Ohio Game Fishing banner

Chatauqua mid may

3K views 35 replies 10 participants last post by  Skarfer 
#1 ·
Just booked a trip up there the 3rd weekend of may. This is my second may trip up there. The first was a bust. Temps were in the 30s and 40s and fishing was awful. My question is about which end of the lake to fish. We are staying on the south side of the northern half of the lake. Would it be more productive to just head to the shallow south end and fish for LM or target the smallies in the north end? I would rather catch smallies but if that is too early in the season to get them i would rather head to the south end and get numbers.
 
#3 ·
yes too early to say but should not be too early for smallies. i had gone up for a week in the spring every year for 5 years but missed last year. as it gets closer there will be some reports on here to give you a clue to what is going on but the best advice i can give you is be able to adjust with the conditions.

where are you staying? i am trying to get a couple other guys to commit to a trip this spring and looking at week of may 22nd. i am looking at staying at pine hill which is south end of upper basin.
 
#4 ·
Agreed on needing to wait until closer to the date, but good to hear that it sounds like may can be a good month for smallies up there. We are staying at wewanchu cottages that same weekend. We were real happy with the facilities last trip and its location on the lake.
 
#13 ·
my dad and a group of his buddies fished up there. they stayed/stay in the same place. they were after panfish though. if i m thinking right they went up about the same time you are talking about going. i never made the trip with them but always sounded like a good time.
 
#6 ·
Certainly won't be too early for smallies.

We catch them consistently in 49 degree and up water. Would probably catch them in 43-44 if we were there when that was the temperature. My thinking is that 55 is about perfect for them. The experts will say 65, but I do really well at 55.
 
#14 ·
Closing in on the spring Chautauqua trip! Sounds like high water up there now and snow this coming weekend so a typical spring. I'll be heading up with my brother on the 21st and hoping for decent weather and a good bite that week. If anybody is up at the lake sooner would love to hear some reports.
 
#16 · (Edited)
Walleye season opens this Saturday. Muskie season is closed until last Saturday of the month. Largemouth and Smallmouth are currently both catch and release only and only with artificial. I heard perch and crappie are both being caught in numbers recently. Good luck and report back how you did!
 
#27 ·
Looks and sounds like you had fun. Nice smallie! And nice muskie! We will be up there a week from today. Cleaning reels and organizing gear now. Looks like will be a few days with warm weather up there this week and then maybe rainy for the week we will be there. Thanks for the report!
 
#28 ·
Are you heading up there today or tomorrow? We will be getting in Sunday afternoon. Sounds like the fishing is good right now. Hearing reports of all species biting. Good luck and would love to hear a report on how you did.
 
#30 ·
My brother and I pulled into Pine Hill Cottages at Chautauqua on Sunday afternoon. After a rainy drive we had a break in the weather to unload and launch the boat. Decided to poke around a bit on Sunday eve just to get an idea of weed growth and wow so many areas are already choked out. Sounds like the lake thawed out several times over the winter so weeds didn't really die off. Upper basin water temp was 58-60 on Sunday and it was real windy. Monday was windy again but the search was on early for smallmouth and then checked in on a personal favorite spot end of the day for largemouth. We landed 24 fish with 5 bass over 3lbs and the biggest (smallie) going 3.5lbs. Ran into a couple guys who said they caught around 50 bass on the day. Tuesday was warm with blue bird skies and some east wind in the mix. Started out amazing with a great topwater smallmouth bite. Fish started missing baits so moved over to other techniques but was a day of short strikes including a pig walleye jerking the weed line in the evening. She sniffed the bait a couple times before committing but still came unbuttoned at the boat. That one stung. Wednesday brought consistent white caps to the lake and the water warmed up to 60-62. Was a super grind of a day. We got off the lake a bit early to get the batteries charged up before the rain started. Our neighbors fished later that night and said smallies turned on at dusk. It started raining Wednesday night and didn't stop until about 4p on Thursday. I was still thinking about the walleye so decided to troll worm harnesses all day. Only ran into 2 eyes but had nonstop action from yellow perch, white perch and white bass. As we were trailering up Thursday evening we ran into our neighbor again and he said the smallie fishing was really good that day so sounds like my timing wasn't so great this week. 100 fish on the clicker with 9 species total and a fun week with my brother who does not fish a whole lot. Pine Hill was great! We will be back!
Fishing Fish Bass Recreational fishing Recreation
Fish Fishing Bass Carp Recreation
Fishing Fish Recreational fishing Bass Outdoor recreation
 
#32 · (Edited)
GL! I didn't fish for LM much but the little I did I can tell you they were up shallow even 2 weeks ago. They were feeding up right on the bank on Monday 5/22. The next 3 days they pulled back into the inside weedline and were very finicky. Combo of weather and spawn I imagine. I have an aluminum boat now so with the wind that week I spent most of 1st 3 days drift fishing rocky bars for smallies and they were cooperating very well at times. I even got a great topwater bite going on Tuesday 5/23. Never looked at lower basin. There were many docks in the upper basin that were either not yet in or just going in last week.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top