HB2

Brian , you can have your opinion , I have mine . We were told way back when that spawning salmon don't bite and they won't natural reproduce . Both were proved wrong . Sandy has the best habitat by far to natural reproduce any fish . There may not be a lot , but I believe there are some . Last year water flows were very high which IMO is good . And please don't tell me about smolt , temp ,etc . These kings are in the creek at 75 degree water . If the eggs hatch , they have a chance and some will survive . That's mother nature's way .

Great assessment of the current king situation Capt Vinny . I agree and have been saying a lot of what you pointed out for a while . I also believe the natural reproduced fish have adapted to the lakes ecosystem and are surviving better . I feel a lot of the fish I have been catching in my trib are nat reproduce . As we were stripped of our pen fish for the greater good . But we can't know that because the stocked fish are not marked . The efficiency of the modern trolling fleet coupled with the many tournaments lake wide depletes many of the larger fish . Back in the day there were 3 times the kings stocked but we did not catch the numbers season long we do now . Also , there is a lot of trib angler bashing on this site . Seems to me with the above post , those trib angles could have a lot to say .

I really don't know what some of you guys expect from this fishery . I caught about a dozen kings yesterday . And one Atlantic about 7# . The run in the Salmon by the people up there is best it's been in a lot of years . So there are fish . Lake fishing for me this year after Aug 1 was not great . Some years are better than others ,that's just the way it is . Can't be lights out every year . The lakes ecosystem will only support so much bait with the clean water . Which dictates amount and size of kings. That's the long and short of it . The Atlantic's program will do absolutely nothing to the overall of the Kings . What difference does it make to the DEC about the amount of Kings stock ? Is there a conspiracy to make the fishing bad ? They are doing what they think is best for the overall fishery . I don't agree with them on some stuff but they do a great job . And 20 % each year over 3 years is probably more like a 50% total .

What do you suggest we do about it? The lakes ecosystem will only support so much bait .

I agree with Yankee Can't remember a year that the surface shimmered silver with dead alwives . And with our antiquated electronics , we would see schools of bait that seem to go in forever . Fish are smaller and seem to be less aggressive , at least this year .

My guess is it's just for the day to work on something I can see them closing the launch for the year but why would they close the parking lot for the year ? But who knows

Annual pike / bass fall trip usually to the ADKs was moved to Fair Haven . Awesome weather with food friends and food . The fishing was great . Not huge numbers but quality fish . Fished the bays over weeds and weed edges with limited success . Tried deeper water near drop offs and found fish . We got about 25 bass , smallmouths mostly . We never got a one smaller than 15" which amazes me . Small crankbaits and Senko style ned rigged were our best

Where are you located ?

I agree with first and last part of day . But you can get hits mid day sometimes. I run a small boat program with 2 riggers one lure each rigger . If I start shallow , I'll run the j plug 50 to 100 ft back and keep the ball just under the surface . But sometimes I run a slide diver .

First light start close and work out . J plugs for me #3 and #4 Glo green or pearl black dot my favorites After first hour or so silver read head among others 35 to 125 ft leads one rigger 10 ft off bottom ( 7 if you are brave ) and one half way down both same leads to avoid tangles . After sun starts to come up try the 35 to 90 ft depth and look for them on the bottom . Spoons and flashers also work but I like my J Plugs .

One of my new to me Walker Tournament riggers had a pice inside the motor break . And it can't be fixed or replaced . In my shoet time of using them , they are the nicest riggers I've used . Small , smooth , fast enough . I need new ones . What do I buy ?

When the lake is calm for a few days this time of year , there is 70 + degree water down to 50 to 70 ft . Strong west ,south or north winds may push that deeper or shallow but it doesn't make surface temps 40 . So east winds should just push the top layer around the lake clockwise like whirlpool in your scenario ? Nope , I don't buy the current has nothing to do with it . I think it has everything to do with it . But I could be wrong .

I defer to you on this Sheldon

And also it is my experience that fish do not like the unstable churned up water and stay in the more stable water as it gets pushed out .

But in a word , everyone sure does know what it means when it happens. I just watched that video. That is not a true representation of what happens . That video shows a tank with cold on one side and warm on the other . Then they pull a wall and it disperses . What actually happens is there is warm water on the entire surface of the lake . The prevailing current is west to east . Then the north east wind forces water towards shore and forces the warm water north while churning up the ice water . So actually it does flip .