Shot a doe yesterday and had something crazy happen. I watched her fall 50-60 yds from the stand. After a while, a nice buck came over and preceded to beat the sh*t out of her! He gored her in the neck and kept kicking here ripping the fur off of her side. After he left, small bucks came over and wouldn’t leave her alone. I guess this is what happens when a doe doesn’t put out!
The Lake Managers do not do anything about some issues unless there is A LOT of noise made over it. They are a state agency and we all know how hard it is to get anything done in this state. For example: Coromorants are a HUGE issue that everyone that fishes the lake has an issue with. The DEC is well aware of the issue yet there still isn't a season. Canada has opened a season on cormorants. Sitting back and watching worked well in Lake Huron for the salmon fishery.... I would rather not watch the fishery I have enjoyed my entire life fade away because we sat back and waited to see what happened.
Those numbers are a little off. 16lbs for a laker out of Lake Ontario is a very low. The day my son caught his 21.06 this summer, we caught 8 lakers over 16lbs. A 16lb laker wouldn't make the LOC board in Spring or Summer by a long shot!
Here is what I consider a trophy on Lake Ontario and have used this for getting fish mounted.
Steelhead - 18lbs
Browns - 15lbs
Lakers - 25lbs
Kings - 30lbs (used to be 35 for me but 30 is out of the norm now)
Coho -15lbs
Atlantic - 15lbs
Increased competition for a dwindling bait population caused the size reduction in Michigan. Guys were going an entire season without catching a king over 20lbs! They cut stocking 50% in one year and over the next couple of years, the size rebounded along with the bait population.
Well, scratch that thought. The alewife weight according to this chart shows the weight has been stable or heavier.
Microsoft Word - 2019_preliminary_status_of_Lake_Ontario_Alewife.docx (glfc.org)