Labor Day Musky Hunt...had to chase cooler waters

[Air Force Chris]

Lake Chautauqua Run Down

We’ll checked off a bucket list item for Cari and I. Since moving out to the East Coast in June I’ve had my eye on that lake. With water temps still iffy in NJ, we decided to take the drive up to Lake Chautauqua for the extended weekend. Glad we made the trip. Beautiful area and solid fishery. It’s rare we both are home for a holiday. Either she’s flying a mission or I’m TDY. Very grateful to spend time with the wife and hit this historic fishery.

Day 1 Friday- All about covering water. Since I had never been to this lake I knew I had to put my head down and cover a ton of water. It’s a big lake with two very different areas, the north and south end. I choose to target areas that had structure with access to deep water nearby. Traditional summer pattern. There was an abundance of weeds throughout the north end. Ruling out water would be critical to success. About ten I came into an area that had checked all the boxes. I picked up my CASH DC-8 and made three casts, on the third cast I smoked a FAT 44.5”. Needless to say I was pleased to have ANY such luck on my first day. I worked over the rest of the area without seeing a thing. Doubled back just to make sure I didn’t miss anything. Well wouldn’t you know as soon as I got back in the area….here comes another. Had her go around in the 8 three times and finally eat. Spent the rest of the day exploring other areas of interest without much luck but it gave me confidence in some spots I knew would be worth hitting again. Def seemed to be a morning deal the first day. Checked out the south end, water temps were 3-6 degrees warmer, wrote off that entire side of the lake.

Day 2 Saturday- Action Day. I doubled back through some of the areas I had explored on day one. About 9 am put a healthy “hump back” in the boat again on the Llungen DC-8. Things seemed to slow down for a bit. Around noon everything exploded. I moved 4 fish within a short window and put another three footer in the boat. By this time the boat traffic had increased significantly on the water and it became pretty difficult to target some of the structure that was near deep water. Decided to take a break and troll in the evening. Got back out on the water around 4pm and put Cari in the driver seat for trolling. Heck, she’s a pilot…she can figure it out haha. She did exceptional and within an hour picked up a healthy 39” on a new .22 Short. Got another rip a few hours later but no dice. Moved another two casting.

Day 3-Slow down. It became very difficult to target some of the areas I was fishing due to all the boat traffic. There was a significant amount of chewed up weeds on top of the water from all the boat traffic. I mean A LOT. Tough to fish a blade without fowling every single cast. Slowed down and moved a mid-forties fish on a shallow raider. Brought her right to the boat but she didn’t want to play. Came back later in the day and had her come up again on a black & org DC-8. She was HOT. There was so much crap on top of the water I snagged a weed mid retrieve and the blades stopped spinning. She still followed it right to the boat nose right on it. Couldn’t get her to go into the 8. So disappointed here. I know had them blades been spinning I would have converted. O well, I know where she lives haha. Always next time. Decided to take a break and head into town. Cari and I stopped in and visited Mike Sperry at his tackle shop Chautauqua Reel Outdoors. Great shop with an excellent selection. Chatted with Mike for a bit and within seconds it was clear he knows that lake! He showed me some of his handspun bucktails and I was impressed. They looked great!

All in all it was a great trip boated 4 fish in three days and spent some quality time with the wife. Will def be headed back in years to come.

Chris