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Great News! DEC has increased our stocking allotment in Olcott this year! Once again, we will have a total of nine fish pens—150,000 Chinook salmon in six pens and 15,000 steelhead in three pens. We need all the help we can get to assemble the pens and prepare for fish delivery in early April. 📍 Location: Town of Newfane Marina, Olcott 📅 Date: Saturday, March 28 🕘 Time: 9:00 AM The pens will be placed in the water immediately after assembly. This is a rain-or-shine event, so please dress accordingly and bring side cutters to remove zip ties. Come join us, make new friends, and reconnect with old ones—while helping sustain this fishery for years to come! ☕ Pastries and hot drinks will be provided.

Only 12 seats left for the 2026 Salmon School. Get them while you can.

If one of your goals for 2026 was to increase your catch of mature Kings on Lake Ontario, you will not find a better way in the off season to help accomplish this than by attending the LOTSA Salmon School this coming February. What you will learn from the instructors on how they each prepare for every trip, how they target mature Kings, mastering the “Art” of trolling and their on the water decision making process are just some of the key topics that will help you accomplish your goal. The Salmon School is more than 80% full which is historically the point where the remaining seats move quickly and it sells out. If you have not made your decision or are planning on it but have not signed up yet, now is the time to secure your seat to take advantage of the opportunity to help accomplish your goal this season. Click here for all of the details about the School and to secure your seat: LOTSA-2026-Salmon-School-LOTSA-WEB.pdf

If one of your goals for 2026 was to increase your catch of mature Kings on Lake Ontario, you will not find a better way in the off season to help accomplish this than by attending the LOTSA Salmon School this coming February. What you will learn from the instructors on how they each prepare for every trip, how they target mature Kings, mastering the “Art” of trolling and their on the water decision making process are just some of the key topics that will help you accomplish your goal. The Salmon School is more than 80% full which is historically the point where the remaining seats move quickly and it sells out. If you have not made your decision or are planning on it but have not signed up yet, now is the time to secure your seat to take advantage of the opportunity to help accomplish your goal this season. Click here for all of the details about the School and to secure your seat: LOTSA-2026-Salmon-School-LOTSA-WEB.pdf

