Smaller Salmon Thoughts

[Big fat pike]

I don't know a lot about Lake Ontario's Salmon but just have couple about why possibly our King salmon are getting smaller with one from a friend and the other one I just thought off.

 

It's possible the DEC switched stocking strains at some point for a smaller strain that has a higher survival rate and they picked numbers over size, I know someone that believes this but haven't found any proof.

 

One of my  theory though most likely untrue is there are only 2 or 3 fish depending on how you look at it that would eat a King Salmon and that would be a northern pike or a muskie or a tiger muskie if you want to count that as a third.

 

There are big pike and muskies in the lake but not a lot they are really struggling especially the muskies which I would think would be the main fish to eat a lot of the smaller salmon reducing the competition on the Salmon and leaving the stronger ones to survive but since they are declining they aren't eating and eliminating the smaller weaker ones. I have doubts too on this one but something that came to my mind.

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Another thought was high thiaminase levels from the alewives. I was thinking its possible that the severe Vitamin B1 Deficiency causes the older fish to not succeed at spawning and so its caused the younger ones to spread the generics where they succeeded when spawning younger, as well as causing poor growth.

 

 

My solution for this would be to get more of them to adapt and start eating the gobies as I think I heard people are starting to find gobies in their stomach and the Lake trout have no problem eating them and they prefer colder water temperatures then the Kings so I don't see why they couldn't start..  I know in another post I couldn't find the topic for from last year about the King Salmon I mentioned with the DEC grinding up the gobies and mixing in the hatchery food to get them to eat more of them and mix up their diet a little bit more. I know somebody said that in another post it would be expensive to catch them but if the DEC keep all the ones they catch from their surveys that might solve that problem and someone mentioned botulism from the gobies so I guess it would be a trade off of risk.