Greater Niagara Fishing Expo

[John Jarosz]

Many thanks to Joe Dolan for visiting at the NMA booth today.  he came over to chat, sat down to b.s. & next thing you know is talking inland muskies to the crowd. Had people stop in from Waneta/Lamoka area, Chautauqua area, Kinzua area, Muskies Canada, Pennsylvania, Rochester area & on & on & on. We talked Cassadaga, Chautauqua, Bear, Lamoka, Conesus, Kinuza, Cave Run & I know I've forgotten others. 

The time went quickly, a good chance to talk with Joe (who I don't get a chance to talk with much) & even talked with a few future musky angler kids. Met one kid who even fishes from shore on G.I. & isn't even old enough to drive. A real good time!!

[Scott McKee]

If you are feeling a bit daffy, I'm speaking at 10am and noon. What am I talking about? You decide...

[John Jarosz]

Only a bit daffy? That's more than I deserve, but here goes. These are the topics & areas that people were interested in & that were covered, both in the classroom & in (in no particular order). Some were surprised me:

1. I stressed that the muskies here are native, non-stocked, self sustaining & said that right here we have 2 out of the only 3 areas in NYS that are not stocked.

THEREFORE, IF YOU CATCH ONE, INCIDENTALLY, HANDLE WITH KID GLOVES!!

2. We talked about stocking bias & a few in the audience chimed in with their take. People liked the fact that they are wild. Handling with kid gloves will preserve them & the anglers agreed there is a difference

3. I talked about catching perch & walleye with my father, from shore, & that brought back their memories. They see the change in the fishery because of the cleanup & clear water. talked old steel plant days

4. Surprisingly, many were interested in Bflo Harbor musky fishing. It's easier as far as boat control, more protected & they're prob familiar with it.

5. About 3 or 4 came to me & said they have 14 & 15 ft boats. We talked about fishing in that & that some of our members have boats like that

6. We talked about best time of day for them. They're never going to meet Tommy R out there. Best is early a.m. or evening into the night (for them)

7. A good number who fished are walleye & bass guys who don't have the big rigs, 14' - 17' & fish the harbor areas.

8. We talked structure in the harbor & habitat muskies like & why the harbor has it all

9. We talked about HANDLING NON STOCKED, SELF SUSTAINING WITH KID GLOVES!!

10. We talked FAS's and telemetry (EZ Pass). I saw a lot of heads nodding & the impression I got was that they are glad someone is doing research out here. I hope the nodding wasn't because they were falling asleep

11. A big topic was how do you get into it cheaply? Easiest answers were "start inland" & hire a guide. At the booth, Joe knew some good guides who he highly recommended & who aren't hacks.

12. We talked casting bucktails, RO tubes & smaller cranks. As an absolute minimum, if they already had a beefy casting rod, spool up with 80# PowerPro & an 80# steel leader.

13. We talked about the NMA's C&R data & level of effort (~10 hrs per fish). Don't expect to go out & catch if you go 2 hrs every Sunday. Time on the water will get a musky

14. We talked equipment, in water releases & handling the fish (horizontal, not on bottom)

15. we ran out of time in the classroom (I didn't have a watch) & some wanted to stay longer but another class was coming in

16. We talked about the 2 FAS's that can be fished from shore

17. We talked about the metal sheet piling, bulkheads & industrialization of the Niagara

18 At the booth, the inland guys showed up. A lot of out-of-towners. Joe did an excellent job talking ripping, casting, jerk & pause, types of lures that he likes, etc. There was never a shortage of people for that & I wished he & I had more time to talk

19. we talked about coming to our meetings just to try it out for a few & it will be the best $20 they ever spent.

20. I'll speak for myself here but the most important things were:

     A. in the classroom: cover a big variety of topics & watch for the audience's reaction. There will always be some interested in some of the topics, even fly fishing

     B. There is a genuine interest in the environment, the quality of the fishing & HANDLING NON-STOCKED, SELF-SUSTAINING FISH

The audience who is interested were inland anglers and local amateurs. The amateurs really want to try it out as another species they fish for in addition to bass. Most are not hardcore like many of out members, so their first musky will probably be incidental

[John Jarosz]

BTW, I left the vendor packet at the front desk. Had to park in the lot near the Sheraton (normally $10) but there are a few parking vouchers in the packet. Give to the attendant & parking is free.

I also bought a new small kicker (2.5 hp for the jon) from Brobeil's. I really hate going to these shows

[John Jarosz]

Also BTW, the big, colorful lures on the table were attractors only . It brought them to the table & kept their interest in the classroom. Also don't hesitate to recommend Brookdog, just up the aisle from us. Nate & Ryan handed out a few NMA membership forms from their booth, too. At ours, we handed out prob 8 to 12.