jimski2

Dunkirk commercial fisherman Charley Gloff whose boat was the G4 was fishing out of Erie, PA in the early 1950's said the smelt masses were so huge, the only way to clear them from his gill nets were to boil them out in a fifty five gallon drum of boiling water. At that time the whitefish, blue pike and other cold water species disapeared from commercial landings. The smelt were a foreign invader that fed on the small fry of the local native fisheries. In the mid 1960's Canadian commercial fishermen changed to trawling methods to harvest the smelt. The smelt were loaded in ice tubs that were transported to Detroit Airport for shipment to Asian markets. As the smelt were reduced in numbers by salmon and trout stockings fish like walleye started to return. The blue pike never returned and sport fishing groups blamed commercial fishing was the reason for this but they were using this story to increase their share of the lakes fish stock.

Check out offshore windmills in Cleveland, Ohio.

There are millions of whitefish in the Great Lakes. What we have is no effort to target them. Go on You Tube and search out them. Use Whitefish jigs, lures, lakes like Simcoe, Michigan, Superior  

You Tube has many sites for fishing for Whitefish not only all the upper lakes. Search out whitefish jigs, whitefish fishing methods, etc. There are hours of viewing for you while you are waiting for ice if it happens here this year. Upper Lake Huron and Lake Superior have ice now.

My brother and his family from Anchorage, Ak winters in Paso Robles,CA and they have bad water supply issues. Located next to the Central Valley where most of our nation's food supply is raised water conservation uses are enforced. Believe me there is a problem that devious politicians and media covers up. Do not believe everything you read or hear, California is in big trouble with its population and agriculture gains.

Jason Mitchell Outdoors, Larry Smith outdoors, Penninsula Reports etc. Whitefish stories.

Get on You Tube and search out Meegs Jigs Whitefish. This is a starter and there out other sites also from Wisconsin, etc. Whitefish Lake Simcoe works. Smoked whitefish sell at Wegmans now for over $20.00 . You can clean them using a scrub brush on the innerds. Overnight them in brine or a special cure. Smoke then hanging from metal hooks you can make. Apple, cherry wood is preferred.

My whitefish gill nets which I purchased at Port Dover were 4 and 3/4 inch stretched net fine thread. About twenty foot deep they had aluminum corks that did not crush at the deep water they were set at. Dunkirk had over 200 fish tugs who supplied the East Coast communities with whitefish that were packed in ice. The ice was harvested in the winter by local men and stored in a local ice house for the railroad shipping. Fresh whitefish were preferred over the salt cod from New England ports as ice was unavailable there in the summer. Meegs lures out of Orillia, Ontario has a video on catching whitefish from Lake Simcoe.

Watching local Lake Simcoe anglers catch whitefish, a trip to the local library revealed their secrets.  They salt the bottom below their hole with salted emerald shiner minnows on the bottom. They build a brass rod and solder treble hooks on it, drop it to the bottom and lift it sharply to catch whitefish attracted to their bait pile. Legal? I do not think so. But lifting jigging plugs and spoons may work.

Whitefish in Lake Erie yielded a one million C. Dollar market last year for their commercial fishery. The invader smelt stocked by the Michigan Fish Agency decimated the cold water species in Lake Erie in the mid 1950's but came uder control by Canadian  trawlers and salmon and trout stocking programs. American sport fishermen forgot how and where to take whitefish in Lake Erie. They are there though.

Any navigation or fishing in the fifty square mile windmill zone will be illegal. The politicians that auctioned off the site will be dead now but they spent the money while they were in office.

All government and commercial fishing work boats are made of heavy aluminum with welding assembled. They take a lot of abuse and keep on working. My friend had an automobile accident with his Crestliner. They repaired the hull like new at the factory.

Taking a daily shower in California is not happening. Capturing rain gutter water is against the law. Spend some time there and you will wake up.

My Lund popped rivets and leaked like a sieve. It went to the scrapyard.

Desalination costs a lot of money. Check out the Keys and Sanibel Island in Florida.

I myself run a 18 foot welded hull 1992 Crestliner. My 21 foot Starcraft  had 280 replaced rivets and a new floor. Then the transom brace cracked with only a 70 hp outboard. Rivet hulls use thinner gauge aluminum with welded hulls require heavier gauge aluminum sheets to handle the welding heat. The in hull gasoline tank was removed and replaced with six gallon portable tanks that do not collect water and are easily cleaned.  A new 90HP Mercury powers it with a top speed of 34PH and cruises at 25 MPH. A 10HP Honda mounted next to the Mercury is used for trolling at times with the Mercury fine for trolling also. Two downriggers are used mainly for trolling six side planer lines. Keeping the lines away from the boat is more productive than even downriggers. Lake Erie perch fishing is even more productive than Walleye fishing with a limit of 150 perch that are good eaters and less boring than money fishing contests.

With the Lake water temperature at 40 degrees F. the "turnover" is happening. No matter what depth of water you are at, the water temperature is the same. As the temperature drops the lighter cold water will remain on the surface till it freezes at 32 degrees. the Lake bottom depths will remain at 40 degrees all winter until the ice melts. In the spring things will change back to colder water at depths and surface water will rise above 40 degrees unless it is influenced by nearby streams or power plants.

While fishing there you must prepare for a lot of gasoline usage. Fighting the currents slowly you burn a lot of fuel going nowhere.

I was slammed into the ice trapped between the power plant flumes and thought I knocked rivets out of my boat. There are plenty of trout and salmon taken drifting along the bottom for miles all the way to Fort Niagara. Be safe, going above the power plants is thrilling but there are just as many fish in the lower river.

The wind on the ridges is even stronger than the water.

You got it. There are millions of acres of farm land that would love to have windmills to pay their property taxes. No potable water would be endangered and our access to our fishery will not be lost. The greedy politicians want the lease money to come in while they are in office. They will not be in office when the mess out in our lake starts.

Lakes Superior and Huron are now at low levels due to a lack of rainfall in their area. They will cause falling levels here.

Tesla and Bezos are the wealthiest people on Earth. Fighting them is like fighting the Rockefellers.

10 hours ago, jimski2 said:

We used an 18 foot Plywood boatfor blue pike fishing years ago. Powered by a 30 HP Evinrude. Watching the weather was a constant decision maker.

30 HP was the largest outboard made at that time, we caught fish, just a lot slower.

We used an 18 foot Plywood boatfor blue pike fishing years ago. Powered by a 30 HP Evinrude. Watching the weather was a constant decision maker.