Char_Master

Couldn’t agree more! Every boat that isn’t fishing for them means my presentations look all the more appetizing. Same story here! The first fish I caught when I started trolling in 2015 was an Erie chunk Laker, I’d never caught a fish with so much stamina! Since then I’ve caught every species of Salmonids in the Great Lakes but LTs are still my absolute favorite fish out there.

Indeed they do. However, because they live so much longer than Chinooks, and even if stocking were to cease they’d still be present in large numbers for the next 10-20 years, I think that it’s too late to make any would-be impactful moves with Lakers. By the time their numbers decrease significantly, it would likely be too late for the rapidly declining forage base. Something big needs to happen in the next 1-4(ish) years if we want to preserve the current fishery. As far as diet, they do consume Alewives, but they also prey largely on Gobies, Smelt, Sculpins, and other species that Chinooks do not key in on. But, these species do still represent portions of the total forage biomass, and so the less prey consumed overall (for the time being), the better. As I said, I think that stocking numbers for every species should be decreased as much as possible/necessary, including Lake Trout. I just know that Chinooks put the biggest dent in the Alewife population, per fish, of all the species present. Personally, I’d love to see a lot of the money that is currently allocated towards stocking Lake Trout instead go to spawning habitat restoration, so that the Lake Trout population can some day support itself in balanced numbers without the need for the feds to pour money into stocking an over-excess of them. From what I’ve heard from friends who fish Lake Michigan, the Lakers are actually becoming stunted because too many are stocked on an annual basis at the moment. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see how this plays out in the end. Best case scenario, the population of every forage fish spikes and the lake continues to have a varied fishery with every species. Worst case, the forage drops off to near zero, every predator population collapses, and there’s a long period where the lake is virtually fishless before it slowly rebounds as Lake Huron has.

https://www.fishusa.com/ http://www.anglersavenueproshop.com/ I do most of my online shopping through these two, as well as various vendors on the forums.

Just my two cents on the matter. I’m sure many will disagree with me, especially since most members here are primarily offshore Pacfific Salmon anglers. But, I’ll say it anyway, and I respect everyone’s thoughts on the matter. As the articles and numerous studies have proven, pretty much every Salmonid species in the Great Lakes other than Chinooks (and possibly Cohos) has a varied diet and can adapt to a changing forage base and lake conditions. The smartest move would probably be to cut stocking numbers for every species, and cut more Chinooks than any others. They’re feeding machines that rely more heavily on Alewives than any Laker, Brown Trout, or Steelhead, there’s no disputing that. Those who are pushing for more Chinooks and less of every other species are likely going to contribute to the downfall of the current food web. The continued high stocking numbers for Chinooks will just run the Alewives into the ground and collapse the entire system to the point that there is nothing left (until a rebound occurs, that is). I find it sad that legislation supported by a select few (who will only benefit short term) can be unanimously passed while the vast majority of anglers, who want a stable and varied fishery, as well as the ecosystem itself, will suffer the consequences. Again, just my opinion, and what I think the safest course of action would be as an onlooking all-species angler.

That lake is going to fundamentally change before too long. The waters have far less nutrients, the mussels are consuming most of what little is left, and so many of the management strategies are predicted to fail. No going back now, just have to hope that somehow the forage, at large, can rebound before a total collapse. Alewives seem to be a thing of the past in most of the Great Lakes now, particularly Huron and Superior. Seems it would be best to start designing plans based around Smelt, Gobies, and Coregonids as the primary forage. But, then, we need to make sure none of them collapse either, as no species is doing exceedingly well at the moment in Lake MI.

Definitely! I do most of my online shopping with FishUSA and their customer service is top notch.

Those islanders look great! Unfortunately, they’re a bit pricey for my wallet haha. I was planning to go with the Daiwa M-One UTDs if I make the switch. More just trying to figure out which rods would be the best fit for my boat.

Thanks, I’ll look into them!

Thank you!

Wow, not sure why the next in the original post is so big, sorry to those of you that actually read it all lol.

Hey guys, looking for some recommendations for new trolling rods for this year’s upcoming open water season. First, I’m looking for a pair of new board rods, as my current ones are way too stout. I’ve heard good things about the Okuma Classic Pro GLT board rods, but was wondering if anyone here has used them and what they thought, or if anyone has another suggestion. Going to be running them with inline boards and 50lb braid plus snap weights to get down. (Also in the market for some new inline boards since my current offshore ones are trashed). Second, after three years of rugged use and hundreds of fish, my Cabela’s downriggers rods are finally ready to go. The butts are so indented they look ready to snap and the guides are getting pretty worn, so I want to replace them before something unfortunate happens while on the water. I contemplated doing this last year, but this season I think I might make the switch over to the mooching-style downrigger setups, with single action “knuckle buster” reels to make the fight of just about any fish more enjoyable. If I do decide to switch (which I’d like to), I already have some affordable reels picked out, but am having a hard time deciding which rods to go with. Traditional downrigger mooching rods are 10’6” long with short 8.5” rear butts. The two problems with this are 1) I can’t store any rod longer than 9’ in my cabin and 2) any rod with a rear butt shorter than 12” is liable to bounce out of my rod holders when cruising in rough seas. Because of this, traditional mooching rods aren’t really an option for me at the moment. I’ve had some guys say they used plain old Ugly Stiks with mooching rods and had no problems, but I’m not sure which ugly stick would be best suited to downrigger fishing? I’m also considering just going for another pair of cabela’s depthmaster rods and sticking some mooching reels on them, as I don’t think the slightly smaller “casting” guides would really hurt much. Anyone have thoughts/experience/recommendations with mooching gear? If I don’t make the switch, I’ll probably just buy another pair of cabela’s rods since they’ve been so reliable and fun to use. Thanks in advance! -Sean

4-5' of 20# fluoro. I've gone up to 8' but haven't noticed a difference, other than being more difficult to net fish.

They're good spoons, I have the most luck with them when the water is calm (and speed is more consistent). They'll spin out over 2.5mph but anything in the 1.5-2.5 range they work great.