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Wednesday, May 12, 2010The Big Bite
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Sunday, March 28, 2010Spring 2010 Ramblings
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As April 2010 looms ever larger on the horizon, my genetic "vacasoricabobulation hormones" (I made that up) begin to alert my finely tuned fishing senses that another happy season is upon us. Oh yeah, "how great it is". As if I wasn't excited enough, the other night I attended the annual NYSDEC State of The Lake presentation and am pleased to report that generally speaking "all is well". The bait population, (alewives) are doing nicely with several year classes growing bigger and bigger. |
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This will do to salmon and trout what a 1/4 pounder
with cheese, large fries and a strawberry milk shake will do to me. Pounds baby,
pounds! Last year the kings averaged around 18 lbs and I expect that 2010 will
see more big fish. A few wild born fish have been caught signaling that cleaner
waters are more and more suitable for natural reproduction which can only add to
the greatness of our fishery. Our successful stocking programs should continue
with occasional number spikes resulting when the boom or bust wild fish
population cycle achieves the boom scenario.
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Sunday, February 14, 2010Carp Crap!
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The title of this blog does not include a transposition error in the second word. It is actually just what it says and it simply and clearly defines a serious problem. Here is the scoop on our latest potential Great Lakers invader, the Asian Carp. This fish could become the most troublesome exotic species that the lakes will ever encounter. The Carp has reached the doorstep of Lake Michigan as it moves north through the waters of the mighty Mississippi from | |
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southern states where it was introduced
to US waters. Presently, it is only several miles from Chicago and its entrance
to Lake Michigan.
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Monday, January 25, 2010Breaking Wind
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This blog title needs some clarification. It is not about what you may think, however, it is about windy things. The rhetorical winds emanating from our nations capitol have elevated to hurricane force as our elected officials trudge forward with never before seen spending adventure. While this is going on, states like California and NY drift toward bankruptcy. Climate change fanatics and cap and trade believers seem to be interested in tightening the choke hold on the general working public. Polls show most Americans do not | |
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agree with the direction of our political wind blowers,
yet the bloviators simply will not listen, as they continue to print
more money and then spend it. The latest winds in the lake area are being fueled by the
recently announced preliminary plans to erect hundreds of wind turbines along
the shoreline of Lake Ontario. Now when I say shore line I am talking about
following the shore line but actually building the huge generating structures
off shore, right in the middle of a major bird flyway and smack dab on top of
fish spawning grounds. Remember the wind turbine farm that Senator Kennedy did
not want built within his view from his Hyannis home, well how do you feel about
dumping the tri blade behemoths into Mexico Bay? We are talking about hundreds
of turbines.
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Thursday, November 12, 2009I'm Baaaaack!!!
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Ok already, I really am truly sorry for the long summer delay between updates. It is just that I get so busy from April through September doing that fishing thing that the frequency of my blogs suffers. Anyhow, I know this is a rather flimsy excuse, so color me guilty. In any event as someone once said, "I'm Baaack!" 2009 was a decent year for fishing with great brown trout action, and a good salmon season that produced generally larger kings than in years past. That plump, pesky exotic invader known as the Round Goby is being gobbled up by the brownies resulting in sizeable football shaped fishing targets. |
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This is probably the only good thing associated with the Goby as they are truly an exotic specie nightmare. The shipping industry battles hard for status quo regarding ballast water exchange regulations. As long as present ballast regulations remain in effect, exotic invaders will continue to infiltrate the Great Lakes. I moved the "Dixie Dandy" back to the Little Salmon River around September 1st as cold, cold, water blew into the Oswego area turning those waters into a icy cold no mans land, or should I say a no fish land. In any event fishing was spectacular in front of the Salmon River with Chinooks and Cohoes on the attack most every day. Keep in mind that this area receives the largest planting of stocked fish as the only NYS Salmon rearing facility sits some 13 miles upstream of the lake. In all probability I will follow the same plan in 2010, which will be to start the season in Oswego and depending on fish movement, sliding back to my Little Salmon River mooring at the B&B Landing for the month of September. Please keep in mind that this cleverly designed plan is entirely dependent on the whims of Mother Nature. It will all depend on how the winds blow. The Columbus Day arrival started the egg taking
process at the Salmon River Hatchery in Altmar, NY. Good fish returns resulted
in planned egg quotas being achieved for both Chinooks and Cohoes. The eggs are
now in the incubation stage and will transform into smolts over the winter to be
raised and released into the lake in 2010. (Once they have spent a few weeks in
the net pens adjusting to non hatchery life.) For the third year in a row the
Chinooks will be given an adipose clip, (last fin on the back) to identify
them as stocked fish. Catch a mature salmon with no adipose clip and you can bet
it is a salmon spawned in the wild. We will soon have a scientific handle on
just how many wild spawned fish make it to adulthood. This is important
information necessary for biologists to properly manage the fishery. Prior to
arrival of our technically advanced fish marking system wild fish population
estimates were non existent. With the guesswork replaced with empirical data,
even better fishery management will result. The "crackerjack" NYS DEC Lake
Ontario Fishery Team continues their excellent work. Now that I have finally updated my blog and added 2009 photos to my site www.lakeontariofishing.net I will provide more frequent updates regarding our fishery. Really I will! So tune in often and of course let me know if you would like to fish with us in 2010. Thanks for reading the Captain Experience Blog.
