Chemung Report

[patcheroo]

I finally talked my son into spending some time on the ice with the old man today. He, his buddy and I caught a ton of gills. Most were runts but we did manage to bring home 40 between 7" and 8 1/2". We fished from daybreak till 3. Had tipups out all day, moved them alot, and never had a flag. I think he'll be going again soon, let him use my FL-18 most of the day. He said it was the coolest thing he's ever seen. GREAT day on the ice!...Patch

[Dawg]

Glad to hear someone was having some luck.

Tried for 4-5 hours yesterday and could only catch bait. Moved around (w/o sonar) most of the time and usually found gills suspended, no size to 'em.

Was my first time at Chemung, noticed most of the traffic at the east end. Is this where everyone goes for all targets of species, or is this just because the launch is there?

Also, local bait shops with minnows?

Thanks.

[patcheroo]

The launch has a lot to do with it but I know that a couple of weeks ago , maybe three, there was still open water on the west end...Patch

[gunrod]

There was a snowmobile on the news that went through also. I believe this was on the far west end about two weeks ago.

The depth on the far west goes to 70+ feet and I believe this affects the ice.

It's getting tough to find decent size fish out there. Saturday we set up in 40 feet of water and marked fish but constantly had our bait stolen. I dropped the video cam into the hole and watched my lure for a minute. It was being swarmed by 3 inch bluegills. I would raise up the bait and they would follow. We moved to a little shallower water and managed 15 gills and a couple perch for three of us. We still had to catch 2 or 3 for every keeper, and "keeper" was a stretch. The best advice is to use some type of flasher or graph to find fish and move if you don't catch anything decent in 15 minutes. I could mark fish in one hole, move 20 feet and mark nothing.

[vercin]

Could you tell me at what depth you are finding the fish . Are they suspended ?
I dont have fishfinder yet , and am having a hard time catching fish on
Lake Chemung . Thanks for any help you
can give

Vercin

[William H Bonney]

We fished in about 34 ft of water and I consistently marked fish from the bottom up to about 18 ft.

I repeat " I marked them", Didn't catch 'em

[patcheroo]

I've been fishing in 26 FOW. 20 yards away is 35 FOW. In the deeper water I mark all kinds of fish and only catch runts. In the shallower water I don't mark any fish until I drop my jig and waxworm down then I see them move in 4 to 8 foot off the bottom. That is where I'm getting the big ones. It seems to me that they are schooling by size. If I catch a runt out of a hole I'll fish it a little longer but it seems that's all I get out of it so I move. When I get on a hole where I catch the big ones That's all I get out of it. Wierd!! When the school moves so do I...Patch