muskiedreams

I wonder if we have to fish solo, have our own net and/or net our own fish, wear a mask (unobtainable). What about Charters?

Very tough call. This COVID-19 is presenting many unknowns. One thing I want to mention is that in the Chapter 70 blog in the back of the Jan/Feb Muskie mag, they announced that they are going to have a season long tournament where members can fish any waters, and will not have any traditional tournaments. I am not sure how it will be judged or how prizes will be determined. And I don't think they had the COVID-19 virus in mind when they decided on the plan. So some input from them on how they will manage it might be helpful. At this point, we don't know how to be diligent and in compliance with new mandated gathering and travel restrictions, including anglers traveling across state lines. It also looks like the Region 3 Chapter Challenge might even be affected.

Non-humans like this make the problem worse. https://www.yahoo.com/news/17-700-bottles-hand-sanitizer-155735689.html

The virus is here and it is real. But!!! 1) Everybody needs to, above all, use common sense. Stop, seek professional knowledge and advice and think before you act. Don't be a naysayer. Don't use pure emotions. Don't be a fear monger. 2) Fueling mass panic and perpetuating false notions will only create more polarization, cause additional problems and help the virus and the Russians who want to tear our democracy down. 3) You cant protect yourself from it with TP, bullets, etc. 4) Don't be a hypocrite and complain about high drug prices and then try to create and/or cash in on shortages caused by the situation. 5) Know that you and everyone around you might be infected and take reasonable precautions. 6) It might be reasonable to assume you are infected if someone in your house or that you have been close to has tested positive. 7) Don't believe everything you read on social media. So you don't have to believe a word I have said. But maybe you should check with professional sources in the medical field.

That is just not true and not what the top medical professionals are saying. I prefer to believe what they say. If you respect people over 60, you should also.

Everyone should take basic precautions like more hand washing (done correctly and before contact with your face), no handshaking, using hand sanitizer, reducing close quarter situations with strangers and whatever health officials recommend. Even Those who are younger and healthy who are at lower risk should do the same, to keep from spreading the virus to the vulnerable public.

I have one of those. It hasn't been used in over 15 -20 years. It has made a lot of sacs in it's day and it still works but isn't as shiny new looking as that one and is crusted up with vintage egg juice. I can't wrap my head around that price though.

Here is a very good article about the Chautauqua Lake issue that was published in Chautauqua Magazine in the spring of 2019. It talks about the science of lake management and what is being done and learned in other lakes. https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BypAPIc0Dk8aVV9sNzlDdl8wVFRtdFJrc3V3bk1ZQmZSMlMw/view They mention Princeton Hydro which was the other third party that surveyed the weeds in Chautauqua Lake. It would be nice to hear what conclusions they came to in regard to their fall 2019 survey of the south basin. From looking at Princeton Hydro's website, especially their Blog section, it looks like they are very experienced at developing individual lake management plans. The only thing is. you have to get all the stakeholders on board in order to properly implement a comprehensive multi faceted plan. It is very interesting learning what they are doing with the project studying Lake George. Maybe some of what was leaned there can be applied to Chautauqua Lake management.

The Independent party used that name to confuse people into registering as a member of their party so they can stay on the ballot as a party. They have to have a minimum number of members to have a party line on the ballot. I am non affiliated. A member of no party. I know that means not having the privileged of voting in a primary and that being registered to a party doesn't mean you can't vote for a candidate who is not in your registered party. I just wish that more people would realize that they are not obligated to vote the party line and they should let the candidates know that. It may be the only way we can keep our democracy. I apologize if I am being too political here.

And they have experienced lawyers who know how to twist rules and regulations and play other legal games.

Herbicide use has been a problem on Waneta and Lamoka Lakes for many years done by the same company SOLitude Lake Management. Over the last 10 years, more years than not you were hard pressed you find any weeds in Waneta Lake. In 2019, weeds in Waneta were very limited even though according to the Lamoka Waneta Lakes' Association website, they only used herbicides in Lamoka Lake. The herbicide used there in 2019 was a newly NYS approved herbicide called ProcellaCOR, which they say (they being the herbicide maker SePro) is more selective, reduced risk according to EPA (an agency of questionable integrity), supposedly lasts up to 4 years among other claims. I am not yet sure if it is liquid or granular. They say, like all their other herbicides (which they seem to have a monopoly on) those who apply them have to be certified by the company. I wonder how in depth the certification is. So it remains to be seen how this new herbicide will affect the lake if they continue to use it. And since it is another variable added to what has already been done there, it might be very difficult or impossible to determine cause of any long term trends. Since this is something new, most likely SOLitude will be promoting the use of it in Chautauqua Lake. It is hard to tell for sure how much the herbicides have affected the musky fishery since there may also be other factors, but there have definitely been changes. And from what I have heard from anglers who target other species, their success has gone down. Maybe the problem with Chautauqua Lake was the ability of the applicators to maintain control of the application to limit collateral damage. I heard they used a liquid and it seems like they were originally planning on using a granular form of the herbicide.

That is not really a lot of time that you have put in. Even an experienced musky angler can go that long without catching a fish. But some get lucky their first time out. There are a lot of things you can do to increase your chances. Joining a club, going out on a charter or with other anglers who are successful and putting in more time are probably the three most important things you can do to improve your odds. Eventually, the more time and effort you devote, the better your success will be. It is kind of like developing an extra sense. You eventually learn how to take advantage of and adjust to nature's conditions and different situations.

Looks very unusual. Looks like a tiger that has had it's markings remove, cut up and then sprinkled back on. But I thank Ronix 51 for his professional explanation. A DNA analysis might have been interesting.

Got insurance?

