Salmon size

[HB2]

Did we loose the 3 year old class of fish ? 

[Bad Habit]

Four days into the LOC Derby and no Salmon over 20 pounds weighed in. Thoughts?

[Mike M]

Very worried. We were out derby fishing Saturday&Sunday.  Caught a bunch of Salmon both days. Biggest was about 12lbs. Been fishing this derby a long long time. Never seen it like this before. We're rooting for somebody anybody to get one over 20lbs.

[GAMBLER]

Huge class of 2 year olds and possibly a small class of three year olds.  Reminds me of 2024.  This is the ups and downs of relying on natural reproduction........  I think the three year olds will show up once we get some stable weather but it still looks like a weak class of three year olds.  

[Yankee Troller]

Didn't we have a weak class of 3yr olds last year? Thankfully, the Coho covered that up.

[GAMBLER]

2 hours ago, Yankee Troller said:

Didn't we have a weak class of 3yr olds last year? Thankfully, the Coho covered that up.

Probably.  When 2 year olds are all we are catching, they are going to get depleted.  When a lot of two year olds spawn, that is even less that make it to 3.  

[thumbburn]

👆

[Silver Fox]

I remember a year recently that much less skippies were caught, but then again, my memory…….

[Gill-T]

I can confirm the amount of two year olds in the system right now is both disturbing from a healthy food chain perspective, and fun as hell.  Six hours of trolling and over 30 kings yesterday. 

[Yankee Troller]

The disturbing part about this fishery is that the DEC has no control over it.

 

I understand science isn't easy, and I wont get deep into it, but there are biologist out there that have discovered how to catch wild chinook at a very young age. We can also sein the Salmon River in the Spring. Both of which can help us identify wild fluctuations. 

 

We also have a tagging trailer that can be used so every Tom, Dick , and Harry (does anyone name their kid Harry anymore?) can instantly know if they are catching natural or stocked fish. The powers that be can also sit at a comfy desk and scroll pictures on social media for a good understanding of what is being caught. They are pushing this parental tagging BS, but we still don't have the data from 3 years ago. 

 

What projects, other than the parental tagging (which again we have not seen the data in years) are they doing to understand the Salmon in this fishery that drive one of the largest fisheries in the state? We've seen Lake Erie biologist tag a pile of Walleye to better understand their migration, but on Lake Ontario we watched a Lake Trout swim around the lake. 

[Gator]

4 hours ago, Yankee Troller said:

The disturbing part about this fishery is that the DEC has no control over it.

 

I understand science isn't easy, and I wont get deep into it, but there are biologist out there that have discovered how to catch wild chinook at a very young age. We can also sein the Salmon River in the Spring. Both of which can help us identify wild fluctuations. 

 

We also have a tagging trailer that can be used so every Tom, Dick , and Harry (does anyone name their kid Harry anymore?) can instantly know if they are catching natural or stocked fish. The powers that be can also sit at a comfy desk and scroll pictures on social media for a good understanding of what is being caught. They are pushing this parental tagging BS, but we still don't have the data from 3 years ago. 

 

What projects, other than the parental tagging (which again we have not seen the data in years) are they doing to understand the Salmon in this fishery that drive one of the largest fisheries in the state? We've seen Lake Erie biologist tag a pile of Walleye to better understand their migration, but on Lake Ontario we watched a Lake Trout swim around the lake. 

 

You are correct. Not a single individual has named their kid Harry in recent history. 

 

I have no answers on the rest of this, but I like the way you think and would like to subscribe to your newsletter. 

 

Seriously though, it seems like chump change to me to fund some of these studies, particular in comparison to some of the more recent budget request for other stuff, but IMHO it's probably the money more-so than willpower that roadblocks research efforts. We are seeing 4 year projects shut down in year 3, with the data becoming a casualty of the system. Meliora...

[chinook35]

The DEC stated publicly a few years ago that their focus was on re establishing native species to Lake O

The “ invasive “ pacific salmon were to be put on a back burner 

 I can see a time where the pacific salmon are left to natural production only and in time the end of that fishery 

[HB2]

I guess we can't loose fact that the fishing this spring Derby has been as good as I can remember ,at least it has been for us . We have boated 70 to 80 fish so far and lost some more. At times we can't keep rods in the water . Many kings 8 to 15 lbs . A bunch of browns , some steelhead, and a lot of lakers to 14# . My arms are tired and I come home exhausted . Weather has been good . 

 

Not seeing a lot of bait where I am but screen is full of fish a lot of the time . 

 

Also not getting many skippers which is worrisome. But next year should be great size wise . 

 

So I'm not going to complain . 

 

But I think the Canadian nat reproduction has taken the lake over.And this seems to have started 15 years ago and is getting worse each year .  And really , what can the DEC do about it ? 

[GAMBLER]

20 hours ago, HB2 said:

I guess we can't loose fact that the fishing this spring Derby has been as good as I can remember ,at least it has been for us . We have boated 70 to 80 fish so far and lost some more. At times we can't keep rods in the water . Many kings 8 to 15 lbs . A bunch of browns , some steelhead, and a lot of lakers to 14# . My arms are tired and I come home exhausted . Weather has been good . 

 

Not seeing a lot of bait where I am but screen is full of fish a lot of the time . 

 

Also not getting many skippers which is worrisome. But next year should be great size wise . 

 

So I'm not going to complain . 

 

But I think the Canadian nat reproduction has taken the lake over.And this seems to have started 15 years ago and is getting worse each year .  And really , what can the DEC do about it ? 

We have caught 9 skips in two trips so far.  They are around.