Chautauqua Angling Adventures

Aug 30, 2010…12:00pm-4:30pm. This was another great day for dock fishing. The air temperature was 88-90 degrees, the wind light from the SW and bright sunshine. This absolutely drove the fish way back under the big platform docks. It also sent the water temperature to a scorching 81-84 degrees in some places. Never the less, the largemouth bite was on. In some cases 2 or 3 fish came off a single dock. We caught 17 total ranging in size from 14 inches up to nearly 4 pounds. The best 5 fish, rough estimate, weighed 14+ pounds. All were caught on the Salty Sling from docks around Chautauqua Institution, Maple Springs and Greenhurst. These last few days have been amazing with conditions for this technique being just right, calm wind and bright sunshine.
Aug 28, 2010…11:30pm-3:00pm. Light and variable winds today with a water temperature of 73.2-77.9 degrees and a bluebird sky kept the dock bite alive. Even with two bass tournaments fishing the lake we still managed 10 largemouth with the same Salty Sling skipping method. The biggest was a 3+ pound largie. We fished docks above and below Prendergast Point, Mayville and Bemus Bay. The only really clear water is in these areas. Everything else is stuck in “pea soup” algae bloom.
Aug 27, 2010…11:30pm-2:30pm. This was a trip for the 6 year old grandson. Nope, not bobber fishing, he’s better than that. A little ultra-light spinning rod and reel rigged with a yellow grub on an 1/8th oz jig head. We went to a really nice dock and he basically cleaned it out catching 3 rock bass, 1 sunfish and a perch. Ok, “they’re not big enough”, he says. Hmmmmmmmm. So we went to a REALLY good dock. I skipped the bait, a Salty Sling under the dock for him, gave him the rod and bang a 14” largemouth. We repeated this process at this dock and a few others and managed to catch 9 more and lost 3 others. None were very big but he had a blast. The water temperature at the start was 73.2 degrees and ended at 75.4 degrees. The wind was from the SW at 5-10 mph and it was sunny and bright.
Aug 21, 2010…7:00am-12:00pm. The water temperature was back up to 74.3 degrees and warmed to 78.9 degrees. The wind was from the south at 10-15 mph. What was forecast to be bright and sunny turned out to be very overcast most of the day and kept the air temperature in the low 70’s. This was a muskie trip so we started above the Dewitteville Point on the 15 ft weed line casting Mepps Muskie Killers, Rapala perch jerkbaits and large spinnerbaits. We had plenty of company along the weed line with some trollers and others casting. For the time we were there no one even got a fish to rise to the baits. We moved down to Midway Park and fished the weed line up to the Viking also with no luck. Changing tactics we trolled from the Viking to Mission Meadows zig zagging from 12-20 feet depths but that didn’t work either. The wind picked so we ran south to look for some calm water and some largemouth. Maple Bay was the stop and there we caught 13 largemouth, the biggest being and solid 3 pounder, on 6 different docks using a Venom Salty Sling.
Aug 20, 2010…6:30am-11:30pm. Light NE winds left the lake flat for nearly the entire trip again today. With the last few nights of cooler air temperature the water temperature was 72.6 when we started and climbed to76.2 degrees by the trips end. The air temperature was 64 at the start and 75 by noon. Hoping for an early topwater smallmouth bite we started off the Mayville area with a buzzbait, and a Spit’n Image. There were some fish working the surface but none would take what we offered. Since the largemouth had been active around the docks we fished a Venom Salty Sling around docks the rest of the trip at Lighthouse Point, Whitney Bay, Mayville and Maple Springs. In all we caught 12 largemouth and lost 3 others. Of course all the lost ones weighed right around 5 pounds each. HA! Yeah Right!