The LOTSA Salmon School held at the Greater Niagara Fishing Expo this coming February 20th is less than 2 months away. If you have already signed up, Thank You! The School is a great way for you to gain some additional Lake Ontario Salmon Fishing knowledge that will allow you to significantly up your Salmon Trolling “game” in 2026! The School is almost 70% full. It has sold out every year since its inception 16 years ago we expect the same again to happen soon. If you are planning on attending but have put it off, please do not wait long as our history has shown that once the Hunting season is over the remaining seats usually go very fast. The School continues to sell out every year because it is enhanced every year with the input we receive for our attendees in their survey at the end of the School. From the 358 surveys turned in over the past 3 year, 100% told us they received good value for their admission fee and 90% said they planned to return again in the future! If you have not made your decision yet to attend or have not even considered attending, below are some things that you should know about the LOTSA Salmon School: What will I Learn? This is a custom class built from the questions/topics submitted by each of the attendees. The instruction level is geared for the experienced troller and will be kept that way throughout. It will not spend covering the basics of the tackle, gear, riggers, divers, junk lines, electronics, boat rigging etc. which experienced Anglers already know. There are plenty of seminars at the Expo on that including the LOTSA Basic Salmon School on Sunday morning. Some of the topics that each Instructor will provide their input on include: Fishing where the Mature Kings are Deep dive on how they use their Electronics Mastering the “Art” of Trolling Big King Tactics Efficiency on the Water Who are the Instructors? The team of Captains consists of Bob Songin, Brian Garrett and Nick Glosser. They all are not only great fishermen with thousands of hours of experience fishing for Lake Ontario Kings but experienced educators. They know what to expect and how to deliver it most effectively to the attendees. They know how to manage the questions and stay on schedule to deliver everything that they have prepared. When & Where is it? The school runs as part of the Greater Niagara Fishing Expo February 19 – 22, 2025 in Niagara Falls, NY. The school provides 11 hours of learning opportunity spread over 3 days with the main School on Saturday 2/20 from 8 – 4:30 pm. The event takes place in a large Ballroom with tables to sit at, a good sound system and a large screen that everyone can see the material. The Expo secures excellent Hotels within a very short walk from the show at show negotiated prices. These rates are also available to Salmon School attendees. What in addition to education will I get? Each attendee will receive a “Captains Bag” including some of the instructors “Go To” baits. The value of this bag for the 2025 School alone exceeded the cost of admission to the school. We expect the bag to be very impressive again for 2026. In addition to the “Captains Bags”, attendees of the 2025 school left with over $5,000 in “Lake Ontario Fishing” door prizes (each attendee gets a free door prize ticket in their Captains Bag). We expect similar for 2026. Do I need to attend the Friday evening and Sunday sessions? The “School” is on Saturday. The Friday night pre–School Social will feature a short presentation from the DEC Lake Ontario Managers showing their latest data including the DNA results that is used to manage the lake for Kings in 2026. The Social will also provide dinner thru food stations (by the Chef at the Convention Center) along with Beer, Wine, Soft Drinks and water throughout the event. There will be plenty of time to socialize also and build up your network of fellow anglers. The Sunday Q&A session has proven very popular as it gives attendees time to think about everything that they have heard and get one more chance to ask questions to clarify any of it. Both sessions are designed to enhance the learning process but are not necessary to attend the school. They are also free with your admission to the Salmon School. Are Food and Drinks included? A hot Turkey Buffet lunch prepared by the Chef will be provided on Saturday along with coffee and drinks throughout the day. Do I have access to the Greater Niagara Fishing Expo? Unlimited access to all 4 days of the Greater Niagara Fishing Expo is provided with your admission to the school. This provides the opportunity to attend any of the other seminars of your choosing besides the Salmon School. More Importantly it provides you access to all the 170+ Exhibitors including those most important to you for fishing Lake Ontario. The Exhibitor list isn’t finalized yet but here is a list of some attending that are relevant to what we do in the Lake: 3L Flies, Accutroll, Angling Industries, Atommik, Boss Fabrication, Chinook Divers, Church Tackle, Daiwa, Cisco, Dreamweaver, Fishhawk, FishUSA, Gambler Rigs, Garmin, Gibbs Delta, GRC Trolling Flies, Ice Strong Outdoors, Innovative Outdoors, Iron Decoy, ITO Flys, LOCBA, LOC Derbies, LOTSA, Moonshine Lures, Muddy Creek, Musslehead Tackle, NYSDEC, Okuma, Pirate Lures, Relentless Knives, Route 18 Tackle, Scotty, Silver Streak, Sirius XM, Soco Baits, Sonnys, Shark, Strike Assist, Summit Fishing Equipment, TLC Tackle, Torpedo Diver, Town of Newfane, Traxstech and Yeck Lures. Does this benefit LOTSA? One of the reasons the Salmon School was created is because LOTSA needed a stable source of funding for Pen Rearing, Education, and all the other things LOTSA does to support the Lake Ontario Fishery. This is even more important today as the school is the primary source of funding for LOTSA’s Pen Rearing project. In addition, every attendee receives a free 2026 membership to LOTSA which includes among many other things the opportunity to fish the “LOTSA Tournaments within a Tournament” events for the LOC Derbies along with the LOTSA Tournaments in July. Is the Cost of $120 for the Salmon School worth it? Only you can decide this. Previous attendees have told us that it’s the best value for their “Fishing” dollars that they make every year! Here is the Link to register for the School: Sign Up – LOTSA Membership | Lake Ontario Trout & Salmon Association

