Lake Ontario United

I’d like to thank the DEC, USGS reps & Monroe County fisheries board for putting on the meeting last night. It was informative however it was a lot of info crammed into a short period. Slides & speakers went very fast as there were a lot of topics covered. (I counted 76 people in this audience)

My notes from the meeting:

Regulation proposals:

Regs proposed for 1 Oct 08 (you can still comment on these till 4 April 08 so if you don’t like them- speak up)

1.Eliminate sale of trout eggs for entire state.
2.Illegal to chum with fish eggs for entire state. (worms, corn, other stuff can still be used)
3.Fly-fishing in fly-fishing area of Salmon River to require only traditional fly line, at least 20 ft long.
4.Definition of a Tip-up
5.Green list of live baitfish that can be used in any water plus a list for Great Lakes. Smelt & alewives ok for Lake Ontario. (NOTE: comments needed on use of herring on Lake Ontario as they are not on the list)

Proposals & ideas for reg changes for 1 Oct 2010 being considered & thought about. Some ideas being thought about include: 1- No filleting of any fish on the water for any fish that has a size limit. 2-Brown Trout creel limit of one on tribs. (If you have ideas or think these stink send in comments or talk to regional fisheries manager)

A question was brought up about not being able to use Gobies as bait.
Answer was that state was taking a conservative approach to spreading them and is more worried about their transport to other waters than using them as bait. 2nd question concerned using certified bait only. Answer again was that state was taking a conservative approach towards transportation. Fisherman only needs the papers if transporting them. Basically, if you catch them (alewives, smelt) in the lake, you can use them in the lake.

Prey fish assessment: (Note Bob O’Gorman is retiring after 34 yrs with Oswego station. He has contributed a lot over the years & his successor has some big shoes to fill. Thanx Bob)

Adult Alewife population size 4 ¼ and larger has a little uptick in numbers. No big changes are expected. Age 1 alewives in 2006 was way up, 2007 for same was very low.

Smelt - Very low. They’re experiencing predation and reproduction problems.

Sculpins - Trends of small fish continues.

Gobies - 2005 & 2006 population basically equal. 2007 climbed significantly. It was found that they move out into deeper water during winter. Approx 400 FOW. They’re definitely part of the offshore food chain for 6 months of the year. Everything is eating them, including perch. They are definitely on the bottom of the lake. They are more abundant than smelt. Adults definitely eating mussels.

Bloody Red Shrimp. (Heminysis) - Are nearshore, warm water specie. Not thought to compete with the coldwater native shrimp. They are difficult to find during daylight as they hide on bottom & only rise up at night. Early evidence indicates they may become very important to alewives as some have been found in stomach contents. They are becoming a big player. They have not been found in the stomachs of fish that feed during the day.

More effort trawling spent in deep water this last year. Shallow water trawls done on a random pattern. Confidence in trawling methods confirmed with Hydroaustic surveys.

(There was no real statement of size of O.A. biomass at this meeting)

Salmon River:

Predominantly studied Kings were 3 & 4 yr olds. Age 4s were declining in size. 3s were about middle of road size compared to past. Very hard to get enough sample fish. 3 yr olds were 16-17 Lbs. Jacks averaged 4 ¼ Lbs.

Age 2 Cohos averaged 8.5 lbs.

This sampling was done later in the year than normal. Fish taken were smaller but not statistically proven to be smaller. Later in the year sampling generally finds smaller fish.

Monitoring program “ Seining: Done in May-June. 2007 on average caught more YOY wild Chinooks. Best catch when comparing top 3 weeks of all the yrs done. When there is lots of flow in October, the following spring has lots of young. Not expecting to see many YOY this year due to poor conditions last fall. There may be large numbers of wild fish out there but need the mass marking of fish to be operational to really determine 1-open lake population 2- Salmon river runs 3- returns to hatchery.

Sea Lamprey:

Assessments done on spawning adults caught in traps and a mark study on fish. Main methods of control include lamprecide, Barriers and attractants.

A1 wounds were a record high in 2007. This however may be more due to declining lake Trout population than having more Lampreys. Marks were reported on Bass & Northerns. Seneca Strain Lakers less susceptible to Lamprey attack. Number of Lamprey spawners was down & more on target with past numbers.

2 new barriers will soon be installed. (Pekin Br & couldn’t catch the name of the other)

Genny River is not a good place for lampreys to breed. (yay!!!)

