SOUTHERN N.Y. THREAD (L.I., WESTCHESTER, PUTNAM, DUTCHESS, SULLIVAN, ORANGE COUN

[dinks]

Yup it was  lookers  ice fishing over I guess by weekend only kept 13 crappie it was solo out there no others but me And gulls who  enjoyed some carcass lol.till next season.. Cheers!

[deweyicefish]

I have tossed fish to the Eagles over the years... stand on the ice 100yards out or in a tree near by...nice pics... 

[JasonP718]

Went out to big pond today. Did ok. Lost a really really nice trout. Hit me 5 feet under the ice. Might have chased from the bottom or was there. Was insane fun. I watched the trout take my jig through the hole. Good fight on my 4# test. Got to the top of the ice again looked at me and spit my jig out. Was really upsetting. But nice to see its possible. Was hoping to hit superior tomorrow. Anyone have any ice condition reports??

Big pond ice was solid and very thick every where. Over 10 inches

[beachwoods 16]

I have tossed fish to the Eagles over the years... stand on the ice 100yards out or in a tree near by...nice pics... 

Years ago you didn't believe yourself if you saw one. Now you can see a few at a time. A few years ago I saw 11 on Lake Superior at the same time. Hope they open season on them. Maybe a lottery like doe tags.

[Gamalot]

Years ago you didn't believe yourself if you saw one. Now you can see a few at a time. A few years ago I saw 11 on Lake Superior at the same time. Hope they open season on them. Maybe a lottery like doe tags.

WOW, That just floored me!

[Yotecatcher]

WOW, That just floored me!

x3 who wants to shoot a Eagle.

[adkRoy]

. Hope they open season on them. Maybe a lottery like doe tags.

Not cool man, not cool.😠

[beachwoods 16]

I personaly don't want to shoot one as I wouldn't eat it. Kind of like I wouldn't throw a fish on the ice just because I didn't like them. But they could charge a premium and put the money towards stocking ruffed grouse, or walleye. Eventually they could be like coyotes and be over populated.

[Gamalot]

I personaly don't want to shoot one as I wouldn't eat it. Kind of like I wouldn't throw a fish on the ice just because I didn't like them. But they could charge a premium and put the money towards stocking ruffed grouse, or walleye. Eventually they could be like coyotes and be over populated.

I guess you need to look at it from a different perspective. Coyotes kill the fawns of the deer we like to hunt and eat and so do bears. Pickerel in good trout waters kill the fry of the trout and just about any other fish that swims so I have them listed as fresh water Barracudas that do more harm than they are good.
Tell me again why the American Bald Eagle, the symbol of our nation should ever be shot or hunted. I am well aware that my attitude of the pickerel is wrong and I can admit it. I have also watched Eagles grab trout right out of the Neversink river by my house and I guess I just say the trout should have been a little smarter. I would not agree with a man shooting a trout any more than I would about a man shooting an eagle. I do still hate pickerel but as long as my hook can be removed without killing the fish or slicing my hand open he will go back just like any other trash fish I happen to catch.

[dinks]

I have tossed fish to the Eagles over the years... stand on the ice 100yards out or in a tree near by...nice pics... 

Dewey and Gamalot know it is cool to toss a fish to a bird .. If the law says don't feed the wildlife whatever rule is cool to abide by regs for the most part..i don't go out of my way to feed birds or bears coyotes foxes etc.. but when I'm in the wild and give a hungry bird a chance for fresh fish carcass so be it..rather plastic bag it for maggot trash in some smelly dump.. think that rule about no cleaning fish on the banks was introduced on the salmon river ny years ago.. before that it wasn't a big deal and remember cleaning fish on shore of reservoirs before they made it a state reg. but whatever the reg passed i go with it.. i clean the fish in the sink..bucket the carcasses and flip them on the ice while I'm there knowing wildlife will eat wildlife.. today really enjoyed watching the gulls enjoy a few  crappie carcasses the eagles were up but must of been full crows too.. the gulls were the only ones eating and really enjoyed treating them hungry birds.. one dominant gull squawking protecting  his while the others had to wait to get their pieces on the ice..really was cool to watch..and hrs after they all but the first dominant gull flew and landed by me each hole as i headed in..that gull might remember me in the boat this spring who knows! 

