NPike

Perhaps the poor terrible fisherman could use a helping hand? I learned because people were generous enough to share their time and techniques with me.   Still I often have to work for my fish.

 I’m no expert at purebred musky’s, but very large fish are to be had at Chautauqua as well as perch.  Trout, pickerel and bass at Hemlock. Pike and bass with the odd tiger or walleye at Conesus.  

As for Fishing Diary I’ve been keeping them on Conesus for the DEC region 8 for years. They do provide a nice end of year wrap-up.

Catch and release is critical, particularly for the larger fish. I love seeing a jumbo esox swim away. Not that I get that many real jumbo’s.

caught a few this year

I'm wondering about the power rating of new motors. A buddy replaced a  2 stroke 15 evinrude on his duck boat with a 4 stroke 15 Honda, Turns out the new motor doesn't come close to the pop the old one had. I've heard the same about larger motors....the new 4 strokes don't measure up to the older 2 strokes for snap and get over plane torque.

My 14’ utility boat weights in at ~ 300 LPs. Add a size 29 battery, a full 6.5 gallon tank, 20 pound anchor, trolling motor and 250 pound me it goes 24 MPH with a BF20D3LH. At least in this size Honda 20 horse power is hard to beat, fuel effect and light weight and fast. I believe it only weight 110 pounds.

I see them still targeting LM_Bass on Conesus. They say they are getting a few some nice sized.

Curious for those who continue to fish northern pike – Esox into the late fall i.e. November. And fish them in the morning or early afternoons. What times do you generally have your best luck all things being equal: weather, solar lunar effects, etc.? Say early morning, late norning, early afternoons.

Earlier in the year they often hit early in the morning, but lately they are  hitting later in the day. (Note been a bit slow last few weeks) 

I was getting a few big pike in late September and early October as well as a few SM_Bass. Seems to have fallen off last few weeks? What about for the rest of you? I saw at least a dozen or more trailers at the launch on Wednesday the 2nd. If so deep or shallow? I was getting mine deep earlier in the year.

I'm with Old Man, depth and temp is sufficient for me, just don't need the rest. My main lake I know the contours  now. 

Been getting pike not quantity, but nice sized ~ 36, 34, 33, 32, 30, 29 in recent outing. Nice fish 7 to 12 pounds. Definatly not shallow ~ 14 to 18 FOW. I use Seaguar Fluorocarbon homemade leaders. 16", 60 pound test "double-uni at one end a clinch knot at the other end" never a bite off and they don't my effect finesse baits like my 1/2 oz. Jerkbaits.

see below

My last comment on the topic. I just talked to Ted at Ted's Tackle at the north end of Conesus by the dam and he hasn't noticed a significant increase in lake levels at all. Still no water over the dam.

This was this mornings totals. They are going to come up a LOT.  It is not supposed to stop raining until Saturday around mid day. 

IMG_1477060464.323042.jpg.

You can see the graph for Conesus Lake levels which are transmitted wirelessly. The graph on the website is somewhat accurate. Levels are actually lower than the graph shows but it's a good relative indicator. It's really a drop in the bucket so far. Click on the graph to expand.

http://www.conesuslake.org/

Sent from my iPhone using Lake Ontario United

I don't think water levels will be an issue after this rain in any of the Fingerlakes. 

I would be very skeptical. A couple of days of rain likely aren't going to make up for the fact that some of these lakes are 2.5 to > 4 feet down? BTW Chautauqua has plenty of water no problems there.

As was mentioned one can still launch at Conesus (no docks) but be careful until out a ways it's very shallow and there's some rocks. One boat didn't have it's motor tilted up far enough out and I heard some real hitting the bottom when he went out. On Conesus lots of water is drawn out for public and industrial use. Most years nature takes care of this but not this year, it just keeps going down. Also if you drift away from the center portion  you can get stuck in less than 6" of mud, makes it tough on windy days.

Got a very heavy 33.5" easy 10 lp+. Only fish all day. BTW they pulled out the docks today, had to wait 1/2 hour while the frontend loader carried the 2nd dock away.

Docks should be taken out next week on Conesus according to Parks department (upated from yesterday). Although they usually don't come out until the 15th which is a Saturday. Watch launching very shallow some rocks; have your motor tilted up high until ~ 50’out. Was their today got a 31†and a hammer handle this morning.

I got a real nice Musky on Chautauqua Saturday night, Great fight. Sorry forgot to hold the belly while having the picture taken.

Luckily I was going very slowly . My prop and sceg touched bottom a little while back. BTW Conesus is 2.5’ down.

I fish Conesus and on rare occasionally Chautauqua. I would be interested if the meeting were within reasonable distance of Rochester or on a weekend. I'm very interested in preserving quality Esox in both these lakes and in NYS in general.

In line with the original post may be dated?

They can be temperamental at Hemlock but some giants swim there. Nice fish!!!

Conesus walleye are tough during the day. The closest thing to a hot spot is trolling the deeper water off the points. It’s best to fish walleye on Conesus at dusk and during the evening in particular. A challenger trolled using copper line or a downrigger is a good bet. You can purchase them at Teds Bait shop in Lakeville. The bonus is they generally run 5 to 10+ pounds when you land one. As mentioned fishing is slow due to the extreme heat, despite the small cool spell. Most (not all) of the Conesus Walleye are caught from May tru July for some reason?

Congrads all around!!! Your little girl has out done my biggest. What a start.

Thanks for the opportunity to post this -I saw this guy on my fencepost when I was walking my beagle about a month ago (NJ). When we finished, I went back and was able to get a decent picture on my phone.

If it rotates, the shell is pointing skyward.

I have never seen one at quite this stage before.

Greta picture! As I recall they  can make quite a sound.

Pleasure boats are not the real issue during the morning and evening during the week, but can be troublesome on the weekends. Get out early. The big trouble is the high water temperatures. The best thing you can do is to troll a bit deeper in ~15 to ~28 FOW for pike SM_Bass and possible walleye or tigers. Casting may produce a few small ones at best with this record heat.  I haven’t picked up a big one casting in a month. I hate trolling, but.

Good luck they are in there.

This is a bit tricky because hook size isn’t standardized between different vendors. I.e.: A 2/0 from VMC, Gamakatsu, Mustad, Owner and Eagle Claw will all be of different sizes. Also they make wide gap and long shaft trebles as well often from the same vendor. Trebles come in different strengths from 1x to 4x. The stronger the hook the better it will hold up against large pike – musky’s, but also being heavier it will weight down your bait, possibly effecting its action. As mentioned it’s best to get a variety from say 1/0 to 5/0 in several different weights and types. I would recommend Gamakatsu and Owner for starters. They are among the strongest and sharpest. Also Owner makes amongst the most dependable split ring available.

http://www.gamakatsu.com/

http://www.ownerhooks.com/treblehooks.htm

Nice pike! Especially in the heat of summer.