sawbelliesam

Nice job. Any fleas yet ?

That is as beautiful a brown as I've ever seen. Nice job.

Never saw the joy or purpose of killing animals for the fun of it. I hunt and fish, but with a far different mentality. I find it to be both sad and pathetic.

You must be so proud. I have harvested game and fish for over 50 years. I did so for sport as long as there was consumption. Stopping a beating heart so that you can feel good about yourself doesn't agree with me.

Thanks for a nice report. Do you have any thoughts on the bait fish situation? Reading much bait? Any sawbellies or ciscos in their bellies?

How were you able to launch in Hammondsport? Is there now a public launch? Any good lakers? Looks like they're typical Keuka lakers, 20 or so inches and skinny. Hope the Cisco's take hold.

Wouldn't be a splake as there is little to no natural reproduction of lakers in Hemlock. Seems unlikely that one would have spawned with one of the few brookies thrown in there and grown to that size in short order. I'm thinking stocked brookies.

I agree with you Muskie. There are a few to be found. They were not however native to the lake. It'd be nice if they took off, but I was told that the water chemistry wasn't conducive to a successful brookie fishery. Happy fishing!

The one being held in the shanty is a brown. 100% The one on the ice is a brook trout. 100% Anyone that thinks that either of these fish are lake trout needs to bone up on their fish ID. Brook trout were stocked experimentally decades ago. They didn't take and were never stocked again. If that brook trout was taken from Hemlock lake, then it's anybody's guess as to how it got there. I have been a diary holder for Hemlock since the early 80's and we receive the final reports from the DEC for all of the cooperators and there has never been a brook trout reported. I'm told by the DEC that there are none present. Take that info and make your own assumptions.

Also, the same can be said for the landlocks. They've not been stocked for decades as well, and like the brookies they did not reproduce in that fishery.

The one being held in the shanty is a brown. 100% The one on the ice is a brook trout. 100% Anyone that thinks that either of these fish are lake trout needs to bone up on their fish ID. Brook trout were stocked experimentally decades ago. They didn't take and were never stocked again. If that brook trout was taken from Hemlock lake, then it's anybody's guess as to how it got there. I have been a diary holder for Hemlock since the early 80's and we receive the final reports from the DEC for all of the cooperators and there has never been a brook trout reported. I'm told by the DEC that there are none present. Take that info and make your own assumptions.

Personally, I like to hold my fish close to my body for pictures, so that you can have a better idea of the actual size.

You are all over thinking this. This is an old fish that lived as long as it did because no one caught it. There's a lot of water out there. You can't catch them all, and many will never strike a lure. He just didn't get caught until he did. Again, that's an old fish.

As I stated in a previous post, that fish is older than you think. Much older. I have talked with DEC in the past about this very thing. Hopefully there will be some enlightenment regarding this fish. I'm still thinking 40ish or older.

Lakers in Lake Ontario grow bigger faster than Finger Lakes Lakers. IMO, that fish was north of 40 years old.