BSmaster

I also noticed the Rudd population is increasing.  I doubt there are too many studies out there addressing this invasive species.  Probably a lot of speculation.  I bet the muskies love them.

Phisherman, I respect you and your thoughts and I really do not know fine points.  This conversation makes me want to learn more.  Besides reading articles, I would like also to talk to other states who have embraced different stocking strategies to see what are the outcomes whether they be  positive or not.

Also, Can you use the Conesus inlet swamp as a walleye rearing pond?

There is no walleye reproduction in Conesus lake. I don't know honeoyes stocking schedule but I can see Albany being more willing to give that lake fish because there are more year round walleye fisherman on that lake. It gets used more so they get more fish also there are no alewife in that lake so there is some natural reproduction in honeoye. Albany would rather stock a fishery that can hopefully at some point become a self sustaining fishery. Something that will never happen in Conesus.

This has been mentioned before.  Has Albany considered introducing a new species to minimize the alewive population?  A species that is designed to eat them such as striped hybrids.  I asked years ago why this fish was no longer stocked in NY and I received a very nice explanation which I can accept.  However, when I do a cost benefit analysis on a lake like Conesus, I have difficulty letting it go.  1st, the 3 reasons.  1.) Cost  2.) Low angler success & 3.) fishes tendency to migrate.  So cost is what it is.  The fish will have to be bought from out of state hatchery just like PA does.  Low angler success may be attributed to the fact that fisherman have little experience fishing for them and will take some time for the learning curve to spread out amongst anglers.  I think since then with the alabama rig and presentations like it the result will be different.  The fishes tendency to migrate is seen in man made resevoirs that have bottom discharge.  I have no reason to believe that these fish will not remain in a natural lake.  How will it affect the ecosystem?  Probably where the biggest debate will be after whether or not the state would even pay for it.  I believe in balance.  In the summer the water boils with alewives.  So it should be able to sustain more predators.  Why not make it a sterile predator that can be controlled solely by stocking numbers?  Put more tigers in too but I do not think that will improve the lake.  MHO - Maybe Just rambling.  This could be a good lake to study the effect of Hybrids.  I meant to bring it up this year at state of the lakes but I couldn't make it.  I am glad that we are discussing it here. 

I also am not into trolling but a chapter for walleye sounds like a good idea Justin.  Some of us like to jig, long line and back troll for fish and all of these tactics work...  If the Lindners say so it must be true.  The idea of getting a unified voice may give more clout to our ideas as it does for the trout fisherman.

Can you tell me why conesus has no natural reproduction because of the alewife population?

Almost 100% of the walleye fry are susceptible to alewive predation.  Adult Walleye eat Alewives and then Alewives return the favor for walleye offspring.

Joe

I was thinking about the low success rate of the walleye reproduction and wondered if it was possible to protect  the spawn by creating a temporary break that the alewives + could not transverse over.  This break would be in place after the bulk of the spawning walleye were past but before the alewives + would run upstream.  This break would have to be high enough to restrict fish from jumping it but allow fish to leave the spawning area.  This would kinda be a makeshift fish hatchery.

I have seen digger dams restrict the migration of suckers and thought this might work for walleye.  If this approach is feasible it might even be cheaper than hatchery methods over a number of years.  Flood control is an obvious concern but I think it can be engineered to not be a bigger risk than normal.

Just something I was thinking about after visiting Conesus Inlet this year. 

Good job.  I made it out Sunday and found a bunch of 7-8 inchers.  At first I was excited about the bite until I realized that's all that was biting.  Still fishing and still fun.

I vote somebody elses. #yup

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That's awesome.

Been reading up but really finding myself clueless to what to do this Memorial Day weekend in Mass  Most of the reading is for summer months.  I will have some free time to do some fishing.  I was thinking I could do Gloucester or Newburyport.  I am staying in East Pepperel which is closer to Nashua, NH. than the Ocean.  Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.  Feel Free to PM me.  Thank you,

Joe

As stated before, they would benefit lakes where there isn't sufficient predation on alewives such as Conesus.  I do not know or believe that adding them to Lake Ontario is a good thing.  I absolutely have only heard that cost is a primary deternet to adding them to inland lakes. Poor angler results and the fishes desire to migrate were the other two.  Not any of that other testimonial stuff about over eating (not that I don't believe it could happen with poor management).  If the food source runs out, you stop stocking them.  Managing the alewives will encourage better angling results as well as remediate the panfish population. 

Again, I am referring to the hybrids.  Not full strain inland striper.  I would leave Lake O as it is.  Every year someone mentions putting stripers in there.  It doesn't make sense.  Salmon and steelhead do awesome in there.  Why mess with that?  It is a (relatively) short drive to the Hudson river and they are swimming around in there right now. Go get some.  It is a blast!

I like turtles

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Me too!  Haha.  Don't know if you are joking or not.  Some of the yuppy fisherman love to razz me about it.  Turtles are safe from me now.  The state says you have to hunt them now with bow or gun and knowing that you have to let them clean up in fresh water ~2wks to remove the strong smell, that doesn't make sense.  So why bother?...

