Overview

On Thursday December 12th at 7pm, the Lake Ontario Trout & Salmon Association (LOTSA) will be having our annual end of year meeting. Special guests for this meeting will be Christopher Legard, Lake Ontario Unit Leader, Mike Connerton, Aquatic Biologist, Jessica Goretzke, Aquatic Biologist, and Jim Markham, Region 9 Fisheries Manager. One of the ways that the DEC is managing the Lake Ontario Trout and Salmon Fishery is by participating in meetings where a significant number of Lake Ontario anglers will be in attendance. They want to hear directly from those anglers who heavily use the Fishery and their input about the 2024 season along with answering any questions they might have. This is the only meeting with the DEC on the west end of the lake this year. Some of the topics they will be covering include, 1. 2024 Lake Ontario creel survey results for both the Lake and the Tributaries 2. Age structure and weight of Chinook Salmon 3. 2024 prey fish survey results 4. DNA assessment of wild versus Hatchery raised Chinook Update 5. 2025 Stocking Plans We highly encourage those anglers who are interested in the constant improvement of the fishery to attend and provide their input. Pizza and drinks will be available starting at 6:30pm compliments of LOTSA. Hope to see everyone there as it should be a very informative meeting to end the year out. The meeting will be held at The North Amherst Fire Company, 2200 Tonawanda Creek Rd. Amherst, N.Y. The Seminar is open to the public and free to attend. See WWW.LOTSA1.ORG for any questions. Article written by John Suttell LOTSA

LOTSA Members, The tournament sign up deadline is July 23rd and almost here. I want to quickly highlight a few things for the tournaments. Friday July 26th is a 3 salmon box with total box weight winning it. The entry is Free but you still have to register for it. The payouts are $400, $300, $200 and $150 for biggest salmon. Compliments of LOTSA, their will be hot dogs, chips, pop and water at the weigh in. The main tournament in Saturday July 27 and it's $70 to enter. This is just the biggest one salmon weighed in will win. We are paying back at least 7spots with more spots added with more boats signing up. We also have an optional side tournament called the 323. That tournament is $50 and payouts are 50/30/20. After the weigh in we will have a BBQ cartered dinner for all participants. You must register online to attend the dinner but their is no cost for registration. After the dinner we will have a large raffle with thousands of dollars worth of tackle. In the raffle will be the NEW Fish Hawk lithium probe! Also new for this year is a FREE SALMON MOUNT(over $800 value) for the biggest salmon caught! You must be entered in the main Saturday tournament or 323 to be eligible to win the mount. Please get signed up ASAP before you miss out! Matt Dunn

Hi LOTSA members, As we are approaching the LOTSA Tournaments and Picnic, I want to highlight a few things. First, if you haven't signed up yet, please do ASAP with the deadline being Tuesday July 23. This deadline also includes the picnic sign up. You MUST sign up for the picnic to attend. The Picnic is our Club’s largest expense, so please only sign up if you're going to attend and be accurate with the sign up number. Let's talk about some times and location for the LOTSA Tournament weekend. Friday July 26th is the FREE Curt Tournament and located at The Newfane Marina. The weigh in at 3 pm. This year we have Sister Helen's Food Pantry, a local food bank that's coming to take fillets for the Friday tournament. The LOTSA Main Tournament is Saturday July 27th with the weigh in at the Olcott Firehall at 3 pm. We will have our delicious One Eye Jacks BBQ dinner following the weigh in. This is included for participates and their family members. We will have Sunday as a blow day if necessary but still will have the BBQ dinner and raffle on Saturday. Now a quick overview of the tournaments and payouts we have for this year. The Curt Tournament features FREE entry with 4 payouts. It's a 3 salmon total weight that we pay back the top 3 boxes. We have increased the payouts to 1st $400, 2nd $300, 3rd $200 and $150 for big fish for that day. You can't have the big fish and place in the top 3. This guarantees 4 separate winners. Complimentary hot dogs, chips, water and pop from LOTSA at the weigh in. The DEC will be at the weigh in to take DNA samples from the Salmon we have in our coolers. These samples play a significant role in the overall management of the Fishery so please do your part to help with acquiring this critical information. The Saturday tournament entry is $70 which includes the BBQ dinner. This is a 1 Big Salmon tournament which gives anyone a chance to get that one big fish and win! We will be paying back 7 places with 45 boats and adding 1 payout per 2 boat entries after that. With a full field of 60 boats , the payout is 15 spots (25% of the boats get a check)! We also are giving out a trophy for the winner to keep this year! We also run a fun 323 side tournament. It's 3 fish weighed in over 2 days with 3 winners. Any fish weighed on the 1st day cannot be replaced by a bigger fish on day 2. The fish must be weighed in the day it is caught. You are not required to fish both days to fish this tournament. All the fish can be salmon with or 1 of the fish can be a trout. It's a fun tourney with some strategy involved! You must fish the Main Saturday tournament to fish the 323 tourney. We have a couple other very exciting things for this tournament. THE BIGGEST SALMON CAUGHT WILL RECEIVE A FREE FISH MOUNT courtesy of DeAngelo Fish Art! This is over an $800 value!! You MUST fish the Main Saturday tournament or 323 to be eligible to win this. We also have our huge tackle raffle after the BBQ dinner on Saturday. We have OVER $4,500 in prizes including the New FISH HAWK LITHIUM PROBE!! As always, a 50/50 on Friday and Saturday will be happening. Now with all this information, please sign up and tell your friends to get in on this tournament and see all the great things we offer. With all these things going on, how can't you fish this very affordable and fun tournament?! Click below for all the details and to get signed up for the July LOTSA Tournaments and Picnic. Please remember to sign up your spouse / significant other and kids under 16 years old on the 2024 LOTSA Family membership list so that they are eligible to be on your boat with you. They are all free however you do need to add them to the 2024 list. Let's enjoy the great fishing that LO is providing for us this year and make this year's tournament the best yet! LOTSA President – Joe Yaeger Click here: Lake Ontario Trout & Salmon Association | Lake Ontario (lotsa1.org)

