Sk8man

Very well put and something to think about Steve.

Ahab, The perch are sometimes eaten by trout but they are not a main part of their diet on Seneca and they are not technically considered a "baitfish" for trout (at least currently) Alewives are the mainstay of their diet.

No sense beating a dead horse here. I think it is good that a wide variety of things have been placed here to look at and people have had the opportunity to think about some of the issues and give their opinions and thoughts on the topic. It is clear that it is a "polarizing" topic which an be a good thing if not "personalized" in a way that degrades the holders of differing views. It is also clear that the opposite ends of the spectrum in this regard will not be changing anytime soon and that is OK too. One of the more humorous aspects to this is that my position has been painted as a "flaming liberal" one when nothing is further from the truth. In fact I am a member of the Conservative Party Committee politically and even funnier that I actually hold some similar views of intervention and interference by the government (e.g. SAFE Act) etc. but this issue for me is "issue specific" and has absolutely nothing to do with political or ideological views. It is based on what I see going on with the lakes around us and with the perch population in particular that I find disturbing and in need of intervention. The unfortunate fact is that voluntary compliance seldom works when there is money at the bottom of a situation or in the case of over harvesting - greed and in that case more formalized interventions need to be looked at. This is a complex situation in need of intervention and it will probably take more than just one thing to solve it. As long as people continue to exploit the resource and it is under these intense pressures it will not last if not headed off or contained, and you'd have to be blind not to see what is going on out on these lakes.

Very nicely said Cornelis

Ditto

Have a great season Billy.

Kingfisher - It has been mentioned several times that the sale of perch is only ONE factor in this situation. Nobody said that by eliminating this ONE factor it will totally solve the problem. Basically you are taking the position that there is no problem and asking for scientific evidence that it exists. It would be great if a competent scientifically based body would take this on and run all sorts of acceptable studies and formulate some rational conclusions but this isn't being done and as far as anyone can see there are no plans to do it by anyone and denying that any problems exist and putting our heads in the sand will not accomplish anything. I sincerely hope that you and others expressing similar views are correct in that no problem actually exists and it is all a figment of some folks imagination because they are hell bent on imposing their will and philosophy on you and trying to take away your "God given" rights and depriving you of the opportunity to be a venture capitalist. If however you aren't correct in your "assessment" of the situation and things continue to deteriorate it could be too late for any type of intervention. This is not a solitary issue relating to one local body of water (e.g. Seneca) as other lakes are under these "pressures" as well (e.g. Honeoye and Canandaigua, and Keuka for example) but perhaps at different rates or stages.

Thx Hop

Ummmm I think you forgot to add the price

I can see that you didn't take your psychotropic medication today so there is no use responding.

Ahab - although you make some interesting points in your argument woth considering your denigration of young people and short sighted view of influences of folks who may have moved to the area or perhaps just weren't born here and blaming them for having views which oppose yours is truly ignorant as well as arrogant. I respect your right to voice your view as well as other folks who may have very different views than my own oir some of the others here and I would defend your and their right to express them as well but is it really necessary to demean or belittle people as though your own viewpoint is more valid than theirs or blame others who may not have lived their whole lives in the area for what you perceive as a threat to your own views? It is unfortunate that divergent views can't be expressed without the polarization and belittling of others.

Yup.....Good going John

Good one Jim

The ones pictured appear to be left to right: #22, #71, #31, and #44 I believe but could be a 22 hard to tell for sure rom the angle. bandrus Ed - The old guy could have sold them up that way because I know he also frequented some other tackle shops out of the area. I talked with him probably 25 or 30 times over the years when I'd run into him.

Ed unless someone bought the dies after the guy died they were all originally made at his home based shop at the south end of Seneca and they were $1.75 each in the mid to late 70's ....kind of a bargain at today's prices but then again I remember buying Sutton's for $2.25 each...sometimes it pays to be a dinosaur.....for awhile anyway

Good spoons. They were made by a guy who lived near Elmira. I can't remember his name but he frequented the tackle shops around Seneca lake including my friend's Fisherman's Friend shop near Waterloo. I usd to run in to him there fairly often. He machined his own stuff and put the dimples and swirls in the material and polished it etc. The basic shapes and some sizes were modeled after the Sutton's but the finishing wasn't actual silver nor did it look like it. He had spoons in the #11 (smallest), 31, 22, 44, 71,and 88 and finishes in plain silver, plain brass, swirl (both in silver/pearl swirl and brass swirl), hammered silver, and hammered brass. At one point I had dozens of them but over the years many have disappeared and I doctored up a bunch with tape etc. I caught some huge lakers with the (large) 88's on Seth Greens on Owasco and Seneca. The #11 shaped a little like the Sutton#6 is still my favorite rainbow and landlock spoon. The guy was in his 60's or so back in the 70's so he is long gone by now and I don't know if anyone ever bought his dies etc. The red eyes are a current add on by the way as is the ladder tape None of them ever came with any tape or artificial eyes. They came standard with trebles which I felt were very weak so they were always replaced with SS singles

If you were out there today you are one hard core dude .

#'s 2, 3, and 6 for the Finger Lakes....all should work real well on Lake O

I have known some of the conservation officers in DEC section 8 for many years and they are some of the most hard working guys out there. When most of us are at home at night or odd hours or holidays (for us) for example many times they are out doing their job just as are the true majority of state law enforcement officers (e.g State Police). They don't have the easiest jobs either in current times. The folks to direct your anger and displeasure at are the incompetent legislators and the Emperor (Cuomo) himself not the"worker bees" trying to cope with the budget cuts, short staffing issues etc. they should be receiving our full support not unfounded criticism. We do need to have the laws enforced but enough folks to do it is what is lacking.