Huntyeraws

Yep, Gambler hit it!  That is a rudd.  Invasive and spreading.  They catch a lot along the Niagara River.  This one either spread via bait bucket or via the Erie/Seneca Canal system into Seneca.  Common site in Conesus Lake.  Often see them with the walleye and pike in the inlet during their spring spawning run.  They grow BIG!  

Normark Fin Bore III - 1 up above the laser with the offset handles = more efficient ice cutting.  Made by the same parent company as Strikemaster, just needs to be imported from Canada as not licensed to distribute in the US due to Strikemaster agreement.  FISH307 has them on sale on them right now at $80.99 and worth every penny!   http://www.fish307.com/normarkfin-boreiiihandaugers.aspx

They do die en masse...but perhaps a lightning strike from last night could have killed off a bunch?

Many of those 12000 tigers never reach maturity due to predation. The walleyes, bass, and tigers feed heavily on them and so do gulls and herons. Bass, tigers, and walleyes all suspend and feed on the alewives...if the alewives are gone the walleyes will spawn successfully, but what will the forage be? You wont have those huge walleye without good feed...but im game for stripers or hybrids!

Great question - Once the sawbellies are gone and or trimmed back, the predators will feed on the millions of small bluegills and pumpkinseeds as well as the growing rudd population in Conesus Lake.   If the sawbellies are gone, the perch and walleye fry will stand a chance to grow.  When I was a kid, that lake was LOADED with yellow perch.  On weekends during ice fishing season, that lake would be dotted black with THOUSANDS of fisherman over the entire lake fishing for perch.  Every perch that was caught was often spitting up hundreds of scud and daphnia from their stomachs.  Once the sawbellies became established, the perch population as well as walleye populations plummeted. If you caught perch, they were not spiting up daphnia and scud as they were wiped out by the sawbellies, they were spitting up baby alewives.  DEC saw invertebrate populations per given square meter of the bottom that the perch fry, walleye fry and young and old perch plummet.   The tiger muskie stocking to help the sawbelly population probably helps some, but I think that hybrid stripers would do a much better job and provide a great fishery for them.   I doubt that the NYSDEC will ever stock them there though.

 

 They are hard fighting, too, like mini king salmon, on light gear! The only thing I hope you are aware of is that they don't get anywhere near the size of Stripers, and a 10 pounder is a really good one, so the whole trophy fishing thing might not be what you expect.  Just my two cents worth.    

Millions of guys spend a ton of money - boats, rods, reels, lures, guides, etc. just trying to catch a trophy 8 to 10lb largemouth...just sayin'.  

And when the sawbellies are gone they will go for whatever else is in the lake,which because of their longevity may turn in a real problem

 The goal is to get rid of sawbellies from Conesus lake.  Sawbellies tend to favor open water - so do hybrid striped bass.  Being that the hybrid striped bass are sterile, they will eventually die...just like the thousands of sterile tiger muskies that are being stocked in that lake annually and have been for the last 20 or so years.  In 2012 - how many tigers did the NYSDEC stock?  

How many were caught and creeled that year?  ?????   How long do tigers live and what do they prefer to eat once they get big?   

And when the sawbellies are gone they will go for whatever else is in the lake,which because of their longevity may turn in a real problem

I don't know about Lake Ontario, but I always thought that hybrid striped bass would do well in Conesus Lake with their problematic sawbellies which were blamed for the cause of the perch/walleye population crash back in the 80's/90's. From what I have read, the hybrids tend to school and suspend and would likely feed aggressively on bait balls of sawbellies without really competing for the native bass species. Being sterile, they would not reproduce and probably do a better job on sawbellies than the stocked tigers that were intended to do. If they knock down the sawbellies, perhaps the perch and walleye populations would rebound in that lake while the stripers would provide a inland trophy fishery. If and when the sawbelly population is either in check or disappears, then reduce or discontinue the hybrid striper stocking.

First, make sure that you go to Walmart and purchase all of the Duck Dynasty/Duck Commander gear that you can afford, probably not much left with all of the popularity of the TV show.  (disclosure - I can't stand that show!)  All kidding aside, private land hunts for Canada geese are typically more productive in the Southern Tier than public land hunts.  Find where the geese are feeding in harvested grain or sweet corn fields will be your best bets.  Be where they want to be!  Make sure you camo well, grassed layout blinds help tremendously, purchase good quality field decoys, get a decent short read goose call and PRACTICE, use the proper size shot, pattern your gun and keep shots under 40 yds.  Good luck!  Lots to learn, hook up with someone who has been doing it and doing it right for a while will make you learn everything faster!

Lakers LOVE to eat plastics.  Here are the stomach contents of a 20 inch laker that I had caught through the ice on Canadice Lake on a shiner.  At first, I thought that she had a stomach full of smelt.  When I cut it open, I found these Senko's in the stomach.  Otherwise, healthy looking fish, but the senkos were taking up the entire stomach.   I am thinking that she picked them off the bottom.

Here is a pic of the senkos that were removed with a ruler for size reference

Yes, unplugged guns and e-callers ARE, as well as hunting 1/2 hour AFTER sunset.  allowed during September Canada Goose Season.  They just made it official right here the other day!

Here is a link to the NYSDEC 2013-2014 Waterfowl Hunting Regs

http://www.dec.ny.gov/docs/wildlife_pdf/wfregsguide13.pdf

I sit on NYSDEC's WNY Zone Season Setting Task Force on behalf of Lake Plains Watefowl Association in Greece, NY.   I have been all for increasing the bag limit as well as for the additional 1/2 hour past sunset for resident Canada Geese in September for the last several years.  The biggest factor for reducing the numbers of resident Canada geese, other than allowing hunting on closed areas, is the additional 1/2 hour past sunset.  High bag limits are great - if you can attain them , but resident geese have grown very wise.  How many times have you seen the waves of resident Canada geese going back to roosting areas after legal shooting time has ended?   I was quite surprised that the tentative resident Canada Goose season didn't include the 1/2 past sunset change for this this fall in addition to the increased bag limit.

Sadly - yes.  I noticed gobies in the upper Genesee River above the canal a couple of years ago.   Any body of water that has access to Lake Erie or Ontario via creeks or canals is screwed.

Alabama Shiners was their bait name.  They look like golden shiners on steroids.  I read that they are vegetarians, however, that doesn't explain why they tear into my beetle spin.

 

I know the DEC won't go for it but I still believe Conesus is a perfect lake to stock Striped Hybrids.  They could be used to reduce the alewive population.  Once that is done, then stop/reduce the stocking.  I don't have an issue with them making it a natural muskie lake either.  That lake has the ecosystem to grow big fish and a lot of them.

BSmaster - I agree with you.   I too have thought and have been saying the same thing about stocking hybrid striped bass into Conesus.  These fish will school and devour the suspended schools of alewives.   They would create a sport fishery for stripers and they could not reproduce.   With more pressure on the alewives, it would likely help bring back the copepods, scuds and daphnia population that used to make up a huge part of the perch diet on this lake that have been decimated compared to 30+ years ago..  Also by reducing the alewives, the walleye and perch fry would stand a better chance of survival than being devoured by alwives and help get back to perch/walleye/pike back into balance.  A WIN-WIN!   If they could only try it for about 10 years or so.  <SIGH>