Since no one is on the NY page and never answered me, I'm gonna take a long shot here.  Any of you guys make the trip to Chautaugua.  Never been there but heard its a great lake!  Was thinking about making a trip up there next weekend to fish through the ice if the weather holds up.  Is it worth a 2 hr drive?  Any one know the ice conditions personally?  A guy at a local bait shop just told me it was fair ice so I really dont know.  Any one been up there recently and did any good? 

I fished it last night. The ice is different every where you go. I was on 8" of layered snow ice and didn't get a fish. There are guys on different parts of the lake. All I can tell you is if you go stick to the trail and have a spud. As for the fish be prepared to catch a lot of 4-7" perch. You will occasionally get that 8.5". Just be safe and prepared if something happens.

That makes me a bit hesitant!  Probably just be better off waiting till next year, but thanks for the update.  Deff appreciate it!
 

I live here and used to ice fish this lake a lot for walleyes back in the 70's,80's, and 90's, when it was really good. With our run of weather this year, freeze/snow /thaw repeating itself, I would reccomend staying off the ice, especially if fishing alone. Never went through the ice but have friends that have and it can be a hairy experience.

I fish on it from Jan to May.  depending on where your coming from you chances of catching fish is def better than most lakes in NW/SW NY.   There is also a pretty great variety of fish. 
 
you currently have wide swathes of layered, inconsistant ice.  that is why the biggest ice fishing tournament in NY JUST canceled their chautaqua event.
 
The last few years, the perch have seemed to just shrink; on the other hand the perch pack is dense beyond belief.   if you get to a get to a good spot you can catch perch as fast as you can get your jig down.