Food for Muskys

[THE TRADESMEN]

Hello LOU Members,
With the increased interest in Musky fishing, I thought it would be a good time to do something to help support the fishery. As you can see from the posts here on LOU there are many successful fishing trips by many anglers. There are only a few key people in our area working very hard to keep our great fisheries alive. With that in mind we want to do our part to keep it going.

Anyone that would like to donate to the Chautauqua Bait Fish Fund can send a check made out to
Mostly Muskies and send to Capt. Larry D. Jones, 268 Harrison Ave, Buffalo, NY 14223
Thanks in advance for your support in this most excellent cause!

 

[mostlymuskies]

Presently there is $2756 in the Chautauqua Bait Fish Fund. The bait fish being purchased for 2010 will not be limited to just feeding musky fry for Chautauqua Lake.We will be also feeding the musky fry to be stocked in Cassadaga Lake,Bear Lake,Allegheny River and Waneta Lake.So a donation to the Chautauqua Bait Fish Fund feeds the musky fry for all of NY State Pure Bred Muskie Stocking!

Capt. Larry D. Jones

Repeatability Is 90% Of The Hunt!

www.mostlymuskies.com

[mostlymuskies]

Supporting The June 19th Chautauqua Cash Musky Tournament will help to raise a large portion of funds needed for the Chautauqua Bait Fish Fund.

Next Chautauqua Cash Tourney will be June 19th,2010.We will change the format a little.The Tourney will be $30 per Fishermen paid by April 1st,$40 per Fishermen after April 1st with extra $10 going to the Bait Fish Fund.Those who are paid up by April 1st will be in a drawing to win a St.Croix Avid Rod of their choice.(Full Field 100 Fishermen),1st Place $1200,2nd Place $600,3rd Place $300,with the remaining $900 going to the Bait Fish Fund! This will be based on the 3 Longest Muskies caught & released,each fishermen can only enter 1 fish,their Longest! Food will be sold seperately,cooked on the spot!Hot Dogs,Hamburgers,Italian Sausage at $2.00 each,proceeds to go to Chautauqua Bait Fish Fund. We will also still have the raffles,but a larger table of goodies and the 50/50 Raffle.We will use Long Point State Park for the launch and Awards Presentation,we will use one of the bigger picnic shelters with grills.

Now that we are going to Feed the Muskie Fry at Prendergast Hatchery extra Fathead Minnows the whole time they are outside in the growing ponds,we are going to need to raise close to $6000,we have $2757 at this point for the 2010 Bait Fish Purchase!Donations to the Chautauqua Bait Fish Fund are much appreciated as well!Make checks out to Mostly Muskies and mail to Capt. Larry D. Jones,268 Harrison Ave,Buffalo,NY 14223

Capt. Larry

[mostlymuskies]

Everyone should Thank Bob Solley for his Donation of $100 to the Bait Fish Fund! Bob had put lures up on eBay with 10% of the sales going to the Bait Fish Fund.

Thanks Agian,Bob

Capt. Larry

[zach]

its nice to see all the unselfish support guys!

[mostlymuskies]

After adding up the $900.00 from the 1st 100 Tourney Entrants,$480 for the next 12 Entrants,eBay Auctions $849.50,donations $465.00 + $2757.00 in the Bait Fish Fund===Total**$5451.50

Conrads Guy's we are getting very close to the $6000.00 needed for the Bait Fish Purchase for 2010! We need to keep building the Fund so we also make the goal for 2011 as well!

Capt. Larry

[mostlymuskies]

As of today since last update we recieved $80 Entry Fees,$180 donations, for a total of $5711.50 in the Bait Fish Fund.

Then I had to get Liability Insurance for the Tourney & Awards Presentation on June 19th. The Event Liability Insurance was $274.00.

General Liability

$2,000,000.00 General Aggregate

$1,000,000.00 Product/Completed Operations

$1,000,000.00 Personal/Advertising Injury

$1,000,000.00 Each Occurrence

$300,000.00 Damage to Premises Rented To You

$5,000.00 Medical Expenses

No General Liability Deduction

Total Premium $264.00

PayPal Fee $10.00

Total $274.00

After Insurance Cost the Chautauqua Bait Fish Fund has $5437.50

__________________

Mostly Muskies Charters & Guide Service

Captain Larry Jones

Web Site: http://www.mostlymuskies.com

[mostlymuskies]

As of June 5th we have added 9 more Tourney Entrants, $360 + $5437.50 = $5797.50 in the Chautauqua Bait Fish Fund! We now have 121 Tourney Entrants!