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Tuesday, May 26, 2009Taking Stock in Stocking
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For nearly four decades the magnificent |
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I certainly hope the current management approach will continue. Sure some years are better than others due to nature's whims, but in general we are provided with excellent fishing opportunities second to none and it is why we can say that our fishery remains world class. Make no bones about it; the reason behind the good fishing is the stocking program. It is steady, consistent, controlled and as a result, very productive.
Since fishing preferences vary greatly according to the likes of the
myriad of anglers it is not surprising that some anglers really do not give a
hoot about the salmonid fishery and would prefer other species to prevail in
The last few years have seen tributary streams benefiting from clean
water efforts and we have seen a huge increase in the number of wild salmon,
especially in the Already some are suggesting that wild fish are better and we should discontinue the stocking program, to which I say bull feathers. Ever hear of the recent salmon situation in fertile northern Pacific waters? Salmon fishing out west is in deep trouble. I welcome the wild fish but be advised that if we depend on a totally wild fishery we will soon see boom or bust fishing opportunities. It will be nothing like what we enjoy today. If wild fish are making a serious contribution to the numbers of adult salmon, (some biologists currently question their current impact,) their presence must be factored into stocking numbers and perhaps stocking numbers will need to be adjusted, but not eliminated. It should be steady as she goes so that our wonderful fishing history will continue. Keep an eye on this one.
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Tuesday, April 07, 2009The Business of Fishing
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For a couple of decades now, New York State has felt the nasty exit breezes as
plenty of companies flee our borders for greener more business friendly
pastures. Most times the destinations were to other states geographically well
to the south of the so called |
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Corp just to name a few once healthy employers. With the recent announcement
that Magna Corp (formerly part of Chrysler Corp.) will soon close its So what is my
point? Why
bring this up on my fishing web site? Read on my friend, read on. The Fishing
tackle, boat sales, and visitor revenues help fuel our economy.
The
infrastructure called The customers of the "business" purchase fishing tackle, boats, boat accessories, licenses; they eat at local restaurants and sleep at local motels. They buy fuel for their boats and cars; they buy food, drink, and snacks. They buy gifts, go to movies and a whole gaggle of other things to numerous to name here. Like it or not our fishery is a revenue generating machine that contributes to our statewide economy. If a 100 plus million dollar NYS based industry even hinted that they were considering leaving the state the elected overseers would jump to offer incentives of all kinds to get that industry to stay put and that is not a bad thing. It is however somewhat ironic that when our Governor finally tries to cool the state's boiling fiscal cauldron, as well he should, we look at the successful fishing industry and cut fishery bureau jobs and increase user fees. Truth is stranger than fiction, isn't it! While budget woes continue, the short funded DEC Fishery people are managing the effort to get the job done with less people. It appears that as usual the users of the fishery will accept fee increases if those increases are used for DEC support and not things like tattoo removal or bridges to nowhere, a couple of outrageous pork favorites.
Let it be known that if you enjoy the Lake Ontario
Fishery you are stimulating the economy. When you go fishing, even if you do it
only once in a while, you are stimulating the economy. When you purchase fuel,
when you place a line in the water with that recently purchased lure, you are
stimulating the economy. As you are fishing, when you sit back, relax and chomp
on that huge sub sandwich, that you recently purchased, you are stimulating the
economy. When your brand new rod nestled in your expensive downrigger pops free
and starts to buck and the reel screams with the peeling line attached to a
mighty king, you are stimulating the economy. As you enjoy the exciting battle
to bring the bruiser fish to the boat, well that's a stimulation of a different
color. Only recreational and charter trollers will know what that is like. As I
have said in the past, it's great to be a | |
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Friday, March 20, 2009Eastern Basin Football Games
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It is time to play football, or should I say play with footballs. The NFL season
is over while the 2009 |
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Starting in early April the action
begins along the shoreline and in the confines of the Brown trout fishing is usually characterized by fast action where multiple hookups are quite common. A wide range of presentation techniques are used and this makes for some interesting situations. Catch one fish on one rod reel set up and the next fish on a totally different configuration and then on to still another type of presentation. Sounds interesting, doesn't it? Brown trout are wary, crafty creatures that do not wander too far from where they began their lives in the lake. They usually hang out together which affords the angler the multiple hookup probability. They will gobble up stick baits, spoons, spinners, tinsel flies worms and minnows just to name a few types of hook candy. This reminds me, about a time when I caught a brown on a young angler's Gummy Bear candy worm. True story, and if I remember correctly the color was green with a few white sprinkle "do dads". After catching that fish we would have used more gummies, but by that time we had eaten the entire bag. If I seem excited about brown trout fishing it is because I really am. I feel it is a fishing scenario where the puzzle must be solved many, many times during a fishing outing making the experience really intense and thus magnificently rewarding.
