Lucky13

I know guys who fish the opener at night and hammer the fish using the baits mentioned above, and they are within casting distance of shore, sometimes just out from the docks, in their boats. I think your problem would be access, most of the lake is privately held, especially near the deeper basins in the North and South.

We drove down, but it was almost as crowded as it will be at 4 AM on 4/1!!! Headed up to Sodus and watched LO 'bows escaping the high waves out in the Lake in a few spots.

I don't see any pink in either of the "Rainbows" and coming into spawning season, I would expect that. There is quite a fork in the tail of the landlocked salmon, too, not something you see on a rainbow. And maybe it is the photo, but I don't see any spotting on the tails, and rainbows have spots on their tails as well as their bodies. I'm with Sk8man! Don't feel too bad, though, the Angler Survey lady in Pulaski said a full half of the folks that she interviewed last fall with fish could not correctly identify what they had, even to the point of telling a trout from a salmon, an important distinction if you want to comply with bag and size limits. While this was done for Lake Ontario, you may find it helpful. http://seagrant.sunysb.edu/glsportfish/pdfs/SalmonTrout-LakeOntario2012.pdf

All of the things I listed have recently happened or are happening. Maybe all just odd coincidence, maybe something is actually happening. Maybe you want to get a chin strap for your hard hat!

Climate change scenarios speak to major changes in perceived patterns and long term trends. Three Bad Northeasters in 3 weeks in New England, and they are not out of the woods yet looking like another one next week, highest measured average global temperatures in how many of the last 10 years, near disappearance of glaciers in Alaska, shrinking of the polar ice caps, rise in sea level (why isn't the Guvment draining the ocean faster?), oh, and ~14" of rain in a 2 month period (March-April 2017) when 7" is the long term average, these could be argued to be major changes in perceived patterns and long term trends. Yes it is inconvenient if the remedy is vehicles where mileage is not measured in gallons per mile, or we have to go to windmills out in the Lake and Ocean, so maybe its easier to just deny the symptoms. I can just imagine the manure storm if they drain too much water and then we have a dry spring, and the big boats can't launch for not enough water in May and June. I'm sure the Board of Control would greatly appreciate it if whoever out there has a functioning crystal ball would loan it to them!!!

I think the bottom line is: "Weather and hydrologic conditions play a much greater role than water regulation in influencing water levels, and while impossible to predict, the probability of a repeat of last spring’s exceptional rains and subsequent high water levels is low. " Preliminary climate data for March at the Buffalo NWS office indicates 1.63 inches of rain, so far. 2.12" in Rochester, 0.9" in Watertown. So we have ~12 inches to go in the rest of this month and next month. That's a lot of rain to hit the 14" reported as causing the problems last year, which, although the non-scientific refuse to hear it, was indicated to have been enough to cause the problems that occurred whether the Hydro project was in on the St Lawrence or not. And let us not forget our neighbors in Montreal who were under even greater amounts of water than LO. It might be possible to make a lot of money selling hard hats to some of you guys so you'll have yer heads protected when the sky falls. The new March Madness!

From IJC< 2 days ago: Outflows from Lake Ontario Break February Record, Water Levels Gradually Improving 2018/03/13 The average Lake Ontario outflow during the month of February was the highest in recorded history. Historical records start in 1900 and include outflows that occurred both prior to and since the beginning of regulation in 1960. A stable ice cover in the St. Lawrence River allowed Plan 2014 to increase outflow under the ice, and as a result, Lake Ontario levels have fallen below those recorded at this time in 2017. Plan 2014 continues to prescribe near-record outflows in response to above-average levels of both Lake Ontario and the upper Great Lakes. Following temporary flow reductions during the extreme cold weather at the start of the year that saw ice form quickly on the St. Lawrence River, outflows were quickly increased thereafter, to the maximum possible without causing flooding on Lake St. Louis near Montreal. Basin conditions allowed Plan 2014 to prescribe record high outflows in February, even while Lake Ontario remained below Criterion H14 &rdquo;trigger&rdquo; levels. In instances when Lake Ontario reaches its high water trigger level, criterion H14 gives the board the authority to deviate from Plan 2014 in order to provide all possible relief to riparian property and businesses upstream and downstream. However, the use of this authority must still consider the effects of outflows on all interests, including the risk of flooding on Lake Ontario, the risk of flooding downstream and the risk of ice jams in the St. Lawrence River. Currently the water level of Lake Ontario is 74.96 m (245.93 ft), which is 30 cm (11.8 in) above average, and 3 cm (1.2 in) below last year. The level of Lake St. Louis near Montreal is now 54 cm (21.3 in) above average and 26 cm (10.2 in) above its level of a year ago. Water levels on the upper Great Lakes, Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence River are forecast to remain above average moving into the spring. As a result, Plan 2014 will continue to release high outflows taking into consideration all interests throughout the Lake Ontario – St. Lawrence River system. The Board notes that, while Lake Ontario remains well above average, historically, water levels in winter have not provided an accurate indicator of the peak later in spring. Weather and hydrologic conditions play a much greater role than water regulation in influencing water levels, and while impossible to predict, the probability of a repeat of last spring’s exceptional rains and subsequent high water levels is low. Nonetheless, extreme conditions may occur in any given year, so shoreline property and business owners, and local government officials should always be prepared for a full range of water levels on Lake Ontario at any given time in the future. The Board, in conjunction with its staff, continues to monitor and reassess conditions on an ongoing basis. Information on hydrologic conditions, water levels and outflows, including graphics and photos, are available on the Board’s website and posted to the Board’s Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/InternationalLakeOntarioStLawrenceRiverBoard (English).

