After years of uncontrolled ballooning budgets New York State has finally decided to curtail spending and has called for sizeable budget cuts. This will effect the funding for our DEC and thus some fishing and hunting programs may see dollar shortfalls, especially in the area of personnel expansion. It appears that the revenue generating Lake Ontario Fishery may need some belt tightening; however, our stocking program will remain intact. Thats very good news for the Lake O sport fishery. By the way, the 2008 egg harvest was a success with all projected numbers achieved. Presently the eggs are incubating and will be ready for their distribution into the lake starting in May 09.

   2008 fishing was generally good, especially for browns and steelies. Salmon were bigger as many 30 lb giants were landed. Some areas of the lake saw a decrease in Chinook catch rates probably due to the old adage that mother nature bats last. After a down year in some ports, I notice a few charter operators are moving to other areas that had a better 08 season. I guess they do not know that while we can stock healthy fish, once they are turned loose, their actual survival rates are out of our control. It is nature who decides whether the returns will be good or bad and where the fish want to hang out during the season. Some years are better than others and the cycle jumps all over the place. 30 years spent fishing Lake Ontario waters have taught me this. It has also taught me that the Oswego area is one of the best and most productive areas to fish year in and year out. No brag, just fact.

   Our new state of the art fish marking system is being put to very good use. This past year stocked salmon were fin clipped and coded wire tagged. This will provide answers as to the make up of the salmon population with regard to wild vs. stocked fish. Guessing will be a thing of the past as we obtain empirical data from the marking program. This is crucial as we assess forage biomass in relation to predator population in the future.

   Right now, tributary fishing in is full swing and so far steelhead and salmon fishing has been terrific. Isnt that great? Keep checking in, as there is much more to come.