Chautauqua Angling Adventures

Oct 13, 2007…7:30am-11:30am. This was one cold morning. The temperature was 41 degrees. The rain that was forecast never came but the wind, which was SW, started at 7 mph and increased to 15-20 mph. The water temperature was 63.4 degrees. It had dropped over 10 degrees from last Monday. Fishing was tough. No smallies in the usual spots so we tried and old reliable, Lighthouse Point. Using a white spinnerbait burned over the big rocks there we got 2 nice largemouth, 2 ½ pounds a piece. We moved down to the north end of Warner’s Bar and jigged the weedbed along the buoy markers but never got a bite. The heavy wind made holding on the weeds very difficult. Moving again we fished Long Point along the north side fishing 12-20 feet deep with a tube and caught 3 smallmouth less than 2 pounds each. We drifted way to fast even with the drift sock out. To be honest, the college football games seemed more desirable than the cold wind so we headed in. As I type this, the games are good and so is the warm coffee.
Oct 8, 2007…9:00am-2:30pm. We made it a late start today. The water temperature was 73.6 degrees with a WSW wind at about 5 mph. The lake was flat to a slight ripple. The air temperature was an unusual 83 degrees. The algae bloom was still going strong. We fished shallow weeds (4-6 feet) in Sherman Bay flipping a 4" tube and a black/blue Berkley Chigger Craw. The fish were small, no more than 2 pounds but we caught 6. We fished some of the few docks left below Midway Park but caught nothing there. The wind picked up to 15+ mph and made the fishing difficult along the shoreline structure so we tied on spinnerbaits and moved in and out between 2 to 10 feet on the Colburn shoreline. Nothing going with that either so we called it a day.
Sept. 29, 2007…7:00am-3:30pm. There was fog that lasted until 9:30 am making moving around very difficult. The water temperature was 69.4 degrees, the wind was N at about 3 mph so the fog wasn’t moving. The air temperature was 49 degrees. We were able to get to the Midway Park area without too much trouble. We fished for muskie throwing big spinnerbaits along the weed edge out to 18 feet. No fish there so when the fog gave us an opening we ran up the lake to Crosswinds and worked our way back south casting for the elusive toothy critter. We switched colors and also threw a perch color giant crank bait. We did the same off the Mayville weed line with no luck. We also tried a tube jig for some smallmouth. This produced one VERY little smallie and a not much bigger largemouth. Both came off the weed line in 13 feet. Many people we saw on the lake were struggling just like us. By 10:00 am we decided to run south to Greenhurst Point and fish some submerged rock piles and pilings. We caught 2 largemouth using Salty Slings rigged Texas style. We then moved to the Lakewood Beach area fishing another rock pile, but no luck there. We fished docks in Maple Bay and Shore Acre landing 4 more largemouth and losing 2 or 3 more. None of the fish were bigger than 2 pounds. Most were less. It was a nice day out but a tough day of fishing. Still it beats work!!!!!
Sept. 22, 2007…7:30am-1:30pm. The water temperature was 69.7 degrees, air temperature 71 and the wind was WSW at about 10 mph. By noon it had switched to the north and was blowing 10-15 mph. We did a run and gun day starting at Warner’s Bar then the Viking and Mission Meadows. We only caught 2 bass, one very small largemouth and a 4 ½ pound smallmouth. Both caught on a tube. By 9:30 the sun was up and warm so we ran south to take advantage of the shorelines in Maple Bay and Whitney Bay that were sheltered from the wind. We fished shallow, 3 feet or less, with flukes and soft stick baits and caught 13 largemouth ranging from 12" to about 2 ½ pounds. We didn’t find anything real big but they were still fun to catch. Once the wind shifted to the north and increased we decided to end the day.
Sept. 15, 2007…7:00am-1:00pm. This day was one of the most miserable weather days of the season. The wind was from the WNW 15-20 mph and the temperature was 49 degrees when we started. Water temperature was 72.8 degrees. We were looking for muskie so we headed north to the Crosswinds area. Using the wind we drifted casting large spinnerbaits and in line spinners over the weeds and outside the weeds out to 18feet. We hooked one good muskie but it eventually got off. After 3hours of working the area we decide to go looking for some bass and calmer water. We ran south and fished Driftwood and Bellview Points. The wind was driving the water up on the points and the fish were right in the surf. We used tubes thrown in the shallow surf to catch smallies. With the cold wind and water making things very uncomfortable we called it a day at 1 pm.
