From The Rowing Seat

From The Rowing Seat
By Captain Troy Creasy

Wow!
 No water, no fish in the creeks, and no salmon eggs, what are we going to catch in 2010? Stories and rumors were flying over the last few months regarding the lack of fish returning to the hatchery, the lack of in river spawning, and the fact that most creeks remained too low for fish to migrate up them.
 When the smoked cleared and the DEC made adjustments to take eggs. (Albeit, they probably waited too long). The final count of Chinook eggs for 2007 was, right around two million. While this is a far cry from the 3.5 million they wanted to take, remember that we only stock 1.9 million. If the survival rate is 70 to 80 %, which would be normal, we are not looking at a disaster or anything, we will only have a slight shortage. Who knows perhaps we will see some larger fish, if we have a few less competing for the available forage. Read more details from Bill Hilts Jr on page????
 The good news is there was no shortage of Coho's and the egg take for this specie was easy pickings. I was also told that they took extra coho eggs and would use them as room in the tanks allowed. The steelhead numbers that have returned to the hatchery already is astounding, and still there are more to come. If you have never fished for steelhead, or took a hiatus for whatever reason, you best get on up to any of the major Lake O tribs for some extremely hot action.
 Hunting season is in full swing as I am typing and come to think of it, I was supposed to be hunting today. Damn! Plenty of nice bucks being taken, there are turkeys everywhere, and the duck hunters I have talked to are smiling.
 Every year about this time I write how we should get out and enjoy the winter weather. Skiing, steelhead fishing, snowmobiling, late season hunting, making a snowman. Forget it. It is cold as hell and you are tired of it already. I say pack the bags and head south. Get out of  dodge while the getting is good.
That way there will be more fish, snow, cold, and room for those of us that are stuck here. Just kidding. Come on up and enjoy the season.

New Additions to the Staff at LOO

 We would like to welcome and introduce to our readers, a few of the fresh faces here at LOO.
 Our goal is to make LOO the best regional fishing, hunting, boating and recreation magazine in the Northeast, so we have hired Bob Looney, president of Robert Looney & Associates as our media, sales and promotion consultant.
 Some of you may know Bob as the guy who launched and built Shakespeare’s famed Ugly Stix rod series in the mid 80’s. Bob’s firm has helped build brands like Shimano Reels, Gander Mountain Stores, Remington Firearms, Coleman Camping, Bassmasters, Gore-Tex and Bill Jordan’s Realtree Camo.
 Bob’s many contacts with some of the best outdoor writers will help us create a broader outdoor sportsman’s editorial product for our growing reader audience. Shelley and I are continuously working to build Lake Ontario Outdoor’s circulation, coverage and promotions to enhance product sales and services for our loyal advertisers.  
 We also welcome Gerry Rightmyer to the pages our our pub. Gerry is a Realtree Medallion Pro-Staffer, an official Boone & Crockett measurer and a New York State Big Buck Club Official measurer. He has two animals entered in the B&C record books, he is an outdoor writer, seminar speaker and much more as you will see in his articles.
See you on the water, hard or otherwise,
Troy