Sawbelly = alewife

You all definitely need to review the baitfish regulations.  I would say a call to NYSDEC would be warranted before bringing Florida baitfish into NYS Waters, as the language dealing with Marine species is as clear as the Genesee River in March! 

Alewife is limited to the following lakes:

Alewife: Canandaigua Lake; Canadice Lake; Cannonsville Reservoir; Cayuga Lake; Cayuta Lake; Conesus Lake; Hemlock Lake; Waneta Lake; Hudson River downstream from Lock C-4 and its associated dam in Stillwater to the Battery at the southern tip of Manhattan Island; Keuka Lake; Otsego Lake; Otisco Lake; Owasco Lake; Lake Ontario; Lake Erie; Lamoka Lake; Pepacton Reservoir; Seneca Lake; St. Lawrence River; Niagara River; Mohawk River, and all waters in Dutchess, Orange, Putnam, Rockland, Sullivan, Ulster and Westchester counties.

The regulations are challenging, but where I fish in the 'daks, we get checked quite frequently, for species,  and the dated receipt.  

From the NYSDEC Website on the Guide's program:

Individuals engaging in the business of guiding on all lands and waters of the state shall possess a license issued by the department. There are, however, some exceptions. They include persons operating or assisting upon a public vessel for hire (passenger carrying vessels), licensed by the United States Coast Guard or New York State while on the following waters:

1. The Atlantic Ocean
2. All other marine, coastal and tidal waters including:
   • The Hudson River up to the Troy Barrier Dam
   • The St. Lawrence River and the navigable portion of its tributaries
   • The Great Lakes and the navigable portion of their tributaries
   • Lake Champlain and the navigable portion of its tributaries
   • Cayuga Lake and Seneca Lake and the navigable portion of their tributaries

13 hours ago, Capt Vince Pierleoni said:

Yet another case of "enviros" who want to take mankind out of the equation. I've never seen so much passing the buck and throwing each other under the bus than I have with this issue. Mr free college, who has been a longtime supporter of the past administration(who of course gleefully signed on for the 2014 plan) is now throwing him under the bus. Even more evidence he is plotting a run and hopes to be a candidate in 2020.   

Was there really any reason to doubt that those were his true intentions?

6 hours ago, GlassWater Outdoors said:

Pathetic. No excuse. Way too light of a punishment especially since he is a guide. He should of lost both Hunting and Fishing privileges.   

Coast Guard license holders do not have to get a NYS Guide license for fishing.

22 hours ago, GAMBLER said:

Sorry Lucky but you are wrong. On December 17th they started holding back water (6700 from 7200). They cut flows back even more on December 31st to 6100. It was not from precipitation it was to bring the lake up.


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If you look at the plots they were on the same track as in  Dec 2015, the lake starts going up in December every year on that plot. 

Dec long term average rainfall is 2.63", we got 2.91",  January is 2.41, we got 2.56, Feb is 1.95, we got 2.33. The starting stage in Mid December and stage through mid march are nearly identical to 2015.  But in March, long term average rainfall is 2.5", we got 4.67", April is 2.73, we got 4.95, and May is 2.87, we got 5.29.   Mid march is when they would have been letting the water go, but they had no ice to allow the higher discharges, and these are extraordinary rainfalls, and they had even higher rainfall over the area surrounding Montreal.   The averages and monthly totals are what was recorded on Weather underground for Rochester.

1 hour ago, battlehammer said:

The problem occurred WAY before the record rains. As I stated earlier- the Army Corps knew this was coming in the early fall-Maybe not to this extent but they knew!!!This lake was as high as We've ever seen it in November and December. This was caused by morons who have their own agenda who have no right sticking their nose into things they know nothing about. To those with property damage- look into the bill cuomo signed- there is a number to call. My father just got off the phone with Albany- get yourself on the list to receive updates about how this will be progressing. The article I read on this stated that even some representatives with the IJC disagreed with the bill- politics politics politics!!!!!