Great video. Thanks for posting. From what I have understand, they also steal the eggs from the nest if the bass is pulled off the nest. That is probably even more devastating because they can probably clean them out in a shorter time. So that is another big argument against the catch and release season. Maybe they can allow it in the finger lakes that do not have gobies and other lakes that have no gobies. The gobies are bad on muskellunge eggs because they are broadcast spawners and do not guard eggs. I don't think the biologists know if they also go after the muskellunge fry. If it keeps up the way it is, I wonder if the gobies could potentially wipe out all it's predators by eating their eggs and their young. I know there is a lot of concern of that in regard to muskies in the SLR. For the bass, at least the situation could be partially mitigated by ending the C&R in all gobie waters.Maybe they could also restrict SMB inclusion in early season bass tournaments in gobie waters. Also, there are some professional bass tournaments where each contestant has an official on the boat who weighs and releases each bass as they are caught but that still might not help in the case of ripping them off the beds. As far as getting the DEC to consider changing regulations, this video is the first step. The second step would be to convince the fishing community that change is needed. This conversation would have to be spread around. If they see enough support for change, it might eventually happen.

Just around the corner from the gas station!!

That is a jaw dropper.

Your father or the captain must know their way around to be out there at night.

I can tell you one thing. They are calling for 32* temp in the morning, so a warm layer or two and gloves might be in order early on. Also, since the water temp is still likely around 70*, there might be morning fog. It could delay the start a little. Depends on if there is any wind.

I have to admit that I haven't fished Lake Ontario or pier or tribs for quite some time and without experiencing that, it is hard to get a complete picture of the current conditions. I am not surprised and have heard that the north shore gets better returns and I am sure it is because of several reasons. I think number 1 is better trib habitat which translates to better natural recruitment. It would be nice if our tribs could be improved to produce better recruitment. I have no idea if it is something that could be achieved through habitat improvement projects. Meanwhile, I can see that if there are ways to improve the pen rearing projects to help increase returns to western and central tribs, that would be a big plus. If they could find technology that can be used to conduct telemetry tagging studies or fin clip studies (clip methods that indicate year and stocking method/location) to help determine return rates and at the same time, take measures such as modifying release locations and methods to help improve survival of pen reared fish (maybe open water release would not be ideal at that stage) and at the same time, consider what can be done to help improve the habitat in those tribs to encourage natural recruitment, maybe the fall runs can be improved over a period of years. Here is a pen rearing variation that was done this year with tiger muskies. maybe this will help with ideas to improve the pen rearing projects in Lake Ontario. https://www.lakeontariounited.com/fishing-hunting/topic/82229-chapter-70-pen-stocking-tiger-muskies/ The US Dept. Fish and Wildlife may have funds that can be tapped for projects of this nature for habitat improvement. At least for tribs it might be feasible in. Just some thoughts of mine about the issue. I don't know if these ideas have been already considered or if these ideas could help spawn ( pardon the pun) other ideas. I am going to have to drop out of this conversation for now because I have to get ready for a long weekend of musky fishing at Waneta Lake.

After reading through the all the things discussed in this topic, I would like to bring up a thing or two that I don't recall being discussed here. Also I want to say that I am an old guy that has lived and fished in New York since I was a kid. I became interested in fishing for trout and salmon in Lake Ontario near the beginning. I did not have access to boat fishing and I was excited about how the fishing in Lake Ontario was coming back from the dismal condition of the lake in the 60s and 70s. I actually entered the spring ESLO derby in 1982 and fished it from shore. I only caught a small brown but after that I became hooked on trout and salmon fishing in Lake Ontario. From the mid 80s til the mid 90s I spent a lot of time fishing from the piers in the spring and in the fall. By the mid 90s there were changes happening to the lake and it's tributaries which I think contributed greatly to changes in near shore trout and salmon fishing. 1) Zebra Mussels and later, other mussels: It is in my opinion that this has influenced the near shore trout and salmon fishing the most and has caused other cascading changes. As they cleared up the water, there was progressively fewer trout and salmon in the shallow water around the piers in the spring and the fall. They disrupted the food chain throughout the lake. Since trout and salmon prefer not to be exposed to bright light, they did not spend as much time around the piers unless the water was stained by runoff. It didn't affect the trout in the spring as much because of spring run off and cool water temps. However I do believe that gradually, the length of time that the salmon spent staging close in front of the tributaries and around the piers gradually shortened as the mussels caused the water to gradually become clearer. There used to be several weeks of consistently good salmon fishing off the piers and as the lake cleared, it became more sporadic. 2) The continued reduction of phosphors and other pollutants into the tributaries and the lake. This is good in a lot of ways but also added to clearing the water. 3) Effects of the clearer water on seasonal nearshore water temperatures. I think the clearer water, especially nearshore in the fall allows the sun to keep the water temps from falling as fast in the fall. That is if the lake doesn't turn over. The darker color of clear water as opposed to green algae laden water can absorb more heat from the sun. I think this can be even more of a factor in years with a warm September and low rainfall. 4) Changes in baitfish patterns as a result of the above changes. Please note that these are just my thoughts based on observations over the years. The lake as a whole is like a living entity that is constantly changing. All the changes can be considered good in some ways and bad in other ways. I do miss the pier fishing for trout and salmon. To me, it is much more exciting than trolling for them when you hook into one from a pier.

Dan, Is your last name also McGuckin (member of MI Chapter 69)? If so, I hope you will be there for the tourney on Oct. 5th to help us win the Chapter Challenge. Keep in mind that only fish caught by chapter members will qualify for the Chapter Challenge and chapter members don't have to be entered in the cash tournament to participate in the Chapter Challenge.