Gill-T

Davy, your December Kings you speak of in the rivers have always been there. As you know there are runs in September, October, November.....and even as late as March. I am sure there has been some "artificial selection" happening as the droves of bank meat fishermen leave to fill the deer woods in November, the fish don't have to survive the gauntlet and actually successfully spawn in water cold enough to create naturals. If fishermen are saying they are not seeing fish in the rivers in September or October then does that not speak to the state of our stocking program as these early runners are probably stockers and not naturals as water temps are too warm for successful reproduction? We lost a year class of stockers last year.....nobody will convince me otherwise. Last year will be a blip on the screen but it has brought to light the state of Altmar. I think if you were still running charters you might be a little more worried about the physical state of the hatchery. We are all not "whining" that we are not catching enough fish......I have never fished better in my life. We have legitimate concerns.

Davy, I have a signed letter from Steve LePan in my possession that states money is not the problem. I was planning on posting my dealings with the state in off-season.

King Davy, in my corespondance with Steve LePan he has stated money is not an issue. He has more than enough money to do what needs to be done.

Flies that have worked for majors this year.....A-tom-mik hypnotist, pro-am, and mirage/glow. I stop running spoons (except as cheaters) in July. Last two outings the biggest fish came on homemade sushi flies (adding meat to the fly). Been playing around with extra large spoons this year to keep shakers from getting injured + there probably is not much YOY alewives in the system after last winter + the stocking of the bloater chub whitefish which get huge. Tomic 6" spoons, custom Northport Nailer Super Mags, Michigan Stinger mags and R&R super lite mags have been the only real spoons I have run for Kings. With the 6" Tomics and Nortport Nailers, the smallest fish I have caught this year was a 3 lb Coho that got foul-hooked under the chin.

Thanks Rich. I fished Sodus at end of July and marked very little bait over a weekend so I just assumed the East end had its typical low bait census compared to the piles of bait we fish over here on the West end. It probably is better for the food web as a whole to have the bait spread out over the entire lake. I caught lots of skippies off the Niagara over the weekend that give me hope.

Les, I didn't see an excess of bait this year. I think we lost a good portion of the YOY alewives over the winter because the overpopulation of adult alewives ate them out of house and home. Adult alewives can eat things that the smaller alewives can't or won't. Studies in Lake Michigan show that 30% of adult alewife diet are comprised of the flea species, while YOY don't eat fleas. We have also have seemingly lost our Emerald Shiners. The skippers this year are smaller than normal as a result. As you say.....it is cyclical. The balance of predator vs prey is always cyclical so things will normalize if we are patient.

Justin, I suspect the noise has a negative effect. A big walleye is really old and has seen/and or heard it all. Also, those big ones are slower and lazier. The smaller fish are more likely to buzz in and nab the first offering (rigger baits) forward in the spread. Of course you could put your rigger baits WAY back and negate the effect of noise. I saw underwater camera footage on an In-fisherman show more than a decade ago and it really helped visualize how fish orient to a trolling spread passing overhead. The camera man was down deep pointing his camera up as trolling rigs passed overhead. You could clearly see large trout and salmon slowly following the spread but not necessarily engaging the baits. They saw the sparkle of the rigger baits and started following looking for weak stragglers....hence the success of long coppers and dipsys set way back. The rigger baits line them up.....and the junk lines get bit. If your riggers are not hitting but you are getting bit on the junk lines....it does not mean you need to change your rigger baits. Often the riggers are just a set-up for everything else to fire in your spread.

The last two years will become a blip on the screen IMO. Two of the coldest winters (2013,2014) on record. Previous years 2011, 2012 were the end of one of the warmest decade on record. The result of the warm decade was an explosion of bait and an unusual large increase in Gizzard Shad as they need warmer water. 2011, 2012 had spring time Gizzard Shad die-offs with confirmed VHS. If you read how this virus spreads and is really active in 50 degree water, are shed in the urine of fish and stay viable in the water for days......you realize that our pen-reared fish were being bathed in VHS as these die-offs in south shore ports coincided with when the pen-projects were going on. Add the gauntlet of the DEC tagging trailer experiment, cormorants etc etc. and you can make a good case for where the salmon went. Good news is we NEEDED those cold winters to knock Gizzard Shad back to their low numbers. There have been no die-offs the last two springs. IMO you will see a return to more normalized fishing next year but more likely in two years.

If it was my choice I would fish year-round. September comes and house chores, dog work, hunting seasons.....can't do it all.

Cold water is at the bar too, but manageable. Huge pile of weeds running north a couple miles East of the red can. Unfortunately, the great piles of Kings setting up there the last two weeks were blown apart with the influx of cold water. There were browns feeding on the surface. Lakers caught on a standard dipsy out only 100'. Kings were showing from 40' down to on the bottom. Plenty of shakers also. The picture is better inside 100" with the 75'- 85' band best. Good luck.....sadly my season ended today with no Tyees caught this year.

200 lb. Fish 307.com sells it. It has a cross-section diameter like Flea-flicker line so fleas are not really the problem everyone thinks. I would add that you probably will catch more fish with steel cable. What? yes, I do believe fish can be attracted to the cable hum, however, I believe older/wiser fish like their water quiet. If you are going to run it, run the braid on all downriggers. There is no point running it on one rigger as the other steel cable riggers will still be making noise......and catching more fish....which will have you frustrated with the braid cable. Steel catches numbers.......braid catches size. Coated cable for your probes does not seem to produce a hum.

When I bring it in I will stop periodically and flick the rigger line like a bow string and they shoot off.

I would assume the miracle rod catch incident is captured on the GoPro?

I paint my balls to make them less visible for the reason that I don't want fish checking them out. Use the White-tailed deer color principle. Dark on top, green (like the water color) on the sides and a light coating of white on the bottom. These color principals flatten the object out against the background colors and lessen the shadow under the ball. Loose the steel downrigger cable to reduce cable hum noise. Think about it .....how many of those majors staging off ports have been stuck by a hook before? I would bet the ones that got away or released have a negative experience associated with noisy cables. Add to the mix the pounding by the fleet during this time of year and you have a recipe for negative fish behavior. When team Cold Steel went to braid downrigger cable I took notice as Oswego charters pound the crap out of the same water over and over putting tremendous pressure on fish. Good enough for them......good enough for me. Nicer on the hands too. I have been using AFW green on my riggers for about 7 years and I will not go back to steel.

I would agree with your assessment......he does look 30 lbs. Nice fish.