muskiedreams

Here is a very good article about the Chautauqua Lake issue that was published in Chautauqua Magazine in the spring of 2019. It talks about the science of lake management and what is being done and learned in other lakes. https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BypAPIc0Dk8aVV9sNzlDdl8wVFRtdFJrc3V3bk1ZQmZSMlMw/view They mention Princeton Hydro which was the other third party that surveyed the weeds in Chautauqua Lake. It would be nice to hear what conclusions they came to in regard to their fall 2019 survey of the south basin. From looking at Princeton Hydro's website, especially their Blog section, it looks like they are very experienced at developing individual lake management plans. The only thing is. you have to get all the stakeholders on board in order to properly implement a comprehensive multi faceted plan. It is very interesting learning what they are doing with the project studying Lake George. Maybe some of what was leaned there can be applied to Chautauqua Lake management.

The Independent party used that name to confuse people into registering as a member of their party so they can stay on the ballot as a party. They have to have a minimum number of members to have a party line on the ballot. I am non affiliated. A member of no party. I know that means not having the privileged of voting in a primary and that being registered to a party doesn't mean you can't vote for a candidate who is not in your registered party. I just wish that more people would realize that they are not obligated to vote the party line and they should let the candidates know that. It may be the only way we can keep our democracy. I apologize if I am being too political here.

And they have experienced lawyers who know how to twist rules and regulations and play other legal games.

Herbicide use has been a problem on Waneta and Lamoka Lakes for many years done by the same company SOLitude Lake Management. Over the last 10 years, more years than not you were hard pressed you find any weeds in Waneta Lake. In 2019, weeds in Waneta were very limited even though according to the Lamoka Waneta Lakes' Association website, they only used herbicides in Lamoka Lake. The herbicide used there in 2019 was a newly NYS approved herbicide called ProcellaCOR, which they say (they being the herbicide maker SePro) is more selective, reduced risk according to EPA (an agency of questionable integrity), supposedly lasts up to 4 years among other claims. I am not yet sure if it is liquid or granular. They say, like all their other herbicides (which they seem to have a monopoly on) those who apply them have to be certified by the company. I wonder how in depth the certification is. So it remains to be seen how this new herbicide will affect the lake if they continue to use it. And since it is another variable added to what has already been done there, it might be very difficult or impossible to determine cause of any long term trends. Since this is something new, most likely SOLitude will be promoting the use of it in Chautauqua Lake. It is hard to tell for sure how much the herbicides have affected the musky fishery since there may also be other factors, but there have definitely been changes. And from what I have heard from anglers who target other species, their success has gone down. Maybe the problem with Chautauqua Lake was the ability of the applicators to maintain control of the application to limit collateral damage. I heard they used a liquid and it seems like they were originally planning on using a granular form of the herbicide.

That is not really a lot of time that you have put in. Even an experienced musky angler can go that long without catching a fish. But some get lucky their first time out. There are a lot of things you can do to increase your chances. Joining a club, going out on a charter or with other anglers who are successful and putting in more time are probably the three most important things you can do to improve your odds. Eventually, the more time and effort you devote, the better your success will be. It is kind of like developing an extra sense. You eventually learn how to take advantage of and adjust to nature's conditions and different situations.

Looks very unusual. Looks like a tiger that has had it's markings remove, cut up and then sprinkled back on. But I thank Ronix 51 for his professional explanation. A DNA analysis might have been interesting.

Got insurance?

Great video. Thanks for posting. From what I have understand, they also steal the eggs from the nest if the bass is pulled off the nest. That is probably even more devastating because they can probably clean them out in a shorter time. So that is another big argument against the catch and release season. Maybe they can allow it in the finger lakes that do not have gobies and other lakes that have no gobies. The gobies are bad on muskellunge eggs because they are broadcast spawners and do not guard eggs. I don't think the biologists know if they also go after the muskellunge fry. If it keeps up the way it is, I wonder if the gobies could potentially wipe out all it's predators by eating their eggs and their young. I know there is a lot of concern of that in regard to muskies in the SLR. For the bass, at least the situation could be partially mitigated by ending the C&R in all gobie waters.Maybe they could also restrict SMB inclusion in early season bass tournaments in gobie waters. Also, there are some professional bass tournaments where each contestant has an official on the boat who weighs and releases each bass as they are caught but that still might not help in the case of ripping them off the beds. As far as getting the DEC to consider changing regulations, this video is the first step. The second step would be to convince the fishing community that change is needed. This conversation would have to be spread around. If they see enough support for change, it might eventually happen.