The LOTSA Salmon School held at the Greater Niagara Fishing Expo this coming February 20th is less than 2 months away. If you have already signed up, Thank You! The School is a great way for you to gain some additional Lake Ontario Salmon Fishing knowledge that will allow you to significantly up your Salmon Trolling “game” in 2026! The School is almost 70% full. It has sold out every year since its inception 16 years ago we expect the same again to happen soon. If you are planning on attending but have put it off, please do not wait long as our history has shown that once the Hunting season is over the remaining seats usually go very fast. The School continues to sell out every year because it is enhanced every year with the input we receive for our attendees in their survey at the end of the School. From the 358 surveys turned in over the past 3 year, 100% told us they received good value for their admission fee and 90% said they planned to return again in the future! If you have not made your decision yet to attend or have not even considered attending, below are some things that you should know about the LOTSA Salmon School: What will I Learn? This is a custom class built from the questions/topics submitted by each of the attendees. The instruction level is geared for the experienced troller and will be kept that way throughout. It will not spend covering the basics of the tackle, gear, riggers, divers, junk lines, electronics, boat rigging etc. which experienced Anglers already know. There are plenty of seminars at the Expo on that including the LOTSA Basic Salmon School on Sunday morning. Some of the topics that each Instructor will provide their input on include: Fishing where the Mature Kings are Deep dive on how they use their Electronics Mastering the “Art” of Trolling Big King Tactics Efficiency on the Water Who are the Instructors? The team of Captains consists of Bob Songin, Brian Garrett and Nick Glosser. They all are not only great fishermen with thousands of hours of experience fishing for Lake Ontario Kings but experienced educators. They know what to expect and how to deliver it most effectively to the attendees. They know how to manage the questions and stay on schedule to deliver everything that they have prepared. When & Where is it? The school runs as part of the Greater Niagara Fishing Expo February 19 – 22, 2025 in Niagara Falls, NY. The school provides 11 hours of learning opportunity spread over 3 days with the main School on Saturday 2/20 from 8 – 4:30 pm. The event takes place in a large Ballroom with tables to sit at, a good sound system and a large screen that everyone can see the material. The Expo secures excellent Hotels within a very short walk from the show at show negotiated prices. These rates are also available to Salmon School attendees. What in addition to education will I get? Each attendee will receive a “Captains Bag” including some of the instructors “Go To” baits. The value of this bag for the 2025 School alone exceeded the cost of admission to the school. We expect the bag to be very impressive again for 2026. In addition to the “Captains Bags”, attendees of the 2025 school left with over $5,000 in “Lake Ontario Fishing” door prizes (each attendee gets a free door prize ticket in their Captains Bag). We expect similar for 2026. Do I need to attend the Friday evening and Sunday sessions? The “School” is on Saturday. The Friday night pre–School Social will feature a short presentation from the DEC Lake Ontario Managers showing their latest data including the DNA results that is used to manage the lake for Kings in 2026. The Social will also provide dinner thru food stations (by the Chef at the Convention Center) along with Beer, Wine, Soft Drinks and water throughout the event. There will be plenty of time to socialize also and build up your network of fellow anglers. The Sunday Q&A session has proven very popular as it gives attendees time to think about everything that they have heard and get one more chance to ask questions to clarify any of it. Both sessions are designed to enhance the learning process but are not necessary to attend the school. They are also free with your admission to the Salmon School. Are Food and Drinks included? A hot Turkey Buffet lunch prepared by the Chef will be provided on Saturday along with coffee and drinks throughout the day. Do I have access to the Greater Niagara Fishing Expo? Unlimited access to all 4 days of the Greater Niagara Fishing Expo is provided with your admission to the school. This provides the opportunity to attend any of the other seminars of your choosing besides the Salmon School. More Importantly it provides you access to all the 170+ Exhibitors including those most important to you for fishing Lake Ontario. The Exhibitor list isn’t finalized yet but here is a list of some attending that are relevant to what we do in the Lake: 3L Flies, Accutroll, Angling Industries, Atommik, Boss Fabrication, Chinook Divers, Church Tackle, Daiwa, Cisco, Dreamweaver, Fishhawk, FishUSA, Gambler Rigs, Garmin, Gibbs Delta, GRC Trolling Flies, Ice Strong Outdoors, Innovative Outdoors, Iron Decoy, ITO Flys, LOCBA, LOC Derbies, LOTSA, Moonshine Lures, Muddy Creek, Musslehead Tackle, NYSDEC, Okuma, Pirate Lures, Relentless Knives, Route 18 Tackle, Scotty, Silver Streak, Sirius XM, Soco Baits, Sonnys, Shark, Strike Assist, Summit Fishing Equipment, TLC Tackle, Torpedo Diver, Town of Newfane, Traxstech and Yeck Lures. Does this benefit LOTSA? One of the reasons the Salmon School was created is because LOTSA needed a stable source of funding for Pen Rearing, Education, and all the other things LOTSA does to support the Lake Ontario Fishery. This is even more important today as the school is the primary source of funding for LOTSA’s Pen Rearing project. In addition, every attendee receives a free 2026 membership to LOTSA which includes among many other things the opportunity to fish the “LOTSA Tournaments within a Tournament” events for the LOC Derbies along with the LOTSA Tournaments in July. Is the Cost of $120 for the Salmon School worth it? Only you can decide this. Previous attendees have told us that it’s the best value for their “Fishing” dollars that they make every year! Here is the Link to register for the School: Sign Up – LOTSA Membership | Lake Ontario Trout & Salmon Association

