Lucky13

I drove by it today on the way to Naples, and although no one was using it, it looked open and useable. There were seven trailers there two weeks ago..

You can always tell when it is election year in the Empire State!!

You would have to collect the perch by angling as well. Considering the time it takes you to travel to, I am assuming Keuka when you say use perch for bait, is it really more economical to collect your own bait than to pay a bait dealer on the Lake for a couple dozen shiners or alewifes? Honestly, too, bait has been used for years on the Finger Lakes, generally alewives or smelt sewn onto an English hook and still fished with the same intermittent results you are experiencing, there is really nothing new under the sun (get a copy of Earl Holdren's long out of print book on Finger Lakes trout fishing, it's all in there, except maybe jigging.) Have you seen the pictures on here and Iceshanty of the Kueka lakers? They are so thin they will likely hit anything that gets in front of them, when you are not getting bit you're likely just not on the fish, and if that is the case, bait will do you no more good than hardware or plastics. The bait regulations are not easy, but the bottom line is that every time you bring uncertified bait from somewhere else, you risk introducing some new disease, and one of them may be the one that wipes out the fishery in the lake you bring it into. I know some of the guys on here think they know more than the fisheries biologists, but I know a lot of the DEC folks, and they don't cook up regulations to make your life miserable, they are genuinely concerned about new diseases, VHS cost the hatchery system a lot of money, whirling disease radically altered where rainbows can be raised, and there are "bugs" out there that could wipe out a population. An alternative would be to just prohibit use of fish for bait, and if it becomes apparent that people are playing fast and loose with the current rules, that could be next

http://www.dec.ny.gov/outdoor/fishing.html http://www.dec.ny.gov/outdoor/7917.html http://www.dec.ny.gov/docs/fish_marine_pdf/fishguide.pdf

The way the English language works, if you head a table with the words " Gear for taking baitfish", and a type of gear is not listed in the table,it is not allowed. I can't finds the exact language in the electronic regulations, but the print guide has in large letters in a sidebar " Please Note. Any fish taken from a water body and used as bait counts toward your daily limit."

For the folks that could not make SOL, here's Brian.

http://www.eregulations.com/newyork/fishing/baitfish-regulations/ The way I read it, the only thing you can use in the Finger Lakes is a minnow trap, or a gillnet maximum length 25 feet, maximum area 200 square feet, maximum size 1″ bar (alewife only), or by angling. No transport in a vehicle.

DEC: Cold Temperature Stress in Late Winter Causes Cyclical Fish Die-Off in Local Waterbodies Large numbers of dead and dying fish have been observed in area waters including Irondequoit Bay and the Erie Canal in Newark, New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) reported today. Inspections by DEC Aquatic Biologists indicate that nearly all of the dead and dying fish observed are gizzard shad, a medium-sized member of the herring family. Mortality of gizzard shad in late winter and early spring is common. The species is very sensitive to cold water temperatures and their inability to acclimate causes mortality at low temperatures. Gizzard shad are living near the northern edge of their range in the Great Lakes, making them especially susceptible to cold temperatures. On March 27, DEC collected and submitted a sample of gizzard shad from Irondequoit Bay and sent them to Cornell University's pathology laboratory for disease screening. No viable samples were available from the Erie Canal. Results indicate the fish had a low level infection of viral hemorrhagic septicemia (VHS). VHS has been the cause of a disease issue in the Great Lakes region of the United States and Canada. VHS virus is a rhabdovirus (rod shaped virus) that affects fish of all size and age ranges. VHS can cause hemorrhaging of fish tissue. Once a fish is infected with VHS, there is no known cure. Not all infected fish develop the disease, but they can carry and spread the disease to other fish. VHS does not pose any threat to human health. Additional information about VHS is available on DEC's website at https://www.dec.ny.gov/animals/25328.html. Gizzard shad live near the northern edge of their range in the Great Lakes, making them especially susceptible to cold temperatures. Mild winters may have allowed their population to increase the last two years. Because the gizzard shad mortality is widespread and primarily affects one species of fish, their die-off is not considered an indicator of an environmental problem such as pollution. Mortality of a single species of fish suggests that the die-off is the result of a disease, parasite or species-specific stressor. In this particular case, late winter cold stress is the suspected cause. Additional information about gizzard shad, including images, is available on DEC's website at https://www.dec.ny.gov/animals/7031.html#gizzardshad. http://www.dec.ny.gov/press/77537.html

I flat line, and generally run a line only 15-20 feet back right in the propwash for LL salmon. I have trolled like this in the 'dacks, but it should work in the FL. Cronoticed has some valid points about very shallow and close to shore. I also like strickbaits like rapalas for trolling, but spoons like mooselicks and speedy shiners hold up to fast speeds.

Casting size suttons or cleos, fast retrieve should work until the water starts warming up. But you can cover a lot more water at a faster speed trolling.

Not along the Lake, it is still howling up here. ~15000 without power in Monroe County, ~2000 each in Orleans and Wayne.

Cancelled my trip to the Finger Lakes tribs today, this is the kind of wind that gives meaning to the term widow makers! I feel bad for all the folks at the east end of the Lake, but grateful the wind is not coming the east and knocking my trees over onto the house!

In the old days, I would have cut and pasted the chart, but the version of Adobe I have now does not allow me to do that, and it loses formatting of tables, so it is just easier to provide the link.

http://www.dec.ny.gov/docs/fish_marine_pdf/lorpt16b.pdf The trawl sites are in Figure 1 of section 12. This is 2016but hey do the same sites year after year (consistency of measurement).

It looks like the DEC website went down yesterday PM, maybe maintenance. Or I've got a bug in my computer! But the regs are on another site anyway. http://www.eregulations.com/newyork/fishing/

From the Livingston County section of the Regulations guide (interesting reading!) North McMillan Creek and Conesus Inlet Fish and Wildlife Management Area from Conesus Lake south to the dam, except the canal west of Conesus Inlet and that portion of the inlet north of the canal Fishing prohibited March 1 until the opening of walleye season in May to protect spawning walleye and northern pike

Pike and Walleyes don't open on May 1, it is the first Saturday in May that the season opens.

Carriage House website says they are closed until May1

The land on which the launch is located belongs to the state, same as out in Braddock. But operation of the park was passed to Monroe County Parks a number of as ago, and MC Parks dropped it and it was assumed by the Town of Irondequoit last end of season. This is similar to Braddock, where the Town of Greece operates for NYS but has subcontracted operation, currently the Danielli family. It is not uncommon to find things on the NYS website that are way out of date. There's nothing I could find on the Town website yet. I do know they have a machine to pay installed, it was in when I was down there checking ice two months ago.

At this time I don't have answer to that question, but may in 2 weeks. Or you could call the town and ask.

According to Jack Cooper's fishery report, many years ago, for NYSDEC, there is limited spawning habitat for smallmouth in the Bay, mainly along the Irondequoit side south of Newport and North of Densmore. Fishery work done more recently as part of the Bay Plan process by Dr James Haynes at SUNY Brockport mainly indicated largemouths. I used to do well off shore just south of German Village, but that got turned into Condos quite a while ago. And when I was a kid, the Outlet Bridge and the Railroad trestle were always hot spots just after the season opened, but that's all gone or radically changed, too.