I really liked 1 of the 2 modifications I tried out yesterday so today I think it will see some live action. We are chasing muskies and smallies this morning in between thunderstorms, hopefully.
Good luck and stay tuned!
Printable View
I really liked 1 of the 2 modifications I tried out yesterday so today I think it will see some live action. We are chasing muskies and smallies this morning in between thunderstorms, hopefully.
Good luck and stay tuned!
It was a pretty good day for hooking smallies but a terrible day getting them to the net. It is that time of year when many of the bass are hitting artificial lures very lightly and are difficult to keep hooked. The highlight of the day was when Ryan (17 years old) caught his first musky at the very end of the trip. While his dad and 2 uncles were bass fishing, Ryan kept chucking the new-ish presentation I had just tested the day before. It had been about 4.5 hours since Ryan had his first follow earlier in the day when he got slammed by a hungry musky in shallow water. It was also the last spot we were going to fish before quitting!
No fishing for my boat this weekend. On Monday, we plan to target muskies in the morning but may switch over to “just getting a rod bent” mentality later in the day. Hopefully, the storms stay clear of us.
Here is a pic of Ryan’s first musky. I should have re-positioned his fish for the photos but was in too much of a hurry to get her back in the water.
Attachment 32167
Good luck and stay tuned!
Well, we launched the boat this morning hoping to find some clean water. After a 5 mile drive, we couldn’t find any so we called it a day and went home. We got hammered last nite and every tributary (no matter the size) is running mud today. It very likely could be 2-3 days before things clear up.
Good luck and stay tuned!
This afternoon, I plan to fish with a local crew who recently bought a jet boat and are trying to learn the travel routes/general fishing areas on the river. If the river south of Warren is still too muddy to fish, we will head upriver looking for clean water. The travel routes will be the main focus.
The river sure was a mess yesterday.
Good luck and stay tuned!
We chased muskies yesterday evening and after not having any action at all, we quit at 9:30. This morning’s plan has muskies at the top of the list as well. The water sure seemed dead last nite. Hopefully, this cooler weather hasn’t slowed down the toothy critters.
Good luck and stay tuned!
A very slow morning for my boat yesterday as the weather cooled off just like the musky fishing. Todd did manage to stick a 4lb. smallmouth that thought she was ready to tackle a musky sized meal. We had zero follows of any kind as well.
On Monday, we will chase toothies on the fly. Hopefully, the warm moist air returns and the sky isn’t so blue.
Good luck and stay tuned!
The cooler weather sure cooled things off for my boat over the past several days. Once again, we had zero action from the muskies on Monday morning. The river has finally cleaned up from last week’s storms but has also cooled off a couple of degrees in the process.
Looks like I will take a few days off from the river and get some jobs around the house completed before visiting my dad down in the flood ravaged areas of Appalachia. My next trip will be Tuesday next week.
Good luck and stay tuned!
A late positive Covid test (last nite) for one of my guys forced us to cancel today’s fishing. We were already thinking about cancelling due to to today’s forecast so this made it much easier.
My next trip will be Friday. We will chase muskies. Hopefully, the river stays clean and in good shape by then.
Good luck and stay tuned!
We set sail at sunrise on (a very cool and foggy) Friday morning looking for muskies. Things were very slow for the first 4 hours but after the sun worked its magic, we moved 2 nice fish in the last hour but were not able to force-feed them at boataide. Both fish were in the 36-42” range. The river is low and not much coming from the tributaries either. Be careful out there!
We may hit the water on Tuesday and Friday next week if our schedules match up.
Good luck and stay tuned!
Looks like the weather will allow us to chase muskies on Friday. The river was bumped up a little this week to help keep the barges afloat and endangered aquatic life healthy in the lower river.
Good luck and stay tuned!
On Friday, our goal was to have an enjoyable day on the water and that is exactly what we did. Chris had 2 nice muskies visit him at boatside but both decided to skip the easy meal and vanish under the boat. We found a little stained water downriver and decided to focus our efforts there for most of the morning. River temps have dropped about 4 degrees the past 2 weeks. Fall is sneaking up on us.