One final thought, the last three NYS record brown
trout were caught in
So if you want a trophy brown I think you know
where you should fish. Perhaps that guy should have said "go east young man".
In
any event it is still great to be a | |
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Tuesday, March 03, 2009Stimulate This!
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After weeks and weeks of doom and gloom coverage regarding the economy, congress has passed a humongous spending bill that in the short term may or may not help and in the long run will definitely burden future citizens when it is time to pay back the colossal amount of borrowed dollars. Much of the package is pure special interest pork; however with so much money being thrown against the wall, some of the spending will stick and may actually help. Take for example the possible container ship program, proposed for the Port of Oswego. |
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With a mammoth ocean vessel such as the newly christened Emma Maersk (www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/photos/06/1205) expected to deliver thousands of containers to a new port facility scheduled for completion in late 2011 at the mouth of the St Lawrence in the Strait of Canso. (www.straitsuperport.com). Smaller lake ships will be used to deliver containers to inland ports not accessible to the 1200' monster ship. The Oswego Port is proposing to handle one or two ship arrivals bi weekly and distribute the individual containers via trucks to nearby cities. Good news for the area, you bet it is, and the cost is certainly not prohibitive. You see, much of the infrastructure for this operation is already in place. This includes the lake, the Oswego Harbor and the east side port facilities. The lake ships up to 700' in length are self loaders/unloaders making the operation most affordable. Let us hope that our elected representatives will hop on the bandwagon and make it happen. This is a sensible project that will provide increased commerce and of course needed jobs. To me it is a no brainer. How will it affect fishing? Well anything that helps local economies will help fishing be it for charters or recreational anglers. The port itself will receive structural enhancement and in the middle of it all will be three local 1st class marinas serving the boating community. Now if you pop in a fourth nuclear plant for the Nine Mile area you have a real healthy stimulus for the Central New York economy. Good economies bode well for increased fishing probability as discretionary spending should increase. Both of these projects are a far cry from many of the pure pork projects that many politicos seem to favor such as one program spending big bucks on tattoo removal. Ouch!!!! A new page could be added to the Port's history that I believe it will provide economic opportunity and be viewed with pride. In a round about way it could enhance fishing opportunities. It will still be great to be a Lake Ontario Troller. Like the movie suggested, build it and they will come for sure! I hope they build it. Stimulate brother, stimulate! | |
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Sunday, February 15, 2009Politics and Fishing
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Come on now, if you are honest with yourself, are you not totally amazed at the goings on with regard to the economy. Actually I should say the "goings on" of our wonderful politicians as they try to solve what is "going on" with the economy as they attempt to determine what is actually "going on". It's a jungle out there and our almighty elected keepers of the jungle are pledging to save us if we only let them print more money. |
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Spend newly minted money, print reams of dollars, and keep shoveling it out and
we will soon have nary a worry. Why it's enough to make me want to forget it
all and simply go fishing. When you go fishing the only bailout you have to worry about is if your boat leaks, and the only "TARP" you need is one that covers the boat. Fannie Mae is the name of a bar maid at a local fisherman's pub, and Freddy Mac is an old time charter skipper who plays the "angles" on a boat named The Ponzi Schemer. Catch and release is a new political jargon for "OK I forgot to pay a few taxes and you caught me, however since I am a good guy, release me so that I can run our country's money pit." There is also a brand new lure on the market called the "Pelosi" it swims to the left, is colored cash green and catches plenty of huge "suckers". If you need some cheering up and want to take a break from the constant flow of bad news then let's go fishing. You will have an enjoyable day plus you might even do a bit of economy stimulating. So look on the bright side, give us a call and become a fishing stimulator. It is a great American thing to do. | |
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