On Thursday July 11th at 7pm, the Lake Ontario Trout & Salmon Association (LOTSA) will be sponsoring a Seminar by Captain John Oravec (Troutman) on Summer Tournament Winning Techniques and fishing for the “Big Ones”. Captain John has been chartering on Lake Ontario for 47 years. He is well known as one of the early pioneers fishing back in the days when not much was known of the lake’s vast fishery. Through the years he spent many hours learning the lake and developing tackle that is still used today to become a successful fisherman on the big lake. For 35 years he has written articles for the In Fisherman magazine. He has also been a contributor for Great Lakes Angler and has even been featured on the cover of the magazine passing on his years of knowledge to help anglers improve their fishing skills. Captain John will be discussing how to target and catch “The Big One “and how to learn the lake and what it takes to land trophy fish consistently. He wanted me to tell you to be sure to bring a notebook and take notes as he will be going over a lot of proven techniques he has learned for almost a half a century becoming one of the most successful “Big Fish” Captains on Lake Ontario. LOTSA is a group of mainly weekend recreational fishermen who are dedicated to the enhancement of the Lake Ontario Sport-Fishery including the pen rearing project at Olcott. Each meeting also features a sharing of information the current fishing conditions. So come join us and become more successful at fishing Lake Ontario! The meeting will be held at the North Amherst Fire Company, 2200 Tonawanda Creek Rd. Amherst, N.Y. The Seminar is open to the public and free to attend. See WWW.LOTSA1.ORG for any questions. Article written by John Suttell LOTSA Board member

On Thursday June 13th at 7pm, the Lake Ontario Trout & Salmon Association (LOTSA) will be sponsoring a Seminar on Offshore Summer Kings and Steelhead with Captain Tim Sylvester of Tough Duty Sport Fishing. Captain Tim has been fishing on Lake Ontario since 2007. He has been running his chartering business for the past eleven years out of the Port at Olcott aboard his 43ft Tiara Open the Tough Duty III. Tim prides himself on giving his customers the best experience on the lake catching Salmon and Trout. Through the years he has built a steady business with many repeat customers along with new ones that keep coming back to him year after year. Tim will be talking about, and taking questions on, his successful techniques he uses while out on the water to consistently put fish in the box. One of the topics he will be discussing is his use of long lines, copper and lead core, and how he runs them to increase his catch rate. This will be a very informative seminar for those wanting to be more successful while out fishing on Lake Ontario during the summer season. LOTSA is a group of mainly weekend recreational fishermen who are dedicated to the enhancement of the Lake Ontario Sport-Fishery including the pen rearing project at Olcott. Each meeting also features a sharing of information on the current fishing conditions. So come join us and become more successful at fishing Lake Ontario and Lake Erie. The meeting will be held at the new location for our LOTSA meetings, The North Amherst Fire Company, 2200 Tonawanda Creek Rd. Amherst, N.Y. The Seminar is open to the public and free to attend. See WWW.LOTSA1.ORG for any questions. Article written by John Suttell LOTSA

