Kinzua and River temps

[Kaz]

Anyone know the water temps for the river and the Kinzua res?

Kaz

[Red Childress]

They are both around 37-38.

[Kaz]

Thinking of taking a drive down there to fish the lower river from shore just below the dam on Sunday. I just got my PA fishing license. Pretty cool that you can just print it out after paying online. Is right below the dam a good spot for fishing pike or musky down there from shore?

Kaz

[Red Childress]

Some of the largest critters (Esox, trout and walleye) in the entire system should be lingering around that area this time of year. Good Luck!

[muskyjerk]

best site I've found for river temps. zoom and click temperatures under USGS. used to give location when icon with temperature was touched, now just a number is listed.
http://www.wunderground.com/wundermap/?zoom=4&rad=0&wxsn=0&svr=0&cams=0&sat=0&riv=0&mm=1&mm.mdl=GFS&mm.type=SURPRE&mm.hour=0&mm.opa=100&mm.clk=0&hur=0&fire=0&tor=0&ndfd=0&pix=0&dir=0&ads=0&tfk=0&fodors=0&ski=0&ls=0&rad2=0

[Kaz]

What do you suggest for bait right now if we cast from shore below the dam? I was thinkin 6-7 inch jerk baits, like husky jerks, jakes, ect.... slow twitches, or maybe even thinking of throwing a ROB tube.

Also, is the area where the Conowanga meets the Allegheny good for a shore spot? Any help would be greatly appreciated. I will give a report on Monday of what we caught. I have 4 guys including my self coming down there to fish Pike & Musky this Sunday. The bad thing is that Sunday is the day after St. Patricks Day, so I bet we will have only 2 or 3 of us. I'm sure a hangover will ruin one of us. LOL. I'm super excited because there is no where to fish up here right now and pike is out of season as of Friday, and musky is out of season here till Mid June.

Kaz

[muskyjerk]

What do you suggest for bait right now if we cast from shore below the dam? I was thinkin 6-7 inch jerk baits, like husky jerks, jakes, ect.... slow twitches, or maybe even thinking of throwing a ROB tube.


Kaz
Last week I got two fish. saturday was a 4" musky bait while trolling, Wednesday on a 2.75" walleye lure while trolling. Fish were in the 40-42" range and on the lower allegheny where smaller baits may be preference as they have been since Dec. middle allegheny below warren I got a 33" in march 2 years ago on a 6" phantom soft tail in orange crush.

[Red Childress]

Since they have started filling up the Reservoir this week, the river flows are super low for this time of year. You will have low water to deal with along the tailrace section. As far as baits go, that 51 we hit a couple of weeks ago engulfed a 10" Phantom Softtail. I think anything will work as long as it is in their faces and with the water being as low as it is, you will be able to put many lure types close to bottom and hang them there.

If you feel like dragging a boat down here, the bays on Kinzua might be really good right now too for giant pike...especially Sugar and Willow. These warm, sunny days and relatively warm nights might have the Esox stacked in the ends of the bays during the daytime. Just a thought.

I would stay away from the Conewango area due to the very low water. It will be difficult to get your baits to the fish from shore under those conditions.

Good Luck!

[Red Childress]

Just a quick update on water temps..........went out for a bit yesterday to test out my new depthcharge fly line and noticed the water temps below Warren were in the mid-40's already! The tailrace area is in the 39-40 degree range. The Conewango Creek (Chautauqua outflow) is really influencing the downriver temps which means Chautauqua must be heating up very quickly this year.

[muskyjerk]

lower allegheny got over 51 degrees on sunday, warmer by creek mouths. guess i'm done milking my winter pattern.

[muskyjerk]

On a previous post I gave a link to river temps. If you click the temperature it will give you the location.

[Red Childress]

If this crazy weather continues, we might have a Chautauqua spawn happening in early-April.