Lamprey Cayuga

[Lewis863]

In last two weekends I caught three lakers with lamprey damage and one still attached ...first of the season ...

 

 

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[58Johnson]

A nice 10 incher from today*

[Trouthunter]

kill everyone you get

[Lewis863]

1 hour ago, Trouthunter said:

kill everyone you get

Oh you can bet mine were returned to the lake in pieces, my clients were a little suprised when I whipped out a large filet knife and angrily diced it on the deck...

[Reel Doc]

When did the DEC treat the streams last?  

[58Johnson]

The lamprey activity on Cayuga is very low this year. This is the second I have seen all season. The first was a pencil sized one.

[Lewis863]

Yeah it has been minimal..out of several hundred fish only a few had signs


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[perch predator]

Saw 30 or so spawning in fall creek a month or so ago not a good sign

 

[stinger]

7 hours ago, Reel Doc said:

When did the DEC treat the streams last?  

 

 

....from the NYS DEC  website:

 

"Lampricides and Treatments

The most significant and effective form of control has been the treatment of streams and deltas with lampricides - TFM in tributaries and Bayluscide on deltas. The lampricides target the larval sea lamprey, killing them before they can transform into their parasitic adult form. Since the larval sea lamprey typically reside in streams or deltas for 4 years, lampricide treatments need only occur every 4 years in a specific water."

 

This is from DEC's report of Lake Champlain but the treatment process is the same for the finger lakes.

 

I think Cayuga was treated two years ago. Not sure. But anyway each treatment if done under good conditions will get the previous four years of eels. Once the adults go into the lake they will usually  die within a year but that year each one can take out a few fish.

 

 

 

 

Edited July 26, 2019 by stinger

[Reel Doc]

Reading about the history of the lamprey invasion of the Great Lakes is saddening.  Once the Welland canal was built to bypass Niagara Falls they moved into all the Great Lakes and destroyed the high quality fishing for trout and salmon for most of the early and mid 1900s.  Human manipulation of nature certainly has its ups and downs.

[Trouthunter]

We need to help the dec remove everyone of them suckers saw a great presentation at the Tall ships festival at the Erie Basin Marina a few weeks ago. They are doing a great job of removing these predators from the system but can use our help kill everyone of them.

[Lewis863]

7 hours ago, Reel Doc said:

Reading about the history of the lamprey invasion of the Great Lakes is saddening.  Once the Welland canal was built to bypass Niagara Falls they moved into all the Great Lakes and destroyed the high quality fishing for trout and salmon for most of the early and mid 1900s.  Human manipulation of nature certainly has its ups and downs.

Indeed it does my friend ...

[Bigfoot]

Primary means of lamprey control on Cayuga utilizes the fishway on Cayuga Inlet. Ideally, the lampreys enter a trap at the fishway during their spawning run and are removed before getting the chance to spawn. As the vast majority of lampreys try to spawn in the Inlet, this control can be highly effective. As a result, lampricide is generally not needed ever four years on Cayuga.

 

Problems arise when high water levels coincide with the lamprey spawning run allowing the eels to bypass the fishway (and the trap). DEC keeps tabs on the lake trout wounding rate (wounds per 100 trout) as an indicator of when treatments are needed.

 

I don't think DEC will ever use Bayluscide on the South end of Cayuga since it is a source of drinking water.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Reel Doc]

3 hours ago, Bigfoot said:

Primary means of lamprey control on Cayuga utilizes the fishway on Cayuga Inlet. Ideally, the lampreys enter a trap at the fishway during their spawning run and are removed before getting the chance to spawn. As the vast majority of lampreys try to spawn in the Inlet, this control can be highly effective. As a result, lampricide is generally not needed ever four years on Cayuga.

 

Problems arise when high water levels coincide with the lamprey spawning run allowing the eels to bypass the fishway (and the trap). DEC keeps tabs on the lake trout wounding rate (wounds per 100 trout) as an indicator of when treatments are needed.

 

I don't think DEC will ever use Bayluscide on the South end of Cayuga since it is a source of drinking water.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'm all for less chemical treatment.  Hopefully the trapping continues to control numbers.  Lampreys probably don't have any natural predators

[Sk8man]

For folks interested in info on these chemicals:

http://www.glfc.org/lampricide.php

https://umesc.usgs.gov/documents/publications/2003/dawson_a_2003.html

 

 

 

[Bigfoot]

Treatments on the Inlet only happened in 1986, 1996, and 2014. 

[perch predator]

that gap in treatment and high water really hit this lake hard. You know back when Seneca had fish and we didn't