Waneta Muskies...what can we do?

[Ronix 51]

As far as serious muskie fishing goes i am still relatively new at it...mostly just tigers and northerns due to liited access to decent pure bred waters. Ive been looking into local areas other than the 1000 islands and chataqua since I live in the finger lakes region and started to dig up some stuff on waneta and lamoka...so far from what ive read is that its got mostly small ones with a few shockers here and there and is over fished with local scumbag rednecks who wish to kill the fish...Ive also read that it does get some of the fish from the chataqua fishery and have read many peoples responses on the board in regards to having other bodies of water stocked with pure strain muskies and possibly having the size limit increased on waneta to further protect populations. what would need to be done in order to get any sort of consideration on this from the dec? obviously its much more than writing a letter to your local dec but i thought id ask and im sure captain larry might be able to provide some or any insight on the matter and since its the off season it gives us something to talk about!

[zach]

We have tried and it is a work in progress. How about the time I was fishing Waneta a couple years ago and they had the Red Cross- Catch and Kill Musky Tourney? I called everyone, and everyone from Larry Jones to Joe Bucher called and had it stopped. I have a love hate relationship with that lake and every time I am ready to throw her in the bag- she spits up a good fish for me. I did 4 over 47" this year from that lake but also fished my @ss off. I love Waneta and hate her at the same time. This next summer Ronix- get a hold of me and we can meet up at Waneta and I'll take you out and show you the lake. It's up to you to get a hold of me though.

[Ronix 51]

sounds good to me zach i will be doing that im looking to get out as much as possible between waneta, conesus, otisco, and cross

[howboutthosemets]

I went there once last year and bought the biggest minnows I could get. Trolled kinda steady and occasionally tweaked my trolling motor as fast as I could go and made some tight turns around structure. After I did this for awhile I opened it up full bore and went down the middle and one hit that peeled off a freshly spooled reel of red 17 lb test with a 50 lb mono leader and 18 inch steel leader from the time it hit for me to go and kill the trolling motor and set the hook which must have been all of 3 seconds, right down to the end and took off. I would say it went through at least 150 yds worth of line. The thing must have been a bruiser. So be patient. The good ones are in there still you just gotta find 'em

[Stinky Finger]

signs at the launch maybe?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/moncriefspeaks/1085056901/

[indian]

over fished with local scumbag rednecks who wish to kill the fish

Gotta love posts like this. With that attitude you can stay right where your at. Us "local redneck scumbags" can do without you'ins edu-micated city geinusiuses com'ins arounds here an sav'in our fesh....we loves kill'inz em!

Just a side note, A good friend who lives on the lake feels the same about outsiders coming in and over fishing and killing the population.....it goes both ways.

[mostlymuskies]

I agree calling people "local redneck scumbags" is definately giving the wrong message to promote change. Like it or not you can educate people about catch & release of muskies,but some are going to keep fish anyway,even out of season.Changing sizelimits is a very long proccess and sometimes you can't change the thinking of the Warm Water Fisheries Official's of the NY DEC in Albany.

The only control we have right now to help our NY State Muskie Fisheries is to continue to try to educate other fishermen in a nice way and to support the Chautauqua Bait Fish Fund,through either fishing one of the Tourney's or by Donating to the Bait Fish Fund.

The money from the Bait Fish Fund is used to purchase Extra Fathead Minnows to feed the Musky Fry at Prendergast Hatchery.The Extra Bait Fish mean extra growth in the Musky Fry,Bigger Musky Fry when stocked have a much better chance of survival to get to adult size.Chautauqua Lake is not the only perbred muskie water that benifits from the Bait Fish Fund,all other waters including Waneta Lake will get these Extra Growth Muskie Fry from this project.Over time you will see more muskies in all NY state PureBred Muskie Waters because of the Bait Fish Fund.This is under our control,please support the Bait Fish Fund!

Capt. Larry D. Jones

www.mostlymuskies.com/reports.htm

Vice Pres. Eastern Lake Erie Charter Boat assoc.

[zach]

Pick and choose your arguments carefully bud, we all know how you feel and and its too bad that Albany doesn't want to change the size limit for us. We can try to change things but we need higher size limits on that lake as most fish I have seen killed are less than 40". Learn from my past mistakes bud-

[GAMBLER]

Q: Waneta Muskies...what can we do?

A: Stop posting info about this lake on the Net!

The more publicized this lake gets on the net, the more people will be fishing this lake. More people will keep them and put them on thier wall. 99% of the fishermen are not like you hard core musky guys. They catch one of these beautiful fish and have to take it home to show the wife and kids. Posts about these lakes allow Joe schmoe to go and figure out how to catch a musky. From the info posted here over the years, one could sit back and read and have a good start catching muskies.

