pro-fish-n-c

Was nice to get out shore casting on Oneida again last nite. Managed a couple fish with some missed hits, and some nice bass landed. Cleaning the fish this morning , noticed something odd. Yep, tapeworms, some almost a foot long and alive, coming out of one of the fish. Everything online says no big deal, cook and eat like normal which makes sense. I have caught hundreds of eyes from Oneida in the last couple years and never noticed this . Has anyone else ?

Several times last summer we were lucky enough to fish baitballs pushed to the surface and being attacked by pike, tigers, and gar at the same time . Never any pickerel mixed in with the other predators though. But this was over 25 to 30 feet of water.

Shore fishing on Oneida has been stellar for the last week and a half . Not sure on the deeper water bite.

In my mind scattering them over a larger area seems like it would lessen the opportunity for a localized feeding frenzy though. A couple here and couple there would be harder for the terns and gulls to spot too maybe . But I see now they are easy pickings no matter what when they are floating around on the surface.

Just got off phone with DEC. They agreed baby tigers are dumb and ride high in the water column, easily predated, etc. When I pointed out they were dumping them in current , no weeds around , over deep water, etc they stated that's how it's always been done at that spot and survival rates are adequate. Pointed out that there are several shallow 4 to 7ft deep weedy bays very close by that would be much better spots, and volunteered to boat them there in the future, biologist was open to the idea for next year and took my name and number.

Returned to the launch in the dark from a tiger fishing trip to see the DEC had just made the yearly stocking of tigers for the location I was at. Unhappy to see 750 to 1000 tigers , dumped off at a boat launch over 20 feet of water at the waters edge, with no cover and no where to go due to current , hugging the shoreline. While we checked them out, we noticed that smallmouths and big tigers were having a feast since the baby tigers were pinned against the shore due to the current. 200 yards from the launch where they were stocked are two different weedy shallow bays, that would seem would be much more ideal then dumping in 20 feet of water in current . Would have gladly donated my time and boat to shuttle them to more appropriate locations to be stocked if had known. Was tempted to net them and shuttle them to cover to avoid the feeding frenzy. Going to contact region 7 tomorrow and offer to volunteer my time and boat if necessary now or in the future. Hard to believe they would just be dumped off like this in such a bad spot, can't imagine the survival rate is very high . As someone who has put in more then 50 trips for tigers this year I find this distressing .

Is it possible it was someone harassing/killing cormorants ?

They are all through Seneca , Oneida, and oswego river systems . Check for vegetation on your trailer, the nuts can get caught in it or in hard to see places.

This was posted in another thread, everyone should take a look at it . http://www.dec.ny.gov/docs/fish_marine_pdf/lorpt14.pdf

Thanks Justin. I'll break out the bleach tonite. I did some research and bilge water is the number one way they get transferred.

Headed to otisco for the first time this year , couldn't remember if there are fleas there or not. If there isn't, planned on disinfecting/drying my boat very well, to avoid any transfer. Not sure if they transfer that way but wanted to play it safe. Thanks