Lucky13

You have obviously never been down wind of a lot of rotting mussels on shore after a big blow! And people complain about manure spreading! The Zebra mussel has largely been replaced in LO by the Quagga mussel. It's bigger, can live to much greater depths, and will colonize on anything it can attach a bissel thread to ( sticks in the mud, etc), unlike the Zebra that wanted hard surfaces for attachment. I think extent was documented at a SOL meeting a couple of years ago, it would be worth taking a look at the reports on the biologists pages at the NYSDEC website.

These are the kind of numbers that need to be communicated to the Judges who think fishing violations are harmless and not worth their time. This is big business, and in past years competing gangs of Russians were known to exchange rounds down on the Genny, only a matter of time before some innocent fisherperson gets injured from this manure! I have heard that the local JP's in Oswego County have been maximizing revenue when errant "anglers" are brought their way this year. On the other hand, you can pay a lot of $500 fines and buy a lot of new Ugly Sticks for 14K a night!

Last year, the meth heads in Altmar were using hook and line to snake the donations for parking out of the slot box at the church up the hill form the LFZ. It is almost as likely that you will get robbed up there as down at Seth Green anymore.

I was at the Greece meeting, and could not get a word in edgewise. I have also been part of the GLFC panel that met in the Spring in Niagara Falls, and has participated in 2 conference calls since then. On those calls it has been necessary for the facilitator to poll the panel individually for statements to maintain order. If you had an open line conference, pandemonium would ensue. I think the poor turnout may be partially due to less than stellar promotion of the meetings, although the meeting was announced through MCFAB, and only two members of MCFAB were present, along with the MCFAB staff. There may also be a feeling that the decision has already been made, and maybe it has, although as Steve says, it has to be brought up through management now before being implemented. This has been in serious discussion for a long time now, it is not some overnight decision. I think it is too early to make a judgment on fall returns as the temperatures in most of the tributaries have remained above what Bill Abraham called the " thermal barrier" level until just the last couple of days. But the anecdotal reports I am seeing from the Salmon River have included fish running for three weeks, and for at least a week there have been fish reported from the Oswego. According to Dave Agness, a large run went up the Genesee on Tuesday. So this phase is just kicking off. It appears that there has not been the " milling around" off the piers at night this year, but we had prolonged elevated temperatures, so the fish may have "staged" offshore. And as to this year's hatch, lets see what is out there in the spring, after the winter so many are convinced will be mild. I tried to get a crystal ball for my job for years, but never found one that worked! From my perspective, no one, Steve or Andy, or anyone else, wants to make cuts in stocking numbers. But the two bad winters have produced a "hole" in the alewife population. There is a very real risk that heavy predation as those years move up in age could result in a deficit in future alewife productivity (few spawners equals few fish produced), and Steve and Andy feel these relatively conservative cuts mitigate some of that risk. One possible alternative that could result from doing nothing is a continued downward trend in alewife productivity, and a deterioration in condition of the remaining predators. The ultimate result of that scenario would be Lake Huron, where the biologists have concluded that the "exotics" fishery is done as the alewife has been eradicated, or a fishery like Michigan's where the kings are all 6-8 lb cookie cutters. But I also guarantee that if the alewife collapses, many of the other stakeholders will weigh in for abandonment of the exotics program in Lake Ontario. The Nature Conservancy was represented at the meeting in Greece the other night, and I know scientists at EPA involved with the Lakewide Action and Management Plan that are watching all this very closely. Please also remember that Lake Ontario is an International water body, so the Federal and Canadian viewpoints also carry lot of weight out there. I am in line with many of the Canadians on the panel who thought the proposal would be much higher , something like 50% across the board, but the panel was assured by Steve and Andy on the last call that they are confident that the Alewife population will maintain with this modest cut.

Gill-T must not have kids and watch SpongeBob! Great name for a ship!

I saw a friend who was in Redfield last week last Sunday, and he told me that the mudflats were showing up there, that is pretty close to just the river channel having water. Brookfield is new to the management game, and the drought hit the Tug Hill very hard. Back in July when the North branch should have been carrying 40 cfs to the Reservoir, it was running at 5! They could run out of water to the River, not the hatchery.