__________________

Mostly Muskies Charters & Guide Service

Captain Larry Jones

Web Site: http://www.mostlymuskies.com

[THE TRADESMEN]

I would like to thank all the LOU members who helped with baitfish fund. I am proud to be a member of LOU community. I was introduced to LOU by Bob S (Solgrande) who I have personally worked and fished with for nearly 20yrs. We've come a long way from getting kicked off the girders of the Sodus Bay Bridge (catching monster LG mouth bass off the Lily Pads). Here in my estimation is a whole forum of "guys like us", Fishin and givin a sh*t about it. I told Capt. Larry this was a cool bunch of guys. Now that the fund has reached is goal for this year… I think all can agree.

Thanks for letting me be a part of this thing. Fishing is the one good thing I have had through all trials and tribulations of life.

Special Thanks to Chad for making this a sticky and to Capt. Larry for the fund.

And mostly to all the â€Guys like us"

[mostlymuskies]

Congrads Guy's on helping us reach this years Bait Fish Fund Goal of $6000.00! That was a great acomplishment to help the NY States Musky Stocking Program.We are now working on 2011 Bait Fish Fund Goal of $6000.00! It will be even harder then it was for this year to raise those funds. We had close to $2500.00 that we did not spend in 2009. Due to a late collection of eggs and very small growth in the musky fry due to the late start in the program it was decided to save those funds for 2010.So for 2011 Fund we start from the 1st dollar to save $6000.00,we will have to work much harder to get to the Fund Goal.So it is very important that we get Tourney Participation,make money at the Raffle table,not just for the June 19th Tourney but also the August 28th Tourney and a later Tourney in late September or early October.We will also need to have a monthy eBay Auction of lures to help us get the needed funds as well.

If we can do this for three years in a row,4 to 6 years from now we will see our investment through increased numbers of muskies and have the Best Musky Fishery Chautauqua Lake & Inland NY Lakes have ever had!

Capt. Larry

[BlueEye]

Hey Larry -

Now that you have reached the target goal of $6000 for the 2010 Bait Fish Fund and already started on the 2011 Fund with the goal of $9000 ($3000 for netting to protect the fish & $6000 for bait), would it be smart to consider taking the first $3000 to buy the netting right away for this year?

I know you mentioned that we lose over 40% of the fish to bird predation before they even leave the stocking ponds. Seems to me that we should spend the first $3000 that comes in to get the protective netting in place as quickly as possible and not worry about waiting till the full $9000 is collected before moving forward with this. Time to shut down the "all you can eat sea food buffet".

If we need protective netting now.... Joe won 3000 YARDS of fishing line at the last raffle and that only cost him 5 bucks!

[mostlymuskies]

We now have $7977.00 in the Bait Fish Fund.We will purchase $6000.00 of Fathead Minnows for 2011 Musky Stocking Program at the Pendergast Musky Hatchery. That leaves us $1977.00 for the 2012 Musky Stocking Program.That means we will need to raise at least $4033.00 more this year for 2012.So it is very important that we get as many fishermen to enter the June 25th Tourney,every Entrant past 100 all the funds go directly to the Bait Fish Fund.

[BlueEye]

Larry -

What is the status on getting protective netting in place at Pendergrast? I would think that would be priority number 1 so that we can protect half (or more) of the investment from bird predation. Else you are simply looking at feeding the birds fatter musky hatchlings. If getting that kind of protection in place is expensive, then I would certainly forgo a year of fatheads to get the extra money needed to get this necessity in place. What do you think?

Cheers,

Chad

[mostlymuskies]

Chad, At this point the NY DEC & Prendergast Hatchery Personel do not see the Netting working here.First because the ponds are much larger then at the NJ Hatchery where they are using the Netting,it would take telephone poles to support it high enough so they can work under it.Putting Netting over one pond could cost as much as $25,000.00 after study and erection as well.Then the Netting at NJ Hatchery was not keeping the Blue Heron out ,they were digging under ,then getting stuck inside the netting eating away.The NY DEC position is to raise extra numbers of Musky Fry so after preditation they still have the numbers they need to stock.One possible way to help with the preditation issue is to start the Musky Fry on very small fathead minnows while inside,get them much bigger growth before moving them outside,then they will be much harder for the Blue Heron to catch them.Another option is to get some musky fry held over all winter in the inside holding tanks and then transfered back to the ponds outside in the spring for more minnow feeding and growth up over 12"+.But without warming the water supplied to the inside tanks the musky fry would not feed much all winter and not grow anymore until put outside and the water temps raise agian.The cost to run the water pumps,feed and Hatchery workers to take care of the project would be even more costs then the Netting for one pond.So at this time our best option is to try to get the NY DEC to comitt to hatching more Musky Fry,moving them out earlier on smaller minnows,feeding them durring the warmest water period with extra minnows for max growth rates and hopefuly getting 11"+ Musky Fry to stock.

