Quote:
Originally Posted by DanH
So sad to hear this about Seneca ! We fished it in the 80's and it was a fisherman's paradise ! Back then the State had an aggressive campaign against the Lampreys in Catherines Creek and it seemed to a least control them . Do you think the decline of the smelt population had a negative effect ?
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Well even after the Smelt were in decline by the 90's the lake was still loaded with fish, and fishing was great until about 20 or so years ago.. Same with Cayuga... The Smelt can't compete with the hordes of Alewives, young Gobies, Zebra mussels, Quagga Mussels,and Spiny Fleas[all invasive] that all eat the same plankton, not to mention severe over harvest by people, and simply died out over time ... NY still treats for Lampreys, but only seems to do it these days when the trout populations get decimated and the trollers start screaming about it to them.. NY DEC is NOT like NJ,, They take care of the Great lakes salmon and Catskill trout stream and big impoundments, all else is pretty much left to rot.. The smelt extinction is not a cause of the problem, its a victim of the problem.. Too many invasives, and too many people living on and making a living off these lakes.. Like the ocean, we assumed the lakes were too big, too deep to die.. Wrong assumption,... I looked at results of the tourney and it wasn't too bad this year, but a lot of good local trollers had similar results to the OP.. Lots of smaller to average size fish. bob