Just around the corner from the gas station!!

That is a jaw dropper.

Your father or the captain must know their way around to be out there at night.

I can tell you one thing. They are calling for 32* temp in the morning, so a warm layer or two and gloves might be in order early on. Also, since the water temp is still likely around 70*, there might be morning fog. It could delay the start a little. Depends on if there is any wind.

I have to admit that I haven't fished Lake Ontario or pier or tribs for quite some time and without experiencing that, it is hard to get a complete picture of the current conditions. I am not surprised and have heard that the north shore gets better returns and I am sure it is because of several reasons. I think number 1 is better trib habitat which translates to better natural recruitment. It would be nice if our tribs could be improved to produce better recruitment. I have no idea if it is something that could be achieved through habitat improvement projects. Meanwhile, I can see that if there are ways to improve the pen rearing projects to help increase returns to western and central tribs, that would be a big plus. If they could find technology that can be used to conduct telemetry tagging studies or fin clip studies (clip methods that indicate year and stocking method/location) to help determine return rates and at the same time, take measures such as modifying release locations and methods to help improve survival of pen reared fish (maybe open water release would not be ideal at that stage) and at the same time, consider what can be done to help improve the habitat in those tribs to encourage natural recruitment, maybe the fall runs can be improved over a period of years. Here is a pen rearing variation that was done this year with tiger muskies. maybe this will help with ideas to improve the pen rearing projects in Lake Ontario. https://www.lakeontariounited.com/fishing-hunting/topic/82229-chapter-70-pen-stocking-tiger-muskies/ The US Dept. Fish and Wildlife may have funds that can be tapped for projects of this nature for habitat improvement. At least for tribs it might be feasible in. Just some thoughts of mine about the issue. I don't know if these ideas have been already considered or if these ideas could help spawn ( pardon the pun) other ideas. I am going to have to drop out of this conversation for now because I have to get ready for a long weekend of musky fishing at Waneta Lake.

After reading through the all the things discussed in this topic, I would like to bring up a thing or two that I don't recall being discussed here. Also I want to say that I am an old guy that has lived and fished in New York since I was a kid. I became interested in fishing for trout and salmon in Lake Ontario near the beginning. I did not have access to boat fishing and I was excited about how the fishing in Lake Ontario was coming back from the dismal condition of the lake in the 60s and 70s. I actually entered the spring ESLO derby in 1982 and fished it from shore. I only caught a small brown but after that I became hooked on trout and salmon fishing in Lake Ontario. From the mid 80s til the mid 90s I spent a lot of time fishing from the piers in the spring and in the fall. By the mid 90s there were changes happening to the lake and it's tributaries which I think contributed greatly to changes in near shore trout and salmon fishing. 1) Zebra Mussels and later, other mussels: It is in my opinion that this has influenced the near shore trout and salmon fishing the most and has caused other cascading changes. As they cleared up the water, there was progressively fewer trout and salmon in the shallow water around the piers in the spring and the fall. They disrupted the food chain throughout the lake. Since trout and salmon prefer not to be exposed to bright light, they did not spend as much time around the piers unless the water was stained by runoff. It didn't affect the trout in the spring as much because of spring run off and cool water temps. However I do believe that gradually, the length of time that the salmon spent staging close in front of the tributaries and around the piers gradually shortened as the mussels caused the water to gradually become clearer. There used to be several weeks of consistently good salmon fishing off the piers and as the lake cleared, it became more sporadic. 2) The continued reduction of phosphors and other pollutants into the tributaries and the lake. This is good in a lot of ways but also added to clearing the water. 3) Effects of the clearer water on seasonal nearshore water temperatures. I think the clearer water, especially nearshore in the fall allows the sun to keep the water temps from falling as fast in the fall. That is if the lake doesn't turn over. The darker color of clear water as opposed to green algae laden water can absorb more heat from the sun. I think this can be even more of a factor in years with a warm September and low rainfall. 4) Changes in baitfish patterns as a result of the above changes. Please note that these are just my thoughts based on observations over the years. The lake as a whole is like a living entity that is constantly changing. All the changes can be considered good in some ways and bad in other ways. I do miss the pier fishing for trout and salmon. To me, it is much more exciting than trolling for them when you hook into one from a pier.