2026 LOTSA EVENTS WWW.LOTSA1.ORG Find Us on Facebook – Lake Ontario Trout and Salmon Association SEMINARS & GENERAL MEMBERSHIP MEETINGS: The dates of our meetings are listed below. They begin at 7pm at the North Amherst Fire Company, 2200 Tonawanda Creek Rd, Amherst, NY 14228. Please note April 30th meeting is in Wilson at Bootleggers Cove Marina. 🎣 Membership Meetings: Thursday April 4th ………….Increased Spoon Success with Calvin Vanderboon Thursday April 30th...........“At the Dock’ Talking Spring Kings with Captain Tom Pearse Thursday June 11th………Summer Transition Fishing with Captain Jonathan Forder Thursday July 9th ………..TBD with Captain TBD Thursday Aug 13th……….TBD with Captain TBD Thursday Dec 10th ………Annual Christmas Party 🏆 Member Tournaments and Family Picnic – July 24th & 25th v LOTSA King Salmon Tournament July 25th v Curt Meddaugh Memorial Free Tournament July 24th v LOTSA 323 (2-day) Tournament - July 24th and 25th v LOTSA Free Family Picnic (Compliments of LOTSA): July 25th Visit www.lotsa1.org to sign up and for details. 💰 LOTSA “Tournaments within a Tournament” FREE for LOTSA Members v Spring LOC Derby $1000 Cash Largest Salmon 5/1 - 5/10 v Summer LOC Derby $ 1000 Cash Largest Salmon 6/27 - 7/26 v Fall LOC Derby Wk #1 $ 500 Cash Largest Salmon 8/21 - 8/29 v Fall LOC Derby Wk #2 $ 500 Cash Largest Salmon 8/30 - 9/7 *see tournament websites for applicable rules & dates * Salmon Pen Rearing Program: April at Olcott (Newfane Marina). Details shared on our website and on Facebook. *Join the 5400+ followers of the Lake Ontario Trout and Salmon Association page on Facebook*

