Sk8man

Don't get too discouraged Keith....historically this lapse in support for the sciences (as well as the arts) has been somewhat cyclical although admittedly the current situation is certainly a low point. A great thing about America is that we don't easily give up....you are a good example and set a good example with your excellent research efforts for these younger folks to follow. If they are serious dedicated students they will prevail and science will prevail over these idiots we mistakenly call "decision makers" in Washington and Albany.

longspurs I have to hand it to you ....you're hardcore I thought about going today but then thought about how much effort is involved in dragging the hut through the snow and even just the sled approach didn't seem appealing today.... good luck out there....you deserve it

Something to consider is this: The current NYS regulations dictate that baitfish need to be certified by a licensed bait dealer unless caught and used within the same body of water as that fished. This includes dead bait such as salted minnows etc. (and the bait receipt needs to be no more than 10 days old) unless commercially prepared and then you need to have the packaaging for them. Not trying to pop anyones balloon but just something to be aware of. On the other hand, it is the fact that although I have been checked many times for a license (even recently) never have the DEC officers asked for a bait receipt or examined any bait we were using.

If you take the above video into account with the bottom littered with mussel shells well into deep water (where the Quaggas excel) my hunch is that the filtering out of zooplankton that the smelt and alewives feed on and totally depend on especially the younger ones it helps explain the situation....the baitfish population has been starved off even into the deep water now so it has become like a "moonscape" in there. We caught a couple lakers again in shallow yesterday while fishing for perch that were feeding on the small dink perch and anything else they could get ahold of. My hunch is that things will get much worse before getting better (if that is even possible) as the available smaller fish of various species are targeted by the overabundance of lakers and become decimated by them. The small perch don't have nearly the nutritive value (oils etc.) as the alewives so the lakers will probably be starved off in time as well. In short, the ecosystem is a mess...and totally out of balance.The rainbows and salmon werre the first to go because they aren't as adaptive as the lakers in terms of having a varied diet and feediing as near bottom while foraging.

One of the things I have done over the years to prevent mold or mildew is to leave a couple bags of charcoal briquettes(opened) and inside of open garbage bags to prevent accidental spillage in the bilge and also interior of the boat on flooring to absorb any potential moisture...it works...but I also store the boat in an unheated barn with an acrylic mooring cover and tarp over that..

Gives new meaning to the sayng "You are what you eat"

Nice job thinking that through and sharing it. It is always more gratifying making up things yourself than just paying the long $$$ for someone elses ideas

I haven't had pike or pickerel in quite awhile but they are delicious in terms of the meat. You have to know how to fillet them properly (check out youtube videos for tips) to avoid bones. Most folks I know eithercook them in a pressure cooker to melt the bones or grind up the meat finely and then make patties from them much as you'd make salmon patties. They are mild tasting and excellent quality.

Holy cow keith.....what do think the probabilities are connected witht hat haappening?

Very good points. We both felt that it was one of those great moments in life and we have been fishing together since he was 2 1/2 yrs old.

Keith - Unfortunately it was trash day the next day and it was really gross and he tossed it. He has cleaned a lot of fish and he told me he had never seen anything even remotely similar to it.

We had one like that a couple weeks ago and my son took it home to look at it and when he opened it up he saw some very gross abnormalities such as orange colored gell like balls throughout its insides. It wasn't just skinny but diseased and it looked like it was wasting away as much as starving.

Unfortunately, the pike has its revenge on Mark as his hand became infected from the multiple cuts and after an ER visit today he is on an antibiotic. Pike have an anticoagulant in their protective mucus as well as numerous bacteria so cuts received can easily become infected and may need to be treated to prevent blood poisoning and other potential maladies so be very careful handling them folks. We now have new first aid kits in each of our huts....

Billy- I am amazed as well that he got it up through the foot of ice as it had to come up vertically rather than just sliding it across the edge of the hole if 4 or 5 inches of ice. He said the head barely fit through the 8 inch hole and my auger is a 7 inch so lucky it wasn't one of my holes He also said that he has been watching a lot of Youtube videos with our Canadian brothers (eg. Lake Simcoe) and it helped greatly as far as technique.

We ice fished Keuka today for perch and only came up with a bunch of dink perch, a laker, a pickerel, but a gorgeous pike which my son caught and landed solo on 6 lb mono and without a gaff.He caught it on a contraption he hand made which operates like one of the automatic rigs and it almost spooled him twice. I was fishing too far away from him to hear or see it so somehow he managed to land it through the 12 or so inches of ice. It measured 42 inches and weighed just over 16 pounds. After the pics he released it unharmed which was more than can be said of Mark....his hands had numerous cuts and toothmarks