NPike

On ‎5‎/‎27‎/‎2018 at 3:45 PM, TrophySeeker said:

Nice! I picked up some of those jigs. Not much use yet. If you don't mind me asking, what size and color flatnose minnows? Heading to Canada next weekend, and want to give them a try.
 

Fished for walleye in the Kawatha's , Lake Nipissing , the Hudson Bay Low lands and the Land of lakes region. The 1200 mile trips to the Hudson's Bay lowlands produce unbelievable numbers. However we've done well in all these Ontario regions. I either troll w Rapala's or jig with black, white or yellow round head jigs w a twister tail and a piece of a night crawler. Winning combo. Also night crawlers are easier  to maintain than minnows. Just a thought and good luck  

2 hours ago, Ivan said:

Not that you can't fish Chautauqua in a 12' boat, but I would probably go cast Cassadaga if I were you. I haven't personally fished it, but I know guys that go over there and get 3 or 4 casting.  Chautauqua will be crowded this weekend and there's a good chance of storms all 3 days.  Wind looks light as of now, except Saturday morning.  However, you never know what may blow up with storms.

 

Good point! Could be dicey on Chautauqua in a 12' boat, depending on wind speed - direction. Check weather if winds are predicted at > ~ 8 mph then could be a concern. You can hide a bit near long point depending on wind direction. Great lake but even in my 16.5' I've had to cancel or wait until say 2 hrs before dark to fish.

Chautauqua is your best bet for nice sized pure breads. In many outing I've seen one at ~50", good luck on getting one that size. However DEC has netted fish > 56". I look for a school of perch and then cast - jig.

I use a plain old heavy duty butcher knife to cut thru the bones (bigger walleye, occasion pike or lake trout) than the longer Rapala fillet knife to finish the job. These simple cheaper knifes have but many fish in the pan or oven. The bigger money goes into rods, reels, baits, etc. Much to the dismay of my wife.

Sure can relate to "before my back gives in" when casting. The no fun, after the fun.

No end of inconsiderate - unintelligent boaters. My pet peeves like your post they get to close. Speed-recreational boaters do it but so do some fisherman. 50 yards distance minimum is good. However if they moving at high speed and I see them coming I often reel-in.

My biggest issue is at the launch when some inconsiderate-dummy parks his boat while 1/2 dozen or more are waiting to launch-load and then he leaves it there for an indefinite period of time. I time things so as to give me a 1/2 hr. of wiggle room. Often watch my kids when they get off the buss. This makes for a mad rush which can ruin the day. I go to unwind as well as catch fish.

Hi Have used Interstates for a long time, never had a problem and the price is right. A smart charger helps. Prevents overcharge and will trickle charge only when - if needed.

The In-season period in which walleye are in that shallow on Conesus is pretty brief. BTW I'm not talking about night fishing. However I've got numerous (over a period of many years) good sized walleye ~(5 to 8+) lps. in close in 4 to 10 FOW early season fishing from a boat. The trouble w Conesus is it has very limited shore access. Good luck

From what I've been told the idea is not to disturb the spawn-run regardless of time of year. Perhaps call region 8 DEC to be certain? 

1 hour ago, old man said:

I’ve been out on the last day before in a canoe and more recently in my yak. There are a lot of fish around then. Getting them to eat is another story.


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This what the other people "to observer spawn" and fisherman have told me when I've been down to observe the spawn  phenomena. Never seen a canoe or whatever in there during the spawn, but have seen DEC officials sniffing around during the sawn at south end?

During spawning any boating activity at the mouth of the creek at the south and or in the creek itself is forbidden to prevent interference with the spawning of pike - walleye. However people can fish from shore strictly for bullhead.

BTW yes you can launch a canoe at the south end. But it's not permitted during the "walleye-pike" run - spawn.

Nice tigers guys, I get about 10 or more pike per tiger. However don't ice fish.

Thoughts,

I'm pretty much a catch and release fisherman for Esox (certainly not keeping any at 30" or over and even then just keeping maybe 3 a year). With the ~ 12" of ice that formed on Conesus this year do you think they are still yanking the big pike (and to a lesser extent tigers) out like they used to?

 Fact despite having virtual unlimited feed, only so many > 30" to 40" pike exist in Conesus.

Note: having fished it for > 12 years I've noticed many more hammer-handles in recent years.

Your thoughts Gents,

Unfortunately it will cost you.

You can launch a canoe or hand carry boat at ether extreme. As for the state launch, they remove the floating docks. 4 sections I believe. There's a bit of stub left. You you can still launch, but it requires a bit of imagination. To much hassle for me.

They took them out today.

37” is a nice Conesus tiger. Any Esox > or = 36” on Conesus is a good fish. We’ve caught a few Tigers over 40”. They are few and far between.

I’ve eaten a few tigers that went belly up (I greatly reduce this possibility by going barbless). Bottom-line was that they were similar to pike but the meat was a bit darker and lacked some of that sweet flavor typical of pike.  To me any Esox > 32” goes back, and even then, I only keep a handful each season.

1st got to get a rod that matches the weight of the intended baits. Say (1 to 3) oz. This is what I use for pike/musky. Depending on the rod you can overload it a little. I throw baits up to 3.5 oz. Then for spinners and small stick-baits (pike fishing) I use a rod rated for (0.5 to 1.5) oz. baits. I prefer 8' length myself, helps when casting the bigger baits. Check out St. Croix, can't go wrong. Also I found their customer service department helpful. I use spinning rod-reels compo's and if you go this route you can't go wrong with the Stadic reels by Shimano 4000 for the heavier rod(s) 3000 for the lighter rod(s). I wouldn't suggest the 3000 for Musky's however. In my experience a big pike is 10 to 15+ pounds. A big Musky is 20 to 30+ pounds.

Let us know how you make out.

Can't beat Honda.  You can't beat Seager's for service in Canandaigua. Arny's in Sodus also sell's them.  Some brake-in (only 10 hours follow manual). Break-ins much better than it used to be.

Hi,

 I thought I’d try and add spinnerbaits to my plan of attack for toothy critters. I had a lots of issues with the spinnerbait getting all tangled up. I could only get it to fish correctly by retrieving it immediately after the cast (or even stopping it in mid-air and then start retrieving the spinnerbait). If I let it sink to try and fish it deeper or hesitated before reeling it in the spinnerbait gets tangled up in a mess.  

How do you fishing spinnerbaits, (never used one before yesterday).

Thank you,

DD's good for this time of year 9" and they dive as deep or deeper than nay other on the cast.

Got a great house on Conesus last year using Home Away. Worth a try?  

1 hour ago, zach said:

Buddy went to conesus 3 nights ago n got like 8 bass n a pike while tiger fishing. Zero tigers.

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I could get smaller pike/bass fishing shallower. Need a deep runner?

23 hours ago, zach said:

Friends, guides and myself have been doing well recently. Need some Bakers my man!

 

Nice pictures Zack. I was more specifically referring to Conesus for pile- occasional_tiges. I rarely fish elsewhere. From the word I get Esox fishing has been slow  as of late. I cast and need baits that dive deep sat 9' to 12' like DepthRaiders and DD's. Do bakers catch pike  and do you got one that will hit that deep on the cast if so let me know.