schreckstoff

Thanks Gambler. We were in Chaumont today putting egg traps in. Temps were 44 in shallow bays, 48-49 out in the middle. Hope they make it through tomorrow’s storms!

If anybody is willing, could you share what the water temperatures you are seeing in chaumont bay? We are gearing up again to study Cisco a Whitefish spawning , the weather is, per usual, a pain in the a$$. This year we are continuing to monitor the effects of the substrate edition and knew this year We are trying some new experimental ways to remedy spawning habitat. As always , if you have interest, questions ,or our gear annoys you don’t hesitate to reach out on PM here or email or text. Thanks, bw

https://www.theconservationangler.org/blog/40-year-spending-spree-can-salmon-recovery-learn-from-history An interesting read, good lessons to try not and repeat.

Sorry, didn’t read the batteries part. I have a little experience with Battle Born with internal heaters and random brand from Amazon that was 1/2 the BB cost (w/o heaters). All have held up so far, but December is when they really get tested.

Seems like similar conditions as in Lake Huron, low and declining phosphorus concentrations, mussels explode and exacerbate the nutrient decline, high predator density keeps munching down the older Alewives. In that state it only takes a cold spring or two to yield low /no prey fish reproductive success, and prey base is gone. Im curious, is anyone catching any Keuka Cisco or know of anyone catching them ?

https://nysfola.org/wp-content/uploads/CSLAP/cslrpt19keuka.pdf based these numbers, which are a bit hard to decipher, but it does not look like the lake has the nutrient concentration (phosphorus) to maintain very much fish biomass, especially if there is any harvest.

New lamprey spawning sites develop and weather constantly messes with treatments effectiveness. If you want to help, you might consider making region 7 and Cape Vincent bios & managers aware you are observing above average small lamprey on Mexico Bay-Oswego BT this spring. RE: lazy control teams - in my 15 years I’ve observed Lk Ont DFO lamprey control field teams to be among the hardest working and most dedicated in the Great Lakes. US and CA field teams of all types were ready to work in 2020 but were ordered to ‘stand down’. Administration risk tolerance, not field crew effort-desire, caused the treatment pause.

For added reference the surface buoys to the East of Oswego are out from Alcan or stacks region and the west site is out in front of Ford Shoals.

Heads up to trollers. There are emergence traps on the lake bottom and surface marker buoys approximately 5 miles east and 5 miles west of Oswego in ~100 ft of water. We experimentally released surplus Bloater eggs at these 2 sites a month ago and are now evaluating if any survived and hatched. We used large, flagged, hi-flyer buoys to maximize visibility and tried to keep the floats in as small of an area as possible. Plan is to sample these spots for approximately one mouth. There are NO nets of any kind, the sampling gear is catching 1/2” larval fish. There are lines on the bottom and heavy anchors so probably best to not troll too close and risk snagging. happy to answer any questions or concerns and thank you for steering clear! bw