Tigerhunter

I fished up there about 8 years ago. I didn't even put my outboard down because of all the "unmarked" rocks. I was only able to fish it for a few hours but managed a nice largemouth. There is an abundance of small perch in there, we were dragging our jigging rods behind us looking for bait to throw out on a rig. I wouldn't say it is a total waste, I've seen a guy on a different forum catch a fair amount of them in open water. I've also seen some decent ice fishing reports from there. I will most likely never make it up there again, at least not for the sole purpose of tiger fishing that lake, maybe a quick stop between hiking or something. Old man- I have 2 lakes by me that are the same size or smaller that get a couple hundred tigers each year (one just got bumped up to 1200 I think). I don't put in the time that I should but you'd think I would have seen one there by now.

Is your dock on Onondaga by any chance? Lol. I caught my first bowfin last year in Florida, it put up a crazy fight, that must've been lots of fun for your daughter. I'd like to start to target them but there isn't a ton of information (at least last time I checked) on targeting them. There's a small lake near my house that supposedly has a good population but I usually tend to go to otisco instead.

I saw them constructing part of it last fall, I was wondering what it was going to be... It is actually an ADA accessible kayak launch, I didn't put 2 and 2 together on the opener, we launched at midnight. I thought it was odd that they had the ADA accessible port-a-jon when we got there but after reading the signage at the new launch it made sense. I work along side architects everyday and have picked up quite a bit of knowledge in the sense of ADA, I thought it was pretty neat. I wonder how the kayak gets from the vehicle to the new launch though, seems like that would be the toughest part.... It's great to see money being spent at smaller/rural lakes like this, I'm hoping next time they might fill in some of the small ponds in the driveway/parking lot or dredge the channel.

That makes sense, I have yet to log in since becoming a member. When I did a Google search I found that one of the states out west bumped the minimum length to 50"!

Where does one find the top 25 hybrid release information? I'd be very interested to check that out!

Haffs09- that sounds like my luck, catch them before and after a tourney... Always better than getting skunked, great fish by the way!

I grew up about a half hour from there, used to camp there quite a bit. I haven't fished it since my days of fishing for "whatever bites". I'd like to get back there because I know there are some really nice fish in there, plus the smallie fishing is great if you can't seem to find the toothy critters.

Besides opening day, this is my favorite day to fish!

I had 11 follows and caught 1 bass. I went out this morning and it was even worse, couldn't even buy a follow.....

After the wind out there yesterday and today I will be looking forward to a "calmer" day.....can't wait to get back out there!

I fully intend on staying an active member of Muskies Inc. Chapter 69. I will be fishing the upcoming tiger tournament and plan on participating in as many gatherings as I possibly can.

I think the responsible thing to do is have an open discussion about the pros and cons of all the possibilities and have a vote as Steve mentioned. By the sounds of it, it most likely won't be a unanimous decision but I think it would be ignorant of us as a group if we didn't fully assess any proposed change. I agree that we need to send the right message and I am all for conservation. This is why I initially agreed with it at the meeting knowing we would still have to discuss the actual rule changes and logistics for when there aren't enough legal fish to fill the slots. The 36" sounded appealing at the time but the more I think about it, my thoughts on it go back and forth. As far as conservation, Ivan mentioned larger fish being more difficult to release than smaller fish. I have to agree with this as I think most everyone does. In this sense, I don't think the proposed rule change would make us any more "conservation-oriented" as we would still be handling fish that are fragile. The water temperature should be considered as well. This will likely change year to year but a tournament in May in NY should always provide safe water temps for fishing. I would expect this years water temps to be around 60 degrees based on our weather so far. The fish should be very healthy at this point and I would have no concerns of delayed mortality for any sized fish assuming they were handled properly (from strike to release) and they were not hooked in a bad spot. If it were a tournament in mid summer, then the level of concern should increase with the size of the fish. When the water approaches 80 degrees I personally will either stop fishing for them or look for cooler bodies of water. Another item that needs to be discussed is how places would be determined if a legal fish wasn't caught. What does it say it the official MI tourney regulations if say only one fish is caught or better yet, no fish are caught? I don't have a copy of the regulations so someone else will have to chime in on this. I'm not saying I am against it but my concern with just drawing names out of a hat is that it takes away from the competitive nature of a tournament and would not be fair to someone who caught a few low 30's to be beat by someone that possibly didn't catch anything all day. My idea for 1 point per fish under 36" wouldn't really cause unnecessary handling if you define the procedure- ex. take a picture of a fish in the net in the water and then dip the net so the fish swims out. That would literally take 5 seconds and the fish is in the water the whole time. I look forward to hearing from others that fish this lake and tourney and what their thoughts are on this....

Are we also deciding between measuring the longest single fish versus using the MI point system for multiple fish in addition to using the minimum length of 36"?

I'll expand my thoughts using the possible scenarios (or at least the ones I can think of)... Scenario A- legal fish were caught to cover all 3 places. Angler 1: 42" fish Angler 2: 40" fish Angler 3: 37" fish No issues with Scenario A, use normal MI points system. Scenario B- legal fish do not cover all 3 places. Angler 1: 42" fish Angler 2: 40" fish Angler 3: 32" fish Say two anglers scored legal fish. Options could be: -third place get split between the two with legal fish -third place goes to the winner of a random drawing between all entered participants -third place goes to whoever has the most sub-legal fish caught -third place goes to the winner of a random drawing between those who have caught a sub-legal fish Scenario C Angler 1: 35" fish Angler 2: 33" fish Angler 3: 28" fish Nobody scored a legal fish but many sub-legal fish were kept. Options could be: -all places goes to the winner of a random drawing between all entered participants -all places goes to whoever has the most sub-legal fish caught -all places goes to the winner of a random drawing between those who have caught a sub-legal fish Scenario D No tigers caught.Say nobody catches a fish. I would assume all would want to do a random drawing, probably splitting available prizes evenly (33.3% each) I feel that only Scenario B and C need to be decided. I think the best way to score a place that needs to be filled using sub-legal fish would be to assign 1 point for each sub-legal fish (it would take 11 sub-legal fish to beat the minimum 36" fish worth 10 points). This way if somebody catches 3 35" fish, they do not get beat by somebody who caught a 25" fish or someone who did not catch any fish at all. As far as people targeting sub-legal fish, I'm not sure I understand how one targets a 30" fish over a 36". Typically we are all trying to catch the biggest fish possible, otherwise we would be fishing for different species but I understand that sometimes tourneys/$$$ can affect peoples motives. Are you referring to location on the lake, water depth, lure size or lure choice? I feel counting each sub-legal fish as one point would be the fairest to the anglers who catch fish. I feel a random drawing of all participants would be the most conservation friendly (which is why we are having this discussion) since all sub-legal fish would be unhooked in the water and released immediately). I am interested in hearing others' opinions...

I like the second solution better, picture of the fish in the net, maybe with something handed out that morning proving it was from that day. Maybe assign 1 point to each sub-legal fish entered, that way if no legal fish are caught the winners are still determined by fish caught.

I would like to thank everyone who came out on Saturday, it was great to meet new people and catch up with a few that I haven't seen in quite some time. I am working on making some revisions to the information I brought to the meeting to include things we discussed that were not in it originally. Once it is finished I will figure out the best way to distribute it. I am glad that we were able to join the Muskies Inc. chapter and think this will be a beneficial relationship for all those involved as well as esox fishing across the state.