2015 ???

OK what's up this time around-- lol.
Predictions and observations please-Remember- a late  August start is not all that far off.
 I see things for  the upcoming year as kinda questionable- not that it will make me forfeit any fishing time but the numbers game prediction season is upon us.
They said that last years issues with King numbers and the Steel problems were attributed to heavy ice over on the lake and its affect on bait fish consumption.
Particularly on the East end- as I understood it.
As far as Kings went, the Summer  Lake fishery was a huge indicator IMHO
The preceding banner King seasons displayed excellent Summer East end lake fishing and last season it stunk on the East end.
This year they said the ice over was even heavier than last - sooooo????
Blaze away

Time will tell whether the epic salmon run of 2012 will bear fruit this season.  A great deal of natural spawn took place up and down the river that Fall and it could be a great season if those fish made it.  Lake charters have exhibited good catches of Kings from Oswego west but I haven't seen much on the eastern end except for lakers and browns.  I'm hoping for a good early run as I would much rather fish before the crazy days that October brings.

here is what I reading from the Lake guys, I will be getting in the game starting the first week in July then will be able to give some of my own lake reports.
The Lake surface temps are very cold, somewhere between 49-52 degs, hence what I understand is she has not turned over yet and established a thermocline .. Sound familiar ?
The target fish have been steelhead and Lake trout.. Guys are doing very well with both and catching them over deep water (100fow+) but only like 20' down , even the lakers are near the surface..
Generally from my understanding the west is best (kings) in the spring and the fishing improves in the east in July, once the thermocline establishes..  Western king reports have been OK, not great but some really nice sized fish have been being caught unlike last year when tons of skippers were..
 
The next few weekends will be a good indicator due to some major tournaments happening.. The first is the A-tomic challenge which is outta 3 ports, sodus, Oswego & mexico ..
Following that is the Oswego pro-am.. If like last season , those 2 big ones don't produce some fish then we may be looking at a repeat of last season on the tribs..
Good luck to all and keep looking deep into that globe for the answer..
Oh, also from what I've also seen, read, the spring browns- now, have not been as productive as last season.. They were killing them in force right till July last year, not so much this year.. Could the well have run dry on them ?  .. I know I have not seen any real good numbers of browns in the SR since 2009 (didn't fish in 2014) but I believe far to many have migrated to coolers then the rivers in those past years..  

Time will tell but I'm sure there will be enough of a run to play with a few come the end of Sept.
I'm counting on some company Rich and Charlie as I'll be making the trip solo this year.

My biggest disappointment last year was the VERY high water early on through august which made fishing for earlies (if there even was any???) Near impossible. I didn't catch my fist salmon til September 11th... Probably one of two seasons i didn't catch one til that late. When my season would normally be winding down last year, my son and I were still going at it to get some fish, but the crowds over numbered fish all the way in to October. So if anything at all, I would really like to see average flows this late summer along with some straggler runners so I can maybe pick a few off before the crowds Come.

bigbear2012
The kings might be good this year, and if they are the result of that banner year it will be an early run.
But i think the steelies are going to be way down again....just like the crash in erie.... the numbers went from great to crap...then they tried to come up with explanations (just like they did this year blaming it on B vitamin) but truth is they don't know why they crashed and have not been able to bring the runs back.

Those Erie fish didn't end up in Cleveland tribs....The numbers are down all over lake Erie ....I thought the steelhead numbers were great last year in Pulaski...Browns too.

POS troll thought snagging was good. Does that count? Not.
 

pafisher
Time will tell but I'm sure there will be enough of a run to play with a few come the end of Sept.
I'm counting on some company Rich and Charlie as I'll be making the trip solo this year.

Remind me of the dates so I can get a Selkirk spot.

I'm scheduled to arrive on Sept. 29th and will leave on Oct. 9th around 2 pm.

Contact 2Bob first, he asked specifically for a follow up on your offer and you didn't reply. You drive a Subaru, right? Should be easy to spot, Ohio plates are a rarity.

r3g3
 
Thiamine is, and has always, been there in the bait.
However, when the Ice over is excessive there is little food for the bait (chubs I believe) they loose weight---not thiamine.
When bait looses fat and weight it takes more of them to satisfy the game fish so they  get a much higher dose of thiamine  over the Winter than is normal.
This causes them to die off and/or become much more  prone to other negative issues.
Believe  that this will affect most all of the game fish to some degree.
I too hope for the big return run and can only hope they did OK while eating bait fishes and growing
  Sadly  it may have been more than last years run lying on the bottom  but some future runs as well.

100 % right on, unfortunately.  This past winter was worse than the year before , so higher thiaminase in smaller alewives, if the pathologists are correct, should result again in the double whammy of predators needing to consume more stressed out and "toxic" prey, leading to Vitamin B deficient fish, with attendant mortality.
I am thinking that why this is happening at the east end of the lake has to do with the more persistent ice cover adding an additional period of stress that may be "tipping  the scales" and pushing the bait into higher enzyme production at the east end, while the west end salmonids are not getting enough thiaminase to cause them to show symptoms, but are  probably deficient in essential nutrients, making the whole situation a potential SANFU down the road.
 

So with just under 10 days before the boat hits home port I'm still not hearing any decent news from the Mexico area. Slow and ice cold water . The better fishing is happening over in qswego and some good catches of browns out by the discharge ( much warmer ).

Really it makes no matter to me and my crew as we will be loving just being out there waiting for that rod to pop.. Might target lakers more then salmon at first . If the fish ain't hitting and the lake is playing nice we have a solid back up plan , up come the riggers and out come the water skis Can't wait to see Andy on those :) whatcha think db , you ready for that challenge ? Looking forward to lots of beautiful sunsets and great times .

Sounds like a great back up plan!!! I've skiied a couple times before ;)

uglyfish
  In my younger days I did quite a bit of sking. Jumping, trick, barefoot even sometime show sking and competitions. Started on the Hudson soon as the ice left and pulled the boat when it started forming again November or so.

I'll ask the question.......did you use a wet suit right after ice out?
I did a lot of water sking,went through a couple boats,way back when but then everyone grew up and did n't want to go with the parents as we got in the way I guess,that was the end of it.Had a lot of fun and good memories.

LOL, that darn movie scared the crap outta me in the theater .. Never liked salt water after watching JAWS !!
Not so worried on the Great Lake other then maybe a lamprey attack, or stray bull shark,, yikes...
As for the bigger boat, I say that all the time no matter what vessel I'm using... Someday, I may just go for a real boat :)
 
Tick, tock, cant wait for my 2015 salmon/trout/steelhead season to begin :)
 
P.S.
I probably got more miles up and down the ladder getting on/off then I will trolling ..lol

Absolutely on the wet suit sometimes gloves and booties and a hood