GAMBLER

Increased competition for a dwindling bait population caused the size reduction in Michigan. Guys were going an entire season without catching a king over 20lbs! They cut stocking 50% in one year and over the next couple of years, the size rebounded along with the bait population.

Lake Michigan cut stocks 50% and saw a drastic rebound in size. We made big cuts and size didn't rebound. Any idea why Brian?

Well, scratch that thought. The alewife weight according to this chart shows the weight has been stable or heavier. Microsoft Word - 2019_preliminary_status_of_Lake_Ontario_Alewife.docx (glfc.org)

Are the alewife as healthy as they were in the early 2000's? There is data on it somewhere. I have seen it at the meetings in the past but I can't remember what it said. If the alewife are not as healthy, a king would have to eat more of them to get the calorie intake to gain weight. Hunting alewife longer will burn more calories than it would if they got more calories out of fewer alewife. Just a thought and I will look to see if I can find the data. Maybe Shreksoff can chime in. He is the bait guru on the lake.

Lake Ontario is the best salmon fishery on the East Coast. Why not make it better? The money generated by this fishery should only push lake managers to push for more for this fishery. Unfortunately, NY state puts minimal effort into anything fishing / hunting related. If the size is declining, why should we sit and wait until they don't reach 20lbs?

If the Salmon are managed for the lake fishery, shouldn’t they be managed better in the tribs? We manage the lake better for steelhead for the tribs.

A while back the DEC didn’t have enough fish return to the hatchery. They were going to other tribs and taking fish from guys that were catching them.

They only keep the fines that have warrants and other crimes attached to them. It’s really sad. Here a guy does his job and it’s all for nothing. These guys are sportsmen like us and hate seeing the BS that goes on with fish and game in this state. I couldn’t imagine doing my job and all my effort is wasted day in and day out.

It wouldn't help. The ECO's do a great job busting guys every year with a very limited staff. It's the law, courts and BS fines that are the issue. The city of Rochester throws fishing fines written in the Genny gorge away because they are petty compared to what they deal with every day. The fines are a joke. Snag salmon in Alaska and see how that works out for you!

Congrats Rob!

I'm not saying there isn't an issue with the lake. I'm saying it seems to be improving. All the lakes have changed. We have seen a huge change on Honeoye during the ice season. We have adapted and found the lake has changed but isn't dead. Most of the weeds are gone in the winter and the fish have adapted to mid lake open water food sources.

Some of my customers had great seasons on Seneca this year. The fishing seems to be improving the past couple of years.

West marine has them on their website.

I was just talking about this at work with our lab director. I showed him the lake color in the background of this laker photo from August of 2012.

This usually happens in August. It looked like this the past couple of years. It has been extended into the fall more than usual due to the warm temps. 2012 the entire lake was light blue in August.

On a positive note, this will be good for selling lake trout gear......

We can blame the idiots that complain about stuff but continue to vote democrat......

Will do.

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