1000 Islands Smallie

[JDTuna]

Great fish, Gerry! Looks like a great place to take a trip!

[AndyS]

Nice bass, any idea as to why fishing was slower than normal ?

[bulletbob]

Originally Posted by AndyS

Nice bass, any idea as to why fishing was slower than normal ?

Yes,, Round Goby... SLR/Great Lakes/Finger lakes/Oneida Lake, have been decimated by this invasive.. they now cover the bottom at all depths in all these great waterways.. they are aggressive in the extreme.. They eat the eggs of all other fish as well as the newly hatched fry, and they are so incredibly numerous that bass, sunfish family, perch, walleyes, and just about everything else cannot guard their nests.. In many fishing areas up here, you cannot even fish with a live worm any more.. As soon as its tossed out, 1000 gobies swarm it from every direction, and its stripped instantly.. What has happened is this- the bass, Lakers, and most other predators in the large waterways here have started to key on the super abundant gobies.. The fish that do survive are getting HUGE on Gobies.. Big fat bass like Gerry showed.. problem is, the populations of all game species that spawn naturally have been battered, and the numbers are WAY down.. When you catch a bass, its big, but there are no where near as many.. the trout trollers like the gobies, because the trout eat them and get fat.. Anyone that fishes for bass, walleyes, or pan fish, despise them.. I no longer fish cayug lakes right down the road from me.. Its impossible to catch anything with bait these days.. I haven't caught a sunfish or rock bass there in years with my grand kids.. i have to drive these days to skaneateles lake, as the Gobies haven't made it there.. Yet.. the zebras are there, not the Gobies... I HATE with a passion what has happened here.. Since I came in 1991.. Zebra Mussels/Quagga Mussels/ Round Gobies/Spinier Fleas/ Asian Carp.. Destroyed these waterways.. bob

[Gerry Zagorski]

My buddy Larry was fishing with worms and caught 4 or 5 Gobies while up there and they are a problem... Got to check out the Ned rigged TRDs, how do you fish them??

[Wilson]

Originally Posted by Gerry Zagorski

My buddy Larry was fishing with worms and caught 4 or 5 Gobies while up there and they are a problem... Got to check out the Ned rigged TRDs, how do you fish them??

Check out the new teacher... youtube.
A bunch to check out there.

[reason162]

Great smallie Gerry!

Originally Posted by bulletbob

Yes,, Round Goby... SLR/Great Lakes/Finger lakes/Oneida Lake, have been decimated by this invasive..

I've heard many people say zebra mussels + gobies have dramatically improved smallmouth waters throughout their range. 30lb+ bags are normal for pro tournaments now...where low 20s won tournaments couple decades ago.

Sometimes I catch a skinny summer smallmouth and wish we had gobies in NJ.

[thmyorke1]

Gerry, Ned rig is as simple as any jig really, try and leave it on the bottom like a finesse bait. You can hop it around, let it sink, and swim it too. Fish just love the small slim profile.

[Hookmanski]

Originally Posted by thmyorke1

Gerry, Ned rig is as simple as any jig really, try and leave it on the bottom like a finesse bait. You can hop it around, let it sink, and swim it too. Fish just love the small slim profile.

x2, I usually bounce them across the bottom but have also had success deadsticking them while drifting and using a slow retrieve to drag them along the bottom. I find they usually bite on the fall.

[bulletbob]

Originally Posted by reason162

Great smallie Gerry!



I've heard many people say zebra mussels + gobies have dramatically improved smallmouth waters throughout their range. 30lb+ bags are normal for pro tournaments now...where low 20s won tournaments couple decades ago.

Sometimes I catch a skinny summer smallmouth and wish we had gobies in NJ.

Absolutely incorrect.. The bass are WAY bigger, its true as they gorge on the Goby hordes.. However, the Bass numbers are a fraction of what they used to be.. In Cayuga Lake I used to regularly catch 20+ SMB in a few hours while fishing for panfish.. Could not keep them off the hook.. This is every trip, in all seasons,, They are about gone now in cayuga ..

Haven't caught one in years, and the fishery for them has collapsed pretty much.. Anyone that says Gobies and Zebra mussels have "improved" the fishing has no idea what they are talking about.. I suppose top flight pro bass fishermen that could catch bass out of a toilet might like the new much larger average size, but most every day fishermen have found a lot less fish to catch of all non Salmonid species.

The only fish not impacted numbers wise are the trout and salmon that are stocked. The Gobies eat the eggs and fry of everything else, and simply out compete other species due to their highly aggressive behavior. The Zebras eat all the plankton that the alewives eat. These lakes have been ruined as far as I am concerned, unless you like to troll 100 feet down for trout, which is not how I like to fish.
Bottoms are simply paved with Gobies sitting on a bottom completely encased with billions of Zebras... No longer any sign of spawning Bluegills, Rock bass or Black Bass , where at one time, the beds covered the bottom as far as the eye could see.. Nothing but Zebras now from 1 fow to over 400 feet. Not what I would call dramatically improved by any stretch of the imagination... A quick pic of what our lake and river bottoms look like today..
This video is real.. if you drop a worm into the water it is attacked on all sides by hundreds of gobies.. Thats what spawning fish have to deal with.. No you do NOT want these bastards in NJ...
bob

https://www.caryinstitute.org/sites/...fact_sheet.pdf


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VeqgjvGC6qs

[Fortunate Son]

Damn nice fish Gerry.

Bob, what's your opinion of Owasco? We stayed there 2 years ago and I liked it. Haven't hit Skaneatles yet, and I was overwhelmed by the size of Seneca the year before. Good to know that Cayuga is worthless.

Last year we visited Onandaga in the southern ADK, and while I found fish, it was tricky to navigate at the end of the summer with the annual draw down.