Aug 12, 2010…7:00am-12:30pm. Light NE winds left the lake flat for nearly the entire trip. Water temperature was 74-78.2 degrees and the air temperature was 72-81 degrees. Our first stop was on Warner’s Bar fishing topwater baits, a small spook and a Spit’n Image. Even with the great conditions there was no action. We made the run to Greenhurst and fished some shallow rock piles but came up empty. The next move took us to the Crib where we fished a topwater and then jigged the outer weeds with a Berkley red shad power worm. We had a few bites but no hook ups. WE finally moved in on some docks in Burtis Bay and Maple Bay. Using the power worms we caught 6 largemouth and lost 3 others.
Aug 11, 2010…6:30am-12:00pm. With a bit of a cool down last night the air temperature started at 71 degrees and the water temperature was at 74 degrees. The wind was from the south at less than 10 mph. We began by drifting the deep humps in the Mayville area using tube jigs and road runners tipped with live crawlers. One drift yielded and nice 25 inch walleye that took the mellon pepper tube jig. We made a few more drifts but could not get anymore takers. We used the same techniques down the SW shoreline but again no fish. The sun was up, hot and bright so we moved to docks in Bemus Bay and Whitney Bay. We used Berkley Heavy Weights, skipping them under the docks to get 6 largemouth bass.
Aug 9, 2010…4:30pm-8:00pm. Winds from the SW at 10-15 mph and water temperatures at 79 degrees made the start of this trip difficult at best. We used the wind to drift ledges in Mayville, Mission Meadows, Viking and Warner’s Bar with tube jigs and worm harnesses but could only pick up one silver bass.
Aug 2, 2010…6:30am-12:30pm. A strong 10-15 mph south wind, partly cloudy skies and a 68 degree air temperature greeted us this morning. The water temperature was 74.3 degrees to start and rose to 78.2 degrees by the trip’s end. We began using the wind to create a drift across some north lake humps and up a step drop starting in 20 feet coming up to 10 feet and the weed edge. We were dragging, tube jigs and Road Runners tipped with either a crawler or a 3” GULP leech. The first drift produced a nice 3 ½ pound walleye. It took the Road Runner and leech. The next drift brought up 2 perch, both on the Road Runners. With no more action on a few more drifts we moved to Mission Meadows and use the same techniques to get one small smallmouth. We then moved to Bemus Bay and fished the docks protected from the now stronger south wind and caught 6 nice largemouth skipping soft stick baits under the docks.
July 30, 2010…6:30am-2:00pm. FINALLY!!!!! A cool down. It was 61 degrees and the lake had a slight fog. The water temperature was still 74.3 degrees and did climb to 77 degrees by the end under partly cloudy skies. The wind was very light from the SW. We started on Warner’s Bar fishing tube jigs in 10- 15 feet. There were lots of pan fish bites, but no cooperative bass. Once the fog cleared we moved to the upper end of the lake and fished Berkley Heavy Weight soft stick baits around docks and shallow weeds. 5 largemouth took our offerings, with the biggest being a 3 pounder. The wind picked up to an easy 15 mph SW making that type of presentation very difficult so we moved out to the deeper ledges at Mission Meadows and the Viking drifting tubes and worm harnesses up the drop-offs. This took advantage of the windy conditions. We caught 5 smallmouth. I guess the only way to describe them is, we were fishing in the maternity ward. HA! Never the less, 5 bass are 5 bass and they were fun to catch.
July 22, 2010…7:00am-12:30pm. The water temperature was up to 75.2 degrees and climbed to 79.7 degrees and the morning progressed. Air temperature was in the mid 80’s. This was another morning with a light wind to begin the day, this time from the north. We began along the outer weed line of the Mayville flats casting for muskie. We could find no takers so we moved to the secondary point at Dewitteville where we raised one fish but could get no hook-ups. For those of you interested in finding garfish we were surrounded by 20+ gars in 7-10 feet of water feeding on the surface. It definitely was an amazing sight. Our presence didn’t seem to bother them at all. After giving up on the muskie and seeing all the garfish entertainment we moved down the shoreline to Mission Meadows where we fished for muskie and smallmouth. We hooked and boated one 2 pound smallmouth but never saw another muskie through the trip.
