Instructors for the 2023 Learn to Fish fall seminar on Oneida Lake included “The Fishing Nurse” and NYS Licensed Fishing Guide Jacqueline McManus: front row; New York Sea Grant (NYSG) Great Lakes Fisheries and Ecosystem Health Specialist Stacy Furgal: standing far left; and Cornell Biological Field Station on Oneida Lake Senior Research Associate Dr. Zoe Almeida: far left. Missing from photo: NYSG Great Lakes Recreation and Tourism Specialist John Cannaday. Credit: NYSG/John Cannaday

Contacts: 

Stacy Furgal, New York Sea Grant Great Lakes Fisheries Specialist, P: (315) 882-6227, E: slf85@cornell.edu 

Zoe Almeida, Ph.D., Cornell Biological Field Station on Oneida Lake Senior Research Associate, E: zoealmeida@cornell.edu

Kara Lynn Dunn, NYSG's Freelance Great Lakes Publicist, P: (315) 465-7578, E: karalynn@gisco.net

Oswego, NY, November 7, 2023 - New York Sea Grant (NYSG) and Cornell Biological Field Station (CBFS) recently partnered to teach ten women how to fish for walleye. Women from as far as Akron and Rochester and as near as Cicero and Mexico, New York, attended the fall fishing seminar held at the CBFS on Oneida Lake at Shackelton Point. The women learned the basics of walleye biology and behavior; discussed walleye fishing gear, lures, and techniques; and learned how to tie common fishing knots. The group size was limited to allow for individual instruction during the hands-on angling session. 

The Learn to Fish seminar instructors were NYSG Great Lakes Fisheries and Ecosystem Health Specialist Stacy Furgal; CBFS Senior Research Associate Zoe Almeida, Ph.D.; Jacqueline McManus, a New York State Licensed Fishing Guide known as “The Fishing Nurse”; and NYSG Great Lakes Recreation and Tourism Specialist John Cannaday. 

New York Sea Grant facilitated development of this fall fishing seminar. Details on winter fishing seminars will be made available at www.nyseagrant.org/glsportfish and via NYSG's Great Lakes Facebook page.


“The Fishing Nurse” Jacqueline McManus, a NYS Licensed Fishing Guide, instructs a group of women on fishing gear and best tactics for walleye angling as part of a New York Sea Grant and Cornell Biological Field Station on Oneida Lake seminar. Earlier this year, McManus joined with New York Sea Grant to highlight ice fishing for a segment of the WPBS Weekly: Inside the Stories television series. Credit: NYSG/Stacy Furgal


Dawn Borchert traveled from Akron, New York, to Bridgeport, New York, to catch this yellow perch at New York Sea Grant’s Learn to Fish fall seminar at the Cornell Biological Field Station on Oneida Lake. Credit: NYSG/Stacy Furgal


Dawn Borchert holds a brown trout she caught a few years ago on Sandy Creek in Orleans County.


More Info: New York Sea Grant

New York Sea Grant (NYSG), a cooperative program of Cornell University and the State University of New York (SUNY), is one of 34 university-based programs under the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Sea Grant College Program.

Since 1971, NYSG has represented a statewide network of integrated research, education and extension services promoting coastal community economic vitality, environmental sustainability and citizen awareness and understanding about the State’s marine and Great Lakes resources.

Through NYSG’s efforts, the combined talents of university scientists and extension specialists help develop and transfer science-based information to many coastal user groups—businesses and industries, federal, state and local government decision-makers and agency managers, educators, the media and the interested public.

The program maintains Great Lakes offices at Cornell University, SUNY Buffalo, SUNY Oswego and the Wayne County Cooperative Extension office in Newark. In the State's marine waters, NYSG has offices at Stony Brook University and with Cornell Cooperative Extension of Nassau County on Long Island, Brooklyn College and Cornell Cooperative Extension in NYC and Kingston in the Hudson Valley.

For updates on Sea Grant activities: www.nyseagrant.org has RSS, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube links. NYSG offers a free e-list sign up via www.nyseagrant.org/nycoastlines for its flagship publication, NY Coastlines/Currents, which is published quarterly.