Seneca Lake Trout Derby! 2024

[Broad Bill]

I believe the finger lakes are all glacial lakes and years ago I had an opportunity to see them and as you say they had the clearest most beautiful water I've ever seen in a lake. Since so many invasive destructive species are getting in, I assume they're coming on through tributaries or feeders streams. Is that the case? I know a lot of Lake Ontario's problems were caused by ship ballast discharged from international tankers coming in though the St. Lawrence River, are the two systems connected and is that the origin of the zebra mussels, gobies and other invasive species you refer to? Gobies are a bad problem, I'm not sure they have a known way of stopping them. One study estimated in western Lake Erie alone, there were 9.9 billion gobies in 2002 and there's other studies which indicate the population has not only expanded but doubled in size since 2007. They're single handedly changing the entire ecosystem of the Great Lakes and it sound like they're doing to the same to the Finger Lakes. The planet can only tolerate so much pressure and commercialism, the Great Lakes and surrounding waters have become a dumping ground for container ships crossing the Atlantic.

[bulletbob]

Originally Posted by Broad Bill

I believe the finger lakes are all glacial lakes and years ago I had an opportunity to see them and as you say they had the clearest most beautiful water I've ever seen in a lake. Since so many invasive destructive species are getting in, I assume they're coming on through tributaries or feeders streams. Is that the case? I know a lot of Lake Ontario's problems were caused by ship ballast discharged from international tankers coming in though the St. Lawrence River, are the two systems connected and is that the origin of the zebra mussels, gobies and other invasive species you refer to? Gobies are a bad problem, I'm not sure they have a known way of stopping them. One study estimated in western Lake Erie alone, there were 9.9 billion gobies in 2002 and there's other studies which indicate the population has not only expanded but doubled in size since 2007. They're single handedly changing the entire ecosystem of the Great Lakes and it sound like they're doing to the same to the Finger Lakes. The planet can only tolerate so much pressure commercialism, the Great Lakes and surrounding waters have become a dumping ground for container ships crossing the Atlantic.

Everything started when they built the Welland Canal and bypassed the natural barrier of Niagra Falls and,that let in the Alewives,and Lampreys from the Atlantic.. Fleas/Gobies/Mussels/ are courtesy of ballast water dumped into the Great Lakes.. ""Improvements" such as the Erie Canal/Mud Lock has connected the Finger Lakes to the Great Lakes with dire consequences.. It is what it is.. No one here cares much, as long as they can troll with riggers for salmonids... That is usually pretty good when the Lampreys are not too fierce.. They are way up in Seneca and down in Cayuga.. about 8 years ago it was opposite.. I stopped fishing Cayuga and fished Seneca during that time.. As long as there are alewives there will be stocked salmonids to catch.. I you want to catch anything else, good luck.. I will say there are sections of the lakes doing ok for warm water species, as long as its sandy/weedy/muddy soft bottom, as Gobies are not as numerous there.. They favor rocky/broken/pebble bottom.. There are some Finger Lakes without Gobies yet, as they are not connected to Lake Ontario or the St Lawrence.. They ALL have mussels however, as well as farms/wineries/mansions/camps/resorts etc etc.. Too many people want a piece of all these lakes, and will pay through the nose to live on them, and the lakes are paying a steep price... These massive lakes now get pea soup green every summer from toxic algal blooms.. This was never seen years ago.. Simply too many people dumping too much crap [literally] into these once pristine ,pure, clean lakes... bob

[AndyS]

Those are nice fish, just wondering how big the fish were for the winners ?

[bulletbob]

Originally Posted by AndyS

Those are nice fish, just wondering how big the fish were for the winners ?

2024 National Lake Trout Derby winner board-


William Welch

12.36-pound lake trout

Division Winners

Lake Trout

Michael Salotti

12.02 pounds

Brown Trout

Ralph Feo

8.55 pounds

Rainbow Trout

Matt Dyske

8.45 pounds

Landlocked Salmon

Christopher Miller

7.61 pounds


all nice fish... Nothing earth shattering, but all good fish.. That derby gets a lot of GREAT trollers from all over the northeast.. Not my bag at all, but its a very big, very popular, well funded tournament,, and a LOT of fish get killed when there are hundreds of boats trolling multiple rods run deep... Lot of small fish get hooked, dragged to the boat which doesn't stop of course, quickly dumped overboard so the rigger can be reset quickly.. lots of floaters after all these massive tourneys up here... Trout tourneys and bass tourneys.. Personally, I have no use for them.... bob

[Broad Bill]

Sad narrative. As a civilization, all we preserve is exploitation of one resource after another and abuse of the planet for the sake of the almighty dollar. The fact the Great Lakes are the largest fresh water system on the planet and infested with invasive species is a daunting reality.

[Jerzguy2]

Parents almost bought a motel with 40 acres running down to the lake in the 60's, I wasn't looking forward to moving to the middle of nowhere. Big mistake, area was incredible, Cathrines Creek was famous for it's Sprog Rainbow run and the area was largely undeveloped. There is a large Winery on that property now, wish they had made the move.