Sk8man

Yeah Flexseal is not great especially where a surface gets contacted and it is affected by UV rays too.

That right there is at the heart of it. Have to put vested interests aside and work together. Unfortunately we have only to look at the functioning of our dysfunctional state and federal governments in terms of the probability of that happening. It is sad.

It was an exciting thread even for guys like me that no longer hunt....felt as though I was right out there.....pretty cool

Good luck with it

Oxbow. With everything said taken into consideration you may be able to use the Anglers Pals but if so use safety lines to your rods and make sure you tighten down the bases real good and check them frequently to make sure that they don't loosen up from the combination of wave action and the weight of the torque on the rods. You may have to turn the holder in the base such that the slot that fits on the ball is not in a downward position and it may not give you exactly the rod position you wish but may be safer

shawn is giving you good advice. It is one of the things in life that you don't want to "cheap out" on Ciscos, Cannon's, Berts, or Traxtec are what you want to take a look at.

How disapointing. Here all my life I have believed what my parents told me about the storks dropping the babies off. I did ask them once "Where did the storks get the babies?" though and they had a puzzled look on their faces

Anglers pal holders. They came in a couple sizes the larger about 12 inches? and are OK for most lighter stuff but you can only tighten them down just so far and they can slip in the very narrow base when under great stress. The allen head screw on the base can loosen without it being obvious too I know folks that have used them for heavier set-ups but they use safety lines on their rods too (just in case). They would be fine for top lines and walleye trolling and that sort of thing but kinda risky for wire setups and risky for kings

Yeah Mike the effects of Mother Nature alone on the lake over time even a short interval like a life time is astounding. I remember back in the mid seventies there were some homes and buildings located near cliffs between Sodus Point and Rochester where I trolled that are no longer there and I used to often frequent the Chimney Bluffs east of the Point in the eighties and took pics over the years until recently. Places where I stood looking out at the lake are long gone now. The combination of wind and water erosion has totally changed the landscape. In the long run Mother nature and the lake will do whatever they wish despite man's efforts but in the meantime human intervention efforts need to be well thought out in advance of implementation, adjusted along the way in light of factual data responsibly collected, and intelligently interpreted so we don't add to the adverse effects. Unfortunately, there are many vested interests that come into play and the possibility of data skewing and misinterpretation are always looming in the background of people's minds and it gives rise to "suspicions", and "conspiracies"; often because of a lack of transparency which may be "fact" or "opinion".

Man Rob...big boy! I was hoping to see him putting on his night vision goggles

I've had my stuff ready to go since September Chuck

I know we are all like race horses waiting to get out of the gate but it is going to take some extended cold without the ups and downs in temp and low to no wind for a bit to give us safe ice.

I think Gator has a good perspective on the situation. Part of the problem here may actually have nothing to do with the "supportive" factors mentioned. The underlying issue may have more to do with the way our brains are structured to deal with incoming information. Sound strange? Not really....this overall situation is highly complex and is from all appearances an interaction between human actions, vested interests, and Mother Nature. In our minds (as we have done for millennia) we interpret incoming information in terms of cause and effect meaning that one action or lack thereof causes or directly leads to or influences some reaction. Sometimes things don't fit this model of thinking and events may happen coincidentally or they may be independent actions or events that we try to make sense of by lumping or combining them together, when in fact they are separate or discrete events; or one event may have the "appearance" of affecting or "causing" something to happen. This situation being discussed seems to be one of those "quagmires". People all over the world have settled at the edge of various bodies of water despite the logical probabilities regarding potential adverse effects coming from such positioning (flooding, hurricane activity, tsunamis, etc.) which repeat themselves over the course of time. We still continue to believe that we as humans have some high degree of control over Mother Nature - when time and time again we are presented with contrary natural events and disasters. Human action, interaction or inaction during critical periods may make the situation worse or mitigate damage and we need to try to deal with what Mother Nature hands out but we may not have all or even enough cards available to play in the situation. When something disasterous happens we naturally try to understand the origin of the "causation" and ascribe "blame" to the most prominent or easily identifiable action, event, object, or person when in reality we may be dealing with complex, multi-dimensional factors some of which may be happening at the same time, preceding, or following an event, and this whole issue seems to smack of this scenario. Trying to ascribe "blame" or a single cause or even a solution to it may be "pissing in the wind". Sorry....got tired of thinking this to myself and felt compelled to let it out (and maybe I shouldn't have had the second coffee)

I know Iceland has a population of them as does Norway but if memory serves me correctly there are three main populations: North America, Europe and Russia. I think most of the Atlantic Ocean fish frequent Greenland to winter over as it is the main feeding ground before they return to their native streams to spawn. The North American population is in southern Canada and the Gulf of Maine.

They aren't even doing well in the Atlantic Ocean here in the US. They are currently a protected species in the marine environment and I believe I read somewhere that the only real viable "native" populations run up three rivers in Maine. The commercial "farm" raisers have a reputation for spreading all sorts of diseases among them as well as other salmon using the waters where they are located. I'm not sure about the genetic origin of the NYS stocked strain.

One of the things that has been in the back of my mind for awhile regarding the stocking issues is dietary diversity of the various trout and salmon species and considerations relating to it. The trout and salmon species vary radically in their dietary habits and preferences and despite the current focus on alewives; each species offers a different level of "threat" to the alewife base with associated differences in time frames i.e immediacy. For example, the Pacific salmon being the roaming and free-ranging non-bottom-feeders they are (genetically) feed nearly entirely on saltwater derivative baitfish such as the alewife. Previously (when they were available) Atlantics fed on the rainbow smelt (which is related to Capelin a close relative in the smelt family which serves a primary source of food for the ocean goer Atlantics. In fresh water It takes an Atlantic about two to three years (smolts) before their organs are developed enough to ingest baitfish. Until then they feed on insects and small invertebrates, plankton, and crustaceans found in streams and nearshore areas as well as insect hatches of caddisflies, mayflies blackflies and that sort of thing. Atlantics exhibit pronounced diet diversity throughout their lives (4-7 yrs usually) and may be a reason why they are out deep with the steelies in the summer when all the insects are available out there. The Pacific salmon are faster growing with shorter life spans but during most of their life they feed pretty much exclusively on alewives in Lake Ontario. Point is that Atlantics don't have much immediate impact on the alewife baitfish base for 3 or 4 years. They are also thought to be quite vulnerable to stress or injury when caught and released and are known to be very susceptible to many viruses, bacteria, and fungus so it isn't surprising that they don't seem to fare very well in the current lake environment. I guess I should also state that the Kings are my ultimate favorite Lake O fish and it is rather discouraging to think that being as vulnerable as they are because of their dietary focus they could be particularly affected by a decimated alewife population if that is or becomes fact.