Hurry and get signed up! Deadline to mail checks are Monday May 13th or pay cash and delivered to Penny by May 17th! A lot of great prizes, payouts and a FREE Catered dinner for all team members! If you are looking to get into tournament fishing, this is a great one to start with! 2024 LOTSA Sponsorship: Niagara County Pro/AM Walter “Skip” Hartman Memorial LOTSA is proud to announce its involvement and sponsorship in the 2024 Niagara County Pro/AM, Walter “Skip” Hartman Memorial to take place May 31St and June 1st, with a blow day on June 2nd. LOTSA will be donating the use of the Club’s tournament scale along with cash-prizes for the Amateur Division. This is a great tournament for the recreational/amateur angular looking to get experience fishing tournament formats. LOTSA highly encourages its members to participate to support LOTSA and the Niagara County Pro/AM. The Niagara County Pro/AM has many excellent sponsors that enhance the prize-structure for all participants, the payout is 100%. LOTSA is proud to partner with the Niagara County Pro/Am to help promote an excellent tournament and the Niagara County fishing community. LOTSA Amateur Big Fish Payout: Day 1 Big Fish Amateur Division: $200 Day 2 Big Fish Amateur Division: $200 For more information/registration visit: https://lakeontarioproam.net/

If you weren't at the LOTSA meeting last night, along with a lot of other really good information that the DEC put out, They announced that in 2024 Lake Ontario will be receiving an additional 137,660 chinook salmon bringing the total New York stocking of chinook to 1,122,840. This finally exceeds the 1,000,000 fish mark for the first time in quite a few years. LET'S GO FISHIN!

LOTSA End of Year Meeting 12/14/23 On Thursday December 14th at 7pm, the Lake Ontario Trout & Salmon Association (LOTSA) will be having our annual end of year meeting. Special guests for this meeting will be Steve Hurst, DECs Chief of the Bureau of Fisheries and Christopher Legard, Lake Ontario Unit Leader and Aquatic Biologist. One of the ways that the DEC is managing the Lake Ontario Trout and Salmon Fishery is by participating in meetings where a significant number of Lake Ontario anglers will be in attendance. They want to hear directly from those anglers who heavily use the Fishery and their input about the 2023 season along with answering any questions they might have. This is the only meeting with the DEC on the west end of the lake this year. Some of the topics they will be covering include, 1. 2023 Lake Ontario creel survey results 2.Age structure and weight of Chinook Salmon 3.2023 prey fish survey results 4.Status of sea lamprey control We highly encourage those anglers who are interested in the constant improvement of the fishery to attend and provide their input. Pizza and drinks will be available starting at 6:30pm compliments of LOTSA. Hope to see everyone there as it should be a very informative meeting to end the year out. Article written by John Suttell LOTSA LOTSA is a group of mainly weekend recreational fishermen who are dedicated to the enhancement of the Lake Ontario Sport-Fishery including the pen rearing project at Olcott. Each meeting also features a sharing of information the current fishing conditions. So come join us and become more successful at fishing Lake Ontario! The meeting will be held at the new location for our LOTSA meetings, The North Amherst Fire Company, 2200 Tonawanda Creek Rd. Amherst, N.Y. The Seminar is open to the public and free to attend. See WWW.LOTSA1.ORG for any questions.

On Thursday October 12th at 7pm, the Lake Ontario Trout & Salmon Association (LOTSA) will be having our end of the 2023 fishing season wrap-up meeting. The meeting will be a round table format with LOTSA members discussing the 2023 season on Lake Ontario. The meeting will also cover the results of the Lake Ontario Fisheries Advisory Panel that was held on October 4th. One of the main topics will be the 2023 Lake Onterio spring prey fish assessment report that was recently released. This report is what the DEC uses to come up with the stocking numbers for the next year. LOTSA is a group of mainly weekend recreational fishermen who are dedicated to the enhancement of the Lake Ontario Sport-Fishery including the pen rearing project at Olcott. Each meeting also features a sharing of information on the current fishing conditions. So come join us and become more successful at fishing on Lake Ontario. The meeting will be held at the new location for our LOTSA meetings, The North Amherst Fire Company, 2200 Tonawanda Creek Rd. Amherst, N.Y. The Seminar is open to the public and free to attend. See WWW.LOTSA1.ORG for any questions. Article written by John Suttell LOTSA

