Capt Vince Pierleoni

Congrats Chris!

I dont have the right bowhunting clothes for this and tonight was definitely the warmest I have ever sat in NY in November. It was 63 degrees when I got back to the truck, well after dark. About the time it was to climb down, they had me trapped. Sluggishly tromping through the crunchy leaves. Then, to top it off, I pull into driveway in time to see my 3d deer laying in pieces in the backyard and the buck bounding away. Gotta love it.

Congrats to all the successful buck hunters! Tonite should be good ahead of the next front.

The G5 Strikers have been good for me as well.

When it clears and subsides there will be an explosion of activity. Good luck to all.

I have had anglers call me this fall saying they have witnessed cormorants pillaging Chinook releases the last couple of Springs. The southshore bays and tribs have had their LM Bass take a beating as well. Letting YEARLING trout become bird food knowingly is beyond a crime, as they are the most expensive to raise and take up the most hatchery space.

Congrats to Sierra and Dad! Special as it gets.

I'm encouraged with what I have heard from and about the new hatchery manager. I'm also happy to hear that the DEC acknowledged the poor returns the last 2 years and have already started to make changes. The cormorants will be a problem from now on, and it will take alot of effort from all of us so they don't get the stocked fish. Their predation is much worse than what we thought, and that was already a huge concern. More volunteers will be needed at the stocking sites than in the past, and the DEC will probably have to rethink some of their normal practices. Some contingency plans had to be put into place in the western tribs as when low water was found stocked Steelhead would hold in what deep pools they could find and wait for rain. Unfortunately the Cormorants would get them before the flow would come. I definitely have not experienced reduced fighting capabilities by any of the popular species, I feel most of this can be attributed to warm water temps which saps their strength much quicker.

Very cool pics. Looks like more of a vantage point or stake out for the bruiser than cover. I've bumbled into some at fence openings in the dark during the rut. They want to intercept any possible hookups, the sooner the better.

Just today I rec'd calls from guides on the Genny, Niagara, and the west end northshore tribs. All reported extremely slow Salmon fishing. I personally fished the Niagara and 18 mile last week. It was 1--3 bites for 6 hrs each day. It is supposedly primetime but yet the parking lot was a ghost town at Olcott the last couple of days. The fish cleaner who mans the station said he was going to go have a beer because he hadnt had a customer in 3 hrs. Unheard of for this time of year. There is a big meeting being held in Port Credit tmw night because of how poor the Salmon fishing has been in the western basin Canadian waters. Reports from volunteers who helped take eggs said it was a real chore to get them. Davey, I'm very happy to hear we will get our eggs this year. Kudos to you and your associates on the Breast Cancer fundraiser.

Hey Weave, the first Cohos I ever caught were from those very piers. I think what you are accustomed to seeing and haven't seen many of lately are emerald shiners. They definitely were missing this year. There are several possible reasons, the severe winter killed them, an element of the food chain that they rely on was missing, or the adult Alewife out-competed them for food. I'm certain their absence was the reason the Spring Coho were so tiny . I think emeralds play a huge role in getting all the young trout and Salmon jump start in growth. What is amazing and very telling was although the Coho started at 1 to 2.5 lbs this Spring was that most of the adults ended up at 6 to 10lbs, excellent growth. Hang in there at your favorite spot, almost all of Lake Ontario's species can be caught there.

Davey, you don't think MANY mature 2 yr old Kings ranging from 12 to 17 lbs are big and well fed? Wow, high standards for growth. As for baitfish school observations, when stomachs are checked and you can count on one hand the species other than alewives that are observed-it's a safe assumption. I don't try to make observations for your fav rivers, please stop overstating your presence on the big lake in the last 20 yrs. Peace and good fishing with all the elbow room you desire.

