DEC meeting re Skaneateles Lake......

[Mr Bluegill]

Hello all.....wondering if anyone attended the DEC meeting in Homer on  Wednesday night in regard to Skaneateles Lake fishery.

I had plans to attend, but,as can happen, plans changed....  I am especially interested in what they had to say about the walleye enhancement or infestation ( depending on what side of the issue you're on) to the Skaneateles fishery.  Thanks in advance for any info anyone might be able to provide.

[Bassin Bob]

A friend went.  The eradication of walleye is a big topic.  The state is not happy with the personal stocking plan of individuals that understand nothing of the destructive nature of walleye vs  rainbow , landlocked salmon. 

The rules for an open season can't be changed this year.  Open season ie no limit walleye removal.  Walleye virtually desimated Owasco.  Another brilliant plan. Anyway.  If walleye are desired, trout stocking will stop. Why feed an invasive species to a finger lake that never supported them.  The other option, netting and removal. 

My opinion,  and we all know " everyone has one".  To those responsible, thanks for f%#king up a great fishery .  I sincerely hope your caught, fined,  for millions.  Without question one of the dumbest, stupid moves by a bunch of non sportsmen ever contrived .  I'm ready for moronic comebacks.  You simply can not make any logical statements for it.

[BSmaster]

Walleye are more indeginous to the north east than rainbows are.  Your passion for trout fishing wrecked your logic

 

No no matter how much logic you put into the argument the passion of trout guy versus the passion of an eye guy always is the root of the discussion.  The “discussion” putting it mildly.

 

Should be able to control walleye by doing exact opposite of what they do everywhere else to promote walleye.  I am a stable genius.

[Bassin Bob]

I'm a walleye guy as well, I fish in many lakes. But walleye were never in the lake, intended for the lake and people decided to take matters into there own hands with little knowledge of the outcome.    Do I really care if walleye are there?  Nope.  Do I wish to catch them in the lake, don't care.  Hope they all die , shouldn't be in it.  If the fishery changes, and undue fishing pressure hits it in full walleye fashion. I.e. Oneida lake stile. The next thing will be gobie,  mooneye, smelt,  northern pike .  God bless.  No offense taken. 

[Gill-T]

I can’t see why having a non-native small population of walleyes in Skaneatles would effect a small population of non-native rainbows. I don’t like the thought of individuals stocking public waters however!

[BSmaster]

Yes.  Exactly.  I do not know anybody that likes that there are northerns in honeoye.  I have stated before that I wouldn’t mind species in all lakes but the dec needs to make that decision and not Joe shmo.

[Sk8man]

I think the bottom line is you can't have individuals taking it upon themselves to stock things in lakes. That is one of the reasons we have Rudds in Seneca, Alewives in Conesus, Pike in Honeoye, and Coy in Canandaigua and a whole host of other problems. Whether the use of undesired bait, gamefish or predators the decisions regarding the stocking should be done by the biologists and DEC not Joe Schmo.

[lyk2fish]

Bob, walleye didn’t decimate owasco......clearly you are not observing all the invasive changes that has happened since the big brown and rainbow hay days in the 80’s and 90’s.....let’s see.....zebra, quagga mussels, Asian clams, spiny water flea.........clearer water......OVER STOCKING of lake trout, understocking of rainbow and brown...or predation rich stocking points such as the inlet end full of post spawn pike, or ensenor point witch holds one of the largest concentrations of predatory lake trout in the entire lake, alewife predation/competition. Your opinion and rant is yours, and I respect it, but it sounds like you got it right from one of those state of the lake meetings. I have sampled stomachs of over 200 walleye in the last 7 years and never found a stocked trout in the stomach, only alewife,perch and smelt.......do walleyes compete for alewife......yes.........but so do smallmouth, pike and perch which I catch suspended over deep water when I troll.  I know plenty of guys that catch browns and bows every trip......they don’t tell many......99% get them by fishing live alewife.........plenty of browns and bows in there.......not decimated by any means, and what damage that has been done is owned more by the lake trout over abundance then the walleye.......hence a 5 fish laker limit increase from 3.  And thanks Bsmaster for pointing out walleyes being native to many fingers and not invasive. I hope they and all species thrive in skaneateles.

[justtracytrolling]

I certainly don't want individuals stocking public water for any reason.  That being said walleye didn't hurt a thing on a owasco as Kevin stated.  The proof is the lake is still has a very fishable population of walleye yet the trout fishing is solid.  The trout are the invasive species here and the walleye belong here.  Furthermore, walleye are at least a challenge and worthwhile to eat!  I hope they flourish and could care less about the trout as we have plenty of trout lakes.  The DEC has everyone convinced the trout and walleye can't coexist but they do fine together.  Walleye can and do reproduce well in the finger lakes.  Walleye fishermen don't politic for elimination of other species if our fishing drops off...we just work a little harder....trout fishermen aren't happy unless they have enough to throw them away after each derby and box tournament...so sad. 

[walnut109]

Lets face it.  Things have changed in most our lakes since I started fishing fifty years ago.  Milfoil has probably had one of the largest impacts, especially on the smaller lakes.  But fishing is still pretty good and worth the time invested.  We should all be excited about the upcoming open water season. 

Coldwater/warmwater fisheries can and do co-exist successfully in New York and all across the northern states. Tupper is an example.  Walleye did co-exist with trout in Owasco prior to the alewife invasion, which decimated the walleye population. Catch rates for browns and rainbows in Owasco did decline in the data collected by DEC from diary reports during the walleye stocking.  However, many other factors were at play at the time.  Most significantly a large surplus of lake trout were stocked by DEC at the same time.  Not all DEC decisions are correct and personally, I feel the walleye-trout issue relationship on Owasco is more emotion than science.  Also, one lake's results should not dictate policy for all lakes.  Owasco and Skan are different watersheds and biomass.  Skan is much different than it was 50 years ago too.  Biomass related issues are complex, interwoven and hard to predict. 

 

I fish for walleye, pike, trout, salmon, perch, bluegills, crappies, bullhead and even carp off the dock.  All fish are equal in my eyes at the end of a line, but not in table fare.   I summer troll for Skan bows and the last two summers I have had less success.  But this past fall was great for me and I caught and released quite a few undersize bows.  There seems to be a good class of 14-inch fish out there.  DEC has documented bow catch rates had declined, but average sizes are way up.   Probably the same total weight is being harvested.  Same results for smallmouth.  More pickerel in the lake too. More guys are warmwater fishing than coldwater fishing as well. Very few fall and summer trout trollers on the lake lately.  Skan has changed. 

 

I am not of the opinion that outlaw fisherman bucket stocked walleye in Skan and were successful.  Self-sustaining walleye fisheries are not easily established.  Ask DEC.  They have literally failed on a hundred of lakes across the state, but that is a different topic.  My guess is walleye have always existed in Skan as a very tiny population and lake conditions have finally reached a point where they are able to increase their population.  Walleye are native to the Seneca-Oswego River watersheds, which Skan is a part of.  Rainbows are an introduced western fish, but that doesn't matter to me.  Skan bows are gems.  So are Skan perch.  So should be Skan eyes.  DEC is correct that illegal stocking is not in our fisheries best interest, but the genie is out of the bottle.  At least walleye is a native fish that is great angling and table fare.  Netting of the walleye to remove them would be fruitless and I would assume kill many other fish as well.  I think we all need to take a deep breath and enjoy the time on the water.

  

 

 

Edited March 24, 2019 by walnut109