Dec 5th Fish Report

[Scott Kitchen]

Jo Jo and I spent most of the day (from about 7 AM till around 3 PM) in the cold west north west wind on the Ontario side of the upper.  The water looked nice, about 5 to 7 feet of visibility and a warm emerald green, but the fish did not want to play.  There where white caps in the triangle for most of the day and we did not see another boat at all.  Still nice to fish with Jo Jo for the first time (he brings cookies and sandwiches, yea me!).

[John Pensyl]

Would have been a great day to fish the East river. Hate to be the only one to say it but its time to think about making a change. Closing the east river early does nothing to help this fishery. South bridge holes were out of the wind and looked perfect all day. Be nice to be able to have options and spread out.

[33sjfo56qd2lf]

This will probably open up a can of worms, but I agree with you John.  I believe the DEC would be better off splitting the season actually.  Remove August as part of the season and open a second half to the season being September through December for the river and all inland lakes.  Tell me ... what's worse?  1) Targeting skinny frail fish in August with 75-80 degree water temps or targeting fish that are healthy in cold water?  Kind of a "No Brainer" here.  But I'm sure other have a different opinion on this one.  There is no stress on a musky like warm water stress.  Any handling of a musky in warm water and you stress that fish far more than in cold water.

[John Pensyl]

The musky anglers today are well educated on release techniques and are getting better at releasing fish without harm every year. Most years will have very few fishable days during this 15 day stretch and you don't have to worry about ametuers beating up fish like the summer months out there at that time of year. Our efforts to protect the fishery should be pointed towards educating bass anglers and avg weekend fisherman that are catching these fish incidentally and beating them to death in the process. They fish on top of the spawning grounds all spring because they don't know any better. Signage and education are the way to protect and improve this fishery. Not forcing educated anglers to pound the same areas over and over on fishable days in December. There's a reason duck seasons have continually moved later in the year over the last 20 year's and its not because there are less ducks. It's staying warmer later for whatever reason and we are not going to hurt the fishery by spreading out the fisherman taking advantage of the nice days.

[33sjfo56qd2lf]

True.  But I can tell you that I have had fish mid 30's I never took out of the water, in August, 78 degree water temp, that had trouble swimming away.   Musky fisherman at Cave Run don't fish it in the summer months because of this.  I don't know the point of shutting down in winter months.  All I'm saying is, if it's open season in August, it should be open all of December in my opinion.  I obviously know the point of shutting down during potential spawning, but a year ago I was catching fish with eggs still pouring out the beginning of of July, which that is probably not good if they were still spawning.  I am definitely in favor of fishing year around on all NYS inland lakes.  All of these other states are year around and they are not having any issues, like PA, OH, ect.... I am a musky fisherman, as of right now I am going to PA in the spring.  It would be nice to be able to fish these inland lakes that are not natural fisheries, year around, since they are stocked.  I guess everyone is entitled to their opinion.

[John Pensyl]

So we need to continue to educate anglers on the danger to these fish from high water temps. I saw higher temps at times during July this year than in august. Weather is the ultimate factor here and one crazy warm front in July or crazy cold front in august can effect surface temps very quickly. Closing a summer month preemptively can prove to be pointless in one of these situations. We have to rely on education and in the end our fellow anglers to make the right choice. Over regulation is not the answer. If we only relied on regulation I could slit the throat of every 44+ inch fish we've pulled from frenchmans this fall. In the end we have to trust the individual angler to do the right things and an educated angler is much more likely to do so.

[33sjfo56qd2lf]

Yep.  Education is everything.  I don't think fishing for them in the winter months would put any pressure on these fish by anyone other than the hardcore musky angler anyway, who should definitely know how to properly handle the fish anyway.  I'm with ya man.

[John Pensyl]

I'm sure there will need to be education there as well. Pulling a fish out of the water in sub freezing temps can cause gills, skin and eyes to freeze. Once again we'll have to rely on the angler to make the right decisions in these situations. These circumstances can just as easily present themselves in late Nov so shorter seasons over regulation is not the answer to preventing this from happening.