Dan, Is your last name also McGuckin (member of MI Chapter 69)? If so, I hope you will be there for the tourney on Oct. 5th to help us win the Chapter Challenge. Keep in mind that only fish caught by chapter members will qualify for the Chapter Challenge and chapter members don't have to be entered in the cash tournament to participate in the Chapter Challenge.

I just want to say that every boat and trailer combination is potentially different and how the boat's weight is distributed as well as how it is supported from bow to stern will make a difference. Some trailer configurations provide more and better support at the bow than others. Some bunk trailers have long bunks that may support the boat very well from the stern and way past midship. Some of them even have smaller bunks in the front on either side of the bow to provide bow support which help distribute the pressure over a fairly large area. Some roller trailers also have roller arrays in front to support the bow on either side and also spread out the pressure of the bow weight evenly over multiple rollers. These types of trailers do help a lot to spread out the stress over more surface area and therefore minimize potential damage at any one point from bouncing down the road. There may be some trailers that have shock absorbing suspension but most hit bumps pretty hard and most of the energy can translate to a jarring effect that needs to be mitigated. Some trailers, such as mine don't have a lot of support for the bow of the boat. Mine is an aluminum boat (1990 Grumman 18 FT). The trailer (Shorelander single axle) has rollers spread out over the rear section but there is only one place the boat is supported forward of that besides the winch stand stop. There is a 12" wide centering roller at midship under the keel which is mostly for centering the boat while loading and unloading. Then there is one other roller about 8" wide under the center of the bow just behind the point where the bow starts curving up. The boat was originally making contact to both of them. After a while trailering the boat, the keel became damaged from bouncing on the center roller. I figured the trailer and possibly the boat were flexing and that was causing the the keel to hammer against the roller. I was lucky the hull didn't crack there. I had it repaired (welded) and adjusted the roller so no longer made contact after the boat is all the way forward on the trailer. I later had a similar problem where the bow and the structural strip of aluminum at the center of the bow (which continues forward of the keel) both cracked from stress right where the front roller is. So I had to have it repaired (welded). That was when I realized that it was because the boat was bouncing on the roller, Not just caused by pressure from sitting on just one point in the front. I started using a ratchet strap off the bow eye to hold the bow securely down and have not had another problem in over 10 years except for having to replace the front roller occasionally. It would be much better if the trailer was configured with multiple roller hugging the bow on both sides but it has been working out ok now. I have also had other problems with the suspension and ended up having heavier springs made and had a welder heavily reinforce the spring brackets after the second pair cracked. A couple times I was lucky to notice the problem before the axle tore out from under the trailer. This is a big reason why I recommended before about inspecting the entire trailer thoroughly at least once a year for stress cracks. You can't necessarily rely on the yearly DMV inspector to discover them. It really would have been best to have a bigger and beefier trailer because I think the boat is the biggest that the trailer was meant for, and I added a 15 hp four stroke kicker and two big deep cycle batteries. So I think I may be over the weight limit. I don't know for sure because the printing on the rating sticker is totally worn off. I think sometimes boat manufacturers don't, or at least didn't back then, consider the possibility (or probability) that the boat owner will be adding more equipment to the boat and equip it with a trailer that will handle the additional weight and more than accommodate the size of the boat for many miles of trailering. Sorry if I rambled on too long.