LOTSA Tournament Participants, I would like to thank all the members that came out and fished in the tournaments this weekend. I can't say enough about the people that fish this tournament and how great they are. It's always a reminder on how all the hard work that goes into the tournament is worth it. With all that work comes many volunteers to put on a tournament like this. I would like to thank the following people: Alan Sauerland, Anthony Ellis, Kyle Hovak, Marty Polovick, Scott Rohe, Joe Jaeger, Gregg Wiacek, Steve Willms, Steve Olay, Doug Parker, Doug Parker Jr, Marc Dunn, Hunter Swoope, Mike Knoll, Kevin Zimmerman, Jen Willms, Mary Dunn, Rose Polovick, and Cathy Sheldon. All these people contributed to the tournament and I thank you. As I hope everyone can see, it takes a lot of volunteers to make this tournament happen. One of the biggest ways we can run this tournament is through the continued support from our sponsors. They are the following: Dreamweaver, Fish Hawk, Chinook Divers, ITO Flies, A-Tom-Mik, Sonny's, Musselhead, Torpedo, Scotty, FishUSA, Cisco, Fish Thief, Okuma, Offshore Tackle, FINN Tackle, Northern King, Plinker Targets, Jim Gallagher (Garmin Graph), TLC Tackle, Smart Troll, 3L Flies and CMe Trolling Flies. I hope I didn't miss anyone but thanks to all that donated product to allow us the chance to provide this level of a tournament to our members. The fishing and weather was good for the most part and allowed all boat sizes to fish the water they preferred. The Friday Curt Tournament showed that the fishing was very good for many teams. With 9 kings coming to the scales over 20#! Saturday proved to be tougher fishing but some teams still got it done. A full recap of the tournament fishing and winner information will come out soon. Thanks again LOTSA Members and I can't wait to see everyone at the scales next year!! Matt Dunn

Hi LOTSA Members, you have 5 DAYS to get signed up for the tournament and picnic! The deadline to register is Tuesday at midnight. Get signed up now so you don't miss out on this great, affordable and fun tournament!

We are less than a month away from our club tournament weekend. The fishing in the lake has produced good numbers of salmon so far this season. We anticipate that will continue and we should have a good number of fish to be weighed in. On our Friday Curt Tournament, we once again will be having the food bank take salmon fillets to give out to the community. We are looking for a few volunteers to help cut fish up during and after the weigh in. Please contact Steve Olay (716-807-5535) if interested in helping out. The DEC will be here again to take samples on Friday for their patentage-based tagging program which is how the fishery is being managed for Kings going forward. The more Kings we provide them, the better the data will be for making their stocking decision this fall. The weigh in will be at the Newfane Marina pavilion as it always has been with a cookout for all participants compliments of LOTSA. The LOTSA Main Saturday Tournament weigh in will be at the Olcott firehall again. After the weigh in you can go inside and cool down to enjoy a catered One Eye Jacks BBQ meal. We will have our 50/50 raffle going along with the BIG tackle raffle! These 2 raffles make the tournament possible so please support them! Last year the club capped the tournament at 60 boats. This allows us to provide a quality tournament to everyone participating. As of now, we have almost 40 boats signed up and it will fill up quickly the closer that we get. Last year we sold out so do not wait to sign up!! If anyone would like to help in the tournament, please contact me for details. I am looking forward to this fun, competitive and family friendly weekend! Matt Dunn (716-531-1153)

On Thursday July 6th at 7pm, the Lake Ontario Trout & Salmon Association (LOTSA) will be sponsoring a Seminar on Summer Tournament Winning Techniques with Captain Jonathan Ross of Tomahawk Sport Fishing. Jonathan has 40 years experience on Lake Ontario. He will be talking about and taking questions on techniques he has developed through the years that has made him a successful Lake Ontario Charter Captain With the LOTSA Tournament and Summer LOC just around the corner you will want to attend this seminar. Hopefully you’ll be able to pick up some great pointers to help you become a more successful angler. LOTSA is a group of mainly weekend recreational fishermen who are dedicated to the enhancement of the Lake Ontario Sport-Fishery including the pen rearing project at Olcott. Each meeting also features a sharing of information on the current fishing conditions. So come join us and become more successful at fishing Lake Ontario and Lake Erie. The meeting will be held at the new location for our LOTSA meetings, The North Amherst Fire Company, 2200 Tonawanda Creek Rd. Amherst, N.Y. The Seminar is open to the public and free to attend. See WWW.LOTSA1.ORG for any questions. Article written by John Suttell LOTSA

