**Chautauqua Lake BS**

[bulldawger]

Guys this is the best run tournament I have ever been a part of. Tim does an excellent job running it me and my partner have now fished both Chautauqua this year and sodus last year. Both events went off without a problem. To all of you Chautauqua boys that missed this event come fish sodus it's a great area and you will get to see what an actual perch looks like you don't need top end gear or transportation to be in the running to win last year we walked 5 miles to our perch grounds 2 days in a row to end up in second this year was 4 miles round trip to our walleye spot maybe a 1/4 mile to our perch spot try this event you won't be disappointed. Team Mitchels bait and tackle

Heck we cant even buy a license yet...p.s. i'm in Pa

[jeffro9023]

wheres the parking at Mayville?

[deweyicefish]

I want to thank the Chautauqua Lake and Jamestown area where I stayed during the tournament. People were pleasant and helpful with pointers for fishing the lake. Also to thank Tim Thomas for hosting another great event, its always a pleasure being in one of his well run events. It was great to see everyone and making new friends . This was my 3rd Pro Am Tournament,  look forward to many more.  Fishing the  Walleye Challange in Sacandaga this week end. Hope to see all the Chatauqua guys at Tupper Lake, then Sodos Bay…. Thanks again, Tim     Captain Team Eat Me

[FISHN NIK]

Jeffro,
        You can park across from the Kwikfill on rt.394,access to ice to the left at boat launch,the bank is a rocky dropoff.

                                 FN

[CHEVYSTEELIE]

Will the results be in the Buffalo News for the contest?
A brief report would be great to read.

[Finders Keepers]

Final results will be posted on the tournament website later today with a National press release created and sent out in the next day or two. We once again had 100% of the fish not kept by the anglers released with no dead fish. The low numbers were definitely disappointing especially considering the number of pre-registrations we had and the number of people "talking" about coming to the event. If local Chautauqua anglers are still hostile towards tournaments (as a result of the one back in the 80's), they really need to learn about new tournaments like ours that have a focus on fishery conservation and promotion. 

[FISHN NIK]

Thanks again Tim,
               I've noticed that the ones that griped the loudest weren't entered so shame on them.The real shame was it seemed all the out of towners had a good time so what's wrong with the locals?Thanks again for a very well run tourney and if you x us out we only have ourselves to blame.

                                              FN
                                            Nick

[Postletown]

I would like to get in on this tourney next year! I was too busy to fish the two days in a row this past weekend.  I wonder if the shaky ice conditions prior to the tourney might have deterred people from entering the tourney?  I know the ice was great this weekend, but maybe people didn't arrange plans in advance due to the ice a week or two ago.  Just a thought?

[Finders Keepers]

We provide daily ice and weather forecasts starting a week in advance. This year all forecasts were positive for the event, with the only possible question being whether we could allow motorized transport, which was cleared days in advance.

[bshirtd]

I would like to get in on this tourney next year! I was too busy to fish the two days in a row this past weekend.  I wonder if the shaky ice conditions prior to the tourney might have deterred people from entering the tourney?  I know the ice was great this weekend, but maybe people didn't arrange plans in advance due to the ice a week or two ago.  Just a thought?

Why wait till next year come to tupper and/or sodus it's definitely worth it

[Postletown]

I wish I could, the wife only allows one out of town ice fishing trip per year, lol.  I am headed to Oneida this weekend.  I have to save time to hunt and fish for lake erie walleyes in the summer too...Too much to do, so little time!

[FISHN NIK]

To all interested in Pro/Am results,
                I just talked to Tim about the results presently posted,they are preliminary results not final so be paitent,if you have any questions email Tim.

                          FN

[rd9]

We are locals and fished the event and had a great time. We finished second and seen the walleye that knocked us out of first caught right next to us. We were fishing out of Mission Meadows and those guys walked out there. Congrats to the first place finishers.  It was funny listening to them walking towards us in the dark, trying to judge were they where. We fished Mission Meadows and Chedwell for walleyes each morning without getting a walleye but seen several get caught day one.  Only one was caught day two that we seen. We then moved to Mayville and caught two hundred gills over the two days and at least 60 to 70 perch. We regularly catch perch between 8 and 10 inches and sometimes bigger.  Although this weekend we caught only a few over 10 and one 11 inches which wieghed .51 lbs. We did catch 5 gills over .5 lbs day two which is a good batch. All of are big perch came off a live shiner with a little split shot 3 to 4 ft under the ice.  We regularly fish way inside the normal pack out of Mayville.
We will be at the Sodus tourney fishing were ever the guys from Mitchell's bait and tackle are. We will give you a ride out if you need one.  There are a ton of small perch in Chautauqua, but if you go out first and last ice you can really get some nice fish.  Tim ran a great tourney and we were happy to be part of it. I do believe ice conditions did play a part in the low attendance. I try not to post conditions on this page often because last year some guy told me my report was incorrect. Here is the truth there is a group of guys who were fishing the lake weeks before the first report on this web page of safe ice came out and the local bait stores are hesitant to tell people ice conditions. Congrats to the winners, we were the first losers. Thanks again Tim see you at sodus.

