CreditRiverAnglers

Hi all, Here is a link to a new 9 minute YouTube video showing the whole Credit River steelhead program - CRAA fish ladder, tranfer and spawning process. The video has amazing underwater video of spawning steelhead in the Credit from member Rick Matusiak. Enjoy, John

A good discussion. The QC I heard from MNR was 99.8% marking rate on re-checked fish...and we borrow the NY trailer. As for reproduction, as Tim noted, NYDEC has estimated 5-10 million wild chinook fry from Salmon River alone since the power company set minimum flows. But wild salmon fry are smaller, yet more abundant than stocked salmon fry. Stockers average 4-5 grams, wild fry 1-3 grams by mid-late May. Our north shore rivers are blessed with a huge moraine and few dams so most rivers east of Toronto are all wild steelhead fisheries and most have good runs of wild chinooks. A few streams are also stocked. The MNR has no handle on reproduction due to lack of money to fund crews and most summer research starts after the chinook fry have left the rivers. One of the keys is understanding chinook salmon have fewer reproductive needs than steelhead, browns and coho. Chinook fry hatch in April and leave the river in May-June of the same year (2 months from hatch). The other wild trout/salmon species spend 1-2 years in the stream and must survive two summers and two winters facing far greater perils...like last weeks insane heat wave. Lake Ontario is a changing system and wild creatures adapt with or without human interference. Our fishery relies heavily on wild Alewife, a non native specie and the lake has been impacted by many non natives that reproduce very will in the wild, like lamprey, goby and zebra muscles. Why would salmon or trout be any different? Still the clipping shows that both stocking and wild salmon are a key part of the fishery. But managing for predator/prey is vital. Having grown up fishing both Lake Ontario and Georgian Bay (Lake Huron), I have seen the salmon fishery up her start, blossom with hatchery fish, then have an explossion from wild fish with continued heavy stocking, then a massive crash. I have not seen an alewife in the belly of a salmon or trout from Gbay in almost a decade. 20 years ago I had a 26 lb salmon barely make the top 10 daily in the local derby on Gbay. In the past decade the daily top 10 runs 7 to 15 pounds. This past winter and spring have been slightly better, but nothing like Lake Ontario. And one trip of Port Credit last week in 5 hours of trolling I never marked a single pod of baitfish. Maybe you guys could send some over! What we do have to be thankful for is big fish and the highest catch rates ever seen for chinook, steelhead and amoung the best for coho and brown. John President, CRAA www.craa.on.ca

My little ones are 7/9 this year. To keep them entertained in past years I would bring a mix of reading books, colouring books, marbles, cards, some asst small toys and as backup for slow days when the fish are going to turn on soon, the DS. The DS also works great for hunting to keep the kids entertained while your in a blind/stand waiting for Bambi's dad. Make sure you bring some snacks and drinks too. Nothing ends a trip faster than "I'm hungry". Getting them to help drive, set/hold rods, choose lures and reel in the big ones always helps too. And so do days when you can't keep a rod down. Good luck. John

Hi all, Click the link below to read the CRAA Newsletter we just posted in pdf. Lots of updates and info. Past newsletters can be found on the clubs website and you can sign up for our mailing list too. http://www.craa.on.ca/pdf/CRAA2010LightLinesSep.pdf John

I slept in (for me that is)...up at 6:45am. Woke the kids up and we were off. After gasing up (boat and us) we launched around 8 am at Port Credit. Normally I would have launched by 5:15-5:30 and almost skipped the outing being so late. But my 6 year old daughter wanted to go. Glad we did. For 3.5 hours on the water we were 5/7. Not a big count, but 4 adult kings and a nice wild steelie about 7 lbs to net. Kings were 24-29 lbs. 1/2 pound off the 10th place fish for the week. Oh well. My daughter landed her best chinook, at 26 lbs and we ended up tag teaming the 29 lb fish after a crazy fight. The kids called this big hen the 'Ninja salmon'. After popping the rigger with the line counter at only 60 feet, the fish ripped towards Niagara, taking us to 756 feet of line. My daughter held on for dear life (with one of my hands on the rod to help). I had to take over when some other boat racing towards promenade almost cut our line (missed the fish by maybe 50 feet) (thanks to the guys in the white centre console). Then my son finished the battle with the rods up and motor off. 26 lb king (released) Nice steelie (released) Now that's a run! Andrew working it back 29 lb king (Ninja salmon) Fish were tight, 45-70 fow, down 30-50. Tight lines, John