Capt. Larry

[BlueEye]

Great explanation Larry. Thank you for the clarification and looking into all these options. Your efforts at the hatchery level have resulted in many great memories on the water!

[ Post made via Mobile Device ]

[mostlymuskies]

If you can not fish one of the Chautauqua Tourneys to help raise funds for the Bait Fish Fund please consider using the Donation Link above. Everyone can afford $25 to help our NY State Muskie Stocking Program!

Thanks, Capt. Larry

[mostlymuskies]

We started out with $7977.00 in the Bait Fish Fund ,we spent $3000 on extra Fathead Minnows to feed the Musky Fingerlings at Prendergats Hatchery in 2011 and had expenses of $989 for Insurance,Food,mailing,buttons etc for two Tourney's,our Bait Fish Fund Balance is $3988 after 2011 expenses,add a donation of $100,Total is $4088 now.Three outside ponds without extra minnows the musky fingerlings only averaged 7 inches.But the three ponds with the extra fathead minnows averaged 10"

Those 10" muskies will have a much better chance of survival.For 2012 our goal is to spend more then $3000 on fathead minnows and try to get 11" to 12" muskie fingerlings.So every dollar donated is very important,together we can make a difference!

[mostlymuskies]

3742 looks at this thread,the Donation Button has only been Hit 8 times,6 of those times were one person! Everyone that fishes muskies should be able to donate $25,you would think!

[mostlymuskies]

60 more persons have looked,but not one donation,the muskie finerlings will not grow to be a little longer for a better survival rate without funds to purchase extra fathead minnows.Please if your not supporting the Bait Fish Fund by fishing the Tourney's,consider donating $25 here! Last year we purchased $3000 of Extra Fathead Minnows and the three outside ponds that recieved those extra minnows produced 10" Muskie Fingerlings,the ponds that did not get the extra minnows the Muskie Fingerlings were only 7 to 8" long.

The Bait Fish Fund does work,but only if you the fishermen fund it!

[mccoy13]

Just signed up. Two of my buddies new to musky fishing will be signing up shortly. I'm counting on their beginners luck. Were stoked. I have never fished chautauqua before. If anyone would like to share any info, I would really appreciate it. Thanks, and Ill see you there.

[mostlymuskies]

Michael, Thank you for your Tourney Entry Fee. This year at Chautauqua the water temprature is going to be above 70 degrees by June 23rd.This means the weedbeds will be high,having good oxegon levels there and also better oxegon levels out deep in 35 to 37 ft of water 25 ft down.There should be a good casting bite with chop style jerkbaits at the pocket holes and edges of the weedbeds.Trolling will be best for suspended muskies 25 ft down over the deeper water,4.0 to 4.5 mph trolling speed with 5" Baker Baits in foil perch color or Wiley 5 1/2" jtd crankbaits in brown perch color.If you don't use leadcore line ,use a snap weight of about 3 ounces to get these crankbaits down to 25 ft level. Pay close attention to bait fish depth and run your crankbaits just under and out to the deep water side of the bait fish school if fish are not setup at 25 ft down.

[mccoy13]

Thanks larry. That is exactly what i was looking for. I appreciate it.

[mostlymuskies]

We now have 96 Tourney Entrants and only need 4 more for the Full Field of 100 fishermen.Then after we get the 100 any entrant after that is 100% funds directly to the Bait Fish Fund. Just a reminder,June 1st at midnight the PayPal and Snail Mail sign up ends,then if you want to get in the Tourney the only option is to come to Mayville Lakeside Park on June 23rd from 6 am to 9 am.

[mostlymuskies]

Bait Fish Fund Donations on Hold until NY M.I. Chapter 69 votes on opening a Conservation Fund to place donated funds for the Bait Fish Fund into.I start collecting Social Security this year and can only earn limited income,so I can no longer carry the Bait Fish Fund on my taxes.

[T Dot]

Thanks Larry!

Looks like this is a great cause that has been around for quite some time. I have never fished these waters, nor do I see myself fishing them in the near future. However, I admire the time you take to support conservation., as well as your passion.

I did a quick search on this and I would be willing to reach out and provide donations to your great cause.

When you have a moment, please contact me.