Ahab

I agree with jk. You don't want there first experience in boating seeing dad be nervous about it. And remember its about them and not you catching a good trout. Give them a good start to a lifetime of fun.

Darkwater I counted 41 boats around Dean's. Somehow you forgot to count your own boat as one of them. I don't disagree with your subject matter. If you don't want others to plow up the spots they fish with a ton of posts then you should STOP DOING IT. If your smart you are posting to every one in the finger lakes region and lake O. that Seneca is slow this year and Dean's cove is the place to go fish so that you can have Lodi pt. all to your self, but you have made it clear that you are not. No need to respond to this and when I next see you I will buy you some bubble gum.

Are you tying to send everyone to Cayuga because you actually fish Seneca ?

"Try not to plow up the spots they fish with a ton of post" ??? Too late you just did.

Two days left. Weigh anchor leave the whinery, get out on the water and fish. This is not little Cayuga there are bigger fish out there than 18.5 Lb.

as I read the regulations. If you had a friend who lives within walking distance of the lake (like maybe a new camp) that will let you use some freezer space or bait tank you are within the regs to do what you want with alewives. DO NOT transport them away from the water body by motorized vehicle and then bring them back. No you can not use my freezer

FLAMING GOBY

I was asking Charlie a question. I know that it is 18" on Cayuga but apparently others don't.

Charlie they are a good eating size. Did you take home a limit or two of those 15 and 16 inch salmon ?

Ric66 Looks like some good solid information and the region 8 fisheries manager's personal opinion at the end. I can appreciate knowing what is on his mind as well as the rest of you. You should not assume that he thinks the impact is bad and should be acted on. You should not assume that his idea of what quality fishing is is the same as yours. It appears to me (I presume) that the fisheries manager has and will continue to manage the fishery based on the good solid information and not his or any one persons assumptions or personal opinions. If reg changes are found to be in order based on the facts, I'm all for them. You are missing what should be more than obvious. Some people feel that this issue (and the effect of a change in the reg) is about more than being able to catch a big slob perch.

Ric66 that looks like some good solid information thanks. SK8man If you think that statement supports your position you should reread what it actually does say. Do not extrapolate from it what you would like it to say.

ok I'm really going out on a limb hear but maybe the professional biologists at the DEC studied Seneca a few years ago and saw the bait fish (perch) were headed for a declining cycle and did stop stocking the trout. Is it possible that they know more than us fishermen about the fish and are way ahead of us ?

Les I understand and very much can relate to your frustration over the changing nature of Seneca lake and the fact that the fishing is not as it was when you were a little boy. you may have noticed from my earlier post that I have a hard time excepting the change. Today there are many invasives in the lake effecting the perch and more importantly there behavior. Many have been named but nobody has mentioned the biggest invasive. If your real concern is for the perch why don't you advocate the DEC to stop stocking the trout? Or would that be " giving up an old habit in order to give the perch a chance to survive? the trout take a lot more perch than the people selling. Different point of view than yours but no more radical than yours. I don't know you and I trust that your intentions are good, but from reading your posts I get the impression that you want it all. It also appears that you have a big problem with somebody getting something from a " Public resource" if you aren't getting your cut. Every perch sold is a perch enjoyed by a non fishermen. Is that wrong? You are trying to legislate against some who don't fish; how, when, where, or with a boat that isn't yours in hopes that it will improve your poor fishing. The fish are doomed if we don't get rid of the invasive trout. maybe Flyrods students should start down that path? The difference between you and I is I'm not trying to force my silly ideas on you like you are on me. I'm just one fisherman expressing my one small opinion to another fisherman and if my scalie demeanor offends any of the gentle fishermen I can only say they call me Ahab for a reason.

Well today I have more snow on the ground than I have had all winter,(so much for the "experts" who know that the lake is too low) the boat is still in storage and the fish are not biting so I am reading this shtuf. There are some issues here that concern me. Personally I don't care about the perch. It appears to me that the teacher doesn't care about perch or perch fishermen either. I see him teaching these impressionable adolescences (to say they are self thinking 11th graders is an oxymoron) a lessen on how to work the legislative process to change the laws for a bettor future for themselves. that's good. However in this case it also is to eliminate the competition for a capitalist venture (fish farm) and to trample on the local traditions and way of life of others. Somebody on the first page of this thread said " I'd just like to ensure that future generations may enjoy the same things we have up to this point." Well one of the things we have enjoyed for generations up to this point is to go out in the winter fish up a bucket of perch sell them and go next door and have a good perch dinner and a beer or two. You can't teach the value of local tradition in a class room and I am unaware of any scientific study. Hopefully the students are still open to the opinions of this topic and that is why it was brought up, and not just to tell us what they are doing for us. I have seen way to often people, some of you people and teachers, who have come to this finger lakes region on vacation, or for college or you married a local. then you moved here because you really liked how it is here. Then after a few years you want to change how we are here, unwittingly making this like the place you didn't like and moved from. You impose your downstate laws and regulations along with your sense of morals and good grammar on us. Some are good many are not. As for the north American perch. Do any of you really think that hook and line fishing will cause the extinction of the species ? The bipeds will be gone long before the yellow perch. Weather, predation ,including fishing, environmental factors and even Haileys comet have an effect on the numbers of perch at any given time. They survived the last ice age and will probably survive the next. When the numbers are low pressure on them declines, when the numbers are up more people find it worthwhile to fish for them. That is the natural way of all life. Some want to micro manage the lakes as a personal fish farm. That is the " ignorance or lack of respect for nature around us" ! As for the selling of perch hopefully 30 years from now people will be still discussing it as they were 30 years ago, nothing has changed. We may be a dying bread Kingfisher, longing for the ways of our past local traditions to remain. I respect you for expressing your opinion and taking the heat for it. Your way of thinking is as foreign to them as theirs is to us. You are welcome to fish from my boat any day. Now I'm going to climb back under my rock throw some more COAL into the stove and try to stay warm.

Well this is new but I need to apologize again in the same day. Sorry guys I don't know what I was thinking. My April 1st exuberance got the bettor of me. I have come to my senses. FORGET THE PICTURES ! Stream fishing is WRONG WRONG WRONG and BAD. Anybody who isn't already corrupted by it should stay far far away. Don't even think about it. Stick with the long lining and ripping gangs of 15 treble hooks through the schools of young salmon on Cayuga lake. Every one goes through a learning process and hopefully learns how to minimize the unintended killing of the fish that we all enjoy

congrats DAD

Most of the anglers I see in the finger lakes streams are very skilled and knowledgeable at what they are doing. Very few but some are the rascals that appear to have learned there technique in the lake Ontario tribs, which is a different type of fishing. I saw some very nice fish yesterday that I think any fisherman would be proud of and would like to see pictures of more. AND my apology for my poor communication skills but that's the way I is.

ok The topic is " that damb big one ". Not scalewag or as some of the more culturally refined among us will say scalawag. The big one being a FISH. Perhaps I or others have been on the water too log so I'll type this s l o w and hopefully we all get it. Today was April 1st opening day of stream fishing. If by chance you didn't see any scalewags you are probably blessed with a great crick. ( I would like for you good stream fishermen to share your pictures of some damb big rainbow trout.) I know some were caught. But I don't own a camera.

If you see any scalewag ketch him tomorrow let me know. Photo evidence will be appreciated.