hi all! I do a good amount of fishing at various lakes in the western PA. I typically fish for (varies by lake) trout , walleye, catfish, crappie, etc.

Anyways, i went up to lake canadohta for the first time. Its a beautiful lake and setting. I fished all day by boat and had no luck (except a tiny perch). Im confused to be honest and was hoping folks who fish there a lot could shed some light

I tried worms and minnows at the bottom, trolled with lures, and even used worms and minnows by bobber along shore. I would of thought with all of these setups.. i would of at least had some hits and/or caught some catfish, crappie, etc. My worms and minnows along bottom didnt even have one bite!

Im not saying i dont have bad days at other lakes, but with the options i mentioned... i typically pick a few up on slow days. Even with lake arthur that folks refer to as the dead sea... i do fairly well there with striper, catfish, crappie, etc.

I get the sense this lake just doesnt have many fish at all within it and with being small.. has likely just become a hotspot for musky that eat a majority too? As from doing searches it seems i only see pics of folks with musky. I havent seen anyone with multiple walleye, catfish, or a nice lot of perch or crappie

Is my assumption (from 1st time up there) accurate that its really only for musky and the chances for anything else are very slim?

this lake - like so many others - has probably been impacted by straw hat syndrome.  search this board for other posts about this affliction.
 
phish

For the lakes size it trap netted a decent amount of fish. 2017 biologist report.

It’s hot out and lakes all change fish patterns. Best is to keep fishing until you find wherever they are hiding. As for musky being in the lake they are not doing any harm so no they aren’t eating all the small fish. Musky are very picky on what they eat. Just cause you see musky pics doesn’t mean there’s just musky, it’s just what people post since it’s not a 5 inch fish who really wants to take pics of that and post them, some do but not most.

What works at Arthur might not work there. Also some nice big musky are there to and you have no problems.