July 21, 2010…6:30am-12:30pm. Winds today were light from the NW to start and built to 10-15 mph by the trip’s end. Water temperature was 74.2-77.5 degrees. We started in 18-20ft over a school of smallmouth and caught a nice 3 pound fish on the first drift using a 3 1/2 ‘ melon pepper tube. That was to be the last cooperative bass in that school. 3 nice size perch took the same offering on several of the following drifts. We trolled worm harnesses over the same area without a strike then followed the wed line down the lake toward the Bell Tower zig zagging from 20ft into 12ft and back out. We attracted a few bites but no hook-ups. We moved to Mission Meadows and used the same technique there without success. Lastly we moved to some docks below Prendergast Pt and caught one largemouth to end the trip.
July 20, 2010…12:30pm-3:00pm. This was a last minute set up and a creative late start but it worked out just fine. We had a 10-15 mph SW wind and a starting water temperature of 76.4. It was very cloudy and had a forecast for possible T-storms that never showed up. The deep water bite on the Mayville humps only produced several nice size perch. We fished light tackle, drifting GULP earthworms and 3” leeches across the humps to get the fish. Wanting some bigger fish we moved to some docks in the same area and used Berkley Heavy Weight soft stick baits to catch 3 nice largemouth. Through the rest of the trip we caught more sunfish and perch over shallow weeds. When you take kids fishing they don’t care what they catch, just so they DO catch.
June 19, 2010…6:30am-12:00pm. Water temperature today was up to 72 degrees when we started. Wind was S at 5-10 mph. It was partly cloudy and T-storms were forecast for later in the day. We started with a very quick top water at Warner’s Bar the moving the Viking and Mission Meadows all with no fish. We ran to the other side of the lake above the Bell Tower fishing the 10-15 foot ledge with tubes but could get nothing to bite. We then ran to Mayville and fished some available docks using a soft stick bait and caught 6 largemouth, the biggest being a 3 ½ pounder. By now the storm clouds we starting to form so we ran back down the lake to Prendergast Point and fished some of these docks the same way. These docks were shallower and held no fish. The storms started moving in so we headed back to the ramp. By the end of the trip the water temperature had come up to 74.2 degrees and the wind had completely shifted around to the WSW and picked up considerably.
June 18, 2010…7:00am-3:00pm. Clear skies, 60 degrees and wind out of the WSW at 5-10 mph greeted us this morning. The water temperature was still low at 61.3 degrees. We started Warner’s Bar with top water and flukes but could get nothing to respond. We headed up the lake to Mission Meadows fishing tubes in 10-12 feet but could get no takers. We could see the fish suspended so we tried weightless soft stick baits also getting nothing. We ran south down the lake to Maple Bay (Smith Boys) and there caught 5 sub-legal bass, a combo of smallmouth and largemouth. All these fish were caught on soft stick baits. At least there were some signs of life. We fish shallow areas below Cheney’s Point but could only catch rock bass. We next ran across the lake to Colburn, directly in the wind and tossed spinnerbaits hoping to find an active fish. NOPE! Not convinced that we couldn’t catch those suspended fish at the upper end we ran back up the lake to the Viking. There we caught another VERY small smallmouth. We continued the drift moving closer to the weed line and caught a nice 4 ¾ pound smallmouth. We followed the weed line all the way back to Mission Meadows fish both deep and shallow and managed one very nice largemouth around 4 pounds and another small smallie to end the day.
June 12, 2010…6:00am-11:00am. This was one tough day! We had water temperatures starting at 63.4 degrees and rising to 69.7 degrees by 11 am. Winds were WSW at 5-10 mph. With these conditions catching fish should not have been a problem. We started on the Mayville flats using topwater baits, buzzbait and tiny torpedo. The only thing that took our offerings were 2 perch and a sunfish. We moved to the south shoreline and fished the weedline ledge above the Bell Tower first using a tube jig and then slow trolling worm harnesses. Both methods yielded nothing. The last stop was the weedline ledge in front of Mission Meadows and then the Viking using both the previous methods. Again these produced no fish. Talking to a few other boats we found that we were not the only one’s struggling. Nice day, no fish….Oh well, there’s always the next trip.