Welcome to another 2025 LOTSA Newsflash targeted to keep everyone informed of Club happenings. We hope that you were able to join us the last weekend of July to enjoy a great time fishing the LOTSA Tournaments along with attending the LOTSA Picnic. This is the 22nd year of these events. The Fishing for Kings has continued to be slower than we experienced last year but we saw just about all the boats fishing our Tournaments catch a few kings in the upper teens to low 20s. Again, our members were well represented on the Summer LOC Board including the 3rd largest King at 29- pound, 12-ounces that also won our Tournament. A special thanks goes out to Paul DeAngelo (Great Lakes Fish Art Studio) for mounting this giant for free for the winner. This fish can be seen at the LOTSA Booth at the Greater Niagara Fishing Expo next February 19-22, 2026. We had 56 boats entered and over 220 people attended the Picnic. The DEC took measurements and DNA samples from over 75 Kings on Friday which should help them greatly in their future management of the Fishery. Our Tournament Director, Matt Dunn, and his team of volunteers did another great job this year. Year after year it just keeps getting better! When you see Matt, please take the time to thank him as without the year around effort he puts in, this event would not be possible. We run these events as FUN learning experience for us all and hope to become better anglers in the future from what we learned. A special thanks goes out to the 10 volunteers who filleted and packaged up every one of the Kings that our members donated for the Sister Helen's Food Pantry, a local pantry who was thrilled to get these fish and distribute them to those in need. Thanks also to Relentless Knives for their donation of 10 knives which were given to the volunteers to clean the fish and then keep! Below is more detail written by long time LOTSA member Bill Hilts Jr.: LOTSA Tournament Results The Lake Ontario Trout and Salmon Association held its three in-club fishing contests last weekend – the Curt Meddaugh Memorial Tournament that was the best three fish for one day, the LOTSA King Salmon Tournament for the biggest fish overall on Saturday, and the 323 contest that allows teams to enter three fish over two days of fishing. A total of 56 teams competed in the events. For the “Curt” contest, the Mutiny team led by Capt. Jason Monkelbaan of Wheatfield won on Friday, weighing in over 62 pounds of salmon. Also on the team were Gary Monkelbaan of Tonawanda (Jason’s dad) and Jackson Monkelbaan of North Tonawanda (Jason’s nephew, fishing in his first tournament). They focused on the Niagara Bar in 120 to 200 feet of water using meat rigs, Pro Troll flashers, and A-Tom-Mik Pro-Am flies. Second place went to Capt. Craig Heitzenrater’s Crank That team with 59.44 pounds of salmon. Third place was Chris Petrucci of Beallsville, Pa. with the D-Day team that scored 59.22 pounds. Big Fish for the day went to Roy Leising of East Amherst with the Sportcraft 232 team, a 23.33-pound king salmon. In the LOTSA King Salmon contest, Gerald Bielicki, Jr. of Corfu hauled in a 29-pound, 12-ounce Wilson fish that gave them the win for his Bad Habit team. He was fishing with his father, Gerald, Sr. of Akron and Joe Yuhnke of Tonawanda and they caught the big fish on a Warrior yellowtail spoon behind 10 colors of lead core line in 170 feet of water. It was also the third largest salmon in the Lake Ontario Counties derby and the largest caught by a LOTSA member. The lucky salmon was big enough to give his team the win in the LOTSA 323 event, three fish that weighed in at 68.86 pounds. Second place in the King Salmon contest was Nate Stephenson of Wilson with the Triple J team, weighing in a 25.23-pound salmon. Third place went to Wildcat led by Arthur O’Mara, Jr. of Moravia with a 23.27-pound king. Second place in the 323 competition was Reel Blessing led by Scott Kelly of Kittanning, Pa. with 63.93 pounds of salmonids. O’Mara and his Wildcat squad came in third with 62.93 pounds of fish. After the contests were over, several hundred pounds of Pacific salmon, cleaned by LOTSA volunteers, were donated to Sister Helen’s Food Pantry in Lockport. From LOTSA Tournament Director – Matt Dunn: The LOTSA Picnic was held after the weigh in on Saturday Olcott Firehall. It was very well attended and the air conditioning a much-appreciated relief from the heat! The dinner, compliments of LOTSA, was catered by One Eye Jacks BBQ and we heard nothing but compliments on the food. Over $5,000 worth of “fishing” gear was raffled off as door prizes during the event. This tournament would not be possible without our great tournament sponsors!! The following are the sponsors for this tournament, Dreamweaver, ITO Flies, Traxstech, Town of Newfane, Musselhead Tackle, Scotty, Salmon Candy, GRC Trolling, Gibbs Delta, Fish USA, Great Lakes Fish Art Studios , Fish Hawk, Chinook Divers, Sonny's Fishing Center, Torpedo Divers, Finn Tackle, Fish Thief Snubbers, 3L Flies, Relentless Knives, Atommik, Wolverine Tackle, Route 18 Tackle, Fish Hunter/ Fish Grip, and NK Spoons. As you can see, it takes a lot of sponsor support to make this tournament happen. We are very thankful for all of them and I ask everyone to support these companies whenever possible! Check out the www.lotsa1.org or our Facebook page for more information and pictures of these events. The last two LOTSA Tournaments for the year are the Greater Niagara Fish Odyssey and the Fall LOC which has two LOTSA winners (1 for each week). Let’s see if a LOTSA member can win the Fall LOC and the Greater Niagara Fish Odyssey. If you have never fished the Greater Niagara Fish Odyssey, I encourage you to support this event by signing up and encouraging your friends to do the same. It is a fun tournament with some great competition among LOTSA members for the Salmon Division. You check it out and signup at https://bit.ly/fishodyssey2025. I hope we get to enjoy a great end of the Lake Ontario open water season and you can enjoy this world class fishery that Lake Ontario provides for us! LOTSA President – Joe Yaeger

