Lucky13

But according to the Tributary angler surveys, most steelhead caught in the tributaries are released. According to the Charter Boat Survey, more than half of the steelhead caught out on the Lake are kept. It will be interesting to find out when all the mid teens kings hit the hatchery whether they are big two year olds, which would say there is lots of bait, or smaller three year olds that have been growing more slowly in the face of less to eat. We are also not seeing the mid 40's kings anymore, and even 30's seem pretty rare. You can't blame that on increased tributary pressure.

Since the Seneca River gets its flows from the outflow of both Seneca and Cayuga lakes, unless water runs up hill without a pump, there should be no impact. Need to know pesticide to determine long term impacts downstream, but the herbicides used in water are usually not long lastng.

When Detroit starts flooding, you will want to tighten up the straps on your lifejacket. And it will still be a while before it gets down through Erie. http://lre-wm.usace.army.mil/ForecastData/DailyLevelsEnglish.pdf

If there is so much bait out there, why are the fish being so suicidal on metal spoons this year? Or are there too many salmonids even for a HUGE bait population? 

Gobies are very different fish from alewife with very different regs. What you said was it was illegal to catch or transport alewife, and you posted with a finality that implied that you are an "authority," and said " Read the regs." You posted incorrect information, perhaps you should reread the regs yourself. For anyone who is interested in CORRECT information, here is the link to the pages in the guide. http://www.eregulations.com/newyork/fishing/baitfish-regulations/

Please quote from the regulations where it says that. It is perfectly legal to use alewife for bait, but only in a listed number of waters. They can also be transported, but only within defined corridors. You can harvest your own, but only using listed methods. If there is so much bait out there, why are the fish being so suicidal on metal spoons this year? Or are there too many salmonids even for a HUGE bait population?

Rudd (from Wikipedia) If they are all red looking, they may be goldfish, which grow quite large when released to the wild.

From the website: "DEC manages over 395 boating and fishing access facilities. We do our best to keep these sites clean and safe, but if you see something that is out of order or have a question or concern about a particular site, send a message to [email protected]." That site is remote in terms of watchful eyes, but easily accessed from the Parkway. I think leaving a boat there unattended would be very risky. I know from experience in the Adirondacks that is against the law to store personal property on State Land. I also know that State Fishing Access sites do not allow overnight camping, which includes sleeping in your car or on your boat. So my guess is that, aside from the risk of vandalism to the boat, you might also be risking a ticket. The Lakeshore property owners out there are fair piece away, but it only takes one to make a phone call, and they are very jealous about their privacy and property rights. But the link above should get you a definitive answer.

I think how you perceive lake trout is dependent on where you catch them. I had one from Cayuga a while back caught in cold weather and cleaned right out of the water, and then baked on a rack, and it was delicious. Lake Ontario lakers, not so much. One thing I disagree on is frying, trout and salmon are oily fish, and breading and frying traps that oil and if it oxidizes, the flavor goes south. Baked on a rack, or wrapped in foil with some citrus and white wine on the grill, Yum!

I got most of my information from a Regional Fisheries Manager. He emphasized that brined bait or salted has to come from a commercial dealer to insure adequate treatment, and that it is the concern for disease that led to the regulations. But I am sure you are right, these guys have nothing better to do than sit around at night and deviously think up regulations just to make your life miserable! I travelled to Quebec to fish for red trout in 1976. It was not legal to sell minnows or transport bait in that Province then, and you had to buy an additional license to catch your minnows in the lake where you used them. So it is not new, just new here. Introduction of pickeral to Kayuta Lake in the upper Black River nearly wiped out the Brook trout, and introduction of Pike into the Fulton Chain has put a dent in the trout and Atlantic Salmon fisheries there,IMO. Gobies were banned as bait in an attempt to stop their spread into non-connected waterbodies. It was known that they would spread to Cayuga once they were in Lake Ontario, but if it was legal to catch and use them for bait, they would likely be in Lamoka and Waneta and down the Susquehenna by now, because someone would know better than DEC. Ring any bells? I have an idea on where you could keep your receipt, but I don't want to get the Moderators going.

