New PureBred Muskie Lake

[mostlymuskies]

The NY DEC decided to change Finley Lake from a Tiger Muskie Lake to a PureBred Muskie Lake.This past October the first bunch of 10" PureBred Muskie Fingerlings were stocked.In 3 to 4 years we should have another PureBred Muskie Lake here in Western NY!

Now if we could only talk them into doing the same at Conecus Lake!

[Ronix 51]

NIce! what do they have to eat in there besides panfish? Conesus would be a good spot considering all the alewife in there for them to fatten up on not to mention itd be cool to see if they ran the inlet in may/late may! some nice potential natural reproduction and for a point there would be big pike, big tigers, and some nice pures as well. legit! how would the right people have to be persuaded in order to realistically have something like that be considered?

[mostlymuskies]

Mike, Write up an Online Petition to Stock PureBred Muskies in Conecus Lake.Get as many people here to sign the petition then we can forward it to the NY DEC Warmer Waters Fisheries Dept in Albany ,NY. I can work on Region 9 NY DEC and Prendergast Hatchery personel about getting onboard for this Stocking Effort!

[Ronix 51]

Larry, other than conesus what are waters in the rochester/Central NY area would be suitable for pures? it would be nice to have some more muskie waters to hit in this area

[mostlymuskies]

In my mind Seneca Lake would be suitable for PureBred Muskies.

[old man]

seneca for sure. lots of water and lots of food. new york could score a lot of tourism money with more musky water. at seneca there is watkins glenn and wine tours galore to entertain the wives while we fish. racino at victor is 20 minutes from geneva.

[mostlymuskies]

old man,sure would be nice to talk them into muskies in Seneca! Did you read your LOU Private eMail yet?

[Ronix 51]

seneca is big and cold, how long would it take for muskies to become established in numbers where it would be worth it to target them? theyd grow big with that cooler water but i feel like it wouldnt be until 7-8 years after stocking began where it would be a decent population of MAYBE upper 30's fish...whereas conesus theyd grow fast with all the alewife but itd get hit real hard since its so centrally located not to mention how would they regulate it during A.) ice fishing when guys can set tip ups for pike/tigers and B.) during the spring when pike opens over a month before muskie does?

[ifishy]

I like the seneca idea that lake has a lot of fish but on any given day they can be hard to catch the more options in there the better and that lake has the potential with food and cold water for long live and maybe eventuall record class fish (would take a while). I fish that lake a little more each year as it is close and my boat is a little small for lake O Ive had some days that turned into bonazas for pike or for LL or lakers but i've been skunked more than other places to so another option would be nice I could see running a trolling spread for trout LL and pures could be fun to see whats the best option for the day.

[mostlymuskies]

Big Waters have the potential to produce much Bigger Muskies! Seneca Lake would be very good habitat for muskies,if muskies were stocked,just look at how stout some of the Northern Pike are there.Conesus they stock Tiger Muskies for bait fish control,they don't reproduce.If they see a drop in bait fish,they just don't stock any more Tigers.I would say it would be much more difficult to sell stocking PureBred Muskies at Conesus Lake due to natural reproduction could mean possible loss of bait fish forage in the future.Seneca being a much bigger lake and deeper cooler water can handle stocking of PureBred Muskies without as much impact to the other fish present there.

[panfisher]

Seneca already does have some muskies in it and I do believe they are pure strain. I caught one by surprise some 20 or so years ago right next to shore in a little "cattail" like grass area right next to shore in about 1 or 2 fow down by the highbanks on the eastern shore roughly across from Roy's. It was a big surprise to me as I was just making an idle cast because the wind had caught us while fishing for smallies and blew us suddenly in and I was at that end of the boat before we could adjust. It was my first musky I had ever caught, as at that time had never targeted them anywhere; it was only 9 or 10 inches long, but there was absolutely no mistaken identity to other esocidae. We thought, gee, baby muskies in Seneca? Who knew! Fast forward to a couple of years ago, and a fellow caught a beautiful 22lb. musky out of Seneca, the picture proof on the front page of a May issue of New York Outdoor News. My fish had grown up! Seneca already has beautiful northerns, chains, and what I describe as a nice perfect cross of the two, which we have picked up several of while going for smallies with softbaits. I don't know if the muskies are the result of any past DEC activity, or the result of somebody else putting them in or if they are naturally there and always have been but just in small numbers; they do sometimes sometimes show up in Ontario, along with some big ole' northerns occasionally as by-catch by salmon chasers. These are big waters... Lots of great cold water and food to keep and grow big, happy esox members....

[GAMBLER]

Alewives would not be a great source of food for muskies in Conesus. A lot of work for a food that is not that great in nutirents and very small compared to Great Lakes alewives. Muskies would do better in Seneca because they would have a lot of trout to eat (better nutirents than alewives).

