NPike

Thank you Ivan for the feedback. Baits I use anywhere from 5.5" to 9": some wood some plastic: Salt Water X-Rap, Shine and Glide, Treble-D, etc. I've often thought they got the bait in their mouths grapping the body without really getting the hooks in a position that allows for a solidly hooked fish. You seem to have gotten the nail on the head. My partner fishes with blades I defiantly get more hits. We both catch fish.

Sometimes I’m have trouble keeping the toothy critters on with jerkbaits (1.5 to 3.5) oz. Ya some of them let go too quickly to react. But sometimes even after a good hook set and having the fish on for a bit it mysteriously gets off. Strangely when a 5 or more pound bass or walleye bites I rarely lose it. The problem is not lack of sharp hooks. Thanks

BTW how big does a Finger lakes sawbelly get (alewife). I all caught one at nearly 6" one time.

Is this on Chautauqua? Your big fish looks like it came from Small Boat Harbor by the backdrop. Thank you

Anyone use the Treble - D, if so any particular color?

How about the Treble-D any particular color?

For 1 thing Conesus has ~5 "or more" times bass to essox of any kind swimming in it's depths. I caught 7 tigers last year between (44 to 33)" and 8 pike between (37 to 33)" by casting. So I'm pretty satisfied with the essox population in Conesus. Not to mention a number of 6 to 4 pound bass. However I generally have to work for these fish and get skunked from time to time. Sure there are bigger fish in Chautauqua. I do agree many big breeder pike are removed in the later winter busting full of eggs, this is a shame and a slot limit should be but in place to curtail this. But in general I think Conesus is well managed with the 7k+ tiger stocked for the last 5 years (at least) and the well managed pike breeding ponds. BTW thank you for the suggestion I find trolling to inactive, used to fish for l_trout. Sorry for any repeat just wanted to sum it up for Conesus. It can be a tough lake at times as well and sometime it can be on fire.

I only spin cast and it seems to be as good as any way to find the bigger fish on Conesus. BTW 39" is a very nice fish that was bigger than my 38" big fish of 2 years ago year. I've only gotten 2 over 40" so they are not caught very often on Conesus at this size. I actually just had one up to the boat that was 40"+ hooked on a 3 1/2 X-Rap fishing for smallies. What a fight my wrist was sore.

Conesus has received ~ 7000 (7 to 8)" fingerlings the last 3 years. From my conversations with the DEC Also the DEC is very satisfied with the pike spawning impoundments to the south of the Lake.

Thank you I often have to work for them. Thanks for your service, I'm a vet as well back from the 70's. Ski's of any kind are my favorite fish. I think one differance on Conesus with the Tigers is that I throw slightly larger baits. Like Medussa, Saltwater X-Rap, Savage 4-play.

I didn't realize you're trolling with an electric motor and a quite small boat. This could be dangerous. I had a narrow 12' boat with a 4 horse early on and got swamped by a large wave. It filled the boat with water and ruined the day to say the least (nearly capsized us). Hemlock is not a large lake but it can wipe up a bit when a north or south wind starts blowing. You might consider a 14' boat? Or at least a wide reasonably - deep 12' boat. Just thinking about safety? As for the trout the key is to locate the thermocline which varies greatly depending on the time of the year. It can range from 25' to as deep as 40+' by late summer. Missing it by 3 to 5 feet will mean missing the fish. You can try fishing below the thermocline and get some Lakers as well, but no trout greater than 5' above it as a rule. I say this after having caught many between 5 to 10 pounds. I just lost interest in trolling.

I used to troll Hemlock a lot. I used Sutton spoons and Rapala taildancers. I fished them from manual downriggers using mono all the way. Never, had a problem with line 12#. I would fish one line at the thermocline and one line just below the thermocline by 3 to 5 feet. I tended to fish the western side more but often, but also fished open water. I used a temperature gauge to locate the thermocline, which is much more exact than trying to find it on a fish finder. The key is to locate that band of water where the water rapidly goes from warm to cold. Of course this is not a concern this time of year the fish could be anywhere even as shallow as 5 to 10 feet deep. I tended to troll at a moderate speed never measured the speed but it wasn't fast. Caught some L_Trout and Rainbows up to 10 pounds, however these were the exception. Lost a big trout >> 36' one time don't know what it would have weighted, but I'd guess an easy 20. Caught quite a few form 1 to 5 pounds as well as the occasional SM_Bass and even a pickerel

I use Husky Jerks and Salt Water Rapalas while up north in Canada. I fish them as you would any other jerkbait. I've caught numerous pike between 20 to 25 pounds. Never found the need for anything any bigger while up north. For Musky's I do use some bigger baits.

Nice Fish, what a monster. The biggest we've seen is about 47"

Hi, Never talked with fellow musky fisherman while fishing Chautauqua before. Only fish it a couple weekends a year and seemed to do alright with the triple-D jerkbait at 9" in perch color and the Savage Swim and jerk at 7 1/2 " swimbait also in a perch color. I'm convinced it's perch color helps since the lakes has countless yellow perch. Have any of you had also luck with these baits and the perch color? I usually water that's between 6' to 15' deep. Like to hear your experiences if similar for those who cast. Cheers and tight lines

Hi All, I love fishing in NYS and rarely in Ontario. I tend to spin cast for toothy critters, mostly pike but musky and tigers as well. My home lake is Conesus which I'll fish at least 40 times a year. I also fish some of the other Finger lakes and Chautauqua on occasion. Don't mind catching a mess of perch every once in a blue moon. Every 5 or 7 years I fly into sub-artic Ontario for walleyes and trophy pike. Like to fish with people but also love fishing alone, just great to be out on the water as long as the wind is down. Cheers and tight lines!

Tiger Musky fishing on Conesus is good. I got a ~24 pounder (doing a girth length est.) 44" last year and several between 34" to 38". All very thick bodied fish, more so than pike in general. However they aren't a dime a dozen. I sometimes wonder if they don't fight harder than either of their parents that is the Musky or the pike, they seem to be on steroids. In general Conesus has many more bass than anything other game fish. Then for every say 7 - 8 pike, I get 1 tiger. The nice thing about the tigers is that even though they are not as big as their Musky parent they do provide for trophy angling in Conesus, since they outgrow the pike as a rule. Tigers close to 30 pounds have come out of Conesus.