ONEIDA LAKE DIEHARDS THREAD...

[filetandrelease]

 Give Matt a call he is a top notch mechanic,
 

[Deadeyez]

Yes definitely give Matt a call

[ECobb91]

Matt Whaley is an amazing mechanic. He’s been my go to guy ever since I bought my first boat about 8 years ago. I’m an hour east of him, and have 5 mechanics that are actually closer to me (one of which I would get a 10% discount at), but I’m willing to travel the extra distance just to have him wrench on my motors.

[Old Timer]

Some numbers from Cornell.

Current adult walleye population - 628K      I know it's a decent drop from the "1 million" but the consensis is that the 1M number was high.

2022 Walleye harvest was 107K which is a big jump. Nearly double what it has been in the last 10+ years. That increase was not due to the 5 fish limit, it was due to an increase in angler effort and catch rates. They estimate that the 5 fish limit only resulted in a 5% increase in take.

Age 1 walleye numbers are the second highest in 20 years and they are the second largest (longest) in 20 years.

Current yellow perch population - 3 Million! Highest since the late 70s.

Age 2 perch population is also the highest since the 70s.

Round Goby population is the highest that it has been since they arrived.

Smallmouth Bass - Numbers are still declining for the past 6 years (since gobies arrived). When zebra muscles showed up the Smallmouth Bass population rose steadily. The current population is still higher than the pre zebra muscle years.

Cormorants - Numbers are steady. Their diet by weight consisted of yellow perch, followed by walleye, gobies, and then shad.

Telemetry study - They will tag 100 walleyes this fall. Then another 100 walleyes will be tagged in the spring of 2024. There will be 64 receivers spaced around the lake every 2 kilometers (sunken buoys designed to hopefully not be snagged). The data will not be real time. If we catch a walleye with an internal tag we should save the tag and there will be a phone number / email address to contact Cornell to return the tag. Tags are the size of a triple A battery.

I may be jumped on but this report is a typical very poor explanation from cornell for their HUGE miscalculation.. Last report  perch population was way down and eyes well over a million.  Now the eye population drops 38% THIRTY EIGHT PERCENT….  and that was due to them not paying any attention to the consensus ?  ( our mind is made up, dont confused us with facts). Perch, the eyes main forage was way down and now at highs not seen since the 70s.   
Those figures from before triggered the nearly doubling of the daily limit ….
Question to those who supported the jump from 3 to 5 fish.   Would you have supported the jump had you known the actual (can we trust this new number ??j, was 628,000 and not 1 million .

[reeleyz]

I may be jumped on but this report is a typical very poor explanation from cornell for their HUGE miscalculation.. Last report  perch population was way down and eyes well over a million.  Now the eye population drops 38% THIRTY EIGHT PERCENT….  and that was due to them not paying any attention to the consensus ?  ( our mind is made up, dont confused us with facts). Perch, the eyes main forage was way down and now at highs not seen since the 70s.   
Those figures from before triggered the nearly doubling of the daily limit ….
Question to those who supported the jump from 3 to 5 fish.   Would you have supported the jump had you known the actual (can we trust this new number ??j, was 628,000 and not 1 million .

Oh trust me we asked about the dicrepancy AND about the resulting limit increase. The response was that the numbers are within 33%??? 

The 1 million walleye and 628K numbers came from mark recaptures which should be MUCH more accurate than 33%.

And that is why they noted that they think the 5 fish limit only accounted for a 5% bump in take. BUT what they don't account for is the extra angler effort as a direct result of the 5 fish limit. Even if people are not catching limits there are more people travelling here to fish because of the 5 fish limit.

One thing I will say about the 5 fish limit is the year before it happened the walleyes were thin. Not as healthy as they should be. This year they were in better shape. So taking some extra fish from the lake is good for the overall health of the fish.

My gut says the new walleye number is more like reality and the actual perch number is much lower than their estimate.

[reeleyz]

And don't get me going about thier science.

I have asked them several times in the past few years about gobies being the reason for the increase in walleyes and perch and they kept saying it is more because of the drop in white perch numbers. Then like magic, last night they said that the increase could be due in part to gobies. Well no sheeeeeet! More forage equals less walleye and perch fry getting eaten. It is not rocket science.

Same for the bass issue. Last year I said is it a coincidence that the smallmouth bass poplulation dropped dratiscally in both Lake Ontario and Oneida after the gobies arrived? Their answer was we don't know becuase we don't study Lake Ontario.  Then last night they admit there could be a correlation between the gobies and the bass issue.

Overall they do great work but scientists are stubborn. They need it to be proven out even when it is brutally obvious!!!

[Old Timer]

Good thoughts Reeleze.   They change their thinking to fit their program.  A few years ago they said “Mother lake, Oneida always gets her quota first”. The very next year due to hatchery problems Oneida got 0 , zilch !!!
Then not enough perch so they up the limit on Eyes. Why not drop the limit on perch ??  Also what effect does all the Sturgeon and Sheephead have as the suck up eggs ??  Does not seem to me that people can keep releasing the trash fish and keep the eyes .  Plug up a major spawning creek, build a hatchery and return a very small % of the fry that would have been produced in the creek.  Sounds like a long range recipe for disaster. 
I’ve fished Oneida for 75 years and the past 3 years has been the worst walleye fishing on the East end that I’ve ever seen.  Now have to run pretty much West of 113
So… we wait another year to see what they want to tell us about their numbers game.   

[trapper2000]

i have  said this  and  been  hammered  on   but i said  it with the trout  then the  panfish  now oneida lake ........  the state   people  have no  idea  what they are  doing and they are ruining our fishery  .......   no one wants to stand  up and   say    excuse  me  thiss is  your  buttock   this  sir is a hole in the  ground   .....................fire them  get   good people in there

oldtimer  you actually  did  say those  numbers  where bad  and  not to raise the  limit last  year .......

[filetandrelease]

 I remember 1 year it was posted 900,00 eyes , then it went to 750 , then it ended up 500,000 , so how can 400,000 get misplaced ?

[trapper2000]

I remember 1 year it was posted 900,00 eyes , then it went to 750 , then it ended up 500,000 , so how can 400,000 get misplaced ?

were  checking yer freezor  fred !!!   

[reeleyz]

were  checking yer freezor  fred !!!   

You beat me to it!!! LOL!!!!

[filetandrelease]

 You guys are to much lmao

[Deadeyez]

Fred’s safe. Those are in the sewer system by now lol

[trapper2000]

i swear the  guy taught me how to catch  fall run walleyes over the  phone...thats  no lie   

[lowaccord66]

Need an emergency repair on my 15hp johnson, needs a carb cleaning as the low speed jet seems to be bummed up. Want to get out Friday if I can, anyone around the north shore would be groovy.

Sometimes you can get lucky if you do a mix of fuel and seafoam and go heavy on the seafoam.