I was at the inlet on Saturday.  I had one follow and caught one about 34 inches.  Of the other boats I saw one Pike caught that was around 3ft.  I think I also saw one near the surface.  I tried to locate (get closer) to see if it was ok and it was gone so I guess question answered.  If you are looking at this weekend, I think it will be good timing.  Still a lot of fish in the inlet.  But the water should warm up with this next air change so they should start to pile up at the inlet before spreading out.  Good luck, My follow came on a swimbait.  My catch came on a 4 inch sucker under a float in 8ft of water.

you don't know what you're missing.

I do know Tim.  Just lost my taste for it.  It might have something to do with eating walleye and panfish but the stronger fish isn't doing it for me right now - really do not like Lake trout.  I eat approximately 1-2 trout a year (rarely from Lake O).  I do Like Atlantics, but not enough to go chasing them every weekend. I also think Pacific salmon have a much better flavor than Lake O salmon. MHO.

With that said, I do know lots of people like shrimp and just because I don't care for shrimp doesn't mean everyone else should stop eating it.  My preference is just that - MINE.  We live in a situation where we have choices which I think is awesome.  People are hitting the fingerlakes and lake O for salmonids and others are sittin on pails gettn bullheads and crappies.  To each their own.   

You gotta keep on keeping on. Life's a garden, dig it, make it work for you.

Joe

That's 3 more than I kept last year for eating. 

At my place in upstate PA  the hens were out in the field feeding at 6 AM. until 9 then returned to the field at 5 PM.  The gobblers wouldn't leave the hens or even answer my calls. Even the 3 jakes just hung around on the perimeter of the flock. In a week or two I hope the hens nest and the gobblers start looking around.

This is kinda what I am seeing in the Southern Tier.  Guy I know got one opening morning.  He used a fall technique.  He knew he had only one chance cause He was henned up tight and walking away so he tried to spook them hard as to break them up and then called them back in a half hour.  I never would have thought that would work but the other alternative is to stalk which is what another guy I know did to get his Tom.  I can't get much of anything to look my way.  I do not know about population declines.  I saw pretty near 100 turkeys at one time on one farm (my family) this year.  The following week there was only sign of 2 birds.  I think they move around in the winter and then spread out again in the spring.  I am hopeful that the end of the month will be better.  I don't like coyotes either.  Did anyone mention bobcats? 

Water is still cold coming out of the swamp.  This next warm up spell coming should change that.  the warmest reading I could get was 49 and that was at the inlet in 2 ft of water.  At the drop off it was 45-47 and then it was 44 everywhere else I went. 

Same thing on Conesus.  Lake surface temp was 44 - inlet temperature was  49 but I had to go up in 2 ft of water to get that high.  Couldn't find them either.  Trolling motor broke and I must have blown a fuse as I was trying to get the boat trailered.  That was major panic with the wind blowing and no power just a paddle to get me in.  Still better than waiting at home for winter to end.  Good fishing is coming!

Joe

Nice bird.

Like Justin said.  If you  aren't releasing the fish, I would stay with the trebles and add Devo - invest in a rubber coated net to save time.  The only reason I steer away from my cranks is because I am in in catch and release mode and I do not like seeing the fish all tore up.  I catch a lot of fish, especially on Keuka, with disfigured mouths from getting hooked too well. 

Saturday, I plan on getting some fresh fish so everything in the Plano is game.  Already starting to dream about it.

Chas, you could keep the weight balance the same and add ease of untangling in the net by just pinching the barbs down.

Joe

Nice Catch! 

That is still a lot of fish.  Even more if you can get the bay fish like Stripers and Blues.

Cabela's has some swimbaits that have the laser print technology and they are 1/2 the price of LiveTarget.  I do not know which ones work (or work better) but my history has told me that when I pay for expensive lures they tend to catch more bottom than fish.

GOTO Cabelas and type HDS for search.  They have a few lipless cranks that are nice too.

I have looked at the bait ball lures.  This is another theme on the same tactic as Alabama rig.  I have seen them used on bass with great success.  That is if catching a lot of bass on a small lake that is catch and release only and by invite only means it catches a lot of fish.  Try using other tactics too.  Another theme (bait ball) that just came out are these spinning leaders.  BooYah makes these and my personal opinion is that they should get more fish attention than a crankbait with 3 individual fish in them.  You can use different trailers for each one instead of spending more $$ to get a different look.  They also come in different weights to allow you to target different depths.  I have seen walleye push gizzard shad upto the surface and if I were color blind I would say it looks just like an Alabama rig going through the water.  They are not tightly packed but more like 1-2 feet diameter.

A great quote that I heard from an old pro went like this.  "All this stuff works at some point somewhere but it doesn't guarantee it will work all the time."  I have 6 separate methods prepared for Saturday.  Good luck.  Could be a banner day or it could be a rough day.  I am just Thankful that I can participate.

Joe

been unable to find them in stock.  Turkey thugs again.

Ray,

Looking for a few honey holes.  Willing to part with any of them?

Joe

Interesting...  I was actually starting to believe they (DEC) didn't really care too much.  As long as it wasn't blatantly out in the open anyways... Dev-O good point, what are they biting on?

Joe

Good job Kevin.  I am waiting for the stars to align.  Been having trouble with wind and availability all year.  I may be going without (perch) this year.  This weekend doesn't look too bad but I am already committed to doing the junior hunt with my Godson.  The way it has been all year. 

Joe

I love what you've done to your Little Boat Dukdog.

Me too.  Looks great.