2014/08/15 18:04:57
hot tuna
Excellent points and post. I always count on L-13 for the in-depth on research . Thanks
2014/08/15 18:05:49
pafisher
Yes as L13 says it's been a strange year weather wise,now we have Sept. in August.I just hope we don't have August in Sept.
Whatever it is I will be there in my secret spot come end of Sept. and first of Oct.I'm reasonably sure there will be some fish to play with.Will my fishing buddies join me?
2014/08/15 18:08:40
fischnmachine
Hey Lucky, I wasn't saying the stocking should end.  The conversation was really around the need for stocking.  He felt it was unnecessary and I was definitely on the other side of the fence.  I have to say great point of the reproduction of salmon on other tribs.  In fact I was reading that the tribs range from 30-70 % the SR being the highest.  I think he was thinking of the tribs we fish and how he believes most are unclipped fish.  I plan to use your comment about the other tribs the next time I talk to him.  Any insight to why the cohos have been an issue at the hatchery or why they seem to have issues with disease specific to the browns?  Lastly why would flourishing Atlantics lead to the demise of Steelhead- predation from the atlantics or competition for forage like baitfish?
2014/08/15 20:48:14
r3g3
Read some stuff bout the thermocline being somewhat different this year due to wind shifts and weather patterns.
Some think that has made the mature salmon hang out chasing food in different areas than normal and difficult to locate - hope so,  because the lake reports about adult kings are about nil.
 Whatever it is  the should show after this weather- usually this would produce a beginning few pods at the least- we will see this year.
We may have been spoiled lately and about to get a reality dose.
Already a sure thing with Hos- hope Kings don't follow.
Aint that the way things go - couple of years with banner numbers and wondering bout affects of low hot waters in da river and now with cool higher waters we wonder where the fish are///.
2014/08/15 21:10:57
r3g3
The returning 'flood fish' came in pretty good numbers and were generally not molested by fisherfolks as ya couldnt get to them. Unfortunately gotta wonder how many spawned in somebodys driveway or a parking lot.
 Egg success is likely an issue but the floods receded and there were still  fish around doing the nasty.
Plus the stocked ones ( albeit in much lower numbers than the past).
They are there someplace- how many though????
Lately the real earlies mostly seem to be naturals.
 Love da pre- season jitters.
2014/08/16 10:16:57
Lucky13
 " Any insight to why the cohos have been an issue at the hatchery or why they seem to have issues with disease specific to the browns?  Lastly why would flourishing Atlantics lead to the demise of Steelhead- predation from the atlantics or competition for forage like baitfish?"


At the SOL meeting in the spring, Mike Connerton reported that they had a problem with eye-up of coho eggs last year, and lost a portion of the eggs before hatch out.  I don't think this is reflected in the 2013 numbers but will show up in the 2014 stocking numbers, as the 2013 numbers only show about a 15% shortfall.  Because of the disease problems in so many systems, they can't go elsewhere for replacement eggs anymore.   But cohos are a sort of "extra" to the program, numbers reared are way below kings.  They stock about 30K cohos in the SR, and over 300K kings, plus the naturals.  They are working on the fin clip studies with cohos next.    As to Browns, they had problems statewide for disease in one hatchery, so they missed the 392K target for LO in 2013, but still stocked 331K, not sure about impacts for 2014. On the Atlantics and Steelhead (or kings), there is at least one camp of people who want to see restoration of the native lake Ontario ecosystem, which would have Lake trout and Atlantics as the top predators.  In a full realization of that scenario, all these exotics would go.  Atlantics and steelhead, being of similar size, compete a lot for habitat and spawning sites.  But short of finding a magic bullet to get rid of the alewifes,  I don't see a natural species only policy happening, as the king is still the control valve for the herring.  We actually had a short lived and sparse alewife die-off on the lake this summer, which got a lot of people remembering what a manure pile the beaches were in June and July before the salmon program. 
 
L13
2014/08/16 10:35:21
bigbear2012
gees we need the fish to get here already

2014/08/16 20:52:18
fischnmachine
Thank L13 I appreciate the info.
2014/08/17 10:27:55
r3g3
Agreed Bear- goin nuts here-cant wait for somebody to report fish off the mouth and some decent pods in the Estuary---beginings-----
2014/08/17 11:01:16
cpswing
HT are the catching very many browns lakers and or steel on the lake? Or is it too early yet?

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