Bigfoot

Treatments on the Inlet only happened in 1986, 1996, and 2014.

Primary means of lamprey control on Cayuga utilizes the fishway on Cayuga Inlet. Ideally, the lampreys enter a trap at the fishway during their spawning run and are removed before getting the chance to spawn. As the vast majority of lampreys try to spawn in the Inlet, this control can be highly effective. As a result, lampricide is generally not needed ever four years on Cayuga. Problems arise when high water levels coincide with the lamprey spawning run allowing the eels to bypass the fishway (and the trap). DEC keeps tabs on the lake trout wounding rate (wounds per 100 trout) as an indicator of when treatments are needed. I don't think DEC will ever use Bayluscide on the South end of Cayuga since it is a source of drinking water.

Actually, DEC did rethink their stocking plans. They had been stocking Cold Brook with fingerling rainbows- and getting zero returns. This Spring they switched to stocking yearling rainbows (goal was 2,470 fish 8-9" long). Hopefully, these bigger fish will fare better than the small ones did and should start showing up in the lake catch next year.

I recall reading somewhere that when DEC found it necessary to stock alewives in Keuka decades ago they netted them from (I think) Waneta Lake. This is not an option today due to the state's own baitfish regulations.....If the solution were that easy, it would have already been done!

Thanks, I appreciate that lyk2fish. I lived near Owasco in the early 1980's and came close to buying a cottage there a dozen years ago. I always considered Owasco my home lake, even when I lived near Seneca and had to drive past Cayuga to get there! I think there is a tendency today to look for the easy fix, especially to environmental problems. There are many factors that have changed in our lakes over the years, to pick one such as the introduction of the walleye in Owasco, and blame the resulting changes on that sole factor is usually short sighted and mostly incorrect. One thing that I was surprised to learn from fishing the Fingers was that while they might seam quite alike, they are in fact vastly different.

Having fished at least 40 competitive events on Keuka Lake alone sponsored by FLTA, North End Landings, Avon Anglers, Red Cross and others I don't think of myself as a novice. I don't fish much anymore, but back in the day I averaged at least 20 derbies per year. I also kept Angler Coop Diaries on Owasco. Cayuga, Keuka, Seneca and Canandaigua.

The documents are available online on the DEC website under the Eastern Finger Lakes Angler Diary Cooperator Reports section. The link for the 2018 Owasco Lake report is http://www.dec.ny.gov/docs/fish_marine_pdf/r7owlad2018.pdf The report clearly states that they sampled a 5.5 lb. walleye that was 14 years old. We tend to think that a fish that old must be huge, but it takes more than age alone to grow big fish. I was very much in favor of the Owasco walleye stocking when it was getting going in the early 1980's. I have also witnessed how it ruined an excellent trout fishery. Some refuse to acknowledge that it was/is a failed experiment, I understand that. Last thing I would want to see is that experiment repeated. Read the reports. If you don't think they reflect your experience, then perhaps you should be keeping an Angler Cooperator Diary so that your fishing results are shared with DEC.

Interesting that you think the walleyes are reproducing in Owasco when gill net surveys in both 2016 and 2018 by the DEC and The Finger Lakes Institute have been unable to find any evidence of walleye reproduction in either the lake or its tribs. All of the fish sampled have been between 14 and 25 years old!

Please be careful regarding using those tree stands in your dying trees. We had a hunter locally that lost the use of his arms and legs due to a dead tree (that his stand was in). The tree fell with him in the stand and tethered to the tree.

UGH! What county are you located in? When I had a timber harvest and timber stand improvement done in 2015 I directed the forester to mark/remove every Ash that was marketable.

Perhaps the largest rainbow ever caught in FLTA history. A 12 pound 9 ounce beauty taken from Canandaigua Lake by Joe Matwiejow last weekend.

I am super impressed! I fished in the FLTA for a dozen years or so and only saw box totals of 35+ lbs. once or twice ( And they weren't mine) LOL.

Fish was caught on a 4 inch, pearl colored Trigger X Walleye Swimbait. https://youtu.be/tZsKcsRDq8U

There are several videos of Lake Sturgeon spawning in Fall Creek ( Cayuga trib) available on U Tube. Active spawning activity was observed by DEC fisheries biologist there last year. I would post the link here but I can't seem to make it work.

Saw this in the news. 18.2 pounds, 32 inches long, 21 inch girth. Caught on 5/5/2018 by Brian Hartman. A Saint Lawrence river fish. Weight is from certified scales.

My bad. Checked a couple other sources- incinerator project is not dead. Looks like a nasty legal fight is ahead

Lawyers representing the incinerator project withdrew their application today due to local opposition. The project appears DEAD.

Bad press might be bad for business, but keeping silent will not help.....nor will it improve the fishing. Public pressure can change things. We have a lot of people that don't fish that have a vested interest in clean water/ healthy fishery. I've contacted Jeff Murray from the Star Gazette and he has promised to reach out to Nick soon, and Brad after he returns from holiday break.

Both the sewage treatment plants in Montour Falls and Watkins Glen are obsolete. Plans are in the works to replace them. No telling what chemicals are flowing through them to the lake. Stupid idea to use our lakes as liquid "landfills".