On Thursday August 14th at 7pm, the Lake Ontario Trout & Salmon Association (LOTSA) will be sponsoring a Seminar on “Fishing August Staging Kings” with Captain Nick Glosser of Synergy Sportfishing. Captain Nick has been fishing on Lake Ontario for 19 years. For the first 8 years he was mating for Captain Vince Pierleoni of Thrillseeker Sportfishing Charters. Then for the last 10 years he was chartering for Captain Vince on Vinces 2 nd boat. With all those years of experience under his belt, he went out on his own this year chartering aboard his 40 ft Jersey Dawn named Synergy. Nick still fishes on Vinces Tournament Team as he has since 2007, which through the years has proven to be one of the top tournament teams on Lake Ontario. Nick will be going over and taking questions on the many techniques he has learned over the years to consistently catch staging Kings as they are getting ready to start their fall run-up stream. With the Fall LOC just around the corner this will be a great time to gain some very valuable information on improving your “Staging King Salmon” fishing skills. LOTSA is a group of mainly weekend recreational fishermen who are dedicated to the enhancement of the Lake Ontario Sport-Fishery including the pen rearing project at Olcott. Each meeting also features a sharing of information on the current fishing conditions. So come join us and become more successful at fishing Lake Ontario and Lake Erie. The meeting will be held at The North Amherst Fire Company, 2200 Tonawanda Creek Rd. Amherst, N.Y. The Seminar is open to the public and free to attend. See WWW.LOTSA1.ORG for any questions. Article written by John Suttell LOTSA Board Member

On Thursday August 14th at 7pm, the Lake Ontario Trout & Salmon Association (LOTSA) will be sponsoring a Seminar on “Fishing August Staging Kings” with Captain Nick Glosser of Synergy Sportfishing. Captain Nick has been fishing on Lake Ontario for 19 years. For the first 8 years he was mating for Captain Vince Pierleoni of Thrillseeker Sportfishing Charters. Then for the last 10 years he was chartering for Captain Vince on Vinces 2 nd boat. With all those years of experience under his belt, he went out on his own this year chartering aboard his 40 ft Jersey Dawn named Synergy. Nick still fishes on Vinces Tournament Team as he has since 2007, which through the years has proven to be one of the top tournament teams on Lake Ontario. Nick will be going over and taking questions on the many techniques he has learned over the years to consistently catch staging Kings as they are getting ready to start their fall run-up stream. With the Fall LOC just around the corner this will be a great time to gain some very valuable information on improving your “Staging King Salmon” fishing skills. LOTSA is a group of mainly weekend recreational fishermen who are dedicated to the enhancement of the Lake Ontario Sport-Fishery including the pen rearing project at Olcott. Each meeting also features a sharing of information on the current fishing conditions. So come join us and become more successful at fishing Lake Ontario and Lake Erie. The meeting will be held at The North Amherst Fire Company, 2200 Tonawanda Creek Rd. Amherst, N.Y. The Seminar is open to the public and free to attend. See WWW.LOTSA1.ORG for any questions. Article written by John Suttell LOTSA Board Member

