Lucky13

I'll have to admit to a great deal of surprise reading about the use of copper and leadcore nowadays, I thought it was still mainly riggers for LO. I've been using the wire lines for a long time up in the 'daks, but riggers are a lot less useful in smaller lakes with very rough bottom structures, and you can adjust rapidly pulling wire. There is almost nothing like hanging a downrigger ball on a granite ledge in 80 feet of water!

Let's just please remember that that 7 lbs of Coho growth in a few months was in the presence of an uncontrolled, massive bait base. It is a very different situation out in LO right now than the upper GL in 1966. Even with the preliminary bait data indicating a better alewife year class last year, the size structure still says there is a 2 year "hole" in the population that will really start impacting adult kings next year and afterward for a while, so the ice on which we are skating is still a bit on the thin side. But please post the rest of it, Jerry, as this whole discussion will be coming up again very shortly, only about two months until egg take time, so the target numbers discussion is looming.

Sutton 44's also work great anywhere that Mooselooks are used.

Here is what DEC reported in 2013. My bold added. http://www.dec.ny.gov/outdoor/90304.html Skaneateles Lake There are no alewives or rainbow smelt in Skaneateles Lake. The main forage base is yellow perch (young of year). Other important prey species are emerald shiner, sculpin, freshwater shrimp and Ephemeroptera (mayflies). Ephemerptera create a unique fishery in early-summer, as they are abundant with most species of fish feeding on them. Lake trout fishery is maintained entirely by natural reproduction (no stocking). The 2012 Skaneateles Lake stocking was 5,000 Finger Lakes Strain Wild (FLW) and 15,000 Finger Lakes Hybrid (FLW X domestic) rainbow trout, and 9000 Atlantic salmon stocked. Cisco numbers appear to be down in Skaneateles Lake. During the 1989 Standard Gang Netting 152 cisco were captured, only eight in 2008, and zero in 2012. VHS (Viral Hemorrhagic Septicemia) was found in the lake in 2006 and may be a possible cause. 2012 angler diary cooperator legal fish/trip was 1.32 lake trout, 0.34 rainbow trout, 0.01 Atlantic salmon. Lengths of harvested salmonids by angler diary cooperators have increased in last few years, as have smallmouth bass lengths. Owasco Lake The 2012 Owasco Lake stocking was 25,000 rainbow trout, 10,000 brown trout and 10,500 lake trout. Lake trout stocking has seen long term reductions. The significant walleye stockings occurred from 1996 to 2006. The Owasco Lake Anglers Association stocked from 1996-2001 and DEC from 2002-2006. Angler diary cooperator trips dropped below 250 in 2008 and has remained low since. Good mix of lake trout, rainbow trout and brown trout (including some real trophies) throughout the 1990s. Lake trout angler catch rates increased through early 2000s despite the population declining since the mid to late 1990s. The sharp declines in the brown trout and rainbow trout fisheries in the early 2000s coincided with the emergence of walleye in the fishery. Walleye and lake trout are both long lived and prey on stocked trout (and themselves!) and the effects of stocking changes take time. We maintained viable fisheries for brown trout and rainbow trout during and following peak lake trout abundance. The timing of the emergence of walleye in the fishery make them prime suspects contributing to the disappearance of the fisheries for brown trout and rainbow trout. So far we have taken steps in an attempt to recover the fisheries for brown trout and rainbow trout. The loss of these fisheries was not discussed as an acceptable consequence of the walleye program. Have not stocked walleye since 2006. Reduced lake trout stocking over the long term. Continued stocking brown trout and rainbow trout. We need to determine if this is the desirable direction (preferred by most) to take the fishery. Some anglers prefer walleye over trout, while other anglers prefer trout over walleye. We will not continue to manage the lake for both. We are doing a survey in 2013 to assess angler desires. "Bucket Biologists" stocking their idea of a desirable fish into lakes where they are not found have ruined a huge number of fisheries in New York State, and should be discouraged whenever encountered.

Same amount comes out as goes in! Does not matter whether it goes into the plant or over the falls, it all ends up in the Big O!

Lake trout stocking is low this year due to more Federal Hatchery problems.