Capt Vince Pierleoni

The answer is, the cormorant should never have become a "federally protected bird." This needs to change asap.

Good points Tom. I have felt for a long time that the "sharpshooter" cormorants are a huge factor in predation of the young Steelhead. There is no species in our system that feeds higher in the column early in life than the Steelhead and Rainbows. They are easy pickings for the death birds. Special consideration as to where and when the Salmon and Steelhead are released is necessary--whether direct stocked or released from a pen. Often Salmonoids will remain huddled up in, or near the harbor and be decimated by birds. Another factor is the timing of plants/releases. Yearling Steelhead are voracious. If they are planted the same day or the day after the fingerling Chinook are released you will lose a considerable amount to the Steelhead. Also opportunistic anglers(bucket sitters) will often purposely fish for the 8"-10" trout because its an every cast proposition. Our marina does an excellent job shooing them out of stocking site and informing them that they were just stocked and not legal. All in all it takes lots of extra effort to insure better survival of all the species, both fingerliing and yearling. Last Spring we purposely released the Steelhead pen when there were few Cormorants around the harbor and the water was a bit stained. All of the little thing s can add up big and I certainly appreciate everyone who helps out with the pens and deliveries up and down the lakeshore.

AMEN! When they restructured the online/DECALS license issuing system I wanted info inputted as to where and what species were fished for. Did not happen. I feel the understanding of the financials of this fishery coulld be much better understood by NY government.

We always enjoy your contributions UT. We are well aware of the priorities flying in the face of the angling public here in the States as well. Same type of initiatives. I know Ontario province has a history of financial stakes in commercial netting so the Sport fishery that I know so many over there covet should never be taken for granted.

Davy, I'm glad you found a home in the fly fishing community. Being condescending to a very hard working volunteer will get us nowhere. He is well liked and respected by many members of the DEC just as you are. You cannot deny that many of your trib exclusive fly fishing peers have disdain for Chinooks just because of the dregs of society they attract. I fish river Kings but from a boat I realize it isnt as awful as watching some of the circus that you do. From my vantage point our biggest problem is when the laws are enforced the local judges do not treat it as real crime. I'm sure if we could attach the true dollar value of each fish--even a spawned out Chinook, the crimes could be considered felonies because they are stealing from us all. To top it off, new generations of anglers learn to disrespect trib trout and salmon from these criminals. Most of the worst ones are not anglers or hunters in any way, in fact they now stake out tiny trout tribs and pillage them in the middle of a winter night. These violations have more to do with the state of our country than the Chinook Salmon running a river. I would support a ban on egg sacs even though we sometimes use them on the Niagara but I believe Sk8 man is correct, the big market is in human consumption of the eggs, and some of the criminals are not even legally in this country. The fastest way to save thousands of trout in the tribs would be for us all to find a way that the violations and downright felonious activities are truly punished and enforced. We ALL want that. As for the Steelhead issue regarding their diet, perhaps some Lake fishermen should have been included in the meeting you hosted. I saw the notes and yes, it does seem that a whole lot of blame was sent towards lake fishermen. Remember, it can work both ways. There's lots of blame that could sent towards trib anglers but lets be productive for a few minutes. I know that they are not as desired to fly fishermen as the Washington Strain Steelhead, but it appears domestic Rainbows are much less affected by the issue. I can tell you they will hang out where the gobies are, and that is very rarely the case with Washington Strain Steelhead. I feel that the intense winters that caused havoc in the system created some extremely unusual scenarios in the lake. Never have I seen young Cohos behave the way they did--not only the size of the baits they were attacking but WHERE they were found in early Spring. We did not have anywhere near the aquatic insects available and almost no emerald shiners. The good news is the emeralds began to bounce back and I would expect that this storm is just a blip in a very warm winter and emeralds and insects should be back in normal numbers. Both of these are critical and highly sought after to young Steelhead and Coho. Lets hope that the Steelhead situation was an anomaly and the system stops losing fish.

There may be some validity to this but there are very real concerns about disease being transferred and the agencies pride themselves in having "clean" eggs. I personally think the Lake Ontario strain Chinooks are well adapted to our system/habitat. They seem less prone to ailments and in my opinion less likely to mature earlier. They come from the wild where the fittest/strongest survive and reproduce. The Canadians have broken the ice on the great idea of using eggs/sperm from this strain to create fingerlings and stock in poor return areas. With todays pressure on the highly sought after Chinook, NYS/Ontario needs contributions from both natural and stocked sources.

