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!).

[30o40052jm6ke]

I really like a lot of ideas that were mentioned by everyone.  (A new award, cancelling top ten and tournaments, sanctuaries, etc....)  I really like all ideas.  Anything to help preserve the fishery.  I will say, and I don't want to make any derogatory marks, but it seems that there is a lot of contradiction with this club.  Are we competitive, conservative???  Who knows at this point.  I know that I'll always fish to conserve no matter what. Becoming versatile is my new goal.   I also know that I'll be fishing new parts of the River and harbor next year including new bodies of water.  Especially Allegheny River.  It is amazing up there folks.  Really amazing.  Miles, and miles of fishing.  Anyway, I can't wait to see what changes will take place or stand.  I will continue to fish conservatively no matter what.  Hope to see everyone soon.  Take care. 

[Josh Ketry]

See what happens when people aren't fishing?  More time on our hands to debate!!

Some of the people here may not remember what it was like to live in a fishery after it crashed.  We should be grateful that we may be getting a second chance here, and not take the opportunity lightly.

Some of the stuff you guys are saying though makes sense to me. We could vote to move the opener back to July 1st for the upper river and harbor (and make us sad as anglers but happy as conversationalists) but, then treat ourselves by pushing to have the inland lakes open June 1st making us happy as anglers and indifferent as conversationalists (because they are stocked)).

Or, get complicated and do an every other year scenario where one year the harbor opens earlier, the next year it is the upper river, the next year it is the lower.  You can't fish during waning moons, East winds, every other month during leap years, or in boats whose tag end with the same number as the day of the month.

Or better yet, we can just leave everything how it is.  Seems to be working pretty good as long as we keep being conscious anglers and spreading the love.

Which reminds me: Bucket In-Fisherman's critical concept #114:  If you see two male dogs in a boat floating by your bucket, one trying to hump the other - they are probably father and son dogs.  Actually they are probably JoJo's dogs, and it is Father's Day which makes it all the more ironic, and hilarious. If you witness this, hold your empty bucket up to your ear and listen very closely.  You should hear, "Come on! No!!!! It is Father's Day!! Alabalala!" 

If we moved the season back, then JoJo's father dog would not try to hump his son on Father's day, because the season would still be closed.

You still got 8 days left and a whole lot of river and lake fish. Do it.

[jojo wilczewski]

Good Day

I like the reply, but you promised not to tell???

BTW the same father and son dog traits have been passed on to the next generation.

I cannot imagine where they came from, ruff ruff ruff...

ALA BALA BALA RUFF RUFF jojoout

[Capt. Larry D. Jones]

Josh,So Funny! Out to Wind Mill Point in the morning to see if gizzard shad & big hooks are there like last December. ___

[Stephen Glassic]

Weeew!!!

I just got through reading the last four pages on this thread.

I haven't checked the site since last night.

Is this a record thread length?

It has been interesting reading and there were a lot of good points from a lot of angles and anglers.

I get the impression that it is a topic that will take more than one meeting to discuss.

We are all conversationalistic about our conservationism.

But what it all boils down to is that we are all very passionate about Musky fishing.  We wouldn't be here otherwise.  We don't want to give it up, go too long without it or let it slip away and we want to have it available when we want it. 

Sounds like a three letter word that starts with S. 

We just have to do the best we can to make sure we have it as often as possible without  causing it to be lost in the future.  As for the things we can't control, we just have to pray they aren't too bad or too often.  Alabala bala

[Scott McKee]

564 views.  Very impressive.

[Josh Ketry]

Speaking of Gizzard shad, we snagged a few small distinct ones with the little black dot behind their gill plates.  These were a little bigger than an air hockey puck.  

But then in the lower river this week, and upper near Thompsons hole there were Giant 1#-2# shad of some type.  Are these gizzards too? 