On Thursday June 8th at 7pm, the Lake Ontario Trout & Salmon Association (LOTSA) will be sponsoring a Seminar on Lake Erie Walleye Trolling Techniques with Captains Gary Katta of Kongo Sportfishing Charters and John Forbes of Times Two Charters. Captain John Forbes has over 38 years of Great Lakes fishing experience. In 2004 he started his charter business Times Two Charters fishing on Lake Erie. Through the years he has developed many successful techniques to consistently put many Walleyes in the box for his happy clients. His successful philosophy has been ’We are fishing with you, not for you.” Captain Gary Katta has over 35 years of Lake Erie Walleye fishing experience with over 15 years running Kongo Sportfishing Charters. Captain Gary over the years has developed the skills necessary to be a very productive Charter Captain on Lake Erie with many happy and returning customers. Both Captains will be discussing their proven techniques and taking questions that have put them at the top of their profession. If you are currently a Walleye fisherman looking to improve your skills or are thinking of getting into fishing for Walleyes this is one information seminar that you don’t want to miss. LOTSA is a group of mainly weekend recreational fishermen who are dedicated to the enhancement of the Lake Ontario Sport-Fishery including the pen rearing project at Olcott. Each meeting also features a sharing of information on the current fishing conditions. So come join us and become more successful at fishing Lake Ontario and Lake Erie. The meeting will be held at the new location for our LOTSA meetings, The North Amherst Fire Company, 2200 Tonawanda Creek Rd. Amherst, N.Y. The Seminar is open to the public and free to attend. See WWW.LOTSA1.ORG for any questions. Article written by John Suttell LOTSA

It has been another successful Pen Rearing project with completion of the final major task being the removal and cleaning of the Pens this past Saturday. As written in previous updates, the chinook salmon and steelhead were received on April 4th at a size of 104/lb. for the chinook and 30/lb. for steelhead. On April 25th when released the steelhead averaged 16/lb. and on the 26th the chinook averaged 52 to 54/lb. This project, and many others, has been consistently putting out quality product since they started nearly 20 years ago. The success of these projects along the Lake Ontario coast of NY is due to the many volunteers and cooperation with NYDEC. The DEC knows the value of the pen rearing projects and has been extremely helpful with the supplies that are needed to keep these projects running. The future of these projects relies on the cooperation between anglers and DEC whether its ECON Officers, Biologists or the Fish and Wildlife Technicians conducting the Angler Surveys. So, when you see someone from the DEC, please thank them for the job that they are doing and help them do their job by cooperating with them. The key to managing this incredible fishery starts with you. The biggest thing that you can do to help other than volunteering is to provide accurate information to the Creel survey teams when you see them. The new DNA tracing that DEC is using is crucial to manage the fishery more effectively in the future. Cooperation is key. Back to Pen Rearing, these projects take a tremendous amount of work, effort, and money. I would like to thank all the volunteers who donated time and money to the project this year, the weather forecasts were terrible for the days that we picked but somehow, we had perfect days for almost all the evolutions. Thanks to NYSDEC, Town of Newfane and the Town of Newfane Marina, The Greater Niagara Fishing Expo, Eastside Market, the Boat operators (Capt. Vince Pierleoni, Capt. Andrew Bartlett and Joe Derda) and the individuals who load the automatic feeders every day (Vince Pierleoni, Dennis Stabler, Jim Hoffman and Anthony Ellis). We also had some monetary donations that will remain nameless, you know who you are, Thank you! With some luck and a whole lot of hard work, these projects will continue to provide quality King Salmon and Steelhead for us all to enjoy well into the future! Thanks again to all that have made this project a success. Alan Sauerland LOTSA Pen Rearing Coordinator & VP.