Sept. 7, 2007…7:00am-1:00pm. This was a trip set up to locate fish for a later date tournament. Smallmouth were the target fish for the beginning. We fished the Mayville area on the outside weed line. No smallies, but strangely enough two muskies. The first, a 35" fish made it to the boat. The other MUCH bigger didn’t. Both hit a 3 1/2 " melon pepper tube on 8 pound test. Oh yes! It was some fight. We next moved to Mission Meadows where we caught one smallie and then the Lutheran Camp where we took 2 more. Warner’s Bar produced one for us but there was a guy who was fishing a DD16 and killing them in 13 feet banging the bait on the bottom. We recorded the info and left. We moved to Victoria but the forecasted T-storms blew in and ran us off the lake. The wind was N when we started at maybe 3 mph and the lake was nearly dead flat. Water temperature was 73.2 degrees.
Aug 31, 2007…7:00am-12:00pm. Fog and 58 degrees with a water temperature of 70.2 degrees greeted us this morning. A very light north wind did little to move the fog. It stayed until about 9:30 am in patches. We started on Warner’s Bar but had no bites after and hour of fishing hard. We moved to Midway Park and promptly caught 2 very nice smallmouth, one being around 5 pounds. We made 2 more passes and caught 2 more, both about 2 ½ pounds. We then moved up the lake and fished the weed line off The Crosswinds. There we caught 8 more smallies and 3 largemouth. We also lost 4 nice fish. The wind started to pick up to 10-12 mph so we moved down the lake to Victoria. We caught 2 more smallies before ending the day at noon. All the fish we caught on a watermelon tube on ¼ oz jig. Depths ranged from 9-15 feet.
Aug 4, 2007…6:00am-2:00pm. This was a tournament day. We began at the Viking where we caught 4 keeper smallmouth. Water temperature was 76.7 and the wind was light and variable. The fish were caught on Senkos, tubes and dropshotting a Gulp 4" sinking minnow. We then ran south to Maple Bay and fished some of the docks out of the reach of the SW wind that came up at 5-8 mph. We caught 7 largemouth skipping soft stickbaits and casting spinnerbaits. Next stop was an area with rock piles/weeds and pilings, all submerged. One 4 ½ pound smallie and 4 largemouth came from there. All were caught on Venom Salty Slings. We stopped and fished the bridge pilings but caught nothing. The last stop was Bemus Bay where we caught 2 more largemouth. A very good tournament for me with a 4th place with 13.41 pounds.
July 25, 2007…6:00am-11:30am. Cooler temperature, 60 degrees, and overcast skies were the order today. Showers were forecast but never showed up. The wind was from the south at 5 mph and the water temperature was 72.3 degrees. We started at Warner’s Bar fishing watermelon tubes. Almost emmediately we caught a 17 inch walleye. We send the next half hour looking for another bite but it never materialized. We moved to the weedline above Midway Park. There we caught 3 very small smallmouth. Then moving up the lake we fished Mission Meadows and could only get one very small largemouth. At that point we changed tactics and ran south to fish some docks for largemouth. We ran to Maple Bay, pulled up to one dock and caught 6 largemouth and one smallmouth of one dock using soft stick baits. None of the other docks produced so we made one more stop on the way back along the Colburn shoreline and caught a real nice 3 ½ pound largemouth.
July 11, 2007…7:00am-1:30pm. The skies were overcast and the wind was from the SW at 13 mph. Rain was in the forecast with T-storms for the am hours. The air temperature was 77 degrees and the water temperature was 75.6 degrees. We started our morning at Warner’s Bar but quickly found that the fish were not anywhere to be found. We fished along the Long Point shore line and missed 3 small smallmouth bass. We moved to the other side of the lake to Victoria and fished the weed line edge above the point. We caught one short walleye. We fished some of the docks above Victoria. We caught no fish and were run off the lake by rain and a T-storm. We waited the storm out, about 1 hour, at Long Point in the snack bar. Once the area was safe we headed south to the bridge. Another storm started to move in so we stayed under the bridge fishing the west piles and caught 2 smallmouth and 1 very small walleye. The storms were very nasty but we stayed reasonably dry and out of the reach of the lightning. We continued to spend the rest of the trip fishing the shallow (4-7 feet) bridge pilings using tube jigs. We caught 2 more smallmouth and 5 largemouth and losing 3 others, all on watermelon color tubes.
