Alewife die off

[rolmops]

This morning while walking my dogs in Hamlin State Park along the beach, I saw tons of birds just floating on the water. It caught my attention because until now most  of the gulls were flying looking for breakfast. As we walked, my dogs started to jump in the water chasing things. It turned out to be dying alewives. 

It is probably the result of an upwelling of cold water, but it reminded me of last year's die off and the effect it had on fishing. With many dead and dying fish in the water all mister salmon has to do is open his mouth and swallow bait without having to work for it. As a result, the bite really slowed down, Let's hope that this is just a small event

[whaler1]

I’m going to scoop up a few dozen when I see them and freeze them. Want to try them for ice fishing for pike this winter. 

[rolmops]

Hop over to Hamlin state Park This morning they were still sort of alive ,but swimming laying sideways on the bottom. You may have to preserve them.

[schreckstoff]

Thanks for the info 

[Gill-T]

And if they are dying from VHS you could spread it to another body of water. Leave’em be. 

[whaler1]

10 hours ago, Gill-T said:

And if they are dying from VHS you could spread it to another body of water. Leave’em be. 

I only ice fish Braddocks so not an issue. 

[GAMBLER]

I saw one dead alewife yesterday while trolling.  Nothing like last year at this time.  

[Gill-T]

59 minutes ago, whaler1 said:

I only ice fish Braddocks so not an issue. 

Ah. Nothing wrong with preserving them and using for kings

[Gator]

Fifteen billion alewives invaded Sandy this morning, and the gulls were having a heyday. Our amazing fishing is about to take a dump for a few weeks, IMHO. Time will tell. 

[rolmops]

Maybe HB2 with his rowboat will have a ball fly fishing for alewives. 

Anyway, this also means that the salmon will be packing on the pounds and if they keep on gorging themselves until September, we might finally see some 30+ pounders again.

[HB2]

The row boat bass fishing Fri afternoon and Sat was less than stellar . But I did manage a big bowfin. 

 

The fishing was fun while it lasted 

 

 

[HB2]

I am also going to get some of these for cut bait to try . 

 

Anything I should know about this ? 

[Gator]

Yes. Sandy Creeks rules say that you need to take one for me for every one you take for yourself. Drop off at East Fork.

[Silver Fox]

This difference between this season and last season is we didn’t have spring fishing at all last year.  It never even got started.  We’ll be fine and I wouldn’t expect brainless fishing forever anyways.

[whaler1]

3 hours ago, HB2 said:

The row boat bass fishing Fri afternoon and Sat was less than stellar . But I did manage a big bowfin. 

 

The fishing was fun while it lasted 

 

 

Big bowfin are awesome. Will be targeting them soon when I have free time and the lake is rough. Carp too. 

[rolmops]

Carp will give you a wild fight. They will outclass bass any day of the week 

[schreckstoff]

When I saw all the replies on this topic, I started to worry, very happy they were not posts about dead Alewife and instead classic LOU banter. 
 

The observations of when Alewife move into embayment is interesting. I love when people post what they are seeing around the lake . we often think of Alewife as just prey, but they can be very effective predators on a lot of larval fish. 

[GAMBLER]

All 9 kings I cut up Saturday were loaded with alewife of all sizes (2" up to 7").  All were fat and healthy looking.  The ones from last year at this time didn't look as healthy.  

[Gator]

Same, we only cut up a couple, but even the ones we put back had tails hanging out of their mouths. Start packing on the pounds, my pretties!!!

[rolmops]

 

I know that this is only one year, so this may be presumptuous, but could it be that a very gradual overall rise in temperature ( as in climate change) slowly pushes the northern maximum range of alewives a bit farther north, making Lake Ontario a more friendly environment for Alewives, making them a more stable food source for salmon instead of up and down years dependent on the weather.  Or is this just coincidence?

Edited Tuesday at 12:52 PM by rolmops

[ChrisS]

7 hours ago, rolmops said:

 

I know that this is only one year, so this may be presumptuous, but could it be that a very gradual overall rise in temperature ( as in climate change) slowly pushes the northern maximum range of alewives a bit farther north, making Lake Ontario a more friendly environment for Alewives, making them a more stable food source for salmon instead of up and down years dependent on the weather.  Or is this just coincidence?

Interesting thought. I don't know what the maximum range of alewives is, but if Lake Ontario is just on that edge, then it would make sense if climate swings would affect the populations. I'm sure there have been some studies on this from somewhere. It's kind of what people are seeing with Moose in NH and VT. Those populations are on the already on the edge of their preferred range and then they also get hit with increases of ticks and whitetail deer brainworm due to THEIR changing range. 

[LongLine]

Interesting article on the alewives.

Alewife (Alosa pseudoharengus) ERSS

 

A little bit about climate match in section 7 and at end of appendix. 

 

[schreckstoff]

11 hours ago, rolmops said:

 

I know that this is only one year, so this may be presumptuous, but could it be that a very gradual overall rise in temperature ( as in climate change) slowly pushes the northern maximum range of alewives a bit farther north, making Lake Ontario a more friendly environment for Alewives, making them a more stable food source for salmon instead of up and down years dependent on the weather.  Or is this just coincidence?

It certainly seems like the recent observations support your idea rolmops. There have been quite a few of strong Alewife year classes(YC)  produced the past few years, 2020YC, 2022YC, and 2024YC (crazy abundant).

 

 

[Gill-T]

And yet king size has diminished. 

[GAMBLER]

5 hours ago, Gill-T said:

And yet king size has diminished. 

For years we were told king size was down because biomass was down.