[dinks]

I personaly don't want to shoot one as I wouldn't eat it. Kind of like I wouldn't throw a fish on the ice just because I didn't like them. But they could charge a premium and put the money towards stocking ruffed grouse, or walleye. Eventually they could be like coyotes and be over populated.

lol,, better tapping trees!! lol

[beachwoods 16]

I met a guy on the Delaware once that blamed the lack of walleyes on everything including the Eagles. I found out later that he was taking way more than his limit often. Man is often the biggest problem. I laughed when he blamed it on the eagles because they eat mostly dead and dying fish. They are useful. Pickerel have been on this continent longer than brown trout. But don't get me wrong I am glad we have brown trout. Eagles do eat other birds of prey, and grouse, turkeys, some studies say they eat fawns, and I know a few people who have lost ducks and chickens to them. I don't feed Eagles because  it promotes something unnatural but whatever, doesn't make you a bad person if you do. What if they did overpopulate?

[beachwoods 16]

Dinks I didn't know if you knew the law. You probably won't get a ticket, but I just wanted to pass it along. Most DEC are great but they are human. I tell you even locally, I don't like going to a bullhead hole and smelling the guts from they guy the nights befores catch. doesn't have to be a salmon. I saw a bumper sticker the other day that said If you can burn the flag I should be able to shoot eagles. Not my belief, but it is someones. Just for the record HELL NO to flag burning!!!

[dinks]

from the bass boat open water see  a lot of cool things cruising around that pennisula on swb..blackbear many times deer their fawns eagles just about every outing,, one early spring trolling along seen an eagle talon to death a groundhog juvenile along the shoreline ,,that is nature but it was horrifying to watch that poor thing flipping his head back when the bald eagle kept flapping on the rodent and using talons . Anyway ..really tried finding walleye today,,was all over that shelf on Ralphs point off in the deeper into the shallows..they must still be a few but think the state should stock it asp..those dam alewives are in there, they eat up the native fry which float like zooplankton..I read invasive species baitfish alewives are to blame for Ashokan walleye depletion. State can and should fund a walleye program for the few deep impoundments in Sullivan even in the neversink and roundout even canonville and pepacton should be stocked with walleyes. The problem I think is too much corruption and deep pockets. They don't even stock trout like they use to but they raise the fish license fees. Anyway, just my opinion based on what is and what was past forty years fishing

[beachwoods 16]

 I saw two nesting eagles destroy a blue heron on the Callicoon Creek a few years ago. disturbing but cool.

[Loudmouth879]

Honestly these animals make it fine on their own without human interacting with them and giving them food.... Also, it makes wild animals lose their natural fear of people. Feeding can make large, potentially dangerous animals become too comfortable in residential or recreational areas. Once animals learn they can panhandle for food, they can become a nuisance, or even worse, a safety risk. Wild animals who depend on people for food can cause injuries or spread disease. When wild animals gather for food handouts, it can cause crowding and competition. These unnatural conditions increase the chances of fighting and injury among animals.

[dinks]

I seen otter in my trout secret pools  whatta gonna do! it's nature.. but yes state needs to focus on stocking,, i hate these guys saying stock fish mess with the gene pool ..just take the license fee and stock the fish,,it will serve us well..otherwise nobody wants to bother fishing etc.

[Loudmouth879]

just take the license fee and stock the fish,,it will serve us well..otherwise nobody wants to bother fishing etc.

They do stock fish but most of the stocking is done in central and northern ny... they post on their website what bodies of water are stocked with what type of fish annually.

[dinks]

Honestly these animals make it fine on their own without human interacting with them and giving them food.... Also, it makes wild animals lose their natural fear of people. Feeding can make large, potentially dangerous animals become too comfortable in residential or recreational areas. Once animals learn they can panhandle for food, they can become a nuisance, or even worse, a safety risk. Wild animals who depend on people for food can cause injuries or spread disease. When wild animals gather for food handouts, it can cause crowding and competition. These unnatural conditions increase the chances of fighting and injury among animals.

agree 100%never throw food to bears in residential area..big difference!

[Loudmouth879]

agree 100%never throw food to bears in residential area..big difference!

Not really... the fact that the eagles are sitting watching people on the ice waiting for carcasses to be thrown on the ice mean they already associate people with food. They are already starting to become use to getting food from people so what do they do they stop doing what's natural to them (getting food on their own) and just wait and then if the people don't come what happens? One of two things.... either they are lucky and still know how to get food on their own or they starve....

[Gamalot]

Nature is nature and a lot of what has been said has some merit. Feeding wild animals is not a particularly good idea and I say that with a But attached.

