Are comprants destroying lake fishing for trout?

[tedmarx38]

Last year was the first dud in 8 yrs for me at Amwell. Last weekend workout out well and on Sunday my son and I landed five rainbows before noon. Then for the first time this year the devil birds showed up. After lunch no one here caught much of anything. They're here again today and despite yesterday's temps warming the water, no ones having any luck including me. I've watched them yank trout left and right and since last year was the first time I've seen them here, and since their arrival last wknd seems to have ended the action, it seems logical that they're the cause. Anyone share the same conclusion?

[justin1982]

I have to agree with you, until yesterday those birds caught a hell of a lot more trout than I did

[tedmarx38]

I'm giving it one more weekend and assuming no change, I'll speak with a silent wallet next season. No way I'm paying to raise fish that get eaten by a bird uglier than a gorilla's ass. Shame too because of it weren't for the Marxist owl saviors, a small army of fat guys like me with 22's could solve this problem in one afternoon.

[JDTuna]

Honestly, I doubt it. Many people keeping their limit every time they go are more likely responsible for lakes getting depleted.

[tedmarx38]

I used to limit out here but no more and no one else is having luck either. Confirmed by fish warden too. Keep in mind I'm talking about one spot, Amwell Lake.

[Chrisper4694]

I really expect nothing less when dumping trout into a shallow pond. I mean, they belong in rivers, streams, and deep cold lakes. Even if they don't survive long term in all these places at least we wouldn't be paying to feed birds.

But wasting the trout in these small shallow ponds will never stop because of the money loss that would be involved I guess haha

[jimcnj]

Didn't we do this already?

For the most part , natural areas in New Jersey have been destroyed by urbanization and pollution. Now we are upset because the non-native fish we stock are being eaten by birds that have been around since the dinosaur days?

Keep your .22s on the gun rack. Step up your game.

[njflyfisher]

They should honestly change the limit of fish you can keep. It should be dropped to 4. I've seen the same group of guys taking there limits every weekend since opening day. I couldn't make it out to the same place I fish today but those guys were defiantly there today too.

[tedmarx38]

@jim I'm new to this forum so the "didnt we do this already" comment isn't helpful. I fish with a 10 yr old kid, so lakes and ponds are a great way to get him into the sport. I did the same with my older sons. Your "step up your game" comment puts you in the troll category -- the type of unfortunates that ruin productive dialog on forums like this, always posted by those who sound tough when hiding behind a keyboard. Good luck to you all the same.

[Suntzu]

The cormorants are a growing problem, not just for trout fishing. I have a 5 acre pond next to my office essentially fish able only by people that work for my company and I am the only one who does. This pond had great bass fishing for years, the cormorants have eliminated every bass between 5" and 14". Two tough winters have really hurt the big bass population. This pond will soon be essentially barren of any fish over 5" as a consequence of a dozen cormorants who come in every spring and work it over
That being said I am opposed to trout stocking shallow ponds and lakes. It's a waste of fish due to predation and warm water kill. Better to put them all in rivers even more urban rivers in the eastern part of the state where there are more fishermen and good access and the fish can be spread out a bit. They are still easy enough to catch

[Jedhead]

First off, the stocking of trout in waters that are not hold over and pretty much a waste of time to put it frankly is what the state MUST do. They put forth a temporary fishery for those who decide they need to get out or a few days to fish. When you purchase your license and buy the trout stamp, you are only purchasing a privilege to attempt to catch the fish that the State stocks where they chose and your stamp fee subsidizes that cost to raise and stock the fish. The state chooses the obvious best streams and lakes to stock but must also include urban lakes and streams as well as shallow state and county ponds to stock to give all who purchase the stamp a chance to fish . Alot of people who can not travel far or do not have the gear to wade and fish a stream or a boat to fish a lake need the opportunity to get out and fish. The state tries to give this opportunity to all who wish to catch the stocked fish. Personally I do not trout fish and the last time I was out on opening day was 20 yrs ago and never plan to go again, but I do understand the excitement of opening day, for me it's 365 days a year weather permitting so trout fishing in the spring has no real significance. On the subject of cormorants
, those birds need to be significantly thinned out. The amount of birds I've recently seen is disturbing espically in mid to southern nj waters. I can not phathom the amount of fish they must deplete. It's just not stocked trout, it's all juvenile species. Mother Nature can be a bitch. Just my 2 cents..

[jimcnj]

@jim I'm new to this forum so the "didnt we do this already" comment isn't helpful. I fish with a 10 yr old kid, so lakes and ponds are a great way to get him into the sport. I did the same with my older sons. Your "step up your game" comment puts you in the troll category -- the type of unfortunates that ruin productive dialog on forums like this, always posted by those who sound tough when hiding behind a keyboard. Good luck to you all the same.

Ted, I didn't mean to hurt your feelings.
You suggest shooting rifles in park ponds (not helpful) and I'm the tough guy hiding being the screen? BTW,I fish with a ten year old, too.
Again, sorry.

[EJS]

I really expect nothing less when dumping trout into a shallow pond. I mean, they belong in rivers, streams, and deep cold lakes. Even if they don't survive long term in all these places at least we wouldn't be paying to feed birds.

But wasting the trout in these small shallow ponds will never stop because of the money loss that would be involved I guess haha

Exactly!

