Morgan-E

Thanks. It is quite an undertaking by the researchers of Cornell. In the end they would still be looking at the female DNA if they are using the mitochondrial DNA - even with males. Love the Maury comment. In order to get bigger fish they would actually have to take time and effort to separate the sizes as they came into the hatchery and then try to only use three and four year olds to spawn to try to artificially direct genetic selection towards potentially bigger fish (more in the lake to try to get to maturity without being caught in the first 2-3 years). The super large fish in Michigan are older fish that have made it to maturity. With the cuts out there the pressure has moved to other fish species and allowed them to get to this size / age class. Their bait density / biomass is no different and maybe lower than ours on a cubic hectare basis. In the end I think that they are happy with numbers / catch rate and not having to do more work with the shoestring budgets and manpower that they have available. They truly are doing a great job with the resources they have available. Most college kids would mess things up more than help with many of them having a hard time identifying a guppy. If any study, trying to figure out if selective breeding would make a difference, (which we all know that it should) was going to take place in any form, it would need to be driven by a grant with a university heading it and us charter captains would be more efficient at separating the species, gender, and size than any college students. Another push would be for them to open another tube to a holding pond and any "smaller" males sent down the tubes or directly into the dumpster, rather than placed in the "male breeding tub". This would at least eliminate the jacks and the small two year olds without much effort. It was nice seeing people interested in the future of the fishery able to get together again. It was also great that Scott, Tom , and Dan were willing to give their time to be there and answer questions and give us information. Good luck this deer season. Phil

Thank you to all who came out and especially to the DEC staff who volunteered their time to share updates, information, and answer questions. It was a very informative event. Phil

Bump Hope to see familiar and new faces. The Hatchery looks great and it should be a fun and informative night. Sent from my Pixel 6a using Lake Ontario United mobile app

On October 19th at 7PM there will be an end of the year meeting for anyone interested in attending at the Salmon River Fish Hatchery. DEC personnel will be there to go through the egg take, hatchery updates, general health / observations of the fish handled at the hatchery. There will likely be other information presented on the bait fish trawls and any research being done or proposed for the fishery. Please spread the word and try to attend to become more informed about what is going on and to be a part of or listen to meaningful discussions / conversations.

It was a great meeting and we are grateful for Steve and Chris giving us their time. A brief summary is as follows: Hatchery is fully staffed and still working on water issues from the wells. Wild young of the year salmon sampling is the lowest in 10-15 yrs. Cormorant control is back. Lampreys being seen on fish are form the 2020 year class that was not treated. The BIG ONE: --- The new lake management is that it is a wild fishery and will be supplemented by the hatchery system which changes a lot of decisions and puts more chance into the process. Alewife survey is up to 200 sample sites. Lake Ontario Advisory Panel will remain as a permanent tool for decision making. Other discussions were about cormorant hazing, stocking techniques, Net Pen projects, Coho study, Atlantic salmon study, ........ There will be a lot more details in the ELOSTA newsletter - 3 pages. Phil

Hoping to see many old and new faces. Lots of good, clean, fat, healthy alewives this weekend - looking forward to the preliminary trawl data.

All are invited to the meeting tonight at the Mexico VFW (meetings are open to the public). The meeting will start at 7PM and will be inside the main building. There will be updates about the lake fishery counsel made up of lake and tributary anglers, hopefully some word on cormorant control, stocking, fishing reports, etc... Hope to see you there. Phil

Looking forward to seeing a lot of familiar and new faces this weekend.

ELOSTA will have a raffle or 50/50 as well. Donations can always be made to help send kids to DEC camp through ELOSTA too. Looking forward to the event. Thanks Phil

It will be at the Mexico VFW on April 9th morning until early afternoon. Entry fee will be a nominal $2 per person. There is an indoor and outdoor venue (if needed) for vendors. Tables are available for a fee (depending on the number of tables, size of the table, and possibly an outside versus inside rate). Exact times, food, and other information will be added as it gets firmed up. We already have a few vendors looking to unload a lot of stuff. There are plenty of tables still available. Please call Bill Pingel to get a table at 315-515-8278.

Next Wednesday, June 16th, ELOSTA (Eastern Lake Ontario Trout and Salmon Association) will be having a public meeting at the Mexico VFW on Route 13 at 7:00PM. All members and non-members are welcome and encouraged to attend. Topics will range from the bait fish situation, cormorants, fishing thus far, picnic / derby discussion for August, and other pertinent information as well as any techniques and or tips people are willing to share. Looking forward to seeing you there. Phil

It has been cancelled by the fire department last night due to the C-19 Sent from my Pixel 2 using Lake Ontario United mobile app

A big shout out and thank you to the Salmon River Fish Hatchery Biologists and staff for the job that they do. After literally going every year and standing above the arena since the late 80's I was finally able to partake in what goes on down below. The perspective definitely changes when on the floor and many of the misconceptions that I did not realize I had have been cleared up BIG TIME. It is a whirlwind once the fish start coming and does not stop until the last one is spawned, research samples are collected and tallied, and everything is scrubbed down. There is a nice energetic and passionate group of young biologists and technicians who will make sure the hatchery fish continue to be of the highest quality. They all spoke with passion about what they were doing, studies they were taking part in, and fishing adventures they have had recently with the trout and salmon on the lake and in the Salmon and Oswego Rivers. One of the biggest misconceptions that I had as well as many of you reading this may have as well was that only the small males were being spawned. Not intentionally by any means!!!! From up high I could pick out the bigger ones that may have been overlooked or sent down a shoot or dumpstered without spawning. When at the sorting table it is fast paced and the fish in front of you is the one that goes into the tub to be spawned. Once there is a sufficient number in the tub the rest are discarded - big and small. We did some really nice males and a couple not so big males with most reflecting the average size coming up to the hatchery. What happens below the hatchery in terms of selecting out the biggest is outside of the hatchery's control and has been going on since the inception of the fishery. This was something that I had dreamed of doing and can't thank Tom enough for the opportunity. Unfortunately I was not able to put the eggs up due to cross country practice, but hopefully another time. My girls walked away with a whole new level of appreciation as well and Lizzy got a full blown milt mustache courtesy of a big chinook who was more than ready to go - if only I had a camera to take that picture to bring out when a new boy comes courting or for those special moments. Morgan who some of you know, said that if she wasn't going to be a physician assistant she would definitely be heading into fisheries biology -not only because of the fisheries, but the people who were on the floor with her. Thank you again for a Lake Ontario fishaholic's experience of a lifetime.