[Toxic fisher]

Many have said it and I will say it as well. Chautauqua lake is a great fishery you guys have and had a ton of fun this past weekend. We came up Friday morning and prefished for the tourney and it paid off. 3rd place is fine by us. We mainly fished the north end and some of the east side. The walleyes eluded us congrats to Mitchell's bait. Jamestown was great and spoke with several locals who were helpful as well. Tim and his team put on another amazing tourney and #Teambrotherdads was glad to be a part of it again. This is our 3rd pro-am an will be fishing the next 2 tourneys as well. We're gunning for u mitchels... great job Tim and thank you again. Awesome tourney!!!!

[spun out fishing]

Thank you RD and toxic  u and ur team mates were awesome as was all the teams entered cant say enough about the great group of guys and girls that have fished these events the people are what make it fun again can't thank Tim enough for the work him and his family put in to these events and RD we do like to have fun out there glad we could put on a comic show for u and don't worry ill have my sled legal for sodus no need for a ride out to grounds n be careful following us im known for going way out of the way drill a bunch of holes and then move to the real spot maybe lol cant wait for the next tourney see u guys there t

[JFR]

new here just gettin back in to this after retiring .... was the word on Chautauqua lake condition catches etc ....

[BigT]

Put up 2 more posts & you can go to the Reports and Conditions
page and get all the info you need. Good luck 

[C-Bisket]

... although I haven't fished the lake "yet" this year - there's been a few postings of 10", and 11" perch being caught on the Chautauqua threads, by a few of the IS members this season ... for reference, my personal experience has been (in the last 5 years of fishing this lake on the ice with my crews - with say +/- 300 - 400 man days) - the guys, and myself, have only iced a true 3, maybe 4 total fish that cracked the 10" line TOTAL ... that's out of nearly 6,000 - 8,000 perch iced during that time (only 1 in 2,000 perch) - so to hear of these allusive, and rare 10"+  perch being caught is a bit perplexing, yet encouraging.

[trebblehook]

Although I haven't caught anywhere near that many perch, I have caught a couple over 10 ''. One just the other day at Mayville, and the other was 13.5 inches from Bemus. Game wardens came over and were very impressed by it, measuring it themselves !  Just had to put that one on the wall!

[Chi]

This weekend   http://www.niagarafishingexpo.com/ 

                                                                    http://www.niagarafishingexpo.com/services.html

  some good seminars

[dave_p.]

  One guy above said he puts a shiner down 3 -4 feet below the ice. A couple of years ago they were getting bigger perch suspended at the bell tower. Personally the last 5 years I got my by far biggest perch in Mayville a couple weeks ago it was 9 1/2" but like an Erie jumbo. Maybe 3/4# easily the size of 4 or 5 normal keepers. Got many 12" at private ponds, and Erie. Elusive at Chautauqua for me also.

[rd9]

We have caught many over ten this year.  Last year we might not of caught more then 4 or 5 and that is out of a group of us all year.  Probably like stated earlier 1 per several 1000.  This year out of Mayville has been good for a few bigger perch. My buddy I fished with in the tourney with caught a good bunch several weeks ago with several over ten and a 12.5 inch fish. We do catch the bigger ones suspended and if you get one big one you seem to get a few the same size. Most of them like I stated earlier came of a live shiner higher up in the water column. Now four to five years ago we would limit on 8" and better fish in the deeper holes.  Most in that 8.5 to 9 inch range. We have not been catching them walleye fishing this year or last out deep.

10 to 15 years ago we used to catch huge silver bass and white perch off mission meadows and chedwell and haven't caught any in years although I hear the get them in the summer. It just seems to me the last few years are good batches of perch have all come in shallow water instead of out deep which was common place several years ago.  We also stop catching any decent perch about now and then we start getting them again off Mayville in March mixed in with the Calico we get there.

[Crappie_Rod]

C-Bisket nice to see your still around!

[Game Hog]

X2 on hearing from the bisket.

[chuck1966]

fished in these winds today.There were four of us we all got skunked.Fish were not hitting today seen some nice eyes on camra.Any one have any luck on eyes today. 

[Game Hog]

Skunked,  for a week straight. Been out 6 of the last 7 days some days morning and night. Moved around the lake a bit and still nothing. Fished shallow, deep, and in between still nothing. First ice was great but this January low can go away. Going to switch over to the crappies for a bit

[fishinjohn]

fished in these winds today.There were four of us we all got skunked.Fish were not hitting today seen some nice eyes on camra.Any one have any luck on eyes today. 

Check out the reports page. Guess a guy got his limit all over 6lbs

[trickin n killin]

Anyone getting any gills or crappies amongst the perch at mayville?

[trickin n killin]

Just curious because I've been fishin burtis and doin great with the gills with a few crappie in the mix but no one perch I could call a keeper...was thinking about switching it up a bit tomorrow

[brokenfoot]

Hope you find them,good luck