Couple reports

[uglyfish]

well, i finally managed to get out and do a little fishing this week. On thursday me and the wifey ditched the kids and headed to the harbour for a little while to see what was happening. i was shocked to see how thick the weeds have come in, in just over a week or so! seen lots of cruising carp and a few big bass as well... they just had me drooling for opener! started tossing a big swimbait hoping a pike would be around but no takers, also tossed a crankbait in hopes of a scrappy sheepie... but again, NUTHIN! so, picked up a spinning rod and tied a small jig on and decided to try for some pannies. lots of bluegill in the area, and as one was nipping at my jig.. he took off!! i was wondering what spooked him... when i looked back down to see a nice chunk largie come out and grab the jig lol.

 

after a pic and release, i moved along the shore to a shallower area to look for some bedding bluegills. fished for them a bit when i spotted a nice big rockbass. pitched the jig to im and wham. managed to get 3 nice big rockies that insisted they come by for dinner. couple guys beside me were fishing for perch and caught a couple they deep hooked so they gave them to me as well, and then he caught a monster perch. easy 13" fish if not a bit more.

 

the wifey even got in the action after she got bored catching gobies and landed a nice rockbass too.

 

we packed up after a couple hours and headed home where i cleaned and cooked up my fishies! it was SO nice to have a feed of fresh fish. kids got in on that action too!

 

On Saturday June 19th, we had a club tourney on Lake Chautauqua in NY state. its about 2.5 hours from Hamilton. For any of you with WFN, this is the lake where the Scott Martin Challenge was filmed when he went up against Bob Izumi and Bob slayed him! the lake really looks and fishes like a kawartha lake. long narrow lake, with a deep end and a shallow weedy end. we elected to fish the shallow end for largies. it turned out to be a gorgeous day, but the fish didnt wanna play. we seen a lot of fish, but they were tight lipped. no matter what we threw, they werent interested.

 

we fished a tree lined shoreline in the morning and tossed jigs and senkos up under the overhangs. after tossing to a tree 20 times or so... my partner tosses a god aweful colored senko in and smashes a 5lb 9oz largie. that turned out to be our only keeper of the day lol. i managed to get a short 11" largie later in the day... along with a catfish on a senko, big pumpkinseed on a dropshot and a rockbass lol. Had 2 fish blow up on frogs in the lilypads but missed both fish. turned out we only need the one fish as everyone had a tough day that day! we beat out second place by 2 lbs lol. so we won the tourney plus big fish!

 

it really is a gorgeous lake, and the drive out is quite nice too. much nicer then goin through Toronto to the kawarthas. I look forward to going back there later in the season. Next week is the ontario opener. dunno where ill be saturday, likely close to home with the family. but sunday ill be up on pigeon lake for a tourney!

[Leecher]

Awesome report and pics uglyfish

Thanks for sharing

Leechman

[vinnimon]

Awesome man,lost a big pike down the street from that place.A few perch were caught in that same spot by another fisherman.

[OhioFisherman]

Lake Chautauqua is a great lake, we used to have a two day event there every year, sometimes the club championship also. We had weigh ins were L/M and S/M exceeded 6 pounds. The lake is also known for Muskie, had a couple on there myself but didn`t land them.

 

Another smaller lake about 20 miles away is Findley lake, no boat launch on the week ends unless you are staying at the campground though. A good tournament lake, not unusual to see 15-20 pound catches.

 

Presque Isle state park about a 45 minutes away in PA is also a great place for a Tournament.

[uglyfish]

Lake Chautauqua is a great lake, we used to have a two day event there every year, sometimes the club championship also. We had weigh ins were L/M and S/M exceeded 6 pounds. The lake is also known for Muskie, had a couple on there myself but didn`t land them.

 

Another smaller lake about 20 miles away is Findley lake, no boat launch on the week ends unless you are staying at the campground though. A good tournament lake, not unusual to see 15-20 pound catches.

 

Presque Isle state park about a 45 minutes away in PA is also a great place for a Tournament.

 

yea man, we knew the lake was a good place. we just happened to hit a day when the fish were WAY off lol. we wanna go back in the fall for a crack at it again. beautiful place. not just muskies there, known as a great crappie lake too. thanks for the heads up on the lakes! ahve to look into them.

[uglyfish]

Awesome man,lost a big pike down the street from that place.A few perch were caught in that same spot by another fisherman.

 

yea we seen a good 10lb pike there a couple weeks ago, i had him hooked for a second but he shook it, prolly for the best considering the gear i was using lol. if ya ever wanna go down for a few fish bud let me know! i need someone to show me how to get them pike, as much as i try i cant seem to get one in there, can catch everything else, but not a freakin pike. and i know where a true 50+ inch pike lives down there, absolute monster i would love to get one day.

[otter649]

Watching Buffalo tv news sunday night(20) unfortuately a boater went missing on Lake Chautauqua after he

jumped/dived out of his boat on saturaday to go for a swim & did not resurface and was still missing

as of sunday night. The thinking was because of the thick weeds in the lake he got tangled in the weeds.

[OhioFisherman]

http://www.paradisebaypark.com/

 

Uglyfish here is a link to the campground at Findley Lake, a smaller lake, less than 1000 acres but unlimited horsepower. The lake is owned by the property owners around it, but they have an agreement with the state that allows public access. Although the ramp by the corner store is closed on weekends to limit access. Launching on the weekends is still permitted at the campground.

 

It has L/M and S/M in it and once you get used to fishing it a 19+ inch of either is possible, and you will probably need one to win a tournament there. Not a very deep lake, and quite weedy in spots. A bass factory, but a cold front can screw things up some.

 

Presque Isle? A bay on Lake Erie, sort of says it all? A Tournament there can be won inside the bay or by venturing out onto the lake for smallies. A lot more water to fish and 5 pound fish of either species are pretty common, but for the smallies more often out in the main lake east of the bay.

[Guest Johnny Bass]

Great report.Nothing better than sharing your love of fishing with your significant other. And Congrats on the tournament win.

[uglyfish]

thanks guys! i appreciate all the good comments! and ohiofisherman... thanks for the areas, sounds like a good place to check out sometime!