White Wolf]

This is how we like them to release!