LongLine

Did you extend the backing plate as far as you can or does it stop at the end of the track? How close is the track to the transom? Can you post a pic? Tom B. (LongLine)

I don't have a Lund but my rigger board on my aluminum boat is backed with doubled pieces of 1/4" aluminum and the board mounting brackets are bolted thru both. Absolutely no flex. If you can cut wood, you can cut aluminum on the same equipment. Tom B. (LongLine)

WTG ZB! Unfortunately tomorrow's when the real "clowns" show up. Tom B. (LongLine)

Very nice! Tom B. (LongLine)

NY is putting in an additional 155K Kings this year. Tom B. (LongLine)

If there's a lot of baitfish, they're not off the Genny. I went almost 17 miles this morning & never saw a pod. Check out the pix in my Russell report this morning. All the fish were caught at the same waypoint, same depth, same lure which is pretty rare for being so far out. The Brown's a porker but the rest are pretty skinny. You can almost see the ribs on the one and the Laker's almost 30" long. Tom B. (LongLine)

Yes, I'm obsessed with chains. (But not with whips...) You will be too, once you dump a kicker in the lake. I was slowing the big engine down, the kicker was in gear and in the down position. When more of the kicker lower unit hit the water...up it went, right off the bracket. Luckily I had a chain on it & only lost the cowling. Note: I also drilled two holes 1/2" deep in the bracket for the hold down screws to sit in. Tom B. (LongLine)

Here’s some interesting sites with information on some of the questions raised in this thread. Ciscoes require cold well oxygenated lakes with little nutrient: http://hatch.cehd.umn.edu/research/fish/fishes/cisco.html Ciscoes high in Omega-3 fatty acids & rare to show contaminants: http://www.seagrant.umn.edu/fisheries/eat_fish Kings & Cohos do eat them (Scroll down the article) http://www.glerl.noaa.gov/seagrant/GLWL/Fish/salmonids/salmonids.html Here’s Alewife & bloater history in Lake Huron. Pages 9 & 10 graphic history most interesting. Alewife Crash was in 2004 & bloaters took off. http://www.glsc.usgs.gov/sites/default/files/product_files/2012LakeHuronDemersal.pdf This one shows Huron’s King stocking history: http://www.michigandnr.com/fishstock/default.asp I copied to excel, sorted & summed– here’s the tally. 1997 6,672,382 1998 6,845,225 1999 5,511,514 2000 5,805,742 2001 5,731,282 2002 5,301,568 2003 5,702,599 2004 5,543,022 2005 5,601,652 2006 3,504,396 2007 3,423,670 2008 3,424,365 2009 3,401,146 2010 3,383,344 2011 3,345,254 2012 2,655,648 2013 1,597,776 The DNR apparently just kept “dumping in†Kings even after they had the data that showed the crash. I’m almost afraid to look back in the OMNR archives and see how many our Atlantic hating friends on the other side of the fence kept putting in. Something I think we should remember about Lake Ontario…It’s a different ecosystem and because something happened in Huron doesn’t it’ll happen here. Tom B. (LongLine)

4. yes for bolting thru. But also screw down the butterflies real well. (I'd also get a chain on that motor to a rear cleat on the boat) Tom B. (LongLine)

C7403 is one of my favorites. Another is my "Nineteen Dollar Fly" (cuz it took me 19 bucks worth of flashabue to get it right) Tom B. (LongLine)

Looking at the annual reports, LT target has been 500K fish since 1992. There were nine years that they were under target. (4 yrs way under) Until 2012 the highest had been 511K LTs in 2009. In 2013 they released 522K. I don't see the big jump.(?) Is something going on in 2014 not publicized? On the other hand DEC is supposed to be putting in 155K surplus Kings in spring of 2014 to make up for the 30-50K shortage of Coho. I believe the target # for Kings is 1.7 Million. Tom B. (LongLine)

I agree that lake wide management of the fishery can't be based upon 30 sq miles however the USGS preyfish studies assumes a random distribution of alewives across the lake. A couple years ago I proposed at the State of the Lake meeting, that that may be incorrect and received some very strange looks. Actual trawl data per geographic area is not published in the Annual report. IMO, there are more Alewife on the West end than the East. The Alewife is not a strong swimmer and is very temperature sensitive. Yes they can go vertical in the water column daily and yes they can go from shore out to 300 FOW over the course of a year but I do not believe they can go E-W. Things leading me to my conclusions 1. More salmon are caught on the West end during Spring & Summer. (In Fall, they don't care about food or temp - within reason) 2. Mussels have changed the food web drastically in the last 10 yrs. 3. Salmon have been tracked and are known to be wanderers. Why would a S.R. fish go to Olcott if he wasn't looking for food? I mean, why leave food for food? Salmon are known as "eating machines." 4. I very rarely mark the large bait pods in the Central area that other guys seem to report and also have much better luck trolling N-S than E-W. 5. Temperature : Alewives are known in the literature to hate drastic temperature changes and generally aren't found in the thermocline. Drastic temp swings cause die offs which are happening basically in the Central area right now. Temp transects generally show the west end more temperature consistent and friendly. 6. Upwellings are sudden temp changes and they seem very frequent in the Central area. (which may have to do with the ridge out there and/or currents-winds) Of course, I could be full of bull, but that's my $.02 (In case you missed it - There are more Alewives West than East) Tom B. (LongLine)