Well, it was choppy and the fishing was mixed with not a lot of bait and not many hooks on the graph. I had the shakers dialed in but I'll blame my guest for the four dropped matures (he was a lake newby). Ended the morning 10/22. 8 shakers, two nice steelies. Dropped four matures, a couple other fish that pulled a little line but never saw and a few bows lost jumping out back. Brutal landing ratio today. 100 fow contour. SD and green/blue fly took 9 hits off the two dipsy's, 150-250 back. Riggers ran from 40-60 in about 100 fow. Silver/green was the ticket on riggers (if you want shakers) that is. I heard a few others doing okay and others not turning much at all. John

Thanks for the reply Vince. I would have to agree that Ontario MNR have not been as supportive of kings and coho as they could/should be. But from what I have seen the DEC team have been pretty awesome (in comparrison). I wish I could get a few of the DEC guys to work up here (maybe we can trade) . Many of us give the NY/US side credit for not only finding the money to support the fishery, but realizing the economics of it. It is a truly world class, amazing fishery. And agreed that education is lacking all over the fishery, from the ports to the headwaters. Funny that much of the education is coming from angler groups. As for the club I oversee, we love all the fish the same, Atlantics and Kings, Steelies and Bass, and everything in between (calling Atlantic's beloved comes accros as a one fish state of mind which is incorrect in terms of our group) We were collecting chinook eggs for MNR back since 1990 (long before any other Ontario groups exisited or were involved in salmon) and have been involved most years ever since. The need for voluneers and conservation groups is a sad state of affairs in Ontario due to steady cuts to MNR budgets. OFAH has come to the rescue at Ringwood while our group has been working on other species since the mid 90's. We were never permitted to raise chinooks due to stocking limits. I certainly agree the chinooks and steelhead are the bread and butter and I doubt that will change in the forseeable future. On the positve side, everyone is learning a lot through online chat, studies and the clipping work on chinooks. There are many on our side of the lake that were addiment 90-95% of the kings in the lake were hatchery fish. The importance of wild chinooks is becoming very clear from the clipping program. More anglers are reducing their harvest, meanwhile our catches are excellent. I've had three, forty plus hook up days so far this summer (all 8 hour outings). So they fishery is rockin. As for Americal eel, (general info for all) they are a valuable member at the top of the food chain like salmonids, but they have been almost lost, it seems from the hydro dams on the St Lawrence River. They migrate to the Sargasso Sea to spawn and are potodomous (they spawn in the salt and return to fresh water to live). The loss of any native specie is a bad sign for the health of the lake. They are not parasitic like lamprey so they do not hurt the salmon fishery. As for Atlantic fights, I have had a mixed bag. I found they are great jumpers (as they are known for), but I have not had one large enough to battle in the lake (best is about 7 pounds thus far). In the river I've had some come in like a wet sock, while others have kicked my very experienced river fishing butt and left me shaken. But I've had the same with many steelies. Thye simply make another great component to the fishery. In rivers they turn an 9 month steelhead fishery into a 12 month fishery by filling the May-August void. In the lake they seem to be a nice bonus. If they do take, it will be interesting to see how they develop and what niche they fit into within the habitat. Lets just hope the Asian Carp don't screw it all up! Tight lines and enjoy the fishing...it is hot. John

