Proposed rainbow trout regulation Change for Lake Ontario ( fmz 20)

[chessy]

As a long time outdoor writer/angler I'm sure Craig is well aware of the stocking history of the Ganaraska and likely everything else Steelhead/Great Lakes related. I suspect what he was implying was for you to become more aware of the facts before you espouse it as doctrine. Applause to you for looking into it.

 

yes he is partialy correct and i am wrong. the reason they told us the river was never stalked was due to study that proved they did not survied . they do not stock rainbows in now what is called fmz17 due to the wild rainbow, i do not know how far that goes back i just asked about the rainbows in the ganaraska i know they stocked the crap out of the browns in the river but never 100 000 rainbows... i would like to pic craigs brain on the 5-2 fish limit on rainbows if it will make a difference or not. and yes spiel is was good time talking to jim bowlby and the lomu again . the only time i see them is during the run at the fishladder ( in my 32th volenteering there )

Edited March 29, 2011 by chessy

[Roy]

Chessy, calm down. You're spelling goes wonky when you get upset.

[aniceguy]

Cheesy to answer the question on the reduction from 5 to 2, statistically there is virtually no change in harvest rates,

Somewhere in the 3 to 8% range in overall harvest rates. I want to caution that much of the relevent data collected By LOMU is outdated and in many cases challanged data, I think that is changing with new managment at the helm.

 

What this does do is spark the debate for future managment directions to all salmonids. If we want to see what a reduction really does we only need to look at the salmon river, prior to a reduction to 1 fish the run was estimated at 6000 or so with the reduction to 1 fish the fall catch was estimated at 32000.

 

2 fish to be blunt mearly puts a bandaid on it, but what it does is recognize that the MNR feels that harvest is not at sustinable levels and that steps need to be taken, remember the mNR doesnt have capacity to under go the neccessary work in many cases, hence where we are these days with some fisheries.

 

CRAA creel data from both the boat launch and tag returns show 90% are harvested in the lake and to have a sustainable fishery harvest needs to be in the 30 to 35%

This entire thing has sparked us at CRAA to gather all relevent temporal data on steelhead and become an internet deposit for it when things like this pop up, right now the vast majority of supporting science sits with 3 people and we intend to bring it to a public depository on the site soon.

[canadadude]

I would like to add the that a 1 fish limit in New York State is only for tributary caught fish. The New York State Lake Ontario limit is 3 Rainbows, if Ontario adopts a 2 fish limit we'll be less. The LOMU right now is understanding that lowering the lake limit will have a very small impact on the fishery.Personally I tried to understand there way of thinking, but the way these guys interpert data makes your head spin.The LOMU only beleives data that is convient for there decisions should be used even if other jurisdictions have success in management of the lake.One of the biggest hurdles in the management of Lake Ontario is the LOMU,the monies spent and data collection , interpertation and such is amazing and yet we never get any answers or recomondations.Nothing concreate is ever achieved it's millions of dollars for

[craigdritchie]

Chessy - OMNR stocked the Ganaraska River with rainbow trout very heavily throughout the 1970s, prior to and especially after the Corbett Dam fishway was completed in 1974. MNR poured in excess of 100,000 rainbow trout smolts into the river each and every year until 1979. I know this because I was there to write about it, and in fact I helped stock some of those fish. These rainbows came from domestic brood stock at the Normandale Hatchery.

 

With growing levels of natural reproduction, MNR stopped stocking rainbows into the Ganaraska after 1979. The runs peaked in the early 1980s, with something like 18,000 adults passing through the fishway in 1983 or 1984, I believe. Steelhead runs have declined ever since, and now hold at around 4,000 to 5,000 adults through the ladder every spring.

 

The main reason the run declined so abruptly is because of insane fishing pressure and too many people killing too many fish. Most go on stringers, but many thousands of smolts are also killed each year by accident, when they're hooked by people fishing for adult steelhead. Even more eggs are killed by idiots who wade through the redds. You see this every spring.