You might sing a different tune if a disease gets into the system you like to fish and wipes out your favorite target. One bait bucket can wipe out a brook trout pond, a few pike in a trout lake and you can often kiss that good trout fishing goodbye. Underbrined bait that has some disease that kills pacific salmon, maybe you can kiss that fishery goodbye. Thank you for you concern for the fishery and your fine sense of sportsmanship! You might want to consider that ENCON reads these websites, so bait checks on boats might be more common in the future. I'd keep that mythical receipt.

https://www.dec.ny.gov/outdoor/74079.html http://www.eregulations.com/newyork/fishing/baitfish-regulations/

Many NYS Counties have requirements for renting property, and a special tax collected as well. People that rent their property generally do it as a business, not "for a few days at a time."

I do it using a Lake Clear Wabbler for extra flash up in the Adirondacks for Land Locked Salmon, and used to do it in Hemlock until they stopped stocking them there. Andy Todd from OMNR told me that a lot of Canadians jig for Kings, much the way FL guys go after Lakers. Be careful with the beers, though, the Coast Guard may be watching. The guy who taught me to night fish for rainbows would not allow beer on his boat, said drinkers spent too much time leaning over the side. As Archie Bunker once said, "You can't buy beer, you can only rent it!"

The ONLY fish that are legal to target in the off season, catch and release or not, are black bass in those counties where the C+R season has been established. You see someone using big baits or walleye rigs, get the boat numbers and report them, that will have more effect than just whining on the internet, although I know that in Region 8, the ECO's watch all these social media " hero shout" sites, too. Social Media Post Leads to Tickets - Monroe County On the morning of May 4, ECOs Spencer Noyes and Evan McFee patrolled a section of the Genesee River in Rochester after receiving a tip from a social media post that claimed people had been keeping smallmouth bass in recent days, well before the opening of the season. Images from the post showed individuals posing with numerous bass lined up on the shoreline. The ECOs positioned themselves to watch fishing activity in the river and noticed one individual with a white five-gallon bucket with a large fish tail sticking out. The fisherman made his way back to the parking area with the bucket. ECOs Noyes and McFee approached the man and discovered he had caught and kept both a large bass and a northern pike, both out of season. The fisherman claimed he didn't know the rules and that he had never "caught one so big," with the bass weighing in at just over six pounds and measuring 22 inches in length. The subject said he was going to take his chances breaking the law, as he planned to get the trophy bass mounted. The individual turned out to be one of the fisherman in the internet photos. He was issued two tickets for taking fish out of season, returnable to the City of Rochester Court.

We have these guys who work for ENCON, they are called biologists, and they generally set the seasons, and apparently did not see any harm in C+R for Black Bass in most of the State. When a Regulation gets changed, there is also a public comment period, so I would guess that most of the public that commented favored the C+R rule. So it is not just a question of "get rid of C+R", maybe it is that simple on your side of the pond, but I think that except in the four counties where C+R is not allowed, the "majority" favored the C+R season, a sort of Yankee way to do things, vote and all. Also, the original poster did say " ...a continued problem with anglers coming to the Thousand Islands region before the bass season and taking fish off the beds. I see it every year and they are often out of state boats..", no different than your out of province poachers. But I emphasize that the ECO's are happy to do their part if they are made aware of the problem. As an example, here in Rochester, they recently saw a Facebook post of smallmouths kept in the Genesee River, and made a little trip to the river a day or so later, and caught the poster with a Northern Pike the day before the season opened, and a 6 lb smallmouth that would have been perfectly legal to catch, but was not supposed to be in the guy's bucket. And someone called them to let them know about the original Facebook post. The DEC Website link I put above takes you to a page where you can fill out a report with boat numbers, pictures, all the rest, to assist in "discouraging" this kind of behavior.

And how is all that going to fix the problem here? Sounds like you have the same problem in Ontario, but at least you called your ENCON. We have the same thing in NYS, No fishing for out of season fish, but C+R bass fishing was legalized in many parts of the state. Just not the part where all this is happening. As to the Tournaments, call your regional DEC office and complain, and make sure the tournament organizers even bothered to register with NYSDEC and get permitted for the tournament. I have to wonder about the kayak circuit, they start early, run all summer, and I wonder if NYSDEC even knows they are doing it.

https://www.dec.ny.gov/about/698.html Region 5 roster https://www.dec.ny.gov/about/696.html Region 6 roster IF no one picks up, https://www.dec.ny.gov/regulations/67751.html or call Albany: Call the DEC Division of Law Enforcement hotline at 1-844-DEC-ECOS (1-844-332-3267). Never put yourself at risk - gather what information you can without trespassing or exposing yourself to harmful materials or situations.