I personally know of 10 or so muskies being killed in the past 4 years. Only 2 were by musky anglers. I truly believe that more of our efforts need to be focused towards educating avid anglers who have incidental catches year round and recreational anglers who just don't know any better. What would you do with a 50 inch musky u caught while bass fishing the harbor in May?? Or the giant u pulled of the platform while catching silver bass? Or the beast you let flop around on the boat floor that hit ur worm harness? Or ate ur emerald while steelhead fishing in feb? Sadly these are the fish that don't swim away.

[33sjfo56qd2lf]

Hopefully Muskies Inc will get open season year around for all inland lakes.  I would love to fish inland lakes and rivers for muskies year around.  Upper Allegany River, Cassadaga, Chautauqua, Kinzua, ect.  Let's hope this happens.  

[John Pensyl]

In the end all muskies inc can do is get the ball rolling. Its still up to the anglers to submit there opinions when the season dates come up for public review this winter. When you can unite a group of people that agree on making these changes it certainly helps and I commend the group for getting enough people together to get the ball moving towards making some changes. Now is the time to look at our waterway and posistions on seasons and decide if they are still right for the future of our fishery. A healthy fishery provides maximum oppourtunity for the angler to enjoy and take part in their sport while not impacting the fish or future fish negatively. Do our current season dates accomplish this goal?? Canada, lower river, st. Lawrence, close Dec 15th and are all healthy fisheries. There is no reason the remaining nys greatlakes waters shouldn't follow suit.

[Scott McKee]

Why not ere on the side of caution?  I wish Ontario would have never extended their season in the upper and Lake Erie to the 15th.  Extending seasons only serves to benefit musky anglers.  Sometimes we have to put our passion for musky fishing and catching aside and allow our love (I hope you love them) of muskies to prevail.  Angling in really warm water and focused continual pounding of wintering spots will take its toll on fish populations.  Don't forget, injuries and slime removal take longer to heal in cold water.  The River musky population is bouncing back.  Let's protect it the best we possibly can.

I am all for educating anyone that has the slightest chance of catching a musky in our system.  This takes time and effort from not one, or a few, but all members.  Educating bass and walleye anglers requires trips to their meetings and tournaments, articles for their newsletters, etc..  Who is willing to do this?  Talk is cheap.  Actions impress me.

Educating casual anglers may be more difficult.  Signs and brochures only really reach so many.

Educating anglers that target muskies should remain our priority; making sure they have the tools and know-how to release them, and attempting to instil a moral responsibility to do so with the least amount of harm to the fish.  I think we all give too much credit to the release practices of musky anglers.  There is always room for improvement.

[John Pensyl]

We're not erring on the side of caution at this point. Everyone is fishing the Canadian side and taking advantage of the extending season including our board of directors. We are forcing ourselves to pound the same spots. At this point we need to stop being hypocritical and let ourselves spread out.

As far as educating other anglers how about a pamphlet published and put out by the nma?? We could put informational kiosks at popular launches and shore spots and keep these pamphlets stocked year round. Bass tourneys are a great spot to start and there are a ton of guides in the lower that could use a little talking to.

[John Pensyl]

Whether we like it or not we need to prepare for musky angling pressure on the Niagara to increase. The sport as a whole is becoming more popular, we had a great season and with that success will come more people looking to catch fish and take advantage of the fishery. The biggest factor will be the web itself, I've seen it first hand with the nys steelhead fishery. Of you don't think making all this info readily available on the web will have a huge impact on who musky fishes the Niagara in the coming years your fooling yourselves. We're not going to convince Ontario to close the season the 30th, especially since the fishery has continued to bounceback and improve with those dates. Now is the time for damage control, if you don't want those west river fish to be repeatedly pounded away at every sunny Dec day in Dec now is the time to make a change.