Lake Erie woes

[Bcee]

This is a good read.

 

http://blog.cleveland.com/pdextra/2007/07/..._warmer_an.html

[OhioFisherman]

Urban sprawl may factor into it bcee, I live about 25 miles south of the lake but get my water from Lake Erie. The communities around here no longer build water supply reservoirs, they don`t want to tie up land that can be taxed or used for development, or the continuing costs of maintaining a water supply reservoir, so they pipe it in from the lake. Water from Lake Erie is supplied to communities about 10 miles south of me also and the trend is growing.

 

We don`t have sewer systems, septic tanks with a swale and runoff to nearest creek it seems, runs off thru farmers fields, back yards, mixes with animal waste washed down stream by rains out into the lake.

 

I haven`t been up to Sandusky Bay in a few years but the water level was dropping back then, stuff I used to pitch to near shore was on shore. Ohio isn`t the only state that is sucking water out of the great lakes at an increasing pace.

[fishbait]

I think we have to take everything with a grain of salt and think about it.

 

1. Zebra mussels - when they were first dicovered they were going to be the death of the

lake. Not so cleaned itup and now there are more bait fish the Pro

Brass fishing folks say it's the best, yes the best small mouth fishing

in the country.

 

2. Gobies - I don't think there is enough evidence good or bad but there is talk that they

are just another form of bit fish for the larger species.

 

I live in Western New York and have been going to the lake since I was about 3 or 4, my wife's father purchase a cottage up in Port Colburn in the early 60's , he's in his late 80's and we talk about how the lake has changed and how there was alot of beach and now there isn't and then there is.

 

Alarmist, mother nature will provide and what will be will be.

[Zamboni]

Interesting-last weekend the Toronto Star ran front page article on how the warmer weather may start a migration back to Buffalo & Cleveland and spoke of climatic problems in Phoenix.

[massbaster]

Two weeks ago, a fishing buddy and myself were in the upper Niagara drifting the shorline of Navy Island. There is lots of suspended algae floating in water, which our crankbaits were constantly snagging. Virtually every cast would bring in a load of algae.

 

The other thing we noticed was the strong, putrid odor of the water at the boat launch. The only way to describe the smell would be to compare it to the smell of sewage. It seems to be worse this year then in years past.

 

We still managed to catch about 1/2 doz. smallies in a about an hour and a half. (One was a nice size, about 3lbs. that we released) But the smallies we got, hit as soon as the crankbait touched the water. After about two turns of the reel, you're loaded down with algae.

 

I tried the lower river the next day at Queenston, and the algae was just as nasty there too.

[Carp]

Definitely some interesting reading.

I hope the superb fishing on L. Erie continues forever,

but at the same time, the problems have to be addressed.

[Canuck2fan]

I don't know about the "conditions" of Lake Erie, but every time I fish from shore I am totally unimpressed to see two or three fishing tugs fishing within 200 yds of shore..... If we don't address that soon it won't matter what condition the water is because the spawning beds will be totally destroyed for a lot of species.