Hello NYers,
I read the 2022 NY regs and am a little confused. Is it legal to catch and release smallmouth before the 3rd Sat in June with lures and plastics on dropshots? Looking to book a trip.
Tks, Gregg
Hello NYers,
I read the 2022 NY regs and am a little confused. Is it legal to catch and release smallmouth before the 3rd Sat in June with lures and plastics on dropshots? Looking to book a trip.
Tks, Gregg
Negative - the Eastern Basin and St. Lawrence River (Jefferson and St. Lawrence Counties) do not allow early season catch and release, no matter what you're chunkin'
There has been some lobbying to get it to open but no luck. Frustrating, the charter captains out of Henderson kill probably thousands of bass a year
No catch and release before the 3rd Saturday in the Lake or River and surrounding areas. This includes Black Lake too.
2020 Vexus AVX 1880
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if you are looking at early season smallmouth you may consider Lake Erie
of course you don't get the beautiful surroundings on Erie like you have on the St Lawrence
Originally Posted by zaprod71
it’s any Lake Ontario/ St Lawrence water beginning at the Jefferson county line. Also includes basically the entirety of the Adirondacks (Hamilton, Essex, Franklin, St Lawrence, and jefferson county).
Last edited by ECobb91; 01-30-2022 at 12:57 PM.
1995 Ranger 481v
1995 Johnson Fast Strike 175hp
Thanks everyone...
I don’t want to hijack but what about areas of the fingerlakes. Can you target and catch and release before the season there?
yes
I'm going to throw this out there. I grew up in Franklin county and there is no early catch and release. Come May 1st if memory serves me correctly, pike and walleye come into season. At that date we were allowed to throw artificial baits with no recourse. All you had to say is your walleye fishing.
that doesnt fly up on the St lawrence.. ask me how I know and it was the day before opening day of bass season.
I'm sure. We were harassed every saturday and sunday and it drove my father crazy. He was fine with adults being checked, but when it came to kids it drove him crazy. I can't count how many times he would tell them to leave the kids alone, they could be doing worse things than fishing. lol
Don't risk it. If you catch one bass "by accident" you may get a way with it. But if they see you catch the next one...oof. I was told, if you catch one, tie down and big motor down the shoreline for a while. If you stay in the same spot they consider you targeting bass. Again. I was told.
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thats exactly what you’re supposed to do. It’s a pain, but that’s what the DEC wants to see. If you catch a bass, You have to make an effort to leave the area (meaning firing up the big motor and move down a little bit). If you catch another bass they can consider it “targeting” or “intentional” fishing for an off limits species.
that is directly from a Region 5 ECON officer (Hamilton Co. Lake Durant).
Last edited by ECobb91; 02-03-2022 at 11:48 AM.
1995 Ranger 481v
1995 Johnson Fast Strike 175hp
Just respect the rules and won't be a issue especially w a out of state registered boat your a magnet. Wanna fish it come during bass season or don't come. Or come and fish something other then off limits waters.
I am new to Lake Ontario/St Lawrence River fishing but recently moved to Jefferson County. I am not sure I understand the reasons for not allowing catch and release before opening day in June. Is it the spawn? Depending on weather of course, but I thought most Smallmouth in this area spawned June-July. And even into August. Wouldn’t it make more sense to stop bed fishing.
The bass here really go more by the length of day than water temps so they’ll spawn in mid May.
along Lake Ontario the main reason is the gobies that invade nests seconds after the bass is pulled from it. So by preventing fishing it’s just giving the fish a little more time to hump.
the restriction of lakes in the mountains/north country is because the Bass population isn’t as great as it is in CNY or western NY. Atleast that’s what the DEC biologists has told us.
But it’s true that you can catch spawning bass in August, it’s a couple months long here but the main push is May-June
1995 Ranger 481v
1995 Johnson Fast Strike 175hp
ECobb,
I don't know about you, but I hear from a lot of people fishing up there having challenges with catching bass, not other species. I have a dang of a time with pike, but i still manage to catch plenty of bass, however, I have been fishing St Lawrence for over 45 yrs, so I may have learned a thing or 2 over time, which I am sure same goes for you.
I think the televised tourneys make people believe that you come up and get a 25+ bag every outing.
There is a short snippet in the new Bassmaster magazine about gobies being found in the Hudson now. It stated gobies are predators of fish eggs. So what Ecobb91 said would jive with that.
2020 Vexus AVX 1880
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heres a cool video showing how fast the gobies can invade nests.
no matter what, the NY bass opener is still during the spawn anyways so it’s not really doing much imo. But it could be like Canada where it’s off limits until july
1995 Ranger 481v
1995 Johnson Fast Strike 175hp
Ecobb
Tahnks for the video. I hate gobies, and kill everyone I ever get my hands on.
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