That is a nice male Atlantic, no question on species ID. Great kype too. While I'd agree with Capt. Vince that Atlantic's seem to like the south shore more based on so many reports on LOU, we are seeing more on the north shore comparred to the last 25 years. Still the constant issue of mis-identification occurs all the time. I've seen several browns at the cleaning station that were in fact Atlantics. I know several charters that have boated over 10 on the north shore. Not sure what is meant by MNR turning their backs on chinooks? Ontario stocks the same number of chinooks we have for the past 15 years (OFAH stocked an extra 100k this year into Niagara since DEC numbers were down). However OFAH took over the main hatchery for a period starting in 2007. But much of the Ontario stocking of all the great lakes is done through fishing clubs rather than MNR. Our MNR's fish and wildlife budget funded through tax revenues is only $12 million. The remaining 70 million is funded through user fees. No question our politicians have got their heads in the sand over our fish and wildlife. At the same time there are a few mis-informed Ontarian's that seem to think by stocking Atlantic salmon the MNR is somehow hurting chinooks. Tight lines, John

Toronto Island drop off was good at first light with a few good kings and some shakers and a nice bow. 30-60 down in 60-120 fow along the drop off. Headed deep at 10 am to 330 fow. Coho and bow action was steady, but had to leave at noon. Off Port Credit after 4 pm and zipped out to 330 fow and some good coho and bow action with one lost king. Deep water was 15-40 down on riggers and 75-175 on dispsy's. silver green and silver purple or black purple were best colours. John

jbar - that is interesting news. I have heard about the odd one each spring and summer in the Credit's estuary, but never in the lake. Any chance you have a few pics you could send. The research guys at MNR and CVC have not caught any in shoreline tests, but they are not the best anglers . Thanks for the info! John

Hi Tom, Yes I am and running close to 50/50, maybe 55/45 for wild vs clipped in the shaker stage and 40/60 for wild vs clipped in the 2.5 year old stage. Last year the shakers wee 46% with adipose and 54% clipped in the shaker counts we did. But where did the fish and bait go? They are hiding. John

Fished July 21 off PortCredit. Late start (8 am) due to threatening storms that never arrived. Hit 3-4 bows and a few shakers in 60-90 fow, down 30-50. No bait and only a couple hooks on the graph. Tried deep and to the east and nothing. Missed one good rip and had a few knock offs. Not like it was! Fished July 22 off Islands. 6 am to 11 am. Few shakers and one major about 26, missed a couple other good hits and a few knock offs. Very slow and no bait at all! Water cold all over, surface about 58-60. Tried 350 for a while and nothing marked or hit. John

Just to confirm, the shore angler who caught the walleye sent me the photo. He also landed a grilse Atlantic on a crank bait off the pier. Go figure. Nice walleye, 5-6 pounds. John

That's the first over 40 in about ten years in the GOSD derby! To 10 are all over 33 lbs. Some great fishing. I still need to find a big one! John

Fishing Report July 12 Your Name / Boat Name: ============== TRIP OVERVIEW ============== Date(s): Time on Water: 5:30-1 Weather/Temp: sun/cloud/overcast Wind Speed/Direction: viarable 5-10k Waves: 1 foot and much less Surface Temp: 65-68 Location:Ashbridges-Spit LAT/LONG (GPS Cords): =============== FISHING RESULTS =============== Total Hits: 40 plus, plus Total Boated:28 Species Breakdown:23 Kings, 5 steelies Hot Lure: Anything blue/green/silver Trolling Speed: 2.5-3 Down Speed: Boat Depth: 80-220 Lure Depth: 30-80 Sorry for the delay, my new computer had some issues. Started out slow and managed to set all 6 rods and go for 10 minutes before a nice bow played. Steady action with hits every 5-15 minutes or faster. Lots of shakers and some 2 lake year fish (5-8 lbs). Turned on after 11 am with a triple, two doubles and stead hits. 9 majors landed (18-29.8 lbs) 14 under 8 lbs (7 clipped, 7 wild) 5 steelies (5-12 pounds), 2 Ontario clips, 1 dorsal damage (NY fish most likely) and 2 perfect fins (likely wild fish). My 8 year old son cranked in the 29.8. Also boated a 28, 27 and most others weer 23-26. All fish released and swam away well. John