Status of Lake Trout:

July bottom trawl for juveniles, Gill nets used for adults in August. 2007 adult numbers were down. For 13th year some natural reproduction has been observed. Small numbers of natives have been caught.

Alleghany hatchery brood stock hit in 2005 with power problems & disease in 2006 hence no fish from there. In 2006 feds at Bath stocked Lakers. In May 2007, Fed hatchery in Vermont supplied 450,000 Lakers. In 2008, Vermont again expected to supply 500K fish. Lakers come from Federal hatcheries only due to international agreements. Pre 2007 Marquet strain was used. Now Traverse Island, Seneca, Klondike strain are being introduced. (Couldn’t catch the 4th strain) Difference is the position they occupy in the water column)

Alleghany raceways now covered. Due to open in 2010 with first stock available in 2012. However this is contingent on funding. Future of Alleghany is uncertain.

Trib Survey:

Survey results for last two years. Future surveys will be taken every 3 years. 29 tribs included in survey. Salmon River had 59 & 64% of total hours respectively for the 2 years. SR mostly fished by out of staters. NYS residents were majority on the medium to smaller tribs. SR, Oak Orchard & 18 Mile accounted for 69 & 65% of trips respectively. Total number of trips down slightly. Total number of fish caught down slightly. Appears that trips were of longer duration than in past. (i.e maybe spent 6 hours instead of 5 hours per trip)

Boat Survey:

Boat trips up slightly but numbers stable over last 5 years. 58K T&S caught which is also relatively stable.

Bass catch up slightly. However 2/3 of survey were dissastistifed with catch. Those that did catch had super trips. C&R Regs may have influenced survey however, it was stressed that with the changes in ecosystem (gobies, etc) 1/3 of fishermen changed their strategies and were very successful. 2/3 didn’t change & caught gobies instead of bass. (Unfortunately no suggestions on new fishing methods)

Charter boats had 3rd best catch on record. Average 8-9 fish per trip. Record low weights per length of kings. Age 3 fish in August 07 were 3 lbs smaller than past.

Coho catch was a record year. (Best in 23 years)

Brown Trout catch was 4th best on record.

Lake Trout “ decline in catch rate, decline in abundance. Still unknown how Targeting a specie affects these numbers.

Pultneyville warm water assessment:

Due to complaints of bass fishing, a study was done from Hughes marina to Port Bay. Gillnets set in 10-30 ft for a few days. This was previously done in 70’s, 2000, 2001. 62% of 521 fish caught were Smallmouth. Fish count was 54.17 per net which is slightly less than 2000 & 2001 but way above 70’s numbers.

Interestingly a 36″ sturgeon was netted but managed to get out of net.

Occidental NRD update:

A list presented of where the 12 Million will be spent.

Fish marking trailer to be on the road for delivery next week. Very efficient way to mark & tag fish. Snout implant the size of a small sliver) Implant will have numbers on it not just markings. All stocked Kings to have adipose fin clip. Trailer will also do the Canadian fish & may be used on other species.

Additional ramp at Sodus depends upon finding a landowner to sell at appraised value. Most of moneys to be spent on paving, etc. Some discussion concerning Slater creek as Russell will be closing in a couple months. It’s too early to tell if they’ll go through with spending or not.

IJC Lake Ontario water levels:

Lake Ontario has natural ups & downs for water level. Natural levels since 1860 have varied as much as 8 feet. Since 1966 hydro-power station on St Lawrence has regulated level to within 3 feet range. State concerned with wetlands & believes wider range levels will help reestablish wetlands. (i.e. natural flooding and drying up of wetlands).

DEC is backing proposal to regulate level of lake to a wider range as long as it doesn’t hurt property owners. IJC (International Joint Commission) may make a decision before October 08 as new commissioners will probably be appointed then.

2007 Egg-Taking:

Warm water was the key factor for late run up the Salmon River. Fish were more stressed & less abundant. Efforts from other areas helped, however lateness of year really hurt. Eye-up rate was very low for all rivers. Canadians had same thing. Mortality rate after eye-up was also high. Salmon river to get 90% of its target stocking in attempt to save brood stock. Other areas will get an allotment many for the pen rearing projects. State not importing fish stocks from “out west” for conservative approach towards fear of diseases.

Tom B.
(LongLine)

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