Gill-T

Was out there last night and today. First time on Otisco. Was impressed with the Tiger topwater bite!

This time of year the majority of food web is just getting cranked up in the upper warmer water layers. Think Photosynthesis-phytoplankton-zooplankton-baitfish-salmon and trout. If you look at the map I put up, you can tell there is an upwelling happening close to shore (colder less productive water that is probably oxygen poor). Of course those conditions can change overnight. Check before you head out.

Here ya go slammy. Looks like your spot is still there from last week.

Looks like the shore rolled cold so fishing should be better out deep over 400'. FIsh the top 40'

Bait

Half of my fish this year have come on leadcore. Nice outing and in an East wind to boot!!!!

Light dead wind with an East component.....I would expect the bite to be sluggish. Good luck.

Very unusually marked Brown.

Pin your cheater with a rubberband at a set location and your hookup ratio will improve. Thanks for your report.

Personally, I am not concerned about the bloaters. Either they will make it or they won't. In nature a diversified ecosystem with more players is always a healthier system. A variety of baitfish is good. Over the years we have lost some diversity with decreases in Emerald Shiner, Sticklebacks, Spot-tailed shiners and Smelt populations on Ontario so bring on more bloaters. The lake is o'changing. On Erie we are seeing huge increases in smelt, perch and gizzard shad....and now invasive Rudd. Nobody can foresee the future completely, however, the population of the GTA is only going to get bigger which means more organic stuff dumping into the lake from all the Canadian bacon they eat. More nutrients means more baitfish so you need more apex predators to balance things out.

Those preyfish reports are already outdated with the recent changes to the food web dynamics on Lake Ontario. The LOLA report from Lake Ontario shows the zooplankton community is changing almost year to year. What we knew four years ago is already obsolete. Bloaters will probably find todays environment suitable as there is plenty of food in the deeper layers of the DCL. My only concern is during the winter when alewives have to drop down 200' to find food they will be in direct competition with the bloaters. My guess is many of the dying alewives we are seeing are not the result of severe temp changes but more likely shows that the stress of a long winter has put them in poor shape (they were starving) and they are having trouble handling the rigors of the spawn. We need some warmer temps to jump start the spring food web season. If my theory that alewives are in fact starving, it shows that there are not enough apex predators to keep the bait levels inline with available food over the winter stretch. This goes back to the original premise of this thread.......we need more Kings at a time when Canada is trying to get out of the game.

DNRoch, I assume from your handle you might be a biologist? If so, maybe you could identify yourself? It would be really beneficial to have a dialogue on this forum with a biologist working on the Great Lakes project.

You don't need anything special to kill a Turkey. Hell I have always used just a "Duck and Pheasant" load in 2 3/4".

Yodamage, with all due respect how is it going to make sense economically? The return in investment on the Pacific species pays for itself many times over in economic stimulus.