July 9, 2007…8:30am-1:30pm. The wind was from the SW at 10-15 mph. The water temperature was 75.6 degrees and the air temperature was 88 degrees when we started. We fished nothing but docks today. They were in the Ashville Bay, Shore Acres and Hadley Bay areas. We fished Power Bait Sinking Minnows in smoke/black fleck, Venom Salty Slings in smoke and Tiki Sticks in Black/Chartreuse. The bass were cruising in the shallow grass between the docks and holding way back as far as 4 sections. We got 5 largemouth, all in the 2 ¾ pound class and one smallmouth about 2 pounds. The wind increased to around 17-20 mph and basically did us in for the day.
July 7, 2007…6am-11am. The temperature was 59 degrees with clear skies. The water temperature was 73.9 degrees. We had a mild wind from the SW at less than 5 mph. This turned out to be a really tough day of fishing. We fished the weed line from the Bell Tower to the Packard Mansion using melon tubes. Water depth was anywhere from 10 feet to 20 feet as we zigzagged to try to locate the fish. We only caught 1 smallmouth and one short walleye. Moving into the docks we fished back toward the Bell Tower but only caught rock bass. We then headed to Mission Meadows. There we caught one smallmouth and another short walleye fishing the 11-13 foot weed line edge. Trying some docks below Midway Park as our next stop we came up empty. Continuing to move south we tried Warner’s Bar but caught nothing. We then made a long run down to Maple Bay and fished the south shoreline docks. We caught 3 largemouths, one being a nice 3 pounder.
July 6, 2007…7am-3pm. The temperature was 57 degrees with clear skies. The water temperature was 73.6 degrees. The wind was from the south at 5 mph. We started on Warner’s bar fishing a watermelon tube. We caught 3 walleye, both short, in 13 feet. We moved up the lake to Mission Meadows and caught 2 walleye and 4 smallmouth, all in 12-15 feet of water on the outside weed edge. The wind shifted to the NW so we moved to some docks around Prendergast Point. We caught 1 largemouth on soft stick baits. We ran down below the bridge and fished some docks but the wind move to the north and made boat control difficult. We made the run clear up to Mayville to get some protected shoreline and caught 4 nice largemouth off the docks. By now the wind was from the north at around 10-15 mph putting white caps on the lake. We ended our day at that point.
July 4, 2007…6am-11am. The temperature was 57 degrees with an overcast sky. The wind was south at 3-5 mph. The water temperature was 73.6 degrees. We started at Warner’s Bar fishing the weed line going from 11-18 feet. The first cast produced a smallmouth. From then on it was all walleye. No keeper size (18") fish, but a total of 5 were all caught on a watermelon tube. Other’s in the same area were using crawlers and leeches and catching fish. The wind increased to 8-10 mph so we moved to Victoria Point and fished the same depths but could only hook up on one walleye. The wind continued to pick up so we ran south to Maple Bay to calmer water and fished the south shoreline docks. We took 7 largemouth off these docks using a soft stick bait, fished weightless and skipped to the back of the docks. The forecasted storms and rain started to move in so we called it a day and headed for the safety of the ramp and home.
July 2, 2007…6am-1pm. A slight fog was over the north end of the lake. The air temperature was 49 degrees. The water temperature had dropped to 74.6 degrees mainly because of all the cooler nights. The wind was light from the north. We headed to the far north end of the lake and fished the outer weed edge off Mayville. We started by trying for smallmouth but there was no activity. We managed one very small walleye. We switched up and worked the edges with in-line spinners for muskie but couldn’t even get one to follow. We worked the edge toward the NW corner for the smallies and had some surface action going on but no strikes. The next stop was Mission Meadows working the same baits for both smallmouth and muskie. We came up with the same results there. We then changed up and fished the docks below Midway Park using soft stickbaits. We missed a few fish and then caught a nice 5+ largemouth inside a boatlift. We continued fishing this shoreline and lost 4 more largemouth, some under the docks a some in between running the baits over the top of the weeds. The wind, still from the north picked up and made fishing this shoreline difficult so we moved to the Bemus Bay area and lost 3 more largemouth. We got lots of bites on the docks but did not successfully hook up enough to get them in the boat.
June 27, 2007…8am-12 noon We got a bit of a late start because of the weather report for potential rain and T-storms early. They never got here until around 4 pm. Good thing we went anyway. The water temperature was 76.8 when we started and climbed to 79.2 by the time we stopped at noon. Air temperature was 88 degrees. The wind was from the SW at 5-8 mph. The first stop was Bly’s Point. We fished the docks to the north and caught 1 smallmouth on a Berkley Sinking Minnow. We followed the shoreline around Cheney’s Point and fish both the weeds in 4-7 feet with a Power Bait Beast and a few of the docks with the Sinking Minnow. Only one largemouth was caught off a dock. Next we moved south to Maple Bay and caught 4 largemouth on a 50 yd stretch of docks. All were caught on th Sinking Minnow. The last stop was the I-86 bridge pilings. Using a watermelon tube we got 1 walleye and 4 smallmouth.
