Stocking cuts

[Lucky13]

Actually, if I had my druthers, either there would be a team of three ECO's at every pool cleaning out the yawkers, or the river could be closed during the Salmon run.  But I have seen NO DATA from anyone to indicate that the spawning population is in any way impacted by the current circus.    If too many fish enter a spawning tributary, later spawners just eradicate the redds of the earlier fish, in the same way that uneducated waders do in the Finger Lakes. 

 

If I wanted that year round steelhead and AS fishery, I would be out clamoring for an increase in king stocking to 1980 levels, no surer way to collapse the bait than to put way too many predators out there.  But the bounce back might not happen in what is left of my lifetime. 

[Gill-T]

In my lifetime I would like to see the Black River dam removed on Ontario and the Scoby Dam removed on the Catt. 

[john1947]

A few ideas.How about finally bringing a trout and salmon stamp to help pay for improvements.

Reuce lake trout stocking and replace with robust Atlantic stocking and habitat program.

Many brown trout are dumped in our harbor every spring.Is there a better way to help reduce predators who take many of the fish

Establish best practices how to release fish for maximum survival.Iread a article best way is slowly lower fish back down where caught using heavy weights

Finally ad a rod to make it a four rods per person,.LOL

 

 

 

Edited December 27, 2019 by john1947

[Sweet Caroline]

Stock more browns! The current food chain can support it. Gobies eat zebra mussels, browns eat gobies. Browns offer small boaters near shore fishing opportunities year round and also can be caught in many tribs Sept-April. They are the heartiest and most adaptive of all the salmonids we have here in LO and a great game fish. They are a win-win for everybody.  
 

They also catch and release well and are homebodies. Steelhead come and go with the wind in the tribs, frequently get lock jaw, whereas browns will pretty much stay in a single stretch of a trib all winter and continue biting day after day. Same in the lake. Browns can be found near structure in less then 100 FOW any time of the year providing opportunity for all boats, big or small. They also can be caught in more off colored water which frequently happens in the tribs. I can’t tell you how many times browns have saved the day on a trib when I got there and it was “blown out” from rain or run off. Steelhead completely shut down in those conditions yet browns still remain active. Imagine being an out of towner and faced with those conditions on your trib trip. If only steelhead were available your trip would be dead. Having browns around would at least provide them an opportunity to catch a respectable game fish when nothing else will bite. I’ll also add they are also a great pier fish Spring and Fall. I had some of my young cousins sending me pictures of huge browns they were catching off of Webster pier this fall. They could care less that they weren’t catching salmon. 
 

They are a great addition to both the lake salmon fishery and trib steelhead fishery. If either fishery is slow, browns can keep rods bending. In the Fall when staging salmon fishing is slow, Lake trout fishing is considered the go to for many.  When  you are targeting lakers that pretty much is all you are going to catch though. Salmon can be caught right along with browns late August on in to the late fall, thus filling some of the down time. It’s my opinion that having an abundant supply of browns available will help in promoting the fishery and keep folks coming back. It’s one fish that the lake likely can support more of with little impact on our current bait population.
 

I believe folks from the DEC frequent this site. I’m hoping this can at least be added to the lake management discussion. If it is a hatchery capacity issue then maybe find a way to increase the survival after they are stocked. One thing I know after witnessing many browns being stocked is they pretty much don’t move for days and weeks on end. Cormorants and other predators could easily decimate a pod of fresh stocked browns. 
 

I’m proud to say that I took my 6 year old trib fishing for the first time last week and we were 1 for 3 on browns in 15 mins. He was cold and wet after a short period but thank god there were browns around.

 

my two cents

Edited January 12, 2020 by A-Lure-A

[horsehunter]

I think stocking the browns at night may give them some protection from the birds which I think must be watching them load at the hatchery and following the truck to it's destination. The problem with browns is that they don't disperse but just mill about just under the surface waiting for someone to feed them.