[zach]

That is true Gambler and I am surely guilty of it. I will be more careful in the future for the fisheries sake. Once again, I am guilty of it and for some stupid reason think its just us guys reading this and that but in reality it is for everyone to see even if I intend it to be or not. It's the internet and I should know better. I have a real love hate w/ that lake anyways and lets leave it at that, there are much better places to go if you want to catch muskies. She can be way more fickle than bigger lakes like Chautauqua which I think has more 40"+ muskies than anywhere east of Lake Saint Clair. Thats really the place to go to get fish IMO. I love that lake! Thanks for making me more aware, I should have been from the start.

[solgrande]

I`m usually fairly quiet but.. ... We can start by dropping the name calling-it does`nt help....i spent last wknd driving around posting flyers(from roch to perry to watkins glenn to auburn and places in between)) for the road rules and lure swap with waneta as one of my stops to get the word out!!All the buisnesses i stopped at were helpful in posting the info and listening to what i had to say about the clinic,bait fund and C&R-what i got was a positive response from the city to the country(waneta being one of them)!This was done to PROMOTE the ny fishery and offer my 2cents to those on the importance of catch and release.As long as there is a season and a limit we are going to have to deal with it....Be calm and teach what we practice.Some will get it ..some won`t-that`s just the way it is.If i get held up @ the launch because someone(anyone from anywhere) is curious and asks questions pertaining to c&r or just muskies in general then so be it.I`d rather them know proper release technics and tools involved than blow them off.So what can we do....the best we can.

Thanx

sol

[NitroMusky]

so whats the answer, become stereotypical, tight-lipped musky hunters... keep to ourselves or take our conversations offline???? I have to say I shuddered a bit as I think about what this forum would be like (think desert rather than fertile lake)

[GAMBLER]

I know it would suck but I have watched Iceshanty destroy some lakes. Unfortunatly, scumbags read these forums. I used to icefish Canadice and be one of the only people out there. Now a Saturday it is a zoo. The lake is left a mess (jerks leaving trash all over the ice or taking a dump in a hole). They have no respect for the fishery or the fish. People like this ruin it for everyone else. Sol, I think the teaching people C&R at events is great. These events will draw a better crowd than the internet. Anyone can sit at home and read the net. Only a select group (serious fishermen) will go to events like this therefore you are weeding most of the guys that will not respect the fishery.

[old man]

like zach i have the love/hate relationship with waneta. when they're hungry i love it. when they're not i wonder why i'm there. 5 or 6 boats is a crowd there. it's too small and i only go there because it's an hour from home as opposed to three hours to chatauqua or the larry. every year i swear off waneta and end up fishing there because it's close to home.

[Ronix 51]

my apologies on the use of names, wasnt thinking clearly when I posted so I am sorry youre all right there is no need for that

[Has Been]

I saw this post the morn I left for FLA & was going to post but held back. Thought about it for a while on the long ride down . The first part of the fishing puzzle is Location . if you aint over fish, you won't catch them. Equip, speed , depth, lures etc mean nothing if no fish are present.

Guys come on here to get info. I feel most are legit . Albiet some are kind of "Green "on both their knowledge & attitudes. Redneck line was out of line & appology needed.

To perpetuate Fishing in general, it is the duty of the veterans on here & in general to give this info & pass on their expertise so to speek.Maybe at least the lake, not specifics . That may come at a price to see guys finding your local honey hole.Some would probably anyway.

It amazes me that on the trib site that we wont give smal water names so that scumbags won't go there & catch all the fish. So that we can go down their & catch all the fish. Apply same logic here. 1 in 100 is a litle high . I would say it's more the other way on C&R.

While we give these guys this info , so that we teach them the basic fundementals ( theres that word)to be succesfull, we can also shape their fishing philophy of C&R,ethics,etiquite , etc.

I thought we wanted more guys going, not less? The local bussnesses,lure makers & guides might like& could use the added buisness.

[Ronix 51]

very true you couldnt have said it any better. Again I apologize for my comments at the time I was all hot-headed having read about locals of the area gathering at the local bar and talking about how they keep/kill as many of them as they can for the sake of the bass and panfish...but it was wrong of me to use that term and talk the way i did.

[Has Been]

Good Man.

[zach]

Don't apologize for the way you feel, just for the "non-politically correct" way you went about it. You feel as strongly about this as I do so we are on the same page there. We are passionate people that care too much and want to change the way people act for all of our good. Its an uphill climb that starts by changing one person at a time. Yes fish get killed, yes fish will be killed in the future, our job is to attempt to reach those people and try to inform them about how special of a lake it is and how it needs to be taken care of. I have some good memories there and hope its still in good shape when the smallest member of the Baker Musky Clan starts chasing muskies. I took him there last year at 2 years old and we had a blast catching 'gills and crappies. Let's hope its still in decent shape in another few years for his sake.