Davey, I'm surprised you have not mentioned cormorants as doing damage to Steelhead. I can assure you they are having an enormous impact. Perhaps it's easier to point fingers at the lake anglers? Do you understand that lowering the creel on Steel will be counter productive? Why? because just like the fleets that HBC from the north deals with, there are some of those over here too. When creel was reached on Steel they would continue fishing, in exactly the same fashion, for the other species. Trust me, I'm frustrated with abuses too. As for your slam on Tournament fishing, there is no greater impact economically on an area than when an event is held. Those are probably the most justified fish harvested in the lake, and most of the smart guys are fishing the events with charters, sharing the great resource. We could debate sizes of Chinooks caught, but our fishery chief has already said its not having an impact (open water harvest) and these fish are the greatest table fare anyway. If you are fishing where the fall run Chinooks are "half dead", then you must have some private water. Over here in the Niagara and 18 mile they are harvested so fast they never end up like that. The small, young Chinooks this year have actually put up quite a good show.

Welcome Hairy from the North. The tribs with the big runs are the ones with Natural repro--and have protected areas/timeframes. Perhaps thats what needs to be done on the southshore if we cant get the hatchery product improved. Davey, sorry but no debate here. There was simply less adult Chinooks returning home the last 2 years, and in the west end, its been longer than that. As for the boat surverys, I challenge you to find ONE crew that I ever drove past or didnt cooperate with. You can add diet studies, head collections, stakeholder meetings--I participate in them all. I think you are extremely incorrect if you dont think healthy Chinook numbers buffer your Steel. You know the truth. I think you are playing a dangerous game of DIVIDING user groups when you start pointing fingers at the lake anglers. It works both ways. Perhaps there would be more mature Brown trout and Steelhead in the lake if they werent all played out to submission in the tribs. Maybe we should look closely at closing off sections of quality tribs for spawning--not just C n R, but no harrasment whatsoever. See, it can go both ways but everyone who knows you knows where your heart lies and what your true colors are. I'm very sorry about what is happening to the trib Steel, it affects us all. If the alewives were cropped properly the health of the Steelhead would magically improve. The solution was, is, and always will be Pacific Salmon.

Based on what we saw for adult alewives the last 2 yrs I would have to say yes, Brian. The Kings were in a competitive state right out of the gate in 2012, with the 3 yr class driving it. That left an excellent number of 4 yr olds for 2013.

"shorting the gamefish(especially pelagic) capabilities of Lake Ontario" . Very well put, and therein lies the frustration many feel. I've seen it in competitive balance twice, 1989 and 2012.

The late great DEC fisheries chief Bill Pearce, who is enshrined at the Altmar hatchery, clearly spelled out in the "year 2000 plan" document that bolstering the south shore economy WAS one of the original goals. Sadly, this emphasis definitely has taken a back seat. Hmmm, or has it? Perhaps after hearing of the astronomical increases in the "pay for fishing rights" game on the SR, maybe its just being targeted in a different way. We were warned when the Atlantic Salmon program began that the end game would be high cost limited access fishing. Too bad the inconvenient truth is the greatest solution to one of the biggest obstacles to restoring any naturally reproducing Atlantics--the Alewife--is best controlled by the pelagic Chinook Salmon. As for increased numbers of adult Steelhead for trib anglers to fish for, the simplest solution is a better density of Chinook for Lake anglers. This is a far better idea than planting more fish in a system where many are mysteriously dying. Wild Steelhead actually are doing quite well in Lake Ontario, but evidently they aren't originating from the Salmon river.

Unreal, Brian. Makes me think of that incident that happened in NYS around 2000. If I remember right it was near Albany. A bowhunter nodded off and fell out of his stand. He only had the waist belt style safety belt, so he was hanging upside down and had cut himself badly on a broadhead. He was squirming and bleeding and a pack of yotes showed up. I'm pretty sure they were leaping and grabbing him where they could with their jaws. The only thing that saved his life was he was hunting behind his house and he had shown his wife and daughter where that stand was and they came looking for him. I'm pretty sure it was the old NY Sportsmen magazine that retold the story.

Went Thurs AM. Lots of Coho in the raceway. The Kings we saw that day looked to be predominantly 2 and 3 yr old males. When we arrived one of the "educators"(name tag designation) was trying to explain away the poor river fishing to a group of anglers using the bad winter story. As we left it was a different group of concerned out of state anglers-but same excuse. We did not see very many Chinook hens in the raceway, hopefully they had some in the holding bays. If anyone has any info on the stripping that is to start in the next couple days I am very interested in the take.