The cormorants have arrived

[NJ219bands]

Saw seven double crested cormorants on Gropps Lake this afternoon. Didn’t get a bite like at Colonial Lake yesterday. Only caught fish in one spot this year.

[thmyorke1]

I heard a Red-winged blackbird call yesterday too, i forget if they are normally just do that during winter anyways but it was a nice "spring" sound to hear. Dont think i heard spring peepers yet.

[bulletbob]

cormorants.. Nothing worse for a fishery.. I am not one to kill anything wantonly, I don't hunt, never did, but I'll tell ya' if they were around in the 60's the way they are today, the waterways would have been full of dead ones with .22 slugs or birdshot in them.. Of course if you tried that today, they'd shoot you to protect the damn birds. Those things are poison...
They load up on small flounder in salt water, and love fresh stocked trout in fresh... Cayuga Lake up here is infested with them, and since they proliferated the fishing is just not the same as it was.. They are not the only reason, but they certainly contribute in a big way.... Here;s a quick read that sheds some light on the problem.. bob


https://www.mossyoak.com/our-obsession/blogs/fishing/fish-terrorist-are-cormorants-eating-your-fish#:~:text=One%20study%20in%20New%20York%20showe d%20that%20a,smallmouth%20that%20were%20three%20to %20five%20years%20old.

[Mark B.]

I heard a Red-winged blackbird call yesterday too, i forget if they are normally just do that during winter anyways but it was a nice "spring" sound to hear. Dont think i heard spring peepers yet.

No the redwings are not around in the winter. I've been seeing and hearing them too. Also, Cardinals and Song Sparrows are singing. Ticks are active. A guy I know had one attached,..........another pulled off a cat.

[icebadger]

those birds are a problem on lake hopatcong as well they are eating machines. i don't recall seeing them back in the early 1980's around the ponds and lakes where i grew up on. they put a hurtin on the rivers and ponds big time.

[jmurr711]

have cormorants & a pair of otters on 1 of our best spots in south jersey, fishings been dead there. also lost our go to crappie spot locally here thanks to the homeless turning it into a commune :(

[cruiser1234]

Those nasty birds DEVOUR freshly stocked trout!

[NJ219bands]

Saw a flock of seven cormorants on Robert G. Martin Lake this evening. They are probably the same flock from Gropp’s Lake. Caught 5 bluegills on worms. Great blue heron were hanging out near their nesting island. A young bald eagle flew over the lake. Lots of Canada geese were nearby with mallards and gulls. Took pics.

[FishnChips]

in the spring i live line a trout stock fish n catch cormorants. then i put a bag over there head end of story