As for 4 rods in Ontario we are only allowed 2 per angler and I don't even want a third my favourite spread is 2 riggers and 2 dipseys even when a third or fourth person would allow more but I have a small boat and am not paid to produce fish for clients and prefer fishing with one other person.

[Sk8man]

For a few years now three rods per person has been the legal limit

[horsehunter]

36 minutes ago, Sk8man said:

For a few years now three rods per person has been the legal limit

 

I was referring to Ontario the province rather than Ontario the Lake. I think John 1947 was looking for a fourth rod on the American side of the pond.

[whaler1]

I'm all for closing the Salmon River until November 1st. If Salmon are managed for the Lake I want the best of the best getting to that hatchery. For years all we've gotten were the scraps that made it through, and even then those fish were harassed and stressed beyond belief. Closing the Salmon River (the river that supplies 95% of our eggs and stocking numbers) just makes sense. Other than one small town nothing else will be affected. Canadian tribs are closed, and I don't see the town's on those tribs struggling. We'd need less of a DEC presence to write tickets that don't even get convicted, the big Trout wouldn't get ripped out prematurely by the Salmon crowd, the river would be cleaner, and there'd be more food in the system for those Trout. There's wins for both crowds by shutting that place down. I don't think we'd have a problem getting Canada's 100,000+ members of their Sportfishing/outdoors counsel to jump on board, and I don't know many, if any, Lake guys who'd be against it. Especially, after the stupid Steelhead regulation goes through.
 
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Popcorn please!


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[Sk8man]

Ah sorry Horsehunter I did think you were referring to Lake O

[jimski2]

When we are perch fishing with minnows, one rod per person is the best producer. Changing bait lost, resetting other lines and missing too many hits wastes bait and time. Holding a rod in your hand is better than watching for a bite on other rods. Less bait under your boat really does not hold schools of perch around. Just less hits on the hand held rod. Three rods in the water per person screws up the catch rates of other people in the boat.

[Low Baller]

Eh, Pulaski relies on the googan brigade of salmon snatchers to keep businesses open. Also, Salmon eggs are not going to eye-up until the river water temp gets into the 50’s.  Let the river continue to be the place where future Great Lakes fishermen/ women are born. They have to start somewhere. With global warming, September-October runs are not going to have viable offspring produced. Catch and release-only after Nov 1st. 

Just a thought from a fat guy in a little boat. Being a life long fisherman from Pa, the lake O fishery and the finger lakes have always been cream of the crop imo. We're lucky to see a trout over 18" in our waterways with the exception of Erie. I'd love to no how much revenue I've put into the system in just the last 25 yrs just salmon and steelhead hunting in the Pulaski area. Point is, like many, I started with a spinning rod and a sponge. Didn't feel right, having a conscious I bought a 10 wt fly rod. Same conclusion. Spent too much money rigging a small craft for trolling. Practiced and educated myself through all meens. Became pretty successful based on what little time I get. I just know that it's all about quality and not quantity for me and the apprentices I take with me. 1 30lb king, or 10 lb rainbow, or 8lb walleye, or even a fat bluegill is worth the trip. It's about the trip, not the fish.
You folks do a great job against the odds. There will always be conflict, but as long as I get to say, "Good job buddy, nice fish" I've done my job.

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[Yankee Troller]

On 12/27/2019 at 10:29 AM, Lucky13 said:

So the other half of the license buying public from the East Coast will be totally justified in asking for a closure of the fishery on the big lake from July 1st to, oh, maybe October 1st, both to insure that those salmon that have stopped actively pursuing bait to prepare for spawning can make it into the river, and to protect the steelhead and skippers that are being wantonly killed by C+R due to the choice of heavy junk lines necessary to reach the fish in those months, or least as far as the argument has gone recently?

 

Wrong, Salmon are managed for the Lake. Not the tribs. You guys made that perfectly clear when you started regulating us on the lake. It needs to be our turn to protect OUR fish.

