Syracuse.com - DEC official: The change in minimum size limit for keeping tiger muskies caught on Otisco Lake will not negatively affect the fishery

[HuntingNY-News]

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In fact, in previous years tiger muskies have stuggled to survive in Otisco Lake.

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<p>Otisco, N.Y. -- The state Department of Environmental Conservation, as of Oct. 1, increased the minimum size limit for tiger muskie caught in Otisco Lake and 30 to 36 inches.</p>

<p>Was it a good move? It’s still being debated by some local anglers.</p>

<p>The rationale, state Department of Environmental officials said, was that the new regulation would improve the status of tigers in the lake, hopefully turning the small Finger Lake into a destination waterway for tiger muskie anglers.</p>

<p>The size limit change, however, was opposed by the Otisco Rod and Gun Club, as well as the Onondaga Federation of Sportsmen’s Clubs.</p>

<p>Fred Funk, of Marcellus, who’s been fishing Otisco Lake since he was a child, said this week the new regulation will damage the lake’s fishery. Funk volunteers each year to help stock the lake with 2,500, two-year brown trout from the Carpenter’s Brook Fish Hatchery. The trout average 12 inches or more.</p>

<p>“Any fish 12 inches long, that’s lunch for a tiger — whether it’s a trout, bass or walleye,” Funk said. “More and bigger tiger muskie? It’s like putting an alligator in a small pond of fish.”</p>

<p>David Lemon, regional fisheries manager at the state Department of Environmental Conservation’s Cortland office, said when the idea about changing the size limit was first floated publicly in 2011, there were negative and positive comments.</p>

<p>In response to Funk’s comments, Lemon said, “We don’t expect predation by tiger muskies in Otisco will have a significant impact on other sport fish in the lake. Changing the size limit from 30 to 36 inches is not going to change that.”</p>

<p>In regard to the stocked trout, Lemon said earlier this year that Otisco is “marginally suited for trout survival,” and suggested the possibility that more trout die as a result of warm summer temperatures (especially those caught and released by anglers) than those being gobbled up by muskies.</p>

<p>Friday, Lemon said in previous years tiger muskies have struggled to survive in Otisco Lake.</p>

<p>“It’s pretty clear from electro-shocking and information obtained from anglers, when walleye numbers were high, they were eating the freshly stocked tiger muskie,” he said.</p>

<p>Lemon said it should also be noted the high walleye population of the late 1990s and early 2000s in the lake was established in the face of current stocking levels of tiger muskies.</p>

<p>Tiger muskies are sterile hybrids, a cross between a muskie and a northern pike. Those stocked in Otisco, averaging 8-10 inches, are raised at the DEC’s South Otselic hatchery. <br /></p>

View the full article on The Syracuse Outdoors Blog