On Thursday May 4th at 7pm the Lake Ontario Trout & Salmon Association (LOTSA) will be sponsoring a Seminar titled “At the Dock Talking Kings” with Captain Pete Alex of Vision Quest Sport Fishing. The seminar will be held at Bootleggers Cove at the Port of Wilson N.Y. Captain Pete will be giving the seminar from the back of his boat Vision Quest VI. As an added bonus for those who arrive early you will be treated to hot dogs and drinks prepared by LOTSA’s one and only Capt. Marty beginning at 6:00 pm. The food and drinks are compliments of the Greater Niagara Fishing Expo in appreciation for all of the support LOTSA provides to the Expo each year. Pete has logged over 36 years of open trolling on the Great Lakes and has been chartering customers since 1988. He has also been very successful on the tournament trail with his Team Vision Quest. Since 2006 Team Vision Quest has placed in the top 10 in over 120 events with 40 being either 1st or 2nd place finishes. Pete will be talking about and also taking questions on his techniques that has made him successful fishing for King Salmon on Lake Ontario. Pete is associated with many of the top companies in the Great Lakes fishing industry, Dreamweaver Lures, A-TOM-MIK Trolling Flies, Fish Hawk Electronics, Shimano Fishing Products and Fish USA just to name a few. Pete’s motto is “Leave No Fish Behind”. With the LOC Derby starting May 5th this is a good time to pick up a few tips and techniques that could help you out on the lake. This will be a very informative seminar that you will not want to miss. LOTSA is a group of mainly weekend recreational fishermen who are dedicated to the enhancement of the Lake Ontario Sport Fishery including the pen rearing project at Olcott. Each meeting also features a sharing of information about the current fishing conditions. So come join us and become more successful at fishing Lake Ontario! Just a reminder this special meeting and seminar will be held at the Bootleggers Cove Marina at the Port of Wilson from the back of Vision Quest VI and not at the Amherst Fire Company in Amherst. The Seminar is open to the public and free to attend. See WWW.LOTSA1.ORG for any questions. Article written by John Suttell LOTSA

The fish are in the pens and feeding aggressively. We received the baby chinook salmon from DEC on April 4th at a weight of 104 fish to the pound which is larger than we typically receive them. We should have no problem reaching the goal weight of 90 fish to the pound and will probably crush that number. With the chocolate milk colored water from all of the rain they weren’t very active and didn’t noticeably feed till the water cleared and hit 48 degrees F, but now at 50+ degrees in the harbor, they are getting pretty active and they are hungry. We feed the fish every morning by filling automatic feeders that sprinkle feed into the pens continuously through the day. The next step is releasing the fish. Our 15,000 steelhead will be released at sundown on April 25th and the chinooks will be released at sundown on the 26th. The pens will then be moved back to the north launch ramp and removed Saturday April 29th around 9am. As the pens are removed from the water we will be pressure washing them and preparing them for storage till next year. We will need a lot of help on the 29th to make this work. We need 2 more pressure washers and lots of people with side cutters to remove the almighty zip ties. If you can help out, please let me know and plan to be at the Town of Newfane Marina at 9am April 29th. Email [email protected] or text/call 716-504-7789. Thank you, Alan Sauerland Pen Rearing Coordinator

On Thursday April 20 at 7pm, the Lake Ontario Trout & Salmon Association (LOTSA) will be sponsoring a Seminar by Capt. Joe Oakes on spring King Salmon fishing on the west end of Lake Ontario. Joe has been fishing the lake for 30 plus years with the last 6 years chartering clients aboard his 29ft Blackfin named Salmon Boy out of the Port of Wilson. Joe has competed in many tournaments through the years. Some of his wins are first place in the amateur division in the Niagara Pro Am and winning the 2021 Reeling For A Cure Tournament. He has also placed numerous times in the LOC winning first place in the Salmon division and also winning the Fish Odyssey. Joe will be sharing his knowledge and techniques while also taking your questions on what has made him successful fishing the west end of the lake in the spring season. This should be a great meeting to kick off the 2023 fishing season on Lake Ontario. LOTSA is a group of mainly weekend recreational fishermen who are dedicated to the enhancement of the Lake Ontario Sport-Fishery including the pen rearing project at Olcott. Each meeting also features a sharing of information on the current fishing conditions. So come join us and become more successful at fishing Lake Ontario! The meeting will be held at the new location for our LOTSA meetings, The North Amherst Fire Company, 2200 Tonawanda Creek Rd. Amherst, N.Y. The Seminar is open to the public and free to attend. See WWW.LOTSA1.ORG for any questions. Article written by John Suttell LOTSA

Pen Rearing Update Today we were notified that our fish in Olcott will be delivered next Tuesday, April 4th at 1:30pm. Once the fish are in the pens, we need to move the pens to their regular docks upstream of the boat launch. We were able to secure a second boat (Thank you Andrew) to work with Captain Vince making the move easier. We will need 10 or 12 people to help with this evolution so if you have some time Tuesday afternoon, please come out and lend a hand. Remember that Penn Assembly Day is this Saturday, April 1st at 9:30am at The Town of Newfane Marina. The pens will be placed in the water after assembly, so stick around and help with that if you can. Please dress according to the weather and bring your side cutters. Hot coffee, tea and hot chocolate will be provided as well as packaged pastries.

