GAMBLER

Last Fall, I was invited to fish the Bald Eagle Veterans tournament by Paul Nau of Lake Runner Charters.  Paul puts on this great event every year for men and women that served our country.  Seeing that my father and grandfather were Vets, I couldn’t wait to do this tournament for these guys and gals! Keith and I ran to boat over Saturday morning for Sunday.  After seeing the forecast, we had a plan to run West and ride the waves back to sandy and bring the guys back to Bald Eagle by truck so we didn’t beat them up too bad.  We were met with a bumpy lake but fishable.  I made the slow ride to the Glass House and set down in 130’.  We were met with a blank screen.  I set up trolling Into the waves and put out a simple 6 rod spread (2 riggers, 2 divers and 2 coppers).  We spun the boat around after getting fully set and rode the waves to the East.  We had a slow pick of kings and had a very bad landing ratio.  At 9am, we had a big rip on the copper that we fought for 20 minutes and never got copper on the reel!  That fish came unbottuned right as the 95’ rigger took a ride!  After a crazy battle, we boated a 24.02lb king. That fish took a NBK stingray.  At 11am, we were just West of Sandy and the guys were eager to head to the scales.  We made a quick stop at Rt 18 tackle to weigh the fish in for the Tri Counties tournament and then headed to Bald Eagle.  At weigh in, Dannies king took first place!  A huge thanks to Paul Nau for putting this event together for these guys and gals and the Hamlin Lions Club for donating snacks drink and lunch for all of us!  It’s awesome to see the fishing community come together for a cause like this!  I can’t wait for next year!

1 minute ago, SmilinEd1 said:

What is tmrw looking like for fishing Lake O..? Out of the Oak

We, 5 of us are up for 1 day 

Thanks 

You will be dodging storms all morning.  

Last week off Sandy Creek, we had a laker hit a meat rig 95 down in 115' fow.  When I went to net the fish, I noticed it had a tag in its back.  When the fish hit the floor, I also noticed a healed incision on its stomach.  I quickly removed the tag and got the laker back.  I called the phone number on the tag and talked to Alex from the USGS.  They are tagging lakers all over Lake Ontario to gather data on migration and spawning habits.  If you catch one of these lakers, report the tag and release the fish if possible.  There are internal tags inside the fish that will last 10 years and will give the USGS years of data.  I added photos of the tag for reference.  

12 hours ago, Gator said:

I wonder how much of the early reproduction is due to the kings spending generations in fresh water rather than in the salt? Does anyone know whether other transplants become reproductively mature earlier in freshwater? 

I read a study that showed kings will mature early when boat levels are low.  I will try to dig up the study I read.

The key to non fishy trout and salmon is 1) proper care after the catch (bleed them out and put them immediately on ice) and remove the dark meat between the meat and the skin.  

5 hours ago, Kevin J Legg said:

IMG_1632.mov 51.02 MB · 19 downloads IMG_1632.mov 51.02 MB · 19 downloads  

 

 

I think exposing kids to nature is critical to a kid’s development.

IMG_1632.mov  

 

It doesn't happen enough anymore.  Good work Kevin!  I took my kid and his buddies out a couple times this summer.  Some of them had never caught a fish before!  

Awesome gesture Billy! 

The mayhem off Sandy this morning was fun to watch.  Thank god I stayed inside of everyone.  Why do guys North South through boats all playing nice trolling East West?  There always has to be one....  

1 hour ago, chinook35 said:

My son and I were in the derby. We took a 28# 6oz  king to woodies and she just laughed. 😝 

We weighed a 33 that year and couldn’t believe it didn’t make the board!

10 hours ago, HB2 said:

I beg to differ 

 

The average size of browns is down the same as Kings and Rainbows 

 

A good indication of that is the LOC leaderboard for both spring and summer of this year . 

 

This spring they had a hard time getting 20 places on the board . That's unheard of in the past . You can blame the cormerants or the stream guys all you want but some of the fish survive all that and should grow to the normal sizes we have seen in the past .

 

 

 

 

 

It’s missing or weak year classes with the browns.  When the DEC dumped browns on Edgemere Drive two years ago by my work, the cormorants had days of fun picking off the browns that were stocked.  The spring was goofy and the browns were not around.  We have seen springs like this before.  Rochester Sportfishing put a 23.05lb brown in the boat for his clients during the summer LOC but they were not in the derby.  They also put a 18.5 on the deck the week before the derby.   Fishing pressure and issues with stocking (cormorants) is a huge issue with the browns.  If you spend a lot of time fishing browns in the summer, you will see their preferred area they summer in does not have a lack of bait all season.  They also eat more than just alewife and there isn’t a shortage of gobies for them to eat.  Steelhead size seemed up this year from the ones we caught.  The LOC leaderboard for steelhead is not a good size indicator when the king bite is amazing inside of 200’ and has been all season. Why would a captain or rec guy run over a great king bite to burn way more fuel to chase fish offshore?  If you don’t fish where steelhead spend most of their summer, you are not going to find many big ones.  This is also a reason for the brown board being lean.  East end boats (Sodus and Oswego) usually lean on browns when king fishing is slow.  They have had phenomenal king fishing all season and are not fishing them.  When king fishing is hot, captains leave browns, steelhead and lakers alone.  2021 Summer loc brown division had 3 browns over 19 in the top and the bottom was 15 and change…..

