Egg collection shortage......Do we need to do something?

[Yankee Troller]

OK guys.......have you had enough of NYS DEC bull crap? A few years ago we lost our stocking numbers for Lake Trout (Gamble and Jax I know you guys were very very upset about this). We still arent stocking the numbers we were before VHS.....why? Now we are short Salmon eggs! Which means that all our pen projects are at jepordy. We have pretty good data that shows the impact of these pens over normal stocking (from what I am told, but I have never seen it). Instead of the DEC coming up with a contingency plan if we didnt make our quota they told us not to worry it will rain. Im no rocket scientist, but when a meteoroligst goes to school for X amount of years and cant get it right how does a DEC employee know its going to rain. Who knows whats next, but Im not willing to wait. Someone needs to hear about this, and the best way is to write to our supposed leaders. The only way they are going to listen is when we start talking money. As in how much the state will loose if the fishery goes down the drain.

I appologize for my rant, but we cant sit back and let this stuff happen. So, I am asking anyone out there that enjoys what we have to fight for it. Join an association that can help you fight for what you want. LOTSA is a great one and the Genesee Charter Boat Association is another. I personally am drafting up a letter with figures from the LOC newspaper on how much the fishery brings to NYS. I encourage you to do the same. I look forward to hearing your thoughts.

[Tim Bromund]

YT, the lake trout thing wasn't the DEC's fault, they are stocked by the Feds through the fish and wildlife service. They had back to back years with problems at the allegany federal hatchery where the lakers are raised and lost two entire year classes. The only reason we have had any LT stocking at all the past couple years is because some fish were redirected from what would have been finger lake stocks. Allegany is still offline and will be for the forseeable future. Other hatcheries have picked up the slack somewhat since then, but that'll be an ongoing problem for years.

Regarding the Pen Projects, the returns depend on the straem in question. The 4 or 5 year fin clip study between Oak Orchard and the Lower Niagara is where the king Pen data mainly comes from. Interesting results there. In the Lower Niagara, theere was no advantage to pen rearing kings, in fact the direct stocked kings had better numbers than the pen fish there. At Oak Orchard it was very different, there was a 4:1 ratio of pen to direct stocked returns there. I have the actual data somewhere if anyone wants to muddle through it.

Getting off the track a little, Steelhead are another story altogether, The adipose clip and coded wire tag study conducted on the oswego river showed something crazy like a 16:1 pen over direct stocked return.

Tim

[Yankee Troller]

Hey, thanks for the stats. Why is alleghany still down? Let me guess could it be money....LOL? Something interesting I found out about the other night at our meeting was for every dollar the State invests into sportfishing it recieves 8 back. Thats a pretty good return dont ya think?

Oh, I forgot in my earlier post that collectvley a bunch of organizations funded a pump for the Salmon rover hatchery b/c the one they had was broken or about to break. WE got them a nice brand new pump and its been a year and it still isnt in use. You know why? Becasue it isnt as efficient as the state wanted it to be by less than a couple percent! And ther isnt even a law or regualtion that states how efficient it must be! Not to mention the pump we all chipped in to buy was a heck of a lot more efficient than what they had!

[Tim Bromund]

If I remember correctly, it's still shut down because of disease problems they are haveing trouble eradicating.

tim

[Mick]

Yankee, you are right. We all have (and NYS) a vested interest in the trout and salmon fishery in the lake. I'm no expert but the reason people come and spend their hard earned dollars to vacation, dine out, sightsee, and take a fishing charter is that Lake Ontario has a great fishery that is as equalled to the best worldwide. From April to September Charter Boats run trips which bring money to every port and town surrounding. It's not only tackle shops,restaurants, and motels/hotels that benefit from the fishery, but many other small businesses. Stream fishing in the later months of the year brings in even more revenue. The St. Lawrence and Niagara river with it's great Muskie fishery (please practice catch and release ) Is still another draw. The Niagara River's winter steelhead fishing, and lake trout in the later season draws people from all over the planet. There were many 30lb+ kings caught in lake O this year. I think this group of fisherman we have on this site alone stands for what the state should think about , and continue to provide us with a great fishery. I'm sure that most of the people on this site that live near the lake are involved in a pen project near their home port already. Plus we ALL pay taxes.

[UpGrady]

What do we all expect in a state that continues to elect tax and spend Democrats that only care about downstate matters... nevermind re-electing a comptroller that had already swindled money, but we the NY State people decide to give him a second chance... we're always going to be fighting a losing battle in this state to justify this fishery to the government.

I applaude the individuals, organizations and some of our upstate legislators who have gone to bat with our downstate foes for years now, but it's pretty tiring for me to see the same old song and dance for the past 25 years... remember when the thruway tolls were only to pay for the building of the thruway? Even if license fees were raised to bolster the stocking efforts, the money would eventually find it's way back downstate to fund some pet project in NYC anyway...

OK... I'm done venting now too and I can't imagine how frustrated others that are actually working this issue must feel.

[MANIAC]

There are alot of PA and Mass fisherman who support the economy as well.

[dieselhp]

Does the fishing help the economy. I think so! Just this past season I drove up to the lake 6-7 times this fall. I spent $100.00 for fuel each way, me, my son and my wife had to buy a fishing licenses, lures at three or four tackle shops, fishing cleaning, RV parking for two months, food at a lot of places because after getting in at 10 pm who wants to cook and many other things. The drive tanks me almost 5 Hr's after work on a Friday night. Getting in around midnight and up be four Am.

My point is that I live about a one hour drive from some of the best saltwater fishing. I drive up the the big O for one reason. Big Fish!

One weekend We did not catch any fish, but I went back. If I did not catch as many fish as I did or got 1 or 2 fish I don't think I would go up so many times and if that was the case year after year I would stop going up.

We need to have the fish.

Fore me the fishermen and for all of the people who live near the lake and make a living.

Just my 2 cents

[Storm Warning II]

There are alot of PA and Mass fisherman who support the economy as well.

PA BABY! Specifically western PA!!!!!

It ain't all about walleyes on the big puddle!

[David Lee]

I thought the reason the forkies were stocked a couple of years ago was due to a power outage....and the fact they didn't have a back-up source of electricity. Not disease.

The problem with the NYSDEC as I see it as its lost sight its original purpose...managing and promoting fish & game for the states outdoorsman. Its too big and too concerned over apeasing special environmental extreme issues that the downstate politicians seem to have.

[Tim Bromund]

I thought the reason the forkies were stocked a couple of years ago was due to a power outage....and the fact they didn't have a back-up source of electricity. Not disease.

THat is correct, the disease hit the hatchery the next year. Our lake trout are currently being reared in a hatchery in Vermont, since Alleghany hasn't been touched since the disease hit it.