My winch pulls from the top also. This may be true for all of them. It is easy to wrap the strap in the wrong direction when installing it and it may seem to work that way but maybe it is designed to work the other way. Look to see how others are wrapped. Maybe if it is backward it doesn't hold properly but the transom straps may be keeping it from backing off more. Definitely put a safety chain on. I believe it is a requirement. The way that winch is situated, it is mostly pulling and holding the bow forward and not really down that much. So the bow of the boat may be bouncing up and down on the trailer which depending on the way the boat is supported, could cause stress on the supports and/or the hull. Adding a tie down strap from the bow eye down to the trailer will make sure the bow isn't bouncing. The only thing is you probably can only put two hooks into that bow eye so you would have to hook two if the three things to one hook. Or what I did was use a one piece ratchet strap (no hooks on it) and I feed the strap through the bow eye and around the trailer beam.

@garymny, I just got through reading through all this and there is a lot of good advice that shouldn't be taken lightly. The last thing you want is an accident. Loss of control or a trailer failure can destroy your boat, trailer and vehicle. It can also cause serious injury or even death to you, your passengers and possibly other travelers. Just like being aware and mitigating all the dangers that can occour while on the water, it is equally important on the road. You can be driving down the road nice and smooth with everything seemingly fine and then all hell can break loose. Reading everything you can about trailer safety and taking measures to maximize safety as well as frequently inspecting tires (including pressure) bearings (including lube and checking for heat and play), and structural integrity of trailer and it's components (including boat support, axle and axle suspension components). With a dual axle trailer like you have, which I assume also has a brake system, having it level is very important so that the weight is distributed evenly on all four tires. And keeping the brake system in good condition is also important. Being at or over the weight limit of the trailer is very dangerous. If you are close, it might be a good idea to carry some of your heavier gear like loaded coolers in the vehicle. The structure of the trailer and suspension components are designed to handle the rated load. If you are at or above that rating it is only a matter of time till something fails. On some of our roads, it will take a beating and the springs only absorb so much of the shock and vibration. You can develop metal fatigue causing cracks which can cause major failure of the structure. You don't want an axle to break out from under your trailer at 60 mph on the highway. It is also best to make sure the boat is rigidly held down to the trailer. If it isn't and it bounces on it's supports, it can cause undue stress and possible damage to the hull and trailer components. Also keep in mind that stress failure can happen even when you keep below maximum limits.

That change might be a drop in the bucket compared to the amount of water that is built up in and constantly flowing from the upper lakes. Not to mention the amount of water that is constantly going into all the lakes. It might take years with favorable precipitation amounts to get the lake levels down to more normal levels. I am wondering if they might have to lower outflow even more during the winter so there isn't problems with ice.

This story is starting to smell fishier and fishier. Why was the engine removed and replaced with a different one? And other questions might be: When and why was the Yamaha removed? What, if any, changes have to be made to the fuel system when switching engine from the Yamaha motor to the eTec motor? Could or did the original dealer have done something during the change over or otherwise to compromise the fuel system and cause the problem? Did your eTec mechanic pinpoint the exact fault that caused the problem of water in the fuel system or fuel tank? (such as a faulty tank or vent) And ultimately, was it a MFG default or something done at the dealer that caused the problem? Those questions may be hard to get the answers to (with documented proof) since the dealer and the Mfg. may have somewhat of a symbiotic relationship and dealers may not want to point a finger at another dealer. It will be interesting to see how this turns out. It sounds like you shouldn't have to pay the cost of repairing the motor if the problem was caused by a defect in the boat or caused by the dealer. Good luck, and I hope you get this resolved. It is bad enough you are stuck with a boat you still can't use.

It is starting to look like high water will be the new norm. At least for the next few years. As far as I have heard, all the water from the upper lakes must drain through Lake Ontario. And I think that the only place where the flow can be controlled is the dam at Massena, NY. And they only have limited control. I don't know if they can conceivably let any water into the Mississippi and there is flooding problems there already. Maybe the Russians are causing the weather changes, or maybe aliens (the kind from other planets). https://news.yahoo.com/floods-wreaking-havoc-great-lakes-060051539.html