On 7/28/2023 at 4:00 AM, HB2 said:

Fish sizes are down across the board by like 30% from years ago . 

 

The kings have length but don't have girth . Look at old pics . 

 

The bigger browns use to be obese. An 11# fish gets you on the board now. 

 

Many guys are fishing offshore and we can't fill the LOC board with 10# plus steelhead . 

 

I'm hearing the bait has rebounded but by how much ? Certainly not even close to the levels of the 70s , 80s ,and 90s . I see a lot of bait inshore in my area and even that is concentrated to certain areas . But I don't see the huge schools offshore like I use to .

 

My theory about the kings acclimation  to LO might be somewhat true but what about the Browns and steelhead ? 

 

Browns are still big in Lake Ontario.  Lacking year classes due to cormorant predation are the reason for lack of big browns around.  

7 minutes ago, BRsnow said:

People are using much heavier line, perhaps the larger kings are becoming wary of higher LB test.

If that was the case, they would still return to the hatchery.

34 minutes ago, Lucky D said:

Maybe if our DEC would tag some salmon like they did lake trout they would have a better idea of what ages are going up river. The lake trout will be the new big fish of the lake 

The DEC has a good grasp on what year classes return to the hatchery.  They know fish are spawning younger than the past.  Coded wire tags have been used for decades on Lake Ontario by the DEC.

That’s a R&R

31 minutes ago, Pappy said:

This is a great topic!

It is amazing to me that there isn’t a 30 plus pounder in the Summer LOC!

It will be interesting to see if any of those big 30 plus pound fish run this fall!

It also appears to me that there are significantly less people fishing this year, maybe it’s just on the recreational side but there appears to be way fewer boats and activity in the marinas too.

 

There have been some 30+ lb kings caught on the North shore in the GOSD and the Silver Salmon derbies but not many compered to 10 years ago.   They will start to migrate to the salmon river soon and some will show up on the South shore and East end of the lake before the season is over.  

3 minutes ago, RH93 said:

What strain was introduced into the great lakes? Tule? 

This is what I found on the web. 

There are two primary strains of Chinook salmon, originating from the West Coast of the United States...the Tule (too-lee) and the URB (upper river bright).    The Tule are the strain that populates the Great Lakes, and is known for its large size and fighting prowess as a game fish.    The Tule strain is genetically pre-disposed to “run” in late summer/early fall, while the URB is a late fall run.   

Daiwa Saltist.  There isn't a reel with the drag adjustment capabilities, smoothness and durability.  My saltists on my wire are from the first year they hit the market and have not skipped a beat.   Don't go with lower end reels (convectors, sealines, Cold waters).  You pay for what you get.  Divers take a lot of abuse and High end reels are a better option.  Buy a reel once and you will not regret it.  

58 minutes ago, RH93 said:

Has the DEC made any comments against the idea of bringing in fresh genetics?

In the past state of the lake meetings, they were against it.  They blame the bait biomass on the reason and not genetics.  Replacing the current genetic strains we have in Lake Ontario totally would not be a good idea since they have adapted to naturally reproduce.  Thats not what I'm asking for.  Blend new genetics with some (not all) of our Lake Ontario fish and see if we can get the size back..  If they can do this, I would love to see some Kenia River Strain kings! 

2 minutes ago, chinook35 said:

I’ve seen reports that LO kings are spawning at 3 yo instead of 4 yo. That could account for the smaller size. They are missing a full year of growth. I second the motion that we should bring in fresh pacific chinooks to strengthen the gene pool   But with the DEC mindset to restore the native fishery, I doubt we will ever see new pacific stock introduced 

If you look at the GOSD tournament, the mature kings are way smaller than years past.  You used to never see a king under 30lbs on the board.  Not there are only a couple over 30lbs.  

For years the DEC lake managers have preached that the kings size is falling due to lack if bait in the lake.  The past three years, the bait hatches have been way up (record three years ago follow by an ok hatch filled by another great hatch).  King size is still down.  I’m not buying their theory anymore.  Genetics are more than likely the culprit.  Is it time to sprinkle some new genetics in to see if we can get the world class salmon fishery we have to pump out 40’s again?  I’m not saying totally bring in new genetics.  Thoughts?  

22 minutes ago, Frogger said:

Brian, not sure if he has hydraulic steering, or a dash console,  if he does, Raymarine Ev-100 would be my suggestion. Doesn’t need any electronics to support running it. Love mine. Think I’m on my 8th year and has worked flawlessly for me. 

He has cable steering.

My buddy is looking for an Autopilot for his 17' aluminum boat with a 90 HP outboard.  Any recommendations would be appreciated!  

3 hours ago, Lewis863 said:

Bring them with you to Association Island I'll take'em off your hands

Will do!  Remind me to pack them!  

10 hours ago, Gill-T said:

What was the state of health of the king?  By the look of things, that flasher was dragging bottom for awhile. He probably got into your spread to take a look and got the rig snagged. Better to be lucky than good. 

It was spent.  He didn’t revive so he went in the box.  When I cut him up, he had bruising on his left side.  

21 minutes ago, Silver Fox said:

What a dirty weekend it was…..

Dark and dirty weekend!  🤣