On Thursday June 12th at 7pm, the Lake Ontario Trout & Salmon Association (LOTSA) will be sponsoring a Seminar on “Adapting to Changing Conditions on Lake Ontario” with Captain Larry Hammond of Bullseye Sportfishing Charters. Captain Larry has been fishing on Lake Ontario for over 30 years and has been chartering since 2017 aboard his 10-meter Trojan “Bullseye”. During the season he will be out chartering on the weekends but during the summer months, when he is not teaching, he is out every day as a full time charter. He will be discussing and taking questions on how the changing conditions on the lake affects the fishing and how you can adapt your fishing techniques not only day to day but also the morning to the afternoon to put more fish in your box. Some of the topics he will be covering are lure and bait choices during the day and how the changing water affects your presentation and what you can to do to be successful on a consistent basis. LOTSA is a group of mainly weekend recreational fishermen who are dedicated to the enhancement of the Lake Ontario Sport-Fishery including the pen rearing project at Olcott. Each meeting also features a sharing of information on the current fishing conditions. So come join us and become more successful at fishing Lake Ontario and Lake Erie. The meeting will be held at The North Amherst Fire Company, 2200 Tonawanda Creek Rd. Amherst, N.Y. The Seminar is open to the public and free to attend. See WWW.LOTSA1.ORG for any questions. Article written by John Suttell LOTSA Board Member

We are closing out another successful Pen Rearing Season. Monday evening, April 28th we released the salmon and steelhead to 18 Mile Creek in Olcott. Growth rates were good as expected, the salmon averaged 67 fish to the pound and the steelhead averaged 14 fish to the pound. Hazing efforts by USGS/APHIS and a couple of volunteers attributed very few cormorants in the area at the time of release and the following day. With any luck the wind and stained water will give these fish a great chance for survival. The pens were removed and cleaned on Wednesday morning and are ready for the 2026 season. Thank you to all the volunteers that showed up to make this project a success. Thanks to the Town of Newfane and the Town of Newfane Marina for hosting the project

On Thursday May 1st at 7pm the Lake Ontario Trout and Salmon Association (LOTSA) will be sponsoring a Seminar titled “Talking Spring Kings” with Capt. Matt Yablonsky of Wet Net Charters at Bootleggers Cove Marina at the Port of Wilson. Capt. Matt fishes out of the Port of Wilson aboard his 29ft Blackfin Combi as well as his Lund Tyee Magnum. As an added bonus for those who arrive early you will be treated to hot dogs and drinks prepared by LOTSA’s one and only Capt. Marty Polovick beginning at 6:00 pm. The food and drinks are compliments of LOTSA. The meeting will be held rain or shine as we have a place to get out weather compliments of Bootleggers Marina. Capt. Matt is a full-time Charter Captain on Lake Ontario with this being his 20 th year. Some of his accomplishments include winning The Niagara Pro Am (Pro Division) in 2006, 2112, and 2018, plus placing 2 nd in 2023. He has won the Grand Prize in the LOC Spring Derby 2 times and has had 41 top 20 finishes overall in the Spring, Summer and Fall LOC Derbies. Capt. Matt will be going over his techniques that he uses to consistently put King Salmon in the box. For many years Capt. Matt has been known as the premier “Small Boat Charter” showing that you don’t need a big boat to be a successful angler on the lake. This is a great opportunity for those with any boat-size to learn and ask questions about what has made Capt. Matt a top charter captain on the west end of the lake. With the LOC Derby starting May 2nd this is a good time to pick up a few tips and techniques that could help you out on the lake. This will be a very informative seminar that you will not want to miss. LOTSA is a group of mainly weekend recreational fishermen who are dedicated to the enhancement of the Lake Ontario Sport Fishery including the pen rearing project at Olcott. Each meeting also features a sharing of information about the current fishing conditions. So come join us and become more successful at fishing Lake Ontario! Just a reminder this special meeting and seminar will be held at the Bootleggers Cove Marina at the Port of Wilson and not at the Amherst Fire Company in Amherst. The Seminar is open to the public and free to attend. See WWW.LOTSA1.ORG for any questions. Article written by John Suttell LOTSA Board Member

It is that time of year again! LOTSA Pen Rearing Assembly Day is March 29th this year. We will be meeting at 9am on Saturday 3/29 at the Town of Newfane Marina in Olcott, NY. This year we are planning to assemble the pens and have them placed in the water all on the same day. Fish are expected to be delivered during the first or second week of April. That information will be passed along as soon as it is received. Please dress warm and bring side cutters to cut zip ties. We will provide hot coffee/chocolate and pastries from the East Side Market in Olcott. Come out and help support the incredible fishery that we all enjoy!