Where did this water come from? Is it coming from somewhere other than Lake Erie, or the upper Niagara river? Unless it has been sourced from somewhere completely unrelated to the existing system, it is water that was going over the falls before and will have no effect on the overall water budget. They take the water out of the river, run it through the turbines, and discharge it back to the river. Net change = 0!

We used to catch walleyes in the Susquehanna in Endicott, with the warty looking nodules on their sides, a DEC biologist told me they are a fluke, a parasite similar to the one that causes the black spots in a lot of bass and panfish, and they are harmless, you just cut them out when cleaning the fish. I have wonder if you have been told that that bag of fish with what you identify as tumors are OK to keep,s regardless of size and number, by an ECO? All parasites:

For a while the Lake Ontario recommendation was to eat no trout and salmon, and for a while they closed fishing and stopped stocking because of the contaminant concerns. This was because of the high concentrations of PCB's and dioxins, which are found everywhere at some level due to atmospheric transport, and mirex, which originated from the Hooker Chemical discharge to the Niagara River, and from one "dumping" in the Oswego River. These are " lipophilic compounds, which means that they partition from Aquatic media (water based) to lipids, or fats, so they are stored in higher concentrations in the fatty parts of the fish. Heavy metals are not lipophiclic, and they get "trapped" in muscle tissue. They can be removed by a process called chelation, but this is not a common (except for lead in children) or risk-free procedure. Metals in fish continue to accumulate over the lifetime of the organism, and get passed to any organism that consumes the contaminated fish.

This needs to be viewed in context. The article starts telling us to eat no more than one meal per week and four meals per month out of the Finger Lakes. (NYSDOH defines a meal as 1/2 lb of fish) In fact, that is the overall NYSDOH guideline for fish from ANY water body in New York State. So far, Canadice Lake is still the only Finger Lake that has a specific advisory, associated with a PCB discharge, someone was bringing home old transformers to reclaim copper, and dumped the fluid on the ground. I saw nothing in the article indicating actual tissue concentrations or referencing them to acceptable consumption standards. It could be a lot worse, the Adirondacks has had advisories on perch, smallmouth bass, walleye, pike, etc for quite a few years now, due to mercury contamination. If you feed your catch to your wife and kids, you do really want to read all this. I have never heard of the correlation between high mercury and low nutrients, up there it has always been expressed as additional mercury from the granitic bedrock. If it was all deriving from atmospheric deposition, watershed size should be a factor, and most of those waterbodies have small watersheds. If mercury analysis was inexpensive, and did not require high levels of skill both for the analysis and the sample collection, maybe it would be something doable at the Citizen level. your best bet on that would likely be this researcher. You should also be aware of the CSLAAP program coordinated by DEC, what you are looking for may already be being done. https://www.health.ny.gov/environmental/outdoors/fish/health_advisories/regional/fingerlakes.htm https://www.health.ny.gov/environmental/outdoors/fish/health_advisories/regional/adirondack.htm https://www.dec.ny.gov/chemical/81576.html

Bet ya don't have any problems with the Werewolves!

http://www.dec.ny.gov/outdoor/88296.html Follow the link on this page for the full report, where Waterport reservoir is indicated to also be called Lake Alice.