No Perch in Canandaigua Lake

[Kingfisher06]

The 50 limit, I'd have to imagine is the regulation that limits the sale of perch on the Finger Lakes. The profit margins for anyone traveling farther than someone in the town of Canandaigua would be non-existent over the course of time. No one likes game hogs. Not a lot of folks like to snitch either, but if you are a local who cares about the populations and see the local who can feasibly obtain a profit margin within the 50 limit parameters abusing the daily limit regulations-document it as best you can and pester the DEC for action. I really enjoyed the video. Local fishing shows are sparse, but I like them the best. Al Linder doing his thing on the Minnesota walleyes is ok, but watching a show that was filmed in my backyard is far more entertaining.

[Pequod1]

The fishing has gone downhill in Canandaigua compared to as little as four years ago. The guys that know the lake still catch perch, but not the numbers and size. The over harvesting must have taken place then. I would see well over 50 boats there every trip in the fall. Now a days, its just you and me and two other guys.  

[Kingfisher06]

Populations cycle. Are there more guys with beagles around my house when cottontail numbers are exploding-yes. Do they disappear when numbers crash-yes. Are they the underlying cause of these boom bust cycles-no. Maybe the DEC could recognize this and stay more on top of limits like they do with annual surveys for waterfowl. We are talking razor thin profit margins for folks who obey laws and sell perch here. Humans do/can have major effect on populations. Usually it from habitat loss, say removing mountain tops and placing them in ravines will cause the loss of salamander populations for example. Big commercial operations do too-like the market duck hunters in the Chesapeake way back when. But the hunters under a limit with recreational gear, even with all the guiding pressure in the Chesapeake is not the underlying cause of the population cycles for ducks in that area. Likewise, I'd say the recreational gear used to play the profit game as is in the Finger Lakes under the law is not a population driver. 

[GAMBLER]

The 50 fish limit is too much in the Fingerlakes IMO.  If you look at a lake like Honeoye compared to Seneca, they have the same limit yet on has way less acreage to yield more perch. 

[jighead]

The times they are a changing! As if we don't have enough to contend with like blue/green algae, zebra mussels,  gobies, and lamprey we have the lamprey of the human kind that want to suck the life out of the fisheries in the area. I heard a guy bragging at Walmart years ago that he had just taken over 100 perch that day and was headed back out. At the time I did not know the limit but now that I do he would have had to contend with my two cents worth had I known. It was just reported this week that, and I quote " One adult lamprey can kill 20 to 30 POUNDS worth of trout/salmon in its short lifetime." That is a lot of fish for one lamprey! Unfortunately,  the "human lamprey" can do an amazing amount of damage to the fish population also. Not sure what it will take to turn this around but I for one am ready to help in any way possible.

Any constructive ideas that are being proposed would be appreciated!!

Edited November 15, 2018 by jighead
spelling

[stinger]

One idea:

Like volunteer firemen New York could have Deputy CO's. A few more eyes around at peck times would help. With deer season upon us there won't be much enforcement on the water.

[Sk8man]

Along the lines of doing something. I sent the URL of this thread to Brad Hammers at Region 8 as an "FYI" hoping to spark some interest in the issue..

Edited November 15, 2018 by Sk8man

[Sk8man]

I received a reply to my email from DEC region 8. Basically they believe there is no problem whatsoever with the perch population. The suggestion was that I contact the DEC conservation officers for any observations regarding over harvesting. I must admit I am impresssed with the response I never even would have thought of that on my own...

Edited November 25, 2018 by Sk8man

[LakerTaker85]

Jesus Christ more perch fisherman crying [emoji22] Hahah I love it

 

 

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[fishyoo]

Personally, I feel that there are quite a few things wrong with the perch regulations. The first and foremost thing would be the commercial selling of perch by recreational fisherman. I'm fairly new to freshwater fishing, but have been saltwater fishing my whole life, and to my knowledge, there is no commercial selling of saltwater fish by recreational anglers in NY. I do know that in Massachusetts, one can obtain a commercial license to sell striped bass, but the regulations to keep and sell commercial striped bass are more stringent than for the recreational angler (ie must be 34" or larger to keep and sell, vs. 28" to keep for a recreational angler). 

 

A second thing that I find wrong with the perch regulations is that there is no minimum size. I've had a few perch fishfry's and it is delicious, but how much meat can you really get off of perch less than 9" or 10"? I'm not sure at what size perch begin to spawn, but setting a minimum size for perch should definitely help with future fish conservation. 

 

Finally, there's the 50 fish limit per person. I find this to be overkill. Who seriously needs to keep 50 fish per person? Cutting this number in half is still is a lot in my opinion, but would make much more sense. 

 

Just my two sense, and I'm sure I'll get a lot of people that disagree, but I'd rather have fish for my kids and grandkids to catch in the future. 

[markyb63]

Laker taker Ur a real whiner why even say anything if u have nothing helpful to say.

 

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[land locked]

7 hours ago, markyb63 said:

Laker taker Ur a real winer why even say anything if u have nothing helpful to say.

 

Sent from my VS996 using Lake Ontario United mobile app

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Edited November 27, 2018 by land locked

[john1947]

Last I heard fishing is still good on the north end..I have been concentrating on sodus being so good,.

Last spring the perch was excellent hard to believe there all gone.

Hey the weather is going to get wram again later this week again so we forget ice fishing for awhile

Duck second half also opens next week,lots of divers down on the finger lakes didn't see much on sodus except old squaw friday.

 

 

 

 

[Ray4852]

This crap has been going on for over 70 years. its all political. The dec can stop it but they need a signature from our state brain dead government to make it a new law. no sale of pan fish in NEW York State. will it happen, not in our lifetime. the special interest run the show while the rest of us pay up the you know what in high taxes. we had our chance two years ago to change our state constitution. what did the voters do. vote it down. so we have to wait 18 years now before we can vote again. most of us probably wont be hear. we need a voter ID law now. our state is looking like California if we don't do something about it now. we wont have any good fishing left.

[GANGGREEN]

People can poo poo the issue all that they want, but overharvest IS real and it is an issue on the Finger Lakes.  The perch fishing on some of the lakes has already dropped off considerably and I'd hope that we'd ALL feel that the fishery is worth saving.  I love fishing for big perch more than anything and I also fish for walleye, largemouth and smallmouth bass, white bass, crappie, trout, I've even been to Alaska several times to fish for halibut, ling, rockfish and salmon.  While I enjoy eating perch, I keep a few on one or two trips a year (maybe 40 fish total) and I never keep the big spawners and never sell a fish.  Is that really so hard?  I understand that some guys enjoy eating them a bit more frequently than I do or have larger families (I have a wife and 2 kids), but do we really need to keep every fish that we catch on 15, 20 or more trips per year?  Really guys?