Gill-T

We have called on our Canadian partners for shortfall coverage in the past. They smartly raise extras as they have more hatcheries.

Damn, I would have loved to see what they dredge off the bottom near the rumble strip.

Lucky, the theory is not necessarily that adult alewives eat other fish larvae, but more so the pressure they exert on the entire plankton community. When fish die from winter kill it is because of a lack of fitness. One of the key indicators is plumpness. Evaluating stomach contents of some alewives on the Kaho revealed some Mysis Shrimp and apendage evidence of spiny flea ingestion, however, most of their stomachs were barren. Adult alewives suppress other prey species by eating them out of house-and-home.

If that is the case then they owe those ports more fish. We were told they would decrease stocking numbers in favor of putting more fish in pens.

Jerry you need to send me some donuts for all the content I push on your site!

Speaking of hindsight......perhaps going forward the DEC should still collect and raise the typical fish species allotment even though a potential cut is warranted the coming spring. Seeing the swarming hord of adult alewives that are about to descend upon the south shore, it would be nice to have the normal stocking numbers in reserve in case estimates from the prior year were wrong. Hopefully the Canadians can dump in any extra kings they might have kept.

No, I believed they believed there was a problem with a void in age structure. You have no choice but to believe the science when making stocking decisions. I think the problem we are all finding is that on certain years the alewives are hiding in the North shore rocks where they can't be counted. The USGS is now pushing the envelope and probing deeper into Canadian waters.

Good mix to age structure. These are bottom trawls. Most of the YOY will be offshore and in the epilimnion. Also present were sticklebacks, deep water sculpin, gobies and YOY perch.

I believe the only one smart enough to vote NO for chinook cuts was Capt Vince. Every other stake holder voted yes to the cuts because they believed the science. Out of the Questioning of the science however, the trawler survey has expanded their reach by gathering a much bigger sample size. Lots of good came from questioning the science. I am all for ball busting but your comedic timing sucks. The news is good coming out of the lake. Be happy.

Not sure why you didn't get an invite.....hmmmmm. I think you should run down to your mailbox and check and see if your invite arrived. If you don't see it today, that's ok.... just keep checking. Your invites to all the birthday parties you thought you were not invited to might be in there too.

Bring donuts.

Lurker alert......lurker alert.

State of the Lake I had the honor to spend the day aboard the USGS research vessel Kaho. Today's baitfish assessment took place off the Sumerset plant in Niagara County from 170 meters depth to 25 meters. I believe we can rest easy knowing that the alewife assessment is in very capable hands and there is a ton of bait out there. The bottom of the lake is filthy with adult alewives. Considering there is bait in the harbors already and the excellent early numbers coming in from the bottom trawls offshore, the alarm signals sent out about the missing two year classes of alewives appear to be premature. Book your charter trip, plan to tow your boat.......hell ride your bike to Lake Ontario because she is alive and well. Special thanks to the crew of the Kaho. Next time you see one of them buy them a beer as a 12 hour day trawling is HARD work.

Strip off enough insulation to tie a wire line knot to a large termination swivel and a blacks release (with swivel) with bare metal touching the eyelet of the swivel. Clip swivel to probe. Run a 3' piece of dowrigger cable with termination swivels and wire line knots to bottom of probe down to downrigger ball. The reason for the 3' section between the downrigger ball and probe is so when you stop the release where you can reach it, the ball stays in the water. Bouncing balls snap off probes. No crimps in the equation. Downrigger ball/termination swivel/wire knot/3' of cable/wire knot/termination swivel/bottom probe eyelet/termination swivel top probe eyelet/blacks release/wire knot bare metal on contact.