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HB2

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Three years ago I was part of a coalition of trib anglers and business owners who benefited from the fall winter and spring river fishing. The NYPA that manages the Erie Canal had been in discussions with Orleans and Monroe county,  DEC, fishing guides and rec anglers on creating base flows through Sandy,  Oak Orchard, Johnson’s and 18 mile creek to induce migrations of trout and salmon.

 

So fall of 2020 and 2021 they pulsed water all season until December when they had to finally empty the canal for winter. The results were highly successful in early and sustained migrations of trout and salmon into the streams mentioned above. This past season the angler usage was off the charts.

 

But along with high usage comes the need for more PFR’s . We talked about that in 2019 that DEC would have to ramp up buying more easements especially along Sandy and possibly Johnson’s.

 

So I just received an email from NYPA stating they and DEC is starting a campaign to search for landowners along these tribs that might want to sell easement rights. HB2 sounds like your closer to the estuary so not probably a play for you. 

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One of the main reasons there is a paucity of access on many tribs is the problem of littering  and it is a hell of a concern for property owners no matter what the one time money is and it is really too bad. A lot of the streams I used to fish in the 60's and 70's haven't been accessible for that reason for years.

Edited by Sk8man
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If I were a landowner in that area I would absolutely refuse this offer.

It takes away all rights the landowner has to remove unwanted characters. It would be a better idea to allow a few select fishermen to come and fish possibly for a fee. That way the owner has a choice as to who can fish on his land and he will know who littered and he can charge  a cleanup fee. I mean , if there is a big rich company on the salmon river that does that, so can you.

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That “big rich company “ is assemblyman Will Barkley. He went to court and got a ruling that he owned 2.5 miles of prime fishing water on the salmon River  because he owned property on both banks of the river , he owned the bottom of the river   It is trespassing to wade the river in this stretch   He is making a fortune charging to fish , what I maintain is public fishing   If this    Pay for access continues , fishing will be limited to those that can afford the fees. The rich get richer.  No one should “own” a stream. 

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In these days of litigation and ambulance chasing lawyers there is a substantial liability issue as well for the landowner and I would also wonder how the property insurers would be reacting too.

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Man you guys can get yourselves worked up. If DEC approaches a land owner and asks if they’d like to sell a slice of property to be used as a PFR it’s their business. 
 

They probably aren’t dialing into LOU to ask what you guys think. And the DSR thing ….. my god can we ever beat that horse enough. Like HB2’s excellent example. The fish don’t stay in the DSR. They migrate through just like deer move around. Anglers outside the DSR get a shot at those same fish their license dollars paid for.

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I guess I’ll wait for that in the ground ticket. 
 

10ft fence all around a 1000 acres I own with a just a gate door to let the fish, I mean deer run out up stream.  Yea, that should be about right. Oh I forgot. Got to make a profit, so I’ll charge people to come in and hunt.   I don’t have any skin in this game either but when you mention DSR something  does not feel right.  

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The DSR isn’t only made up of the Barkley land. They lease property in the 2 1/2 miles from at least three and maybe it’s four other land owners. The other land owners let Barkley manage the property for their lease fee for the same reason any other land owner decided to lock up their property. When it was free range slobs devastated their land. The got tired of picking up garbage measured in metric tons that included large quantities of human waste .

 

they could have all posted it and stopped all fishing except for them and their family and friends. Instead they made it a play for pay like so many landowners allow with deer leases. On a deer lease you have no right to be there if you aren’t on the lease. On this spate of river you can choose to pay and fish it or not.

 

the migrating salmon and steelhead do just that. They migrate all the way up to the dam. And settle in the up stream reaches to spawn. Yes Late run kings can and do dig Redds in the DSR. That number might be in the 100’s of the 20 to 50k kings that run the river. 
 

As far as steelhead. I’ve never seen steelhead setting up redds in the DSR. They are the longest migratory run fish of all the species.

 

if you don’t like the show….. change the channel. 

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Davy, thanks for the clarification. Like I said I have no skin the game but I can still show displeasure with the courts ruling on the DSR, if I don’t like it change the channel? Clever. Anyway, I too would keep the litter skunks out as well based on the fact they ruined it for everyone. I wouldn’t be able to handle the littering by fisherman not cleaning up their mess. My issue was floating the river and not being able to fish as my fishing privileges were superseded by the ruling. Money wins every time right? We can debate this all day. At then end of it nothing changes. Not looking for rebuttal. Just wanted to state my opinion. 

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