On Monday, we plan to chase a mixed bag of fish but just haven’t decided which ones yet.
Good luck and stay tuned!
After looking at the forecast one last time last nite, we decided to play it safe and cancel today’s fishing. The threat of lightning was the biggest concern. Hopefully, we can sneak it in before school starts. Oddly enough, the same exact thing happened with these guys last August.
My wife and I might even try to squeeze in 9-holes today if we can find a break in the weather.
Good luck and stay tuned!
After shuffling some schedules around the recent weather, Joe is going to chase muskies-on-the-fly tomorrow and then the boat will go into the shop immediately afterward for a scheduled pit-stop. (Joe was the guy who bagged his first fly-musky a few weeks ago after only 9 casts!)
It looks like tomorrow will be my last weekday fishing trip before school starts. Hopefully, today’s rain doesn’t muddy things up too badly.
Good luck and stay tuned!
There wasn’t much action for Joe and I yesterday. Other than a few smallies following Joe’s musky-sized fly to the boat, the net stayed dry for us all day. We fished some off colored water most of the day hoping to offset the sunny skies. The plan sounded good on paper.:)
Today we take our youngest daughter to college. The nest will be officially empty today. My boat goes into the shop tomorrow as school work-days begin later next week.
Good luck and stay tuned!
I plan to pick up my boat this weekend after some serious yearly maintenance has been completed by Wiegel’s Marine and then play a little golf over the holiday. I plan to wait another week before getting back into “weekend warrior” mode for the next 3 months.
Have a safe Holiday and stay tuned!
Picking up the boat today and preparing to kick off the Fall fishing season this weekend. We will be targeting muskies both days. The river discharge is running lower than normal so be careful out there!
Stay tuned and good luck!
After a severe butt-kicking yesterday, we decided not to fish in the rain today.
‘Tis the season for the floating weeds/grass to begin. As the days get shorter and the river bumps up, the mature vegetation is starting to break free. The pea soup coming out of Chautauqua Lake is adding some color to the river as well. It won’t be long before the Corps begins switching the gates to a bottom discharge which always adds some color to the upper river too.
Stay tuned and good luck!
We are suppose to be chasing muskies this weekend but some airline travel snags may force us to cancel. I will know more later today. The river flow is still running low as local fishermen only have 1 week before the big tourney next weekend. I haven’t had a chance to check on the water clarity yet this week but I expect to see some color.
Stay tuned and good luck!
We were only able to squeeze in a 4-hour day yesterday but netted a very solid pike and I pulled the lure away from an upper-30’s fish at boatside with the hopes of a little ‘bait and switch” technique. Ryan threw back a couple times but no luck. Water clarity looked nice and the river was actually a tad higher than last weeeknd. The smaller tributaries are running higher from last week’s rainfall. The Fall cooldown has arrived which means floating vegetation is increasing.
No fishing today for my boat. My wife informed me that since both kids are finally in college, I needed to take her golfing today.:)
Stay tuned and good luck!
I took the weekend off and traveled back home to Virginia for my 35th HS reunion. I haven’t been fishing the same weekend as the State Tournament for a few years now. Now, it is time to get serious for the Fall bite! Looking forward to lots of fishing over the next couple of months.
Stay tuned and good luck!
Looks like we will be chasing walleye on Saturday and muskies-on-the-fly Sunday. I have a feeling there will be some very colored water to contend with if fishing South of Warren.
There will likely be a bass tournament happening on Saturday as well.
Stay tuned and good luck!
We had a very solid day hunting walleye yesterday while fishing some very colored water. The accidental bass fishing wasn’t too shabby either. Our largest walleye was 27.5 and largest bass was was just shy of 4#. Most everything we caught was on the larger side of the spectrum for some reason. Temps ranged between 57.5 and 64 depending on location and floating vegetation was manageable. The bites were especially aggressive with most lures being completely eaten.