Lower River:

Upper River:

[Scott McKee]

I think the one from the lower is a Musky Innovations Shallow Invader in crappie.  The big one from the upper appears to be a Musky Innovations Pounder.  I can't identify the color. (;

[Frank Stachowiak]

You can get either one at a fish fry any Friday night in Cheektowaga.

[Josh Ketry]

You are correct, Scott.

I think the lower river are shad and that upper river fish on the pounder - that was in a HUGE school  - is called a northern quillback sucker, native to only our end of lake Erie. I believe it is the same type of schools misidentified at Dunkirk Harbor.

http://www.dnr.state.oh.us/Home/species_a_to_z/SpeciesGuideIndex/qu...

[Capt. Larry D. Jones]

That picture looks like a Rudd to me!

[Tony Scime]

A good discussion. A few of my own thoughts:

1. We opposed the season extension to December 15 for several seasons, some:

a. Female muskies winter over near their spawning grounds. This includes deep water adjacent to weed beds in the Buffalo Harbor, the triangle (adjacent to Strawberry and Motor Island weed beds), and the Shipyards. This makes them easy to target in late November and throughout the winter to spring.

b. We succeeded in opposing the NY extension in the upper and BH, but not the Canadian extension. I don't believe the OMNR really has an understanding of, nor a concern for, the long-term viability of the upper river musky fishery. They have many and vast fisheries, and this is rather small and inconsequential to them, and mostly US anglers. My opinion is based on my many years of working with and petitioning them concerning the upper river. They have rarely been supportive of NY efforts (we have been lucky to have had great DEC allies in Mike Wilkinson, Steve Mooradian and Paul McKeown).

c. When the BH was healthy, many "outsiders", and some locals, would spend weeks at a time hitting these big females during November. Many of these fish were either harvested or mis-handled. We had first hand accounts and observations of these events. If the season were to be extended to December 15, and if the BH were to ever regain its glory, I'm sure that the unfettered, non-stop attack on these muskies would happen again, only this time it would continue for an additional 15 days. Weather does not deter these hard-core anglers which came from throughout the mid-west. This was a big fish mecca for them. The only thing which has changed is that the size limit was raised to 54 inches (from 48) at our request. We believed that the BH was a very special fishery and needed special protection. I still believe that the extra protection is important. It is a small fishery which can produce numbers of very big fish.  Unlike the river, the BH has never recovered from the crash - caused by a myriad of factors.

2. The triangle has been pounded for a century. Remarkably it survives and at times thrives. For many years I have tried, mostly unsuccessfully, to persuade anglers to spread their fishing efforts to other areas (most recently in this year's newsletter). Most anglers find it difficult to leave the best areas of the river. The best we can do is to persuade our members not to beat the best spots to death (figuratively and literally). Over the years I've seen very good musky anglers pound to death the best spots, catch a lot of big fish, and think they're great. I believe that the best musky anglers, and the ones I have the most respect for, limit their time on the best spots. They are willing to step away for a time for the good of the fishery. I think that we all undergo a maturing process before we reach that understanding, but eventually most of us get there. I've seen it with anglers who came before me, and I've seen it with anglers who came after me. Of course, there's always a few of us who never really mature. Also, just because the OMNR does not believe it necessary to provide our little musky fishery with added protection doesn't mean that we should follow their lead. I don't think that they have the best interest of the fishery in mind.   

3. In my mind there are two types of musky anglers - those who are here for the long-term and have a vested interest in the continued viability of our musky fishery,  and the cherry pickers. The long-termers are here during the good and the bad. The cherry pickers are only here when the picking is good. When the going gets bad, they go picking elsewhere. They really don't care about this fishery. I always believed that we should limit the cherry picking time. That includes shorter seasons.

4. Never take a good fishery for granted. I don't believe that we should expand the fishery's exploitation any further. Once it's expanded it's difficult to take away.

5. I like the seasons where they are, but I wouldn't oppose moving the opener to July 1. I would oppose extending the closing date.

Tony