June 17, 2007…6:00am-1:00pm The sky was overcast and the temperature was 60 degrees when we hit the water. Water temperature was at 72.3 degrees and the wind was SSW at 5-8 mph. We fished Mission Meadows, Warner’s Bar until 9:30. Only 4 walleyes, all under the 18" limit, 1 smallmouth and one largemouth. There was no surface activity today and very little response to the tube jig that has been working all season. The water depth on the fish we caught ranged from 10-22 feet so there was really no consistency in location. As the day warmed up the water temperature went to 74.8 degrees and the wind shifted to the west at 10-15 mph. We moved to the docks and caught 3 largemouth on a watermelon black fleck tiki stick. The wind made it difficult to fish efficiently and we left a lot of fish untouched. Oh well, there’s always tomorrow.
June 16, 2007…6:00am-12:00 This was a beautiful day for the opening of bass and muskie season. The sky was clear and the early morning temperature was 64 degrees. The water temperature was 70.2 and rose to 72.6 degrees by noon. The wind was light and variable then turned NW at 5-7 mph. We fished for smallmouth and walleye at Victoria Point, The Vikings, Mission Meadows and Warner’s Bar. In all we caught 5 nice smallies and 5 short walleye. Water depth was 11-13 feet. All the fish we caught on a watermelon tube and a Milky Pepper Power Grub. By 9 am the deep bite quit so we moved to the docks along the Colburn shoreline and others above Cheney’s Point. We fished a Venom Salty Sling and a Tiki Stick and caught 7 largemouth. All the largemouth were between 2 ½ to 4 pounds.
June 9, 2007…6:00am-9:00am Today was very cold for a June morning, 48 degrees with overcast skies. We fished a very short time because the wind came up hard from the north at 15 mph which made fun fishing very uncomfortable and the thought of breakfast and a hot cup of coffee a temptation we easily fell prey to. We started at Victoria and caught 2 walleyes and 3 smallmouth using a watermelon tube on a ¼ oz jighead. Wanting to fish a different area and someplace out of the wind we headed below the I-86 bridge to the Shore Acres area. The wind made to too rough to fish the docks in that area so we changed and threw spinnerbaits and topwater between the docks. Before we left we caught 4 largemouth along the Colburn shoreline on a Pop’R in 2-3 feet of water on the inside weed edge. Yes, the water was still rough….topwater? It worked, go figure!
June 6, 2007…6:00am-12:00 The weatherman proved today that you never know what to expect until you look outside. Nothing that they said would happen, happened. So what’s new? We were met with misty rain showers and colder than predicted temperatures. It was 48 degrees when we started and 51 degrees when we stopped. The water temperature ranged from 65.3 to 66.5 degrees depending on where we were. The wind started out light and variable and shifted to the west at 5-8 mph. The water is still very clear. We fished Victoria Point, Warner’s Bar and a small point on the north end of Bemus Bay. We caught 5 smallmouth, 1 largemouth and 3 under sized walleye. The smallies took a Pop’R in 23 feet of water. The biggest was just over 5 pounds. All the walleye and the largemouth were taken on a watermelon tube jig.
May 26, 2007…6:00am-11:30am With this trip we could take advantage of the new catch and release regulation for bass. This new regulation allows pre-season (before the 3rd Saturday in June) specific targeting of bass using artificial lures only, with immediate release. The water temperature was 66.4 degrees with an air temperature of 61 degrees. The wind was from the north at 5-10 mph. The forecast called for early morning showers but we never got any. It did remain overcast, which helped keep the smallmouth that we were after, active. We fished a white Berkley Power Jerkshad to get some reaction bites on the surface. Then we switched to a deeper presentation. Most were caught using a 3" watermelon or green pumpkin tube on a ¼ oz jighead. In the mix we caught walleye. They were right in there with the smallies. They bit the same tube. We fished the Victoria Point, Warner’s Bar and Mission Meadow’s areas in depths of 10-18 feet. In all we caught 5 walleyes, 11 smallmouth and 2 largemouth. The largest walleye was 24" and the largest smallie went right around 5 lbs. All were released to fight again.