Conesus Lake

[jrf22]

Is Conesus lake worth spending a weekend ice fishing for perch?  We fish Chautauqua every year and want to switch it up?  I heard the perch population isn't very good…don't want to waste the money booking a place..any thoughts?

[builtright716]

Definitely my least favorite lake to fish, especially if your looking for perch

[Big Ice Hole]

Fished that lake the last 5 years and have never caught a perch plenty of gills but no perch!

[FrankM]

Conesus Lake would only be good for perch if you had a time machine and could go back to 1973.

[keystoneice20]

Grew up on Conesus and have never caught a Perch. The ones that are in there are huge, but good luck finding them. 

[coldnbroke]

Supposedly the perch are making a comeback in conesus..people claim to have been wadeing off vitale point this fall and catching them on small jigs on the edge of the weed bed,but ive never seen any caught..could just be BS

[GatorNY]

I hit a school of them 15 years ago out of the boat one after another for twenty minutes, then they were gone. Otherwise, I've caught one or two through the ice, fishing the North end a couple times a winter. I sure wouldn't book for the weekend to fish perch. The sunfish are crazy, but small, and the tip up fishing for pike is hit or miss. I'm not saying that it's a bad lake to fish, but I live less than twenty minutes away and I usually go elsewhere. For a weekend trip I think you could do better.

[jperch]

Conesus Lake would only be good for perch if you had a time machine and could go back to 1973.

Yes, the perch fishing was outstanding on Conesus back in the mid seventies.  I have fond memories of Michigan wigglers, Conesus Jigs and fishing in 50-60 feet of water with high school buddies and family.  It seemed like half of Rochester would show up on the ice during the weekends.  The old-timers back then were highly skilled and proficient perch catchers with specialized techniques.  What a fishery it was.  Hope it comes back some day.  jperch

[Bear Lake Bob]

I remember driving out on the ice of Cones us many times with my father in brand new cars, going to his ice fishing  shack jet out on the lake. Using see dish pimples baited with mousees, and special CONESUS jigs baited with Oak Leaf Grubs, we would get jumbo perch in high numbers. We also kept busy with our Tip Up flags baited with Golden Shiners catching Northern Pike all day! Sorry state of affairs when certain fishermen,mostly non- locals started to litter the ice with trash and burning the ice houses left on the lake over night. They banned any form if ice shelter from simple wind breaks up. Things changed with the fishery,  the DEC stocked Rainbow Trout, and Muskies in the lake. I believe that this started the decline of oer ch.
Many years ago Ice Shanty sponsored a fishing tournament on Conesus , I was fortunate to only have one fish bite all day, and that happened within 2 minutes into fishing. It was a 15 inch perch, which ended up the largest perch caught, and a trophy. That day I remember that there were over 50 anglers, people brought food, beverages, and sponsors gave door prizes. As I Remember that day, it was one of the most pleasant days I ever spent. Blue Gills were rampant, some Tiger Muskies and Small Norther a pike caught.
 
Now with the decline of fishing on  cones us, I would go a few miles farther, and fish Honeyed! :Tip up:

[dukhnter8]

I caught a 12" perch a few years ago while fishing for gills along with a couple nice bass and many gills. That was the one and only perch I caught there. Its a great spot for gills and fairly easy walking.

[FrankM]

Yes, the perch fishing was outstanding on Conesus back in the mid seventies.  I have fond memories of Michigan wigglers, Conesus Jigs and fishing in 50-60 feet of water with high school buddies and family.  It seemed like half of Rochester would show up on the ice during the weekends.  The old-timers back then were highly skilled and proficient perch catchers with specialized techniques.  What a fishery it was.  Hope it comes back some day.  jperch

In the good old days we would stop at Bob's Boat and Bait and get our baby food jars full of Michigan Wigglers and some Oak Leafs, make sure we had enough Conesus Jigs and then head out from Stella Maris or Long Point to the deep water and catch a mess of Perch.  I had just got my driver's license in 1973 so it was a big deal for me to drive out there in my '64 Malibu. At that time you weren't even allowed to  put up a windbreaker on your sled so we would just zip up our coats, put our backs to the wind and sit on an upside down drywall bucket.  Originally the Conesus Jig came only in silver.  I thought it was a big deal when they started selling chartreuse ones.  I still have a few in my jig box.

[Huntyeraws]

The good ole days.  My Dad used to sharpen the old swedish auger blades from Bob's in Lakeville.  It used to supplement his income and help pay for bait and gas.

The last time I got into big perch through the ice was in between Long Point and state launch in 50 FOW back in January 1990. They were HUGE - up to 15".  I got  two dozen one day and all were a pound and better.  They were spitting up baby alewife left and right up to about 2" in length.  Only memories now.

The alewife was the demise of the perch fishery on Conesus.  Back in the 1960's, 1970's and early 1980's, the perch would spit up tons of scud when you pulled them up.  When the alwife became established in the late 1970's/1980's (bait buckets)...many of the deepwater invertebrate population collapsed and the perch followed with a brief uptick when they started to feed on the baby alewife as I had witnessed first hand.  But then the alwife were eating up perch fry left and right and they didn't stand a chance.  State started to stock tiger muskie to help control the alewife.  Yes, the perch as still swimming in Conesus... and they have the potential to grow big, but the overall perch population is just a fraction of what it was back in the heyday.   

[FrankM]

I think I bought my first spoon auger at Bob's in 1973.  A few years later I bought a 7" Mora at K-Mart that I still use today only it's attached to a DeWalt drill.

[crzyeyevan]

I can remember getting to my uncle Bob's (Bob's Bait and Tackle ) around 3:30am to begin counting bait,wigglers, mousies, spikes, oakies and the line had already started outside the door. this would continue until 9:00ish and still be steady through out the day. As a young person at the time ( 12ish ) it was great to see all the big perch and walleyes come through the door and listen to all the old timers tell the stories. I have continued to ice fish (a lot ) over the years and the stories and memories that we have heard from the past are priceless. I encourage all that have been a part of the past, "the good old days" to share what you have seen and heard with the younger ice fishers that you know or come in contact with. All that have posted above, I may have run across in the past at my uncle's shop or possibly on the ice, thanks for bringing back some of the fondest memories of my life.

DP

[coldnbroke]

What was the whole purpose of stocking the alwives from the get go?

[Huntyeraws]

What was the whole purpose of stocking the alwives from the get go?

The NYSDEC never stocked the alewives on Conesus...fishermen did when they emptied their bait buckets.  The same thing happened on Honeoye, however there, they died off fairly quickly.

[coldnbroke]

They should add moke pike and walleye to eat them.when were the rainbows there? I never knew they ever existed in conesus

[Huntyeraws]

NYSDEC does not stock pike.  They stock tigers to help control alewife and walleye do a number on them to. I personally thought that Conesus would be a great lake to stock hybrid striped bass. They tend to school and suspend like alewife do and would do some serious damage to their population. The hybrid bass are sterile and they would easily grow to 10 pounds.  They would not compete with largemouth or smallies.

[TNT5859]

 

[SitsOnIce]

I tried finding the elusive conesus jack perch last year I covered miles of Lake and drilled a ton of holes for 2 days straight in deep water only to find a blank screen on the vex in 98% of the holes.  I have caught a few slobs when trolling walleye so I know they are in there somewhere but I think we need to go 20 wide and work the whole lake from one end to the other to find them..