 

Reducing the bag limit from five fish to two fish will help. It isn't the final answer, but it definitely will help and should be encouraged by all anglers.

Edited March 29, 2011 by Craig_Ritchie

[chessy]

Would like to thank the last three posters for their valuable imput

[12footspringbok]

Even more eggs are killed by idiots who wade through the redds. You see this every spring.

 

 

 

Totally off topic but a huge pet peeve of mine. Like do we even need to stand in the water 2 feet away from where we're drifting? LOL

[chessy]

once again from what i was told a few years ago when we were trying to stop the float your fanny down the ganny race... ( walking in a redd does not hurt the eggs ) what hurts the eggs is walking upstream and depositing silt in the redd which smothers the eggs and promotes (saprilignia)sp this came from a bioligist in the durham region

[Garnet]

My memory say the peak runs were 1986.

 

The counter in the 80's counted leaves, sticks, garbage bags and any other crap that went threw the fish ladder.

 

Yes there was insane spring fishing in the later 70's and 80's not so much in the fall and nothing in winter.

 

I watch these river silt back after the 1981 floods and it's still the main reason for the declining #'s.

[Guest ThisPlaceSucks]

 

Totally off topic but a huge pet peeve of mine. Like do we even need to stand in the water 2 feet away from where we're drifting? LOL

 

 

same here!

another related peeve of mine is that it seems EVERY atv owner has a photo of them driving up a small speck creek like it's a trail...

[chessy]

My memory say the peak runs were 1986.

 

The counter in the 80's counted leaves, sticks, garbage bags and any other crap that went threw the fish ladder.

 

Yes there was insane spring fishing in the later 70's and 80's not so much in the fall and nothing in winter.

 

I watch these river silt back after the 1981 floods and it's still the main reason for the declining #'s.

 

mmmm the counter would show them going down stream not upstream and back then we had smaller channels and a trash rack. leaves do not conduct enough electricity to set off the counter .

also we have the same counter . just bigger channels

[canadadude]

The record numbers of fish in the early 80's were abnormial in the fact they were a combination of heavily stocked fish aswell as naturals and the caused a population explosion. The population did take a drastic drop as the population had to rely on naturals, the population is leveling out now. The Ganaraska in it's current state may only be able to produce and maintain a healthy run of 5-10 thousand returns at best.

[john from craa]

The stocking ended in the Ganny in the mid-late 70's. The stocked fish would have been long dead of old age before the record lift occured. The best run was in 1989 (18,169). Steelhead live an average of 7-8 years. See page 12/92 of the following pdf from MNR. That record was all wild fish, except the usual stray level.

 

http://www.glfc.org/lakecom/loc/mgmt_unit/LOA%2011.01.pdf

 

Note in 2010 the run grew about 20% and they attribute it to NY's lower limits.

 

John

[dhickey]

or higher water levels?

wich increase spawning grounds=more fish to spawn?=more fish to spawn=and so on and so on and so on.

granted we as anglers cant realy control water levels(thats up to the hydro companys) but maby if we keep barking at them we can help restore fish populations!!!

along with practicing catch and release?

as i stand here today higher water levels in our lakes and rivers and streams during spawning and gestation of eggs is crucial in order to sustain native fish stock as well as stocked fish!!!???

 

saltydawg...

 

stay out of the creeks and rivers after spawning.

 

morrons

 

responsible anglers exluded

Edited March 30, 2011 by saltydawg

[icedude]

Below is the information for a proposed regulatory change on Lake ontario ( fmz 20 ) for rainbow Trout, Its a great step into the future one that We at CRAA offer full support and your comments are more then welcome

 

please forward comments to [email protected]

Louis Milo Vice CHair

CRAA

 

[aniceguy]

I know this has sat for a while but here is your last chance to let the MNR know your stance on this fishery, there are two weeks left for comment so if you havnet commented as of yet please do so