Declining smallmouth bass population gets attention of DEC

Spiel · June 24, 2010

Declining smallmouth bass population gets attention of DEC

June 13, 2010

The sharp decline in the quality of smallmouth bass fishing on Lake Ontario has caught the attention of state aquatic biologists. And they are casting a net for help as they begin an extensive study as to why a smallmouth fishery that produced an average of 13.4 catches per boat trip during the early 2000s had dropped to 3.08 catches by 2008, and continues to slide. "Smallmouth bass fishing on Lake Ontario used to be fantastic. Anywhere from, say, Sandy Creek all the way to Oswego you could catch a lot of bass and catch them easily," said Matt Sanderson, Region 8 senior aquatic biologist for the Department of Environmental Conservation. But the smallmouth fishing has been in sharp decline since 2004, about two years after the documented arrival in great numbers of the round goby, an invasive species that eats bass fry but also has become a primary food source for adult bass. Well-fed bass are less likely to bite an angler's artificial lure or live bait. Meanwhile, the voracious gobies seemingly bite anything, frustrating many an angler who used to be able to catch smallmouth bass with simple worm rigging. Some bass anglers have experienced better success by changing their techniques — bigger swim baits, suspending live baits farther off the bottom, trolling small stickbaits. In 2008, however, more than half of the boats targeting smallmouth didn't catch a single fish and the catch and harvest rates were the lowest on record. "The past two years, even guys who changed techniques weren't catching them," Sanderson said. "We have limited data about smallmouth on Lake Ontario so we're taking measures to see exactly what's going on out there." In addition to conducting netting surveys this summer to determine the relative abundance of bass and their health, the DEC is launching the Lake Ontario Black Bass Angler Diary Program to enhance their study. From opening day June 19 to Sept. 30, volunteer anglers are being asked to keep a detailed diary of their bass fishing activity (from a boat or from land). The data will be crunched after the season and each participant will receive a report. The lake's goby population is said to have peaked but like many invasive species is here to stay. In places such as Lake Erie and the eastern end of Ontario, goby-fed smallmouth are growing to trophy size and the quality of fishing hasn't suffered. If there's an imbalance around Rochester — more gobies than bass — the DEC wants to know.