The breaks are definitely more in play after a cold winter. With yo yo weather the lake warms up faster and more uniformly--great for the food chain but tougher to find fish corralled. I'm in my 33 year as a Professional and quite frankly I get zero requests to target Steelhead in the lake from Charter parties. They are a welcome treat, and are in their top physical condition in the open water. Any trib angler that hasn't experienced them in the lake in 60 degree water needs to. The simple fact is Steelhead are available to anglers throughout our marketplace PA/OH. It is the Pacific Salmon and Brown trout that are the novelty, and drive our tourism dollars in this area. Any Captain who lives in the area and is an ambassador to this fishery enjoys and respects all the species but this is simply the case.

Agreed Tom. Solid talent in that agency. This administration is very outdoors/sportsmen friendly and this just has to get sorted out.

It would certainly exacerbate the problem Gill-T. Good point. Top end pelagic predator Chinook Salmon are programmed to take out the large alewives. These large, older alewives carry the most thiaminase. Putting adequate heat on those older, fatter alewives would decrease that temptation for the mature Steelhead.

Our peers in Michigan are NOT fans of the Great Lakes restoration initiative. It has some merit but like so many other things gets twisted. Most people want Pacific Salmon to fish for in Lake Michigan--this initiative doesn't prioritize what the anglers want--just "talk to the hand." Also let us not forget the single biggest danger to fish densities in Lake Erie and Lake Ontario is going overboard on phosphorus control, which once again is driven by non sports people and the "feel good" Green religion. For far too long MAN has been taken out of the equation. MAN built the seaway and with it came progress and huge environmental problems. To me, MAN putting Pacific Salmon in the Great Lakes is absolutely no different than a bird of prey dropping a Bass in a body of water it wasn't inhabiting before. It's natural, and it was no accident that it was successful. Do not think for one minute that the GLRI movement cares one iota if your drag screams during your valuable recreation time. It sounds like a worthy initiative to anglers but there is much more beneath the surface.

I would have to believe you could take that floor out without cutting it, yes it will be more work but if this is your long time rig it's well worth it. There are several companies that build aluminum tanks to specs, you could get exact measurements after you pull tank. Pap, sorry to hear of your misfortune involving ethanol destruction. I am an anti ethanol crusader, and will go well out of the way to get non ethanol for the boats, utv, chainsaws, weedwhackers, ect. HATE isn't a strong enough word for what I think of the concept of diluting real gas with it.

Many incidents involving ethanol eating fuel lines, and many boat owners have had to remove fiberglass tanks and replace with aluminum. Even if you went to exclusive non ethanol from now forward the damage may be done. Not only the fire/explosion risk, but fine pieces of fuel line or tank can cause damage to your motor/motors. Take this very seriously.

It absolutely does include the Niagara river. Its one of the most dangerous navigable waterways in NY and its patrolled heavily.

They are very active in Olcott, passing out cards and offering inspections. Sent from my iPhone using Lake Ontario United mobile app

Hawkeye625, my winter boat is a 1999 2150 Crestliner that has been road hard and put away wet many times. The motor is a 2001 Honda 130 hp w/ 2900 hrs. Good luck to all the boat shoppers. Sent from my iPhone using Lake Ontario United mobile app

GILL-T, you know my position. The pressure on the adult alewife is already relaxed via increased pressure on Kings because of better skills and communication, predation on Kings by Man, birds, Lake trout, and warm water predators. Despite shortfalls in most trout stocking targets the King cut took place. The alewives are now poised for another big uptick, just like each and every time they have been down over the last 40 years. Sent from my iPhone using Lake Ontario United mobile app

I share the same opinion as bandrus1, buy a quality used hull and repower. If you will only do it once buy the largest one you can launch, tow and have storage for.

So sorry to hear this Chris. You live in the right community-I'm sure Niagara county will show up big for your fundraiser. I will PM you shortly.

The Humminbird Helix series is tough to beat, very reliable and resolution is excellent.

If you can't easily afford to replace the transducer DO NOT run around in the lower river when theres ice chunks. That condition has been the death of many transducers. Have a 2nd simpler transducer, or a 2nd unit to use for depth. Store your valuable transducer in your splash well and zip tie up any loose cable. If you are using your unit for the gps function make sure to unplug the idle transducer so its not running out of the water.