muskiedreams

Nice going!! What a team Hard to beat!! Hope your hand is OK. Ouch

Musky Fly Tournament Thought I would post this for those of you who chase muskies with a fly rod. Hosted by Nittany Valley Musky Alliance, Muskies Inc. Chapter 64. https://www.facebook.com/events/1371718829581657/

I believe the Three Rivers Chapter of Muskies Inc. has a tournament on Saturday and Sunday. I don't have any details. You can probably find out more on their website.

The Fishing Hall of Fame and IGFA each have their own submission rules and procedures. You have to submit to each one individually. For state records, I believe you have to submit to the state. And it may depend on what category(s) you are submitting for. Examples: largest for species, species for Lb test, fly rod, tippet. Just a few years ago, the IGFA added a C&R category (at least for musky, not sure about other species) where weight is not required, just length and girth with pictures using their official measuring device.

Edited out the "fun loving" in my post.

If it was in May during spawning season this is what they were likely doing. The Thousand Island Biological Station (TIBS), which is managed by Dr. John Farrell of SUNY ESF, has been collecting eggs and milt from spawning muskies in the spring in order to hatch the fry in the lab then return them to the nursery locations. Then they will check for young of the year (YOY) at those locations in the fall. Since the gobies have been predating on the eggs, there has been very poor recruitment of YOY in the known musky spawning sites. They are trying this to see if it will help. This is a very big concern which may affect the future of muskies in the SLR. It is great that we have Dr. Farrell and TIBS as well as the OMNR doing this and other important work in the SLR. It is also possible that they may have been inserting a transmitter for a radio tagging study, but that would require quite a lot of equipment for the surgical procedure. The Niagara Musky Association just started a radio tagging study in the Upper Niagara River and Lake Erie this past spring with the help of the DEC. They implanted 10 transmitters in muskies and installed several receivers in the area. This is part of a larger plan with the goal of identifying and improving viable natural spawning sites in the fishery in order to help support the self sustaining fishery for years to come. There are other receivers scattered throughout lake Erie and the river that were installed by other groups that will also help determine the movements of the fish. There is a similar network of receivers in Lake Ontario and the SLR.

Nice B-Day presents. Maybe the musky gods didn't recognize you without the face hair and the backward baseball hat.

Lamoka Outing and Curly Leaf Pond Weed in Waneta Lake This Spring Toothy and I were at Waneta on May 28th, the day after inland musky opener. There was a lot of curly leaf pond weed all the way out to about 10-12 feet. I'm sure some of you were there ans saw this. It was very thick at the north and south ends and tough to cast in less than 10 fow. Last week Jim heard from Zach who was there and said that there was dead weeds floating everywhere in big mats, making it difficult to fish. I was just there on Sat. with Todd and there was 2 other boats that joined me for an outing to try to find muskies in Lamoka (more on that later). In the afternoon we went to Waneta lake. The curly leaf pond weed was all gone. The only weeds we saw was some eurasian watermilfoil in 5 to 6 fow and less. There was also some algae bloom happening. I did some checking on the pond weed. Here is a link to a description of it. https://www.lakegeorgeassociation.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/curly-leaf-fact-sheet.pdf That explains what happened at Waneta. The pond weed came early as explained and died off last week as normal. I just hope this doesn't have a big affect on the native plant population and have a negative impact on years to come. As the summer progresses I would appreciate members reporting on how the plant population progresses. It wasn't the greatest day for the outing at Lamoka, in terms of fish activity. Of the three boats, which each gave it 3 to 4 hrs (2 boats casting and 1 trolling) no muskies were caught or seen. There was only about 4 or 5 pickerel and a couple largemouth bass caught but we might have had the same results at Waneta. The vegetation we saw there was some eurasian watermilfoil in 5 to 8 fow, cabbage in the north half at 5 fow and less and south of mid lake was kind of barren except some lily pads close to shore. The cabbage was brown so I am not sure if it was healthy. We didn't go to the far south end (less than 8 ft). There was also some green snot algae on some of the weeds in the shallows. It would be great if we could document a few muskies out of Lamoka this year. Since the DEC didn't turn up any in the trap netting they did this spring, If we could turn some up, that would help to make a case to possibly start a new stocking program there since it is still unclear if the lake can support muskies. So if any LOU members are inclined to fish for or happen to catch any muskies there this summer, please post the info here or PM me with pics (best if pics show recognizable landscape), date, gender (if possible), measurement, how caught, depth, structure etc. Also if there are any fin clips, that would tell them the age and if it is stocked or naturally spawned. Please no hoaxes. We don't want to see resources wasted on an unworthy cause. Thank you for any support you can provide here.

Is this photoshoped? I see an extra foot, another shoulder and arm and what looks like part of someone's head hiding back there.

Main Line Heavy mono is tough to cast and will not allow you to get your lures very deep because of the resistance due to diameter and it floats which also hinders ability to get lure depth. Also, the more line you have out, the more belly there will be in the line which will add to the give of the inherent line stretch to reduce your hook setting power. Pike and musky have a bony mouth so you need all the hook setting power you can get. Braid has very little stretch and due to the smaller diameter per lb test, there will be less belly in the line so you will have much greater hook setting power. So the best choice for your main line is braid. If you do decide to use mono for your main line for pike, it would be best to not go too heavy and use a leader. This may depend on what lures and depth you are fishing. Leader Fluorocarbon or steel is debatable. One argument is that you will get bite-offs with fluorocarbon. It is definitely not as cut and abrasion resistant as steel, so if you use it you need to check for damage often and especially after a fish or contact with structure. Any damage from contact with structure will weaken the line so it can break easier. So if you are fishing in a way where you are often contacting structure, you might be better off using steel. I like to use single strand steel. You can do a haywire twist to terminate it. Stranded wire can become frayed and crimps used to terminate it can fail. So if you use it, you need to periodically inspect it for damage. If you use single strand wire, it should be replaced if you get a tight kink. Pike and musky are not as line shy as many other kinds of fish. So, often, steel does not cause them to shy away but under some conditions it can be a factor. Using non-coated stranded wire will be less visible than coated. Using single stranded steel will be less visible than both, it is less sensitive to abrasion and being able to terminate it with a haywire twist is more secure. Under some conditions fluorocarbon may be needed to minimize visibility. I haven't used it much because I don't want to take a chance on killing a musky by leaving a lure in its mouth. So some anglers here can give more advice about it in terms of what lb test, what brands (not all are equal), and how to terminate it.

Now he knows why it is worth going for hours or days without a rip.

The can't open accidentally (stay lock) and they are strong.

Zach, Someone who is planning on fishing the south basin was asking if there was any other registration options. Is Mike Sperry going to be doing sign up or are you planning on doing sign up at his store on Fri night? Or is anyone else doing sign up at another launch location? If so, What hours? Also Jim and I may be there but we haven't decided for sure and/or what days yet.