It's all about the money! Putting trout in the frog water sells licenses with trout stamps. God forbid people drive to a cold water stream, a river or a reservoir for trout! Instead Fish & Game has taken the supermarket approach, a 1 stop shop for any fish you want to catch in your local duck pond!

[Almaink]

They have ruined Colonial Lake in Lawrenceville as well. I hear they were taking surveys about these birds on opening day, lets hope F&G does something.

[justin1982]

Yes, opening day, the state volunteer asked me how many I've seen so hopefully a plan is in the works. the problem I have with them now is the numbers. I've fished Verona park my whole life and there used to be 1 or 2, now there is 5 possibly more. There has to be a middle ground between killing them off and letting them harm fisheries.

[baetis]

Exactly!

. God forbid people drive to a cold water stream, a river or a reservoir for trout! Instead Fish & Game has taken the supermarket approach, a 1 stop shop for any fish you want to catch in your local duck pond!

Not everybody has a car. And, is that what you really want? An additional dozen people at your favorite hole? And is fishing a stream or river where the trout are all holding in one pool under the stocking point really that much more of a challenge that the one stop "shop" at the local duck pond?

[Eskimo]

.



Cormorants can be a real problem. It's always controversial when sportsmen have to compete with a native species of protected waterfowl for fish.


Here is a previous thread about them:
http://www.njfishing.com/forums/showthread.php?t=68325



.

[goodfishin]

I did some research on cormorants last year to see if they were truly becoming a more substantial nuisance or it was just in all of us fishermen's heads.

Well, apparently we aren't imagining it... Cormorants, along with most other large birds, were dramatically thinned out back when we used to use organichloride pesticides (like DDT). Eagles, peregrine falcons, ospreys, etc., were all nearly wiped out. Cormorants were thinned but fared a bit better.

Once we stopped using those pesticides bird populations started to recover. The problem is that cormorants breed and therefore multiply at far, far faster rates than their natural predators (eagles, etc.). An eagle pair is lucky to have one eaglet survive it's first winter. Cormorants are love machines.

By the 70's, some species had recovered to only a few hundred birds, yet the cormorant population already 10,000+. Multiply that out a few more decades and you have the downstream effect of us screwing up the food chain pretty damn badly.

[justin1982]

Exactly!

It's all about the money! Putting trout in the frog water sells licenses with trout stamps. God forbid people drive to a cold water stream, a river or a reservoir for trout! Instead Fish & Game has taken the supermarket approach, a 1 stop shop for any fish you want to catch in your local duck pond!

Not to get off topic but I gotta respectfully disagree with this. Personally, I'm not the biggest trout guy in the world, I like going to a local pond and grabbing a few trout for dinner and enjoying the nice weather. Its much easier to go to a pond as I don't live near many trout streams. Also, i tried taking my nephew and sons friend to the pequest years ago and streams aren't the easiest place to fish with 9 year olds, let alone the non- smoking 45 min car ride with screaming kids:p

[Jigman13]

...with 9 year olds, let alone the non- smoking 45 min car ride with screaming kids:p

Two things: quit smoking... And bump some Wu; its for the children! :D

[justin1982]

Two things: quit smoking... And bump some Wu; its for the children! :D

Diversify your bonds man :):D

[bassnblues]

thoughts for both discussions

- NJ trout fishing is a put and take fishery, always has, always will be. There are very few places that will support holdover trout and almost none that support natives. Stocking provides recreation and needed money for F&G.

Speaking selfishly for myself now, I am disabled and the only opportunity I have to fish for trout other than traveling and hiring a drift boat is to go to a pond with my wheelchair.

I think cormorants can have an effect on a small pond that gets stocked with "cormorant candy". In NY they now run boats offshore in lake Ontario to avoid the cormorants.

[bassnblues]

Thoughts for both discussions

- NJ trout fishing is a put and take fishery, always has, always will be. There are very few places that will support holdover trout and almost none that support natives. Stocking provides recreation and needed money for F&G.

Speaking selfishly for myself now, I am disabled and the only opportunity I have to fish for trout other than traveling and hiring a drift boat is to go to a pond with my wheelchair.

I think cormorants can have an effect on a small pond that gets stocked with "cormorant candy". In NY they now run boats offshore to stock in lake Ontario to avoid the cormorants.

[tedmarx38]

Log you're one of the rare NJ trout fisherpeople who don't go after stocked trout, keep this is mind: your fishing license fee is largely dependent on how many people buy licenses to support the hatchery operations plus NJDEP overhead. My two older sons now need licenses and after watching the devil birds suck down stocked trout last year, they didn't bother with licenses and the trout stamps this year. Teens are very logical creatures of raised right -- they're doing other things this spring. So, their fees didn't add to the revenue stream this time and I'm sure they have plenty of company.

This really is pretty stupid compared to the way we thought before leftist tree huggers ruined logic. Can you imagine people defending Canada goose habitat near airports had Sully's Miracle on the Hudson occurred in 1981 or so? Good Jesus. Geese almost being down a plane = geese threatening aviation all die the next day.

This used to be one helluva country.

[tedmarx38]

My typos in the above come from old age and bad eyesight. Hope you cN decipher. Don't get me started on autocorrect and the small size of iPhone 5s screens.