Spring is almost here! With that brings the LOTSA Pen Rearing events. This years Pen assembly day is Saturday, April 1st. We will be meeting at the Town of Newfane Marina at 9:30am to begin assembling the net/pens. Refreshments will be provided from East Side Market in Olcott. Good news, we will be getting about 13,000 more Chinook salmon which takes the total to 126,000 Chinook and 15,000 Steelhead. Come out and see old friends or make new friends and support this fishery that we all love. Please remember to dress warm and bring side cutters to trim zip ties. LOTSA places a heavy emphasis on Education including recruiting new Anglers to the Lake Ontario Fishery and providing continual Education opportunities for the experienced Anglers. If you haven’t renewed your membership this would be a great time to do that. At only $10 membership fee this is a great way to support the local fishery and learn from some of the most experienced fishermen and women on Lake Ontario. We will have membership sheets available.

On Thursday December 8th at 7pm, the Lake Ontario Trout & Salmon Association (LOTSA) will be having our annual end of year meeting. Special guests for this meeting will be the New York State DEC including Steve Hurst DECs Chief of the Bureau of Fisheries. One of the ways that the DEC is managing the Lake Ontario Trout and Salmon Fishery is by participating in meetings where a significant number of Lake Ontario anglers will be in attendance. They want to hear directly from those anglers who heavily use the Fishery and their input about the 2022 season along with answering any questions they might have. We highly encourage those anglers who are interested in the constant improvement of the fishery to attend and provide their input. Pizza and drinks will be available compliments of LOTSA. Rumor has it that Santa (our very own Marty Polovick) might make a special appearance; you sure don’t want to miss that. Hope to see everyone there as it should be a very informative meeting to end the year out. Article written by John Suttell LOTSA LOTSA is a group of mainly weekend recreational fishermen who are dedicated to the enhancement of the Lake Ontario Sport-Fishery including the pen rearing project at Olcott. Each meeting also features a sharing of information the current fishing conditions. So come join us and become more successful at fishing Lake Ontario! The meeting will be held at the new location for our LOTSA meetings, The North Amherst Fire Company, 2200 Tonawanda Creek Rd. Amherst, N.Y. The Seminar is open to the public and free to attend. See WWW.LOTSA1.ORG for any questions.

Salmon School Registration is Open! Below is a message from Joe Yaeger, LOTSA President taken from the most recent News Flash #11. Click the link below to go to the registration page. It’s now that time of year again when we are putting our open lake Salmon boats and gear away for another season and starting to look forward to Spring Kings in 2024! While the season was going on we were working on the Salmon School. We’ve expanded the format again based upon input from the last School and have 3 excellent Salmon fishermen as instructors (Vince Pierleoni, Russell Gahagan and Rob Mallory) who are willing to share their knowledge on catching Kings with all of us. We are proud of the fact that it has become the premier Salmon School on the Great Lakes! The Salmon School will again be held at the Greater Niagara Fishing & Outdoor Expo this coming February 16-19, 2023. The School will again be a 3 day event with the kick off “Social” on Friday night, Saturday is the full day school and Sunday Q&A with the instructors on any remaining questions you might have. The price will be $100 and we have secured very reasonably priced hotel rooms for those traveling from out of town. You can see all of the details on the School and sign up at LOTSA Salmon School | Greater Niagara Fishing & Outdoor Expo If you are traveling to the show/school from out of town here is a link for lodging. Please note that these are pre Covid prices, so book soon before they are sold out. Lodging | Greater Niagara Fishing & Outdoor Expo (niagarafishingexpo.com)

Don't forget that this Thursdays LOTSA meeting has been rescheduled to Thursday September 15th due to the Bills season opener. The discussion on the 15th will be a recap of the 2022 season with several club captains. Come on out and talk some fishing and tell us how YOUR season has been.