LongLine

Here’s some interesting sites with information on some of the questions raised in this thread. Ciscoes require cold well oxygenated lakes with little nutrient: http://hatch.cehd.umn.edu/research/fish/fishes/cisco.html Ciscoes high in Omega-3 fatty acids & rare to show contaminants: http://www.seagrant.umn.edu/fisheries/eat_fish Kings & Cohos do eat them (Scroll down the article) http://www.glerl.noaa.gov/seagrant/GLWL/Fish/salmonids/salmonids.html Here’s Alewife & bloater history in Lake Huron. Pages 9 & 10 graphic history most interesting. Alewife Crash was in 2004 & bloaters took off. http://www.glsc.usgs.gov/sites/default/files/product_files/2012LakeHuronDemersal.pdf This one shows Huron’s King stocking history: http://www.michigandnr.com/fishstock/default.asp I copied to excel, sorted & summed– here’s the tally. 1997 6,672,382 1998 6,845,225 1999 5,511,514 2000 5,805,742 2001 5,731,282 2002 5,301,568 2003 5,702,599 2004 5,543,022 2005 5,601,652 2006 3,504,396 2007 3,423,670 2008 3,424,365 2009 3,401,146 2010 3,383,344 2011 3,345,254 2012 2,655,648 2013 1,597,776 The DNR apparently just kept “dumping in†Kings even after they had the data that showed the crash. I’m almost afraid to look back in the OMNR archives and see how many our Atlantic hating friends on the other side of the fence kept putting in. Something I think we should remember about Lake Ontario…It’s a different ecosystem and because something happened in Huron doesn’t it’ll happen here. Tom B. (LongLine)

4. yes for bolting thru. But also screw down the butterflies real well. (I'd also get a chain on that motor to a rear cleat on the boat) Tom B. (LongLine)

C7403 is one of my favorites. Another is my "Nineteen Dollar Fly" (cuz it took me 19 bucks worth of flashabue to get it right) Tom B. (LongLine)

Looking at the annual reports, LT target has been 500K fish since 1992. There were nine years that they were under target. (4 yrs way under) Until 2012 the highest had been 511K LTs in 2009. In 2013 they released 522K. I don't see the big jump.(?) Is something going on in 2014 not publicized? On the other hand DEC is supposed to be putting in 155K surplus Kings in spring of 2014 to make up for the 30-50K shortage of Coho. I believe the target # for Kings is 1.7 Million. Tom B. (LongLine)

I agree that lake wide management of the fishery can't be based upon 30 sq miles however the USGS preyfish studies assumes a random distribution of alewives across the lake. A couple years ago I proposed at the State of the Lake meeting, that that may be incorrect and received some very strange looks. Actual trawl data per geographic area is not published in the Annual report. IMO, there are more Alewife on the West end than the East. The Alewife is not a strong swimmer and is very temperature sensitive. Yes they can go vertical in the water column daily and yes they can go from shore out to 300 FOW over the course of a year but I do not believe they can go E-W. Things leading me to my conclusions 1. More salmon are caught on the West end during Spring & Summer. (In Fall, they don't care about food or temp - within reason) 2. Mussels have changed the food web drastically in the last 10 yrs. 3. Salmon have been tracked and are known to be wanderers. Why would a S.R. fish go to Olcott if he wasn't looking for food? I mean, why leave food for food? Salmon are known as "eating machines." 4. I very rarely mark the large bait pods in the Central area that other guys seem to report and also have much better luck trolling N-S than E-W. 5. Temperature : Alewives are known in the literature to hate drastic temperature changes and generally aren't found in the thermocline. Drastic temp swings cause die offs which are happening basically in the Central area right now. Temp transects generally show the west end more temperature consistent and friendly. 6. Upwellings are sudden temp changes and they seem very frequent in the Central area. (which may have to do with the ridge out there and/or currents-winds) Of course, I could be full of bull, but that's my $.02 (In case you missed it - There are more Alewives West than East) Tom B. (LongLine)

Yes the launch is paved. Tom B. (LongLine)

Not saying they're worth that much but Cindy's aren't made any more. Bomber's big mistake as they are still pretty good lures.

Happy Birthday Chad. Hope it's a good one. Tom B. (LongLine)

WTG Chris! Great start to the new season. Tom B. (LongLine)

In my 18 ft'r, fishing solo with two rigg'rs & one board - all three rods are in adjacent holders rear of boat. Board rod on the outside. The fish care about where the lures are, my neck cares where they rods are, where I'm going and what's in front of me. Tom B. (LongLine)

John E - You're on the right track but mass plays a great part when talking about throwing something and a much smaller part when towing a fishing weight in the water. Shape is the major key for a rigg'r weight. As you said it's the force of the water pushing against a smaller surface area that really determines the blowback. If you sharpen the front of the pancake it'll have less blowback. However standard pancakes have more blowback than standard torpedo shaped. Interestingly, NAVY torpedoes do not have pointed noses and the "bulb" they build on ships are round. However these lessen the drag along their sides which of course is quite substantial given their sizes compared to the front on resistance in the water. Tom B. (LongLine)