 

On 12/27/2019 at 10:44 AM, Lucky13 said:

I've seen Rick at many meetings, and he has always had well thought out arguments that he presented in a  rational and polite manner, even if I disagreed on some things,  so I see nothing in what he, or Matt, are saying that I would consider "tongue in cheek."   And I doubt my friend who is carrying a 500K mortgage on a temporary housing property he bought in Pulaski for his wife and he to run would be any more enthralled over being told he can't rent rooms during 15% or so of the season that was his historical peak, anymore than a charter operator would like being told to leave the trolling gear home for two months in the summer.  Like Les, I try to use the emojis when I am cracking a "funny."

 

We are being told what we can do on the lake now, so it's not cool when a trib business takes a hit? You tributary folks are just like the LGBTQPRS community. A few of you whine loud enough and get your way from our leaders. I can't wait to see the next regulation that comes down the pipeline against the Lake guys. We just continue to get it shoved up our butt.

[whaler1]

As much as I like the “like” button, can we get a “love” button?
Well said Rick


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[Missdemeanor]

"There's no data...Theres No data" .... Show me the data where the current lake steelhead regulation " Up for proposal" will increase the tributary success.... You can't... You know why? Because there is no hard fast data to support the regulation change. The poor stream fishing in the Tribs those years was from the deficiency in the bait.... Not the lake anglers. Saying the steelhead fishing will go down in the Tribs is pure speculation...and politics... Yea I said it.... Politics.. With zero ...absolutley Zero... Science. .. We won't give you guys the increased size limit to 25 inches, but here...take this reduced creel limit... Happy?

Now here comes the stocking cuts... What's next? Oh... You guys are only allowed to fish on every other Tuesday between 0600 and 1300 , when Saturn and Jupiter align... Shocking that a guy from the State was surprised that I knew about the cuts before he called me about it. Little does he know I used to guess ages at local carnivals in a past life...lol

Going to these meetings are very much like watching a used car commercial...except we will never hear the word "Huuuuge" ( unless it's in the context of cutting more kings)....

 

 

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[HB2]

4 rods per person ? 

 

Please Tell me this is a joke . 

[Gill-T]

So far an easy winter (jinx, anti-jinx, no jinxy take-backs). I wish the DEC would decide on king cuts at a spring time deadline to see how mild/harsh the winter before deciding. 

[HB2]

4 hours ago, Yankee Troller said:

 

Wrong, Salmon are managed for the Lake. Not the tribs. You guys made that perfectly clear when you started regulating us on the lake. It needs to be our turn to protect OUR fish.

 

 

 

 

Sorry , but all these fish are everyone's fish . 

 

 

[GAMBLER]

20 minutes ago, HB2 said:

4 rods per person ? 

 

Please Tell me this is a joke . 

I'm in!  I cant wait to run more junk lines for offshore steelhead! 

[chinook35]

I'm in!  I cant wait to run more junk lines for offshore steelhead! 

I get my fill of tangles with 3 lines per person thank you [emoji4]


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[Missdemeanor]

Ain't that the truth... I like easy and neat

I get my fill of tangles with 3 lines per person thank you [emoji4]


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[Missdemeanor]

They are managed for the lake.... DEC's words

 
Sorry , but all these fish are everyone's fish . 
 
 

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[HB2]

I don't care what fish is managed for where . 

 

We all get a shot at everything but the Lakers at some time during the year , lake or trib . 

 

And all everyones licence and tax dollars pay for it .

 

Which make them everyone's . 

 

 Getting a little tired of this bickering . 

 

I would expect better . 

[spoonfed-1]

27 minutes ago, Missdemeanor said:

They are managed for the lake.... DEC's words

 

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3 minutes ago, HB2 said:

I don't care what fish is managed for where . 

 

We all get a shot at everything but the Lakers at some time during the year , lake or trib . 

 

And all everyones licence and tax dollars pay for it .

 

Which make them everyone's . 

 

 Getting a little tired of this bickering . 

 

I would expect better . 

 This is not bickering, It's fact.

[HB2]

Nope , it bickering , and being vindictive from some as I see it . 

From some of the stuff I've read on here , there is no other conclusion . 

[whaler1]

Uncle


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