[Ronix 51]

how long after stocking the lake would it take to see any result? by result i dont mean 50+inch behemoths I mean mid 30s-40s fish. Would cayuga make just as ideal a lake for them?

[BP Swing]

Larry,

Forget Seneca cause it has Trout in it and stocked trout as well. Once the DEC hears the word "trout", everything else takes back seat. They are so obsessed with stocking trout instead of walleye, muskies, etc. in the area lakes. Not sure if the muskies would mess up the jumbo Perch population either but seriously Conesus is ideal. They already stock tigers, theres no Trout, and just a perfect warmwater lake for them. Theyd have some competition from the huge Pike though. Where do I sign?

[Ronix 51]

I too believe conesus would be ideal...those alewives may be smaller than great lakes alewife but that are loaded with fat which = big fish. How would they regulate the seasons though? youve got people fishing for northerns through the ice what happens if theyre are a bunch taken on tipups? and then theres the spring, how can they stop guys from going out to get pures by "targeting pike?"

[rolmops]

I am not so sure that alewives are a good food for a fish population that is supposed to do its own reproduction. I am not completely sure about this, but I remember reading something about alewives having a thiamine deficiency that inhibits reproduction in lakers when alewives are a main source of food. I wonder if it has the same effect on muskies.

[ifishy]

I think seneca has enough of a variety of forage interesting that there are already some there mabey some stocking to boost the population is in order. as far as ontario goes I think there are a lot more in there than people know other than the st lawrence not may places get targeted but i know of many that have been caught in research nets and there are a few guids that work the great lakes its a fishery that requires a lot of learning and paitence but it has some monsters in it. I heard of one that would have been a record that was caught during an electro fishing study for browns in the spring off of sandy creek several years back but never did find confirmation so that may just be a rumor.

[BP Swing]

From my informal research there were very few caught in the central basin (Rochester area) in the recent past. Rumors here and there but not many confirmed catches even by accident. Doubtful anyone targets them in that area. I have spoken to DEC biologists and never any reports of central basin catches. Had a thread on here for years and again no confirmed catches other than 1 or 2 to my recollection. I will try to find the thread if its still here. And muskies in Seneca? You are definitely mistaken. Not a purebred anyways without photo proof.

Here is the thread from 2007 on up. 3 pages viewtopic.php?t=2957

[panfisher]

BP Swing, I am away from my "archive" of past New York Outdoor News papers, but unless that was a HUGE front page typo with front page color pic, a fellow from Walworth landed a beautiful musky (22lb) out of seneca in either '009 or'10. And the little guy I caught 20 plus years ago was definitely a musky. No way to confuse the markings for any of the other esox members! Of course, I have no proof of it, but, I have no proof of several things I've seen in my life that I know are for real and anyone can say, "Yeah.. Sure...."

[BP Swing]

I guess it's possible technically for one to come in through the erie canal but it would have to swim from Lake Erie. Where else are purebreds connected to the canal? That is a first for me in almost 50 years of fishing local waters of hearing a musky (pure) come from Seneca. I guess anything is possible but many casual anglers do mistake pike for muskies which is why the DEC has signs all over musky waters making sure people can see the difference.

[GAMBLER]

I guess it's possible technically for one to come in through the erie canal but it would have to swim from Lake Erie. Where else are purebreds connected to the canal? That is a first for me in almost 50 years of fishing local waters of hearing a musky (pure) come from Seneca. I guess anything is possible but many casual anglers do mistake pike for muskies which is why the DEC has signs all over musky waters making sure people can see the difference.

It would have had to swin far but it could have come from the Niagara River.

[BP Swing]

yeah same difference canal starts at mouth of river. Anybody have a photo of a Rochester musky?

[ifishy]

it could have gotten to seneca from lake O through the canal at oswego I would say that is more likely as part of the canal system in that area is the seneca river and is not drained also that is much closer to the 1000 islands area which definatly has a lot of ski in it. without having seen the pic of the seneca one I would say its also possible it was a tiger they are stocked in cross and from there its not a super long way up river to seneca personaly i have caught one pure in my life and that was while pike fishing on lake nissipping in canada and the fish was 12 inches long. i dont target them as there are no good lakes within my normal driving range.

[BP Swing]

good point about it maybe being a tiger from Cross L, thats not that far. Isnt there alot of dams/locks on the oswego river that would make it impassable for a pure from the lake?

[mccoy13]

I definitely remember the photo on the new york outdoorspaper. It was the bottom center photo that is on every issue. I remember discussing the fact that it was from seneca with friends. That conversation was very similar to this one.