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http://w3.lre.usace.army.mil/hh/ForecastData/BulletinGraphics/MBOGLWL-ontario.pdf

Lake Ontario levels were slightly below the long term average from early June 2016 until mid December, when we started to get the precipitation.  As an example of water coming into the system, the Genesee River was above 2000 cfs for most of the winter, basically unfishable for the whole season with the exception of about 5 days.  Maybe these guys have a functioning crystal ball, if they knew what the weather would bring that far in advance.

http://w3.lre.usace.army.mil/hh/GreatLakesPrecipitation/GLP-ThisMonth.pdf

http://w3.lre.usace.army.mil/hh/GreatLakesPrecipitation/GLP-LastMonth.pdf

So far in May, LO has received nearly twice as much rain as the historic average, and had 155% of average in April. 

https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2017/05/25/toronto-rainfall-breaks-record-set-in-1953.html

11 minutes ago, Frogger said:

These are the comments that literally confuse the heck out of the true issue. I'm not arguing horse on your opinion but as I mentioned earlier is this a man made issue or a Mother Nature issue? There seems to be a tremendous argument about it being manmade. If this is truly the case, let's leave Mother Nature out of this because in the end it sounds like we still would not be in the predicament we're in if we would of managed it properly. It just confuses the true issue and becomes an attempt to remove accountability when we site record rainfall or lots of rain...... again I'm not arguing or trying to sway opinion. I just want to know is all. I feel really bad for all those impacted from this.


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Where would you have put all that water?  Please also remember that while LO was 33" over normal average, Montreal was 55" over average.  Record rainfall does not confuse the issue, it clarifies it unless you absolutely have to place blame somewhere other than nature.  When you build a house on a floodplain, occasionally you have a floodplain on your house, but it usually requires an extraordinary amount of water, which is what we got in April and May.  It is also high in Erie, which is not controlled, and all the inland lakes that feed LO are high, no IJC or Board of Control there, although agencies like the Black River Regulatory District are definitely holding water anywhere that they have control, like in the Fulton Chain of Lakes. 

On ‎5‎/‎28‎/‎2017 at 2:07 PM, pap said:

Well I know from years of snowmobiling the worst case senerio is a froze over lake, right? Guys trolling for Browns in February isn't exactly what I call froze over. My buddy has a camp on the Oswegotchi River on the paper mill property, they hunted only a few days, due to the amount of snow melting and water was running everywhere, eventually into the river which ultimately ending up in the ST. Lawrance. After that I heard from guys in the snow belt area had a great year, after Mother Nature decided to have winter, the ground is saturated now and all the snow is run off. I can't believe that the lake level wasn't high then. In February they could of started the process of letting water out?? Now here we are knee deep in caribou shyt. I don't know enough to talk the scientific lingo, but common sense goes along way in my book??  but what do I know??

The board of control people, many of whom opposed 2014, have indicated that they were on track with 2016 levels into January, but they were unable to discharge at the normal winter rates in the St Lawrence due to lack of ice cover.  Once the STL gets locked up, they can let it rip under the ice, no shipping problems as there is no shipping in a frozen channel, and no shore impacts because the ice constrains the level of the water, and the velocity of the flow can increase under the ice just like in a pipe.   Without the ice cover, discharge had  to be throttled down to prevent shore erosion along the STL.  And then the rains, double the normal amount of water.   In a totally uncontrolled  system, no dam, no regulation, this kind of high water would occur once in a while, also the kind of low water that makes Braddock totally unnavigable.  AS to the Braddock project being related to 2014, it may have been harder to convince Region 5 EPA to put up the money if it was assured that 2014 would be enacted, as much of what was built in Braddock was designed to mimic the effects of more level variability without the variability involved in 2014.

http://www.dec.ny.gov/docs/fish_marine_pdf/pfrcohoctriv.pdf

http://www.dec.ny.gov/docs/fish_marine_pdf/pfrmillckr8.pdf

Also check the State forest map against the stocking lists.  NYSDEC does not stock streams with no access, but may not have formal easements, and where stocked streams run through State forests or FWMA's may be your easiest access.

You'll likely never know without trying.  But, again, make sure you knock on some doors, there is not a lot of public land down there, or talk to the ranger in charge for info if you are looking at NYS Forest lands.