Today, we will look for a musky on the fly and not sure of the gameplan until I check the river conditions. Hopefully, the wind will not be too problematic.
Stay tuned and good luck!
A tough day to sling flies with big winds out of the NE and clearing skies. We did not see any fish at boatside but that doesn’t mean they weren’t there as the clarity was around 2 feet. We did hit Matt’s personal best smallmouth around noon. I also had a pike smash my spinnerbait but shook off. That was it for the action.
Getting ready for a 3-day musky stint over the upcoming holiday.
Stay tuned and Good Luck!
We had a great time fishing but the catching was the tough part.:). After not see any signs of life for 7 hours, we decided to quit an hour early.
Today, Doug will try to catch his first musky with a fly rod. Let’s hope the wind calms down a little and the toothies wake up a little. River levels are suppose to be falling today too.
Stay tuned and good luck!
Doug worked his tail off trying to get his fly into the right places as the wind made things challenging yesterday. The floating vegetation continued but not quite as bad as Saturday. We finally had a fish flash-off around 12:30 but that was it. Hopefully, the cold front has worked its way thru the area and things are trending upward once again. Water temps south of Warren are around 57 and upstream temps are in the 62 mark.
Jeff will try his luck with the fly rod today. Muskies are on the menu.
Stay tuned and good luck!
It was a little better out there on Sunday as Jeff had a boatside slasher try to steal his fly around 1pm but missed the hooks. Other than that, we had no other action to wrap up a very unproductive 3-day musky stint.
River levels were trimmed back down to very low levels on Sunday nite. Temps around 56-57 south of Warren.
Stay tuned and good luck!
We knew it was going to be a windy day but did not expect THAT much wind………and floating leaves along with tons of suspended strands of river grass. We kept moving North while hunting for fishable water. After 5 hours of unproductive casting, we gave up. Over 70% of our casts came back with salad attached to our lures. We did find a few bass that were interested and that was it.
Today, we are looking for muskies while hoping the winds/vegetation are manageable. Downstream temps are around 55-56 and upstream temps in the low-60’s.
Stay tuned and good luck!
Another fun day of fishing but a terrible day for catching as we failed to put any muskies in the net (once again). The wind cooperated for us during the morning helped keep the floating leaves at bay. The afternoon was a little different story. We also had more river discharge fluctuations again this weekend and I am not sure why.
Time to regroup and prepare for next weekend’s musky hunt. The first really big cool-down coming our way this week as well. Snow in the forecast for tonight.
Stay tuned and good luck!
My boat will be looking for muskies (again) this weekend with the hopes of breaking out of the recent slump. There have been a few times over the past few weeks that a live bait approach would have likely made things a bit easier but we stuck with the artificial approach anyway.
The weather looks very nice but that doesn’t mean the fish will like it. Let’s hope the floating vegetation isn’t too bad. We are entering the time frame where there can be massive amounts of leaves floating. Fingers crossed.
Stay tuned and good luck!
Things got a little better yesterday but the net still stayed dry. We had a couple of small-ish toothies come to the boat during the late-morning and that was it. The wind picked up around noon and the leaves became a problem. We quit after 7 hours. Today, we will change our tactics and see if we can finally get someone to eat. The water South of Warren has some pretty good stain. River levels have been bumped up a little but still very low for this time of year. The summer drought is to blame.
Downstream temps are 49.9 and upstream temps are in the upper-50’s.
Stay tuned and good luck!
We did some different stuff and fished some different areas on Sunday. The first and largest fish we saw was around noon as a low-40’s fish sluggishly followed Dave’s Rig Boss to the boat. 3 hours later, an upper-30’s fish decided to eat the bait and the musky slump was finally over. Gary had finally caught his first pure bred musky in the last spot we were going to fish!
This week, we plan to fish muskies on Chautauqua and chase trout on the river followed by a full weekend of hunting bass/walleye.
Stay tuned and Good Luck!
