Lucky13

Based on what Jeff and Dawn Dittman have said, they have a tendency to wander, so the old "in to spawn out to feed" model doesn't always apply to the sturgeon. Juveniles like the area from Veteran's down to St Bernard's, fortunately there is almost no bank access in that stretch, so little pressure on the tykes. The bigger ones appear to go out to the lake, wander back in, swim up other tribs (one was recaptured in the Niagara with Genesee tags), they have no consistent pattern other staying pretty shallow, and the now mature males reappearing in numbers around when they expect that gravid female to appear. And that should be in the next couple of years, at which point we will finally get some idea as to whether this is going to take off permanently or not. Word of mouth, information in the baitshops, and the stenciling at the piers and launches has gotten the word out to most that these fish should be released immediately, and certainly should not be targeted to begin with. The subsistence population is still a challenge, but the recreational guys seem to have gotten the message quite well.

Never been married, huh?

Do you really believe that DEC should eliminate all competing species, even ones that are native, in order to stock one that is marginal in that habitat, or even think that it would be possible, not to mention cost effective? There are walleye lakes, Oneida and Chautauqua immediately come to mind, oh, and Conesus, lets see, shallower, warmer, than the "standard" oligotrophic steep sided cold watered Finger Lake. Or maybe we should turn one of the natural walleye lakes into a trout lake for the locals around there unwilling to travel to a Finger Lake, and unhappy with those big perch. Or, why not do as close to what Ma Nature set up to begin with. Or I want the guvment to install a trout stream in MY backyard!!!

Nice Victrola!

Where would they get alewives to use to stock the Lake? DEC ( Steve LaPan) says if they used all of NYS Hatchery capacity to raise alewives they could feed Lake Ontario for 8 days. Keuka is a lot smaller, but it would take a really "big pond" to raise enough alewife, and alewife have temperature and habitat needs (cold, pelagic expanses with phytoplankton and zooplankton for food) that are "challenging" to replicate artificially. Also, Ciscoes are native to the system, and USF+WS has been successful at raising them in conventional hatchery facilities. The symptom of the problem in Keuka is skinny, young lake trout in large numbers, indicative of insufficient bait, and maybe underharvest. The DEC solution is eliminate stocking of the fast growing silvers ( RT, BT, and LLS) to take some of the heat off the remaining bait, and attempt to "jumpstart" a native preyfish. If the bait comes back, so will the silvers. But first I think they want to see the lakers , which are indigenous to the lake, showing better condition.

Seneca and Kueka are both oligotrophic, steep sided deep cold well oxygenated and relatively deficient in nutrients. IF they were natural habitat for walleyes the fish would be there. Walleyes have not been stocked for a long time in Hemlock Lake, and yet there is a residual population that survives through natural reproduction. Seneca is attached to the canal system and there are lots of Walleyes in there, they would be in Seneca if they found it to their liking ( and probably are to some extent, but maybe not enough for anyone to target them.)

I can bring a sixpack! Whaler can probably make popcorn!

No "Dueling Banjos" in the background, though!

There are major concerns in Quebec about the possible impacts of stray Coho that are finding their ways into the Atlantic Salmon Rivers of the Gaspe Peninsula. They didn't come from New Jersey!

That pretty much sums it up right there! Good luck!

Are you maybe putting the cart in front of the horse if you are paying all that money and travel cost to get a captain's license and you have to ask for advice here? The Coast Guard is only licensing you to safely take people for a boat ride for money, they don't care what you know about fish or catching them. But it is likely that your customers will want YOU to know what you are doing. Do you think the learning curve is that short, start in 2019 and be chartering in 2020? I suppose you could do what a lot of guys did in the late 70's, drag lines around for a bunch of hours, then find bottom and 55 and get them a couple of Lake Trout. Most of the guys I knew who did that washed out of the guiding business in a couple of years, the guys who can consistently fill the box with salmon have pad a LOT of dues to get to where they are. Just sayin'

Certainly the money is a great benefit to the State, helps to defray the costs of scraping some of the idiots who don't wear helmets or belts off trees, get some of the one who don't buy permits or register their machines, you know, the morons who tar all snowmobilers with a bad name and think it is their god given right to do so. I personally think all these fines should triple.

None of this has any impact on the level on the water in either Lake Ontario or Lake Erie. There is no control for water flow in the Niagara River, the power plant just moves the water through a different channel, it still ends up back in the river, and then in the lake, and any storage is insignificant in relation to the total flow of the Niagara River.

Gorgeous Fish! I am always amazed that a fish that is so beautiful this time of year comes back in 3 months as some black flabby mudshark! And that is one fine lake trout.

If it is not possible for a producer to remove all the toxic chemicals from their waste stream, maybe the product should not be produced. The days where part of the cost of production gets passed to the neighbors should be ancient history in NYS. This is definitely one to write to DEC about, and copy your representatives in as well.

AS clear as I've ever seen it, I have never seen a need to go below 6 lb ultra green. Even in the gin clear Salmon, 6 lb ullra. I agree with you totally on the Ultra green versus floro, just to easy to break, too hard to tie knots, WAY too expensive. But I am generally swinging flies so the fish sees the fly first, maybe pinning with beads it becomes more critical.

When was the Genny ever clear enough to require 2#?

The last time I pulled copper was the day the spring broke on my Victrola motor! But the real old timers used to hand over hand and wrap on a spindle of some sort while playing a fish. But as perch said, watch out for those twists and kinks, they are deadly to copper.

Then GL Lure maker covered 90 %. I'm with him on a quick pull and keep in contact, but I would say not a tight line, you want the lure to "flutter" back, but not just on a dropped and loose line because, as he said, most strikes come after the pull, on the "slack" portion of the action. You will quickly get a feel for this.

So this minor disagreement on the technique calls for a response from Matt Ching. Are you talking about pulling copper, or wire sometimes, as it was practiced at least since the invention of the outboard motor, in the Adirondacks and Finger Lakes, as described by GL Lure maker, and then added to by others including myself, or are you talking about what are affectionately referred to by LO trollers as "junk lines," different lengths of metal line sent back on thinner dacron or other backing and then just trolled along with all the other lines, as Tyee answered to.

It is a good idea to get a pair of leather gloves and wear them. You loose a little sensitivity, but it cuts way down on the wear to your hands that will occur from a few hours of pulling.