Guys some guides have been making efforts to net swirling/dying fish the past few days. All riddled with gill lice. One guide has netted 30 in the past 3 days... Not good... Not good at all. The higher water will be a good thing as the fish will get better oxygen source and less pressure from anglers...

b

Dec is not involved thus far... Some were scent to Cornell for study. But at first sight all swirling fish that have been netted have the gill lice. Many thoughts have been expressed by some seasoned vets... A lot of dead fish around as well. If you read up on the gill lice it is noted that they are deprived oxygen and have a much higher mortality rate when hooked or taken out of the water when gill lice are present. If the problem persists I'd say shut down the lfz did the Time being!

I would not doubt there's some kind of stress related disease or harmful organism springing up. This low water, as we've all said, blows chunks.  I righted 2 the other day and told some guy it was because of rock massages. The release methods are truly horrific . Nancy fumbled with the camera the other day and I put the fish back in the water after counting 3. F' it the pic wasn't worth hurting the steel.  It swam away like it's tail was on fire. The others never left the water.  I see people releasing steel like they were tunoids off a high gunwhaled boat.  Take them by the tail and head and torpedo them after a 2 minute pic and vid session with 3 phones. .  People are acting like Goldman-Sachs before the crash of '08. Plunder the stocks now!!!!!  And just like them, they'll expect the govt. to bail them out. It's all the DEC's fault. I hope Lucky, in his usual fashion, finds some stuff out for us. For now, I'll keep going, but no more hero shots and I'll be only using the 8 with 2x and living with a fewer fish fooled.

First off, not all of us consider 350 low water, and I much prefer it for swinging flies to the 1000+ I've had to contend with for the last few years.  I think 2bob and I have both indicated, as did the fish that made it upriver, that 350 is more than adequate for them to run and for many to escape the "gauntlet" in town.  And 350 is more than adequate to dissolve adequate oxygen, concentration of which has nothing to do with flow unless the fish are crammed together like in a  hatchery, but is much more related to temperature and turbulence.    I have not heard anything about gill lice in Lake Ontario, but I recalls seeing a lot of discussion about this happening in Erie tribs last year, and anything that happens up in LE, eventually gets down to us in Lake Ontario.  Somebody probably brought them here in a bait bucket!  But gill lice have been a normal thing for west coast steel.  But I'll send out some questions when I get to the email lists at work.
 
I'm always using the 8 anymore (since the 6 got stolen), and 2x is pretty much standard as well.  I'll see how this holds up in winter mode if it stays up above freezing, other wise its 12 lb mainline with a 8lb leader.
 
L13

really wacked the erie steelies over the last few years
 

Does it just get to them in the tribs or is it a lake issue too ??

they get it in the lake...and are loaded by the time they hit the streams
 

The whole thing doesn't add up well for me. A well below average salmon season and many dead steelhead. 350 is a sustainable flow but its been just that since late august... No flush or washing. Fish hanging in the mouths waiting to run early on... A good washing couldn't hurt... Biologists insight on it would be great.

Lucky... Is it sea lice that you're referring to with west coast steel?