Conesus Lake, NY

[Marc H]

On 9/25/2019 at 9:14 AM, J Francho said:

Here's a back of the boat trick for that: grab your spinning DS setup.  Toss it slightly in front of where the boat is heading, but on the deep side, to not interfere with the shallow machine gunner.  Leave the bail open.  Let line peel out to where you be a little longer than a decent cast.  Close the bail, and give it rip.  You'd be surprised how many fish I've picked up from the back of the boat in that situation.

What does DS stand for. 

[Marc H]

1 hour ago, Marc H said:

What does DS stand for. 

Yeah. Drop shot. Total brain fart. 

[reerok]

Any tips for fishing Conesus this time of year?  Heading out Friday for the day.

 

Do buzzbaits work over the weeds?  Worms around docks?  Jerkbaits on the outside weedlines and drop offs?  Drop Shot on the drop offs? 

 

What's produced for you in this time of year?

 

-Nathan

[J Francho]

Weedless Senko, jig, lightly weighted Texas rig bug.  Wake baits work well, if you're into moving baits.  Check inside weedlines.  Always skip docks if there's any hint of sun.

[reerok]

1 hour ago, J Francho said:

Weedless Senko, jig, lightly weighted Texas rig bug.  Wake baits work well, if you're into moving baits.  Check inside weedlines.  Always skip docks if there's any hint of sun.

So it sounds like a bit of shallow and slow fishing even with the cooling water?  

 

My buddy drives the boat and fishes fast so I'll make the most of each dock.  But he likes to stay on the outside weed edges and throw spinnerbaits to the edge and wind it back.  If that holds true this trip any thoughts for how to fish the outside weed edges?  Throw a worm/senko/cut-tail into the weeds?  Your old back boat drop shot trick?

 

Thanks J!

[J Francho]

If he’s moving too fast for a senko, try a flick shake worm on a wacky jig hook. 

[Frank Engler]

We are staying at the south side of conesus at the campground this upcoming weekend. Any tips as far as locations to go for largemouths? First time on the lake, so any tips on places for good weeds/docks etc would be really appreciated.  My son and I like catching smallies, big perch, pretty much anything that swims, but sounds like we would be better off going after the largemouths on conesus?

[J Francho]

I don't fish the south end very much.  Weeds, in 6-12 is pretty typical, but don't skip the inside weedline between docks this time of year.  If it's sunny, try skipping docks.  That place is a lunker factory.  It's LMB territory, but you can run into smallies on much deeper ledges sometimes.  I don't really go after them after prespawn/spawn there.

[GTN-NY]

I live right up the road from Conesus and fish it a lot. I’m in a kayak so I stick to the northend west side mostly. It’s been a tough year for me there. Spring was good with a few close to 4lbs but this summer I was lucky to get 2-3 fish each time (if any) and none over 2lbs. I know their in there. Friend got a few in the 5-6lb range and 1 over 7. 
I wish I could tell you great spots and what to throw. I throw jigs, wacky worms, spinnerbaits so now you know what not to throw lol

[ww2farmer]

Most of us local's divide that lake in half at the launch ramp.

 

The north 1/2 is where most of the tournament pressure is. It's got a lot more weed flats and community holes that always seem to hold largemouth. 

 

BUT...the south 1/2 has plenty of good largemouth water, and see's less pressure. 

 

I do pretty well in the south 1/2 when I want to get away from the crowds. I won the 2018 Dash for Cash, and have cashed multiple times out of the south 1/2. 

 

Anywhere you find milfoil, or coontail on that lake, you'll find largemouth. They may not be in it all the time, but they won't be far from it, either under the docks near by, or hanging off the deep edge. Avoid areas with lots of "grass" and stringy crap. There's often random fish in, or around that stuff, but nothing you can count on, and anything caught in/around it should be considered an accident....that being said.....they DO use those crappy grass lines as "high ways" between the better weed beds. So if you are striking out in a good looking weed bed, fish down any connecting grass lines briskly and you might just run into some moving from one good area to another.

 

No matter where you decide to fish for largemouth on that lake...keep it simple. For as heavily pressured as they are...I find them to be pretty stupid and easy to catch compared to the bass on my other home lake, Silver.  Jigs, and t-rigged plastics when they are biting...senkos, ned rigs, and finesse worms on drop shots when they ain't. If you have some wind, chatterbaits, and swim jigs catch them pretty good too. It's a good topwater lake too. Oddly, compared to other lakes I fish, I do NOT seem to have as much success with cranks, and spinnerbaits on Conesus as I do elsewhere.

 

I DO NOT target smallmouth in tournaments in that lake post spawn. They get on alewives and are very hard to pinpoint, and unreliable. Plus, they are not the tanks the largemouth are, and are hard to win with if largemouth are biting. But if you insist on fishing for them...your best bet is to pull up on the deep side of any of the points on the south 1/2 of the lake early in the morning, and WAIT. If they are there, they will usually push alewives to the surface at some point during a short window in early morning. Cast to the surface activity with a top water, but don't cast until you see them break the surface. BUT, they don't always chase bait to the top....if you pull up on a point and don't see any surface activity, don't assume they are not there. Fish around a bit with things like football jigs, senkos, swimbaits, etc.. and if any are there, you'll know soon enough. If I'm targeting them...which I do for fun (just not for money)...point hopping, and running through a proven rotation of baits that I have caught them with seems to be my best tactic.

 

It's a good fishery, but has been a little tuffer than normal this year for me. I have not won on it this year, and only cashed twice. Once with good weight (20+ lbs) and once with a pretty average bag (15lbs) and most of the time seemed to be stuck in that 16-18 lb "one good bite away" purgatory from cashing or winning. My recreational trips there have mirrored that. I had one "all-timer" kind of days in early august where for 3 hours, 3.5-4.5 lb fish were jumping in the boat on topwater, and when that died, the same quality fish were eating anything and everything I flipped in the weeds...including a few over 5lbs. But most of my trips over there have been slow and steady action on 3lb fish.....not terrible, just not great.