Catch a dink perch or pickerel and gill hook it so it is bleeding all over the ice. Try to release it knowing full well it will not survive and worse yet it won't even go down the hole and out of sight. So I toss it on the ice away from me and if a crow, sea gull or eagle picks it up at least it did not go to waste like it would if it just froze into the hole. Up here the DEC used to drag road killed deer out onto the ice in the back end of Mongaup Falls reservoir for the eagles to feed on away from the public. I have great pictures of it with bald eagles and even a golden on the carcass plus I also filmed 2 Bob Cats feeding on it. Eagles, Vultures, Crows and Ravens travel the roads in search of man killed road kills and at night you see Raccoons, Possums, Skunks and every other critter doing the same. They are all natures vacuum cleaners so unless we dig a hole and bury it something above ground is going to eat it. The landfills are loaded with critters looking for free food so it is a never ending cycle of eat to live and die to feed the living. Shooting an Eagle because he eats your game or fish is just as ridiculous as killing a Timber Rattler because it is poisonous and a snake. Both by the way are highly protected species. I found a bald eagle feather floating on the Rio and picked it off the water as a souvenir. At the launch an ENCON officer saw it in my hat and advised me to discard it where I found it because possession of any part of an eagle is prohibited and can result in heavy fines. 

[beachwoods 16]

I am not completely sure about the regs. Many times while fishing SWB I have been watched by eagles sitting in the trees near by. I could be guilty as well because when I catch a badly hooked dink perch that will die and is too small to bring home I toss it to the eagles who gratefully swoop right down and take it away. I also have a long standing hatred of slime dart Pickerel so if I ever get one it too will be eagle food.

As a young boy while unhooking a large Pickerel it tore my right thumb wide open with those nasty teeth. Then it got really seriously infected and cost my family a small fortune and ruined half of my summer with my hand in bandages and back and forth to the doctors. As far as I'm concerned Eagles need to eat too!

Your killing pickerel for no reason. Are people going to throw them on the ice until they are protected? I am using the most extreme example to prove a point. They used to feed them to make sure they survived winter. There weren't many left do to mankind. Law requires all short and out of season fish to be returned to the water reguardless of condition.
     Long before I had a kid I changed my mind about pickeral when I told a guy we should toss them all out. He told me I was stupid because he loved to fish for pickerel with his young kids, and that it wasn't my decision to  make. A lite bulb went off. Pickerel have up and down cycles like everything else.
      I don't trespass and I don't brake the law. I would never encourage anyone else to do so. If snakes were legal to harvest and tasty I would try one. What if eagles do overpopulate, partly because people keep feeding them?

[adkRoy]

You guys need to post less and go fishing more. You're getting all worked up!

[dinks]

You guys need to post less and go fishing more. You're getting all worked up!

lol roy,, you know why don't you the ice is melting and we can't risk going out there!  but seriously, all valid points made about feeding/managing wildlife.. because if you think about it,, that is all it is.. there truly is no more wilderness..every blackbear coyote etc..know well enough to stay far away or get shot..they aren't stupid unless trained or tricked to be sniffing us as hosts..otherwise you'd see them everyday in those small management regions..they stay the hell away for the most part unless really desperate.. Gamolot is absolutely right about the pickerel in the Catskill streams especially! I toss em because they to me are trout eating fish in my streams i flyfish. Loudmouth is right for the most part but think feeding a fish or a bird tossing fresh carcass far from the road like way out on ice or their (managed areas) isn't a bad thing at all..actually better than worse because i feel good and so does that creature.. you fishermen can't catch enough fish as it is .. guess it will be trout season soon..perhaps float some fatheads for ice out crappie! shouldn't be long! thickest ice i measured was last time 12 inches.. it will be gone soon imho.

[beachwoods 16]

 This is the only fishing we have right now. I'd say I got some bites. Actually if I could get out right now I be on the Delaware. I kid you not a guy was telling me today about a local pond he saw 18 eagles feeding on a deer!

[ShawnM]

Ok can someone give a report on the ice in the Forestburgh  area . Is it over we are going to our hunting camp for the weekend .

[Gamalot]

I'm in Forestburgh at home right now. It was 50 today and going to 60+ tomorrow. There was 10-12 inches of ice on Monday up at Big Pond. Some guys said SWB had the same but the shore ice is going quick. At Toronto on Saturday there was 10 inches measured on the dam end but the west side was open water.

If you go I would expect to find a lot of slush on top and be mighty careful getting out to the ice and even more careful on it. I'm thinking the season is over but there are always die hard's willing to take chances.

[ShawnM]

I'm think we might be looking for open water to fish !

[adkRoy]

You could always take a trip up to the Adirondacks. We still have plenty of ice.

[Loudmouth879]

You could always take a trip up to the Adirondacks. We still have plenty of ice.

Shhhh don't tell them my secret spots Roy! Looks like I'm heading back down south at the perfect time tho. Ice is getting sketchy up here