June 10, 2010…6:00am-11:00am. With the cold front that rolled in 2 days ago the water temperature dropped 10 degrees. It was 62.4 at 6 am. The wind was WNW and very light at the beginning. This shut the fish right down, at least for me. I could only manage one 2 ½ pound largemouth on a white fluke and two smallies on a melon pepper tube. All the fish caught came for the upper end of the lake. By the time the trip ended the water temperature had come up to 68.7 degrees. Still far from the 74 degree temps that kept the fish active. The wind picked up to the forecasted 15-25 mph by 11 am so it was off the water for me. It figures the weatherman would get it right when the forecast was bad. HA!
June 1, 2010…6:00am-2:00pm. The water temperature today started at 71.3 and ended the day at 75 degrees. The wind was W at 5 mph to start so we made the run to the Mayville flats. It was overcast and at times had a light rain. The water was clear. We fished a white fluke and a tiny torpedo. The tiny torpedo got the first strike on the 3rd cast and produced a 4 ¾ pound largemouth. From there we caught 8 more largemouth and one smallmouth on the first drift. No fish was less than 2 pounds. Most were 3-4 pounds. We made a second and third drift and picked up 3 more largemouth and lost 4. The wind increased and the fish shut down so we headed to the southwest shoreline and just kept going with the wind fishing the white fluke. By the end of the trip we had boated 7 more quality largemouth and lost 5 more. Not a bad day for a rainy, windy day.
May 29, 2010…11:00am-4:00pm. With the late day success of Wednesday we decided to try other areas in the same time frame to see if we could repeat our success. Water temperature was still 72-75 degrees but the wind was NE 10-15 mph. We headed south to fish the lower end. We first stopped below Cheney’s Point and fished the 3-5 foot shallow shoreline with no success. We moved to Maple Bay above Smith Boys Marina and found plenty of action on shallow largemouth catching 16 on that stretch. We continued our drift all the way to Lakewood Bar but only caught 2 smaller largemouth. All the fish were caught on a white fluke or a soft stickbait. By now the wind had kicked up to 15+mph giving us a very bumpy ride back to Long Point.
May 26, 2010…11:00am-3:00pm. The weather finally started to cooperate and warm things up. The water temperature was 72-74 degrees today with the wind NW at 5-10 mph. The water remains very clear at this end of the lake. The idea for the day was to see if we could catch fish later in the day. We fished the Mayville flats using a white fluke and caught only one largemouth. We moved to the bay above lighthouse Point and found several smallmouth still on beds. We caught two of those and 3 more largemouth. All were taken on the white fluke. We worked around Lighthouse Point into the next bay and caught 2 more smallies and a largemouth. The wind picked up making the fishing uncomfortable so we headed back and ended the day.
April 21, 2010…2:00pm-6:00pm. The wind was WNW 10-15 mph. The water temperature was 53.2 degrees and the water was slightly stained because of the rough water. Air temperature stayed right around 58-60 degrees. The run down the lake to Lakewood Bar was a bit cool but doable. We fished fire tiger colored crankbaits in 7-14 feet of water. Only one nice walleye and one perch took our offering. We moved down the lake to the crib and caught 2 smallies and another perch. The wind picked up putting the lake in white caps so we made the run back up the lake to Victoria point. There we dragged tubes and Gulp leeches to no avail. We did the same technique on the outside of Warner’s Bar again without a bite. Finally going behind Long Point into calmer water one more perch made it to the boat. Not the kind of day we were looking for but as I’ve always said “that why they call it fishing, not catching.”