Lucky13

http://www.dec.ny.gov/outdoor/fishing.html http://www.dec.ny.gov/outdoor/7917.html http://www.dec.ny.gov/docs/fish_marine_pdf/fishguide.pdf

The way the English language works, if you head a table with the words " Gear for taking baitfish", and a type of gear is not listed in the table,it is not allowed. I can't finds the exact language in the electronic regulations, but the print guide has in large letters in a sidebar " Please Note. Any fish taken from a water body and used as bait counts toward your daily limit."

For the folks that could not make SOL, here's Brian.

http://www.eregulations.com/newyork/fishing/baitfish-regulations/ The way I read it, the only thing you can use in the Finger Lakes is a minnow trap, or a gillnet maximum length 25 feet, maximum area 200 square feet, maximum size 1″ bar (alewife only), or by angling. No transport in a vehicle.

DEC: Cold Temperature Stress in Late Winter Causes Cyclical Fish Die-Off in Local Waterbodies Large numbers of dead and dying fish have been observed in area waters including Irondequoit Bay and the Erie Canal in Newark, New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) reported today. Inspections by DEC Aquatic Biologists indicate that nearly all of the dead and dying fish observed are gizzard shad, a medium-sized member of the herring family. Mortality of gizzard shad in late winter and early spring is common. The species is very sensitive to cold water temperatures and their inability to acclimate causes mortality at low temperatures. Gizzard shad are living near the northern edge of their range in the Great Lakes, making them especially susceptible to cold temperatures. On March 27, DEC collected and submitted a sample of gizzard shad from Irondequoit Bay and sent them to Cornell University's pathology laboratory for disease screening. No viable samples were available from the Erie Canal. Results indicate the fish had a low level infection of viral hemorrhagic septicemia (VHS). VHS has been the cause of a disease issue in the Great Lakes region of the United States and Canada. VHS virus is a rhabdovirus (rod shaped virus) that affects fish of all size and age ranges. VHS can cause hemorrhaging of fish tissue. Once a fish is infected with VHS, there is no known cure. Not all infected fish develop the disease, but they can carry and spread the disease to other fish. VHS does not pose any threat to human health. Additional information about VHS is available on DEC's website at https://www.dec.ny.gov/animals/25328.html. Gizzard shad live near the northern edge of their range in the Great Lakes, making them especially susceptible to cold temperatures. Mild winters may have allowed their population to increase the last two years. Because the gizzard shad mortality is widespread and primarily affects one species of fish, their die-off is not considered an indicator of an environmental problem such as pollution. Mortality of a single species of fish suggests that the die-off is the result of a disease, parasite or species-specific stressor. In this particular case, late winter cold stress is the suspected cause. Additional information about gizzard shad, including images, is available on DEC's website at https://www.dec.ny.gov/animals/7031.html#gizzardshad. http://www.dec.ny.gov/press/77537.html

I flat line, and generally run a line only 15-20 feet back right in the propwash for LL salmon. I have trolled like this in the 'dacks, but it should work in the FL. Cronoticed has some valid points about very shallow and close to shore. I also like strickbaits like rapalas for trolling, but spoons like mooselicks and speedy shiners hold up to fast speeds.

Casting size suttons or cleos, fast retrieve should work until the water starts warming up. But you can cover a lot more water at a faster speed trolling.

Not along the Lake, it is still howling up here. ~15000 without power in Monroe County, ~2000 each in Orleans and Wayne.

Cancelled my trip to the Finger Lakes tribs today, this is the kind of wind that gives meaning to the term widow makers! I feel bad for all the folks at the east end of the Lake, but grateful the wind is not coming the east and knocking my trees over onto the house!

In the old days, I would have cut and pasted the chart, but the version of Adobe I have now does not allow me to do that, and it loses formatting of tables, so it is just easier to provide the link.

http://www.dec.ny.gov/docs/fish_marine_pdf/lorpt16b.pdf The trawl sites are in Figure 1 of section 12. This is 2016but hey do the same sites year after year (consistency of measurement).

It looks like the DEC website went down yesterday PM, maybe maintenance. Or I've got a bug in my computer! But the regs are on another site anyway. http://www.eregulations.com/newyork/fishing/

From the Livingston County section of the Regulations guide (interesting reading!) North McMillan Creek and Conesus Inlet Fish and Wildlife Management Area from Conesus Lake south to the dam, except the canal west of Conesus Inlet and that portion of the inlet north of the canal Fishing prohibited March 1 until the opening of walleye season in May to protect spawning walleye and northern pike

Pike and Walleyes don't open on May 1, it is the first Saturday in May that the season opens.

Carriage House website says they are closed until May1

The land on which the launch is located belongs to the state, same as out in Braddock. But operation of the park was passed to Monroe County Parks a number of as ago, and MC Parks dropped it and it was assumed by the Town of Irondequoit last end of season. This is similar to Braddock, where the Town of Greece operates for NYS but has subcontracted operation, currently the Danielli family. It is not uncommon to find things on the NYS website that are way out of date. There's nothing I could find on the Town website yet. I do know they have a machine to pay installed, it was in when I was down there checking ice two months ago.

At this time I don't have answer to that question, but may in 2 weeks. Or you could call the town and ask.

According to Jack Cooper's fishery report, many years ago, for NYSDEC, there is limited spawning habitat for smallmouth in the Bay, mainly along the Irondequoit side south of Newport and North of Densmore. Fishery work done more recently as part of the Bay Plan process by Dr James Haynes at SUNY Brockport mainly indicated largemouths. I used to do well off shore just south of German Village, but that got turned into Condos quite a while ago. And when I was a kid, the Outlet Bridge and the Railroad trestle were always hot spots just after the season opened, but that's all gone or radically changed, too.

Gobies are off lmits for bait. One guy thinks it doesn't matter if he uses them in Lake Ontario because they are already there, the next guy fiogures if its OK in LO, why not in his local lake and soon you've got gobies eating all the trout eggs all over the northeast. Same argument for bait from out of the area, somebody figures his wahoo or whatever from the salt will be fine for a cut bait rig, and brings something new in. What happens if somebody brings in bait that has some "new" disease, and it turns out that Salmon are very susceptible, and there is no cure? One guy saves a few bucks and everybody else loses their fishery!

It has been a long time since I was down that way. Looking at a map. I used to be following Catatunk Creek, not Cayuta. Looked trouty, but too warm.

If the stream is open for trout it will be listed in the special regulations by county. I used to live in Binghamton, and looked at Cayuta a lot on rides up to Ithaca, it does look like a trout stream, but my recollection is that a Biologist I spoke with said it was too warm for trout except in the headwaters. A lot could have changed since then, I would check the regulations by County and the stocking lists, and if it is not in the regs and is in the stocking list, it's not legal for trout until April 1. If I were planning to be in the Glen now, though, I would try the pier and cast spoons for landlocks or whatever else was around, likely a lot more action for a lot less work. You might have to do some door knocking to get access on Cayuta.

At the Rochester SOL, Brian Weidel, the USGS Biologist that made the presentations and does the trawling now, indicated that the data he was "mining" was the daily intake temperatures for the Shoremont Water Treatment Plant. And he said that last year's data fell in the middle and could go either way in terms of how the hatch last year did coming through the winter, so the big story for this spring will be how well they show up in the April trawls.