Same amount comes out as goes in!  Does not matter whether it goes into the plant or over the falls, it all ends up in the Big O!

Burnham Point closed, the launch north of town is listed as open.

http://www.dec.ny.gov/outdoor/23890.html

DEC Closes Public Facilities at the Cape Vincent Fisheries Station

High Water Levels Causing Flooding

Due to high water levels on Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence River, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) has closed the aquarium, fishing access site, and overnight dockage at the Cape Vincent Fisheries Station until further notice. The picnic area will remain open. However, visitors are advised to use caution and remain a safe distance away from docking areas.

2014 yearling population was very low and 2015 yearling was nearly non-existent in the trawls.  These would be the preferred size for salmonid predators now,( Literature says 2+ and older are the preferred food size for salmonids) but they are not there in any significant numbers.  It would be logical then that salmonids, especially smaller ones like Brown trout, would turn to the yearlings from the 2016 hatch, which would be small now (2-3").  The 2016 hatch was better in the trawls, not record breaking but healthier.  The literature also says they are a fragile fish, so conditions out on the lake this year with prolonged turbidity, high water, and fluctuating temperatures cold be inducing some mortality.  The lake was  rough enough to exacerbate the flooding on Saturday, maybe that knocked some of the little ones around.  Or if you are seeing large (6-8") ones on top, that could just be natural mortality, they don't live forever, maximum recorded age is 9 years.  

There is also a risk that if you killed all the mussels at once, this would start a massive outbreak of Type E. Botulism, with repercussions all through the food chain of the lake.  And there is also the issue of cost.

Lake trout stocking is low this year due to more Federal Hatchery problems. 

2 hours ago, work2fish said:

 

 

That steelhead doesn't look all so healthy!

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Post spawn four year old that has not put on any weight yet?

I'll see what I can do.

Do I need boots?  Buckets?

Thanks for the instructions.  Hope to get out there.

Information on where to park and how to get to the pier in light of the flooding would be helpful.

Outflow has increased by 43% over the last couple of days.

http://www.democratandchronicle.com/story/news/2017/05/16/lake-sky-high-despite-outflow-hike/101756820/

On ‎5‎/‎13‎/‎2017 at 6:53 PM, Mr.Esox said:

Should be within 100 ft of shore . Sounds a little much .

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Navigation Law for I Bay was modified some years ago to a 200' from shore no wake zone as has been done on a lot of lakes in NYS.  There are some steep bluffs that are subject to a lot of slope toe erosion from boat wakes in a normal year, with the high water this year there is water right up to the doors of many properties in German Village and other shore side hamlets.  If you need to get from the south end to the outlet, troll, the browns are in the bay as well as the lake!   As another here said, much more negligence in caring for the shore properties by boaters, they could just close the bay to motorized traffic.  I have a strong suspicion that it is not fishermen running like this, but if they close it everyone suffers. 

Nice link, thx!

You do have quotable sources for those allegations, right?  I've seen nothing on any press anywhere to indicate any of this, maybe the Russians have all the evidence?

According to the USACE daily reports, Superior is 5" higher than long term average,  Michigan/Huron is 11" over long term average, Lake St Clair and Erie are 20" long term average, and Ontario is 32" over long term average.  In February, Ontario was ~8" over long term average, in March ~14" over long term average.  Where did they store that 3 feet of water they held back last summer when the lake was so low last fall?  I know it is difficult for people who need to place blame to consider science and facts, but this is clearly charted as a result of the extremely high rainfall we've received in the last month and a half, almost as much rainfall as they have received over the drainage area of Montreal.  

How many Power stations are generating?  I thought it was one, Moses Saunders.  What is its capacity, can it generate unlimited energy with more water?  Plants of which I am aware have maximum capacities, in some, more water means no generation.

A lot of the damaged property is built right on the water, a lot of the affected people didn't bother to carry flood insurance.  My old Spanish friends have a saying, when you mess with the bull, sometimes you get the horns.

Huge areas of Montreal are as much as 4 feet deep as reported by Adam Choduk last week.