Gill-T

Lucky, I think the idea is with a five king limit, charter captains won't have to venture into steelhead water. Most king fishing takes place inside of 200', and their ain't many steelhead in that zone. Saves on the gas bill for the charter operator also. I am not saying there should not be some form of short- term tweaking of the regulations to help steelhead recover, but try to make it a win-win. The cuts have been in one direction for a couple of decades.

Dave, you are doing a lot of deflection to the DEC. The DEC would not be proposing these changes unless someone or group approached them. A lot of the charter captain angst towards the trib leadership group comes from the thought that one group of fishermen can effect another groups’ bottom line. Now the LOC has taken steelhead out as a fall division which means someone had to get in Dave Chilson’s ear. All groups would agree catching more and bigger fish is a good thing but it would be nice to see the evidence to back the changes. Why not make the changes temporary to study the effects of the new regulations? To preserve baitfish numbers and keep captains from having to target steelhead, why not increase the king creel limit back to 5 fish until bait rebounds? This needs further discussion in a bigger forum with a larger audience.

brute

Spoons shipped quick. Orange Slurpee and Chicken Spoon on dreamweaver’s site under discontinued super slims. I see the chicken spoon as a good brown trout and walleye blank and of course orange slurpee was made for steelhead. Three bucks and change!

I understand. I have worn both hats. Becoming an empty nester this year allowed me to go back to passing small deer.

Less heartbreak and stress being a meat hunter.

Basil Seggos

Dave, every government agency needs oversight. The state recognizes the DEC needs oversight as as well, especially with certain jobs going to political appointees with zero background in fishing and hunting. Hence, the working model that was enacted was regularly scheduled meetings with the public and stakeholders. We have an obligation to the next generation that things are handled correctly. Don’t mistake questioning for mistrust. LOU is our forum to hash things out. Questioning is a sign of intelligence. Questioning will lead to better outcomes.

Man I don’t know. At this point the bucks are pretty run down and necks are slimmed down. That buck would be dead if I saw him!

Expandable blade or fixed? 😂. Be careful as that is the thumb that turns off the reel clicker.

Agreed. I have to remind myself what we do is pure folly. My wife reminds me regularly. Dress in unscented camo, making mock scrapes with deer pee. Sitting in a tree for an all-day sit ONLY when it is below freezing. Spending hours cleaning and bleaching the skull of a dead animal. If you say it out loud, it really does sound crazy.

Picket outside. Capital punishment for poachers trespassing in another man’s tree stand lol.

Ha! Bad dudes going down. No orange. They are lucky someone hasn’t accidentally shot them for a deer.

OMG what suckiness!!

Dave, to your point on room at the hatchery.....the kings are gone from the hatchery before the steelhead eggs are collected correct? We raise and stock millions more Kings than steelhead at Altmar so it seems counterintuitive that there is not enough hatchery space. Perhaps this is another example of why we could use another hatchery in NY.

Or the DEC could just increase Steelhead stocking.

Regulation changes, pen projects, bickering over who said what and when etc etc is not going to fix the fitness of our steelhead. The question that should be asked that has effected steelhead the most IMO is...... what has happened to Emerald Shiner populations?

Understood but the DEC still could present to those of us interested. Roll it into the Lake Erie steelhead discussion.

Dave, if it is not already in the works, the Niagara Fishing Expo might be a good forum to present the research supporting the changes. Thanks for considering.

Dave, I would be interested to know what data was used to determine the need for the regulation change? Is there yearly stream data on steelhead size and numbers? Will the DEC be monitoring returning steelhead numbers and size data to compare results before vs after the regulation change to see if it has the desired effect?

Dreamweaverlures.com has discontinued super slims in a few popular colors for $3 and change

Nice buck!