We expected fishing to be very tough after the huge (and unfortunate) changes in river levels and temperatures on Sunday. If the water fluctuations weren’t bad enough, the Conewango is bringing large amounts of mud into the river as well. We were confined to the 8.6 mile stretch between the dam and Warren. Our goal was to catch a pike or musky. After several hours with zero action, our goal was to simply see any signs of life from a fish longer than 12 inches. We did find a small pod of minnows hanging around some flooded bushes but still no sight of any adult fish. It was like fishing in the desert.

At the very end of the day, we made one last stop at a place I rarely ever fish because at this point, we needed something to get the skunk out of the boat. 45 minutes later, we netted our first bowfin measuring 24.5”. That was it for the day and the skunk was gone. I sure am glad we did not need to catch our lunch or supper yesterday.

River temps were 66-67 after topping out at 74-ish the day before. I will likely head to Tionesta or Chautauqua this week while the river settles down as it looks like more rain is on the way.


Good luck and stay tuned!