Jump to content

Cleaning fish at the finger lakes


Recommended Posts

Cleaning fish at the finger lakes

We are traveling up to the lake and staying at a motel now , sold the camper we had up there after 15 years and cleaning fish now is a real problem . There isn't anywhere to legally clean your fish like up at the salmon river  , your not allowed to fillet a laker or salmon out in the lake because they want to identify the species and the length your allowed to gut and gill but i want them in fillets so i can pop them into the fridge at the motel ,  What are you guys doing that run up up for a day or two .

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Back of the tail gate.  Look for a willing dumpster or find a place away from the houses to feed the coons and fox.  Don,t dump in a pile and they won't smell as bad.  I know some dump in the water but that really isn't a preferred method up here.  

 

Good of luck fishing.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Tailgate , newspaper , plastic shoppings ( two) if your bleeding them out you will not have much of a mess. Double bag the guts wraped in newpaper throw away where you are staying.

Edited by ERABBIT
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Its weird but it is legal to dispose of the carcass  on the lake as long as you are 100 ft from shore but then again its not legal to fillet them in the first place , if you dispose of a carcass from the boat make sure you puncture the air bag so it sinks some species this is legal . Here are the regs it makes it almost impossible to be legal if you dont have land near by or staying at a facility with a fish cleaning station with these laws in place you would think they would have cleaning stations at some of the boat ramps !!!!!!  Does anyone know if they have anywhere to clean fish at the Myers boat ramp and campground.

 

                                     

Fish cleaning law

It is illegal on New York State waters to possess walleye, black bass, brook trout, lake trout or Atlantic salmon that have been cut, dismembered, filleted, skinned or otherwise altered so that the species and total length of such fish cannot be easily determined. However, these fish may be gilled or gutted. Other species of fish may be filleted provided that the skin is not removed from the fillets. This regulation allows more effective enforcement of harvest regulations on protected game fish.

Fish carcass disposal law

It is illegal to discard any fish carcass, or parts thereof, into the freshwaters of the state within 100 feet of shore or upon any public or private lands contiguous to and within 100 feet of such water, except:

  • On private lands by owners of such lands.
  • If properly disposing into suitable garbage or refuse collection systems or by burial.
  • Where incidental cleaning of fish for consumption is permitted. However, resulting waste may not be disposed of within 100 feet of any public launching or docking site unless into a suitable refuse collection system.
  • Live fish and fish which must be returned to the water because of size limits, open seasons and daily limits are not subject to the fish carcass disposal law.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If the fillet itself is near or at legal minimum length just leave the skin on and you are OK. If the fillet is from a barley legal fish then you are pushing it and could run into problems.

They need to be able to determine the species and be sure it was a legal fish. I've actually left a patch of skin on the fillet and never had any problem. If I could not prove the fish was of legal length from the fillet, I just gut it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

You would think as long as the fillet is as long as the legal length it would be ok but the rules don't read that way and the dec officer I talked to said positively lake trout and salmon couldn't be filleted out in the boat .I'm not sure what they expect us to do .

Does anyone know if there is a cleaning station at myers pt .

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Tailgate , newspaper , plastic shoppings ( two) if your bleeding them out you will not have much of a mess. Double bag the guts wraped in newpaper throw away where you are staying.

This Makes complete sense to me. It's what I would do if I was in this situation.


Thanks for letting me share.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

What we need is fish cleaning stations around our state parks.  A two dollar tax on our fishing license would help pay for the stations.  I’m mostly a catch and release fisherman. Once in awhile I will bring back a few fish that I know won’t stay alive when I release it. I take the head off gut it out leave the skin on  and throw it in the cooler with ice to help keep it fresh. The head and guts go in the lake over deep water. It makes no since to bring dead fish back to the campground clean it and throw the guts in the dumpster on a hot day. The dumpster will stink draw rodents and coons to it.  A fish cleaning station makes more since than a crazy law like this. This law started back during the 70s when our sports fishing were booming along Lake Erie and Ontario. Our sportsman clubs lobbied for a fish cleaning law to help control the fisherman who cleaned their fish out on the lake. If these people lobbied for a  fish cleaning stations. 99 percent would bring their catch back with them and clean them right at the station. No law just common sense fishing.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

As Ed said wrap in paper, double bag and throw away.  I do this twice a day all summer and I'm not gonna say the campground dumpster is exactly pleasant but it isn't an issue.  Done properly the rest of the garbage is far worse smelling.  I could take everything back out on the lake, but I don't agree at all with dumping really ANYTHING into the lake I love!  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, rustyrat said:

I do mine out in the middle of the lake.  However I cut them up as my customers request and leave a skin tag for ID.  Its never been an issue.

RR

 

There you go. And Scott has fished that lake a time or two.

Getting any BIG Landlocks Scott?

 

Fish carcuses add nutrients back into the lake.

Edited by spoonfed-1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 minutes ago, spoonfed-1 said:

 

There you go. And Scott has fished that lake a time or two.

Getting any BIG Landlocks Scott?

 

Fish carcuses add nutrients back into the lake.

Yep Salmon and Bows very nice this year!  Took several of each on Sunday.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 hours ago, rustyrat said:

I do mine out in the middle of the lake.  However I cut them up as my customers request and leave a skin tag for ID.  Its never been an issue. 

RR

......no issue when you were checked?

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

One of the things I can't help wondering about is the goby/botulism/toxins issue....If fish start really feeding on them and take all this stuff into their system what will happen to the fish meat quality and relatedly what effects wiil there be if folks dump the entrails and carcasses into the water? Might be something to think about....

Edited by Sk8man
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I clean mine out in the middle of lake too. I don’t feel guilty about it. Its much easier on me than fooling around with newspaper and no water to clean them up on shore. Fish guts are biodegradable. They sink to the bottom of lake and other fish clean them up. Our great lakes are toxic dumps. All trout and walleye eat gobys. I haven’t heard of any fisherman dying from eating our fish from our lakes yet. Do I hear anybody complaining about our toxic weed pods floating on the lake and washing up on shore. This crap stinks and very toxic. Where does this crap come from. Agriculture run off. Do I here anybody complaining about our chemicals sprayed on our crops around the lake . This stuff runs off the land right into the lake. You give me a nice fish cleaning station at our boat ramps and I will bring what little fish I keep for myself back to shore. Fish guts pollute our lake. Lol. This what happens when people watch to much fake news and watch TV programing from the far left. They forgot how to think

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...