Attachment 32172
We moved our Chautauqua trip to next week due to the rainy weather we had last Wednesday. Yesterday’s trip went pretty well as Lenny caught his first musky. He also had a much larger musky come in hot with his nose almost touching the bait but just wouldn’t eat. We had some pretty good trout action as well as Lenny landed a 23” brown with a couple more near-misses.
Today and tomorrow we will chase as many bass/walleye as humanly possible. Dave and Ken are two of the best finesse bass fishermen I have ever fished with. Their skills will be tested during a pretty tough Fall river bite. Warmer than average river temps and much lower river levels will be a challenge. Looking forward to watching these guys work their magic under super sunny skies today.
Stay tuned and good luck!
Dave and Ken put 45-48 smallies in the bag yesterday with another 10-12 lost fish. We went hunting for big walleye for the first 1.5 hours and came up with nothing so we moved to bass around 10am and quit at 5. Largest measured bass was 21.5. No musky or pike sightings. We fished a variety of areas and used various artificial techniques until a pattern was established.
Today’s plan will be pretty much the same but we might change the order of the spots we fished based on yesterday’s results.
Good luck and stay tuned!
After a hot morning start, things cooled quickly for us in the afternoon as we put 31 bass and 1 walleye in the net. The leaves became a problem south of Warren later in the day. We were just shy of the 20” mark.
Water temps ranged between 50 and 55 depending on location. We plan to chase muskies at Chautauqua on Thursday and then 2 straight days chasing muskies for the weekend. Mild temps and southerly winds forecasted for the next week.
Stay tuned and good luck!
It sure did not seem like November musky fishing yesterday but it was still musky fishing, nonetheless. We had 2 of the largest fish I have seen all year come to the boat…..1 tried to eat and missed the bait while the other fish was looking at the bait (partially covered with weeds) but wouldn’t pull the trigger. Both fish showed themselves between 11 and 11:15 and that was all the action we had. Water temps were still in the low-50’s!
Friday and Saturday will both be musky-hunt days on the river. Let’s hope the floating vegetation isn’t a problem.
Good luck and stay tuned!
Another fun and memorable day on the water yesterday as Scott landed his very first musky and Conner had 2 respectable fish come to the boat but evidently did not like the menu items. We battled some floating leaves as the wind forecast wasn’t even close. Water temps have actually risen over the past couple weeks and I was fishing in shorts by 11am.
Today’s plan will likely be the same but will need to check the water conditions at daylight. The incoming rain will also be a factor.
Good luck and stay tuned!
Sunday was a tougher day for my boat as the net stayed dry and no musky sightings. We fished the exact same spots as Saturday but couldn’t get anything going. Water temps have actually risen by 6-7 degrees over the past 2 weeks. This has affected the northerly migration of all species, especially bass.
It’s gonna be another 3-day weekend of musky fishing coming up as we celebrate Veteran’s Day. It will be my first Vets Day in 28 years without Charlie Brant. RIP brother.
Good luck and stay tuned!
Friday’s rain forecast was enough to cancel fishing but mostly due to the potential for floating vegetation washing into the river. Muddy tributary water is also a real concern too. I had forgotten we were going to watch my daughter play a couple basketball games on Friday nite and Saturday as well.
We are still looking to fish on Sunday but will have to wait and see how bad the river looks Saturday evening. Big weather changes on the way!
Good luck and stay tuned!
After 3 inches of rain on Friday, we decided to cancel Sunday’s trip as well. The river will rise a couple more feet today and Tionesta Lake jumped 23 feet in 40 hours! The floating vegetation is terrible since this is the first high water we have had after the Fall leaf-drop.
We plan to hit the water next weekend after things flush out.
Good luck and stay tuned!
With the drop in temps and increasing wind speeds coming for the weekend, we have decided not to fish. River levels have been high and will remain high for several more days. Wednesday and the rest of Thanksgiving vacation is looking promising weather-wise but river levels may still be too high.
I hope to squeeze in a few more fishing trips before having my hip replaced on 11/29.
Good luck and stay tuned!