GAMBLER

Here is a sneak peak at the Gambler Rigs peanut rigs. They will be available this winter! As of right now, I will be selling six colors. Sent from my iPhone using Lake Ontario United

Sent from my iPhone using Lake Ontario United Here you go Chad. Someone posted pictures on Facebook this spring of lakers with stocked Browns in their stomachs after the stocking truck had dumped fish the day before.

He purchased some of my rigs Chad. Sent from my iPhone using Lake Ontario United

From hours on top of hours of fishing lakers, I can tell you when the thermalcline is unstable, lake trout slide but also move offshore and suspend down deep. After extreme upwellings (like the one we had last week) lakers disappear until stable weather returns. Last year after early July, the lakers were not in their usual haunts. They were pushed offshore by unstable thermalclines. If nets were out during this time, they results would be inaccurate. I am encouraged by the stuff I am hearing about the meeting the other night but I'm still optimistic because of the numbers of lakers I see on a daily basis makes me a little nervous about the future of the Alewife population. Sent from my iPhone using Lake Ontario United

My only issue with that graph is it is only one year of decline. Last year, unstable weather pushed fish all over the place (just like the salmon). After early July, lakers were not in there normal areas. If we see a decline for two years in a row, then I will be a believer that the laker population is in decline. Sent from my iPhone using Lake Ontario United

Not at all.

I am thinking of selling peanuts rigged with a skirt like the Gambler Rigs. I used to run them on Lake Ontario before I went to spin n glos. I can get them through Yakima. My old favorite was the blue luminous. They discontinued that one.

Does anyone on the Fingerlakes use peanuts for lake trout anymore? If so, what are your favorite colors?

Clean cleaning the air cleaner around the carb, or the air seperator

I fish lakers more than most and own a business selling lake trout lures. If anyone should be against it, it should be me. I see the writing on the wall. If we don't have kings, we will not have much of a sport fishery on Lake Ontario and I can kiss my business goodbye! I also see that the adult lake trout population is a big part (bigger than the DEC admits) of the issue that could be in our future if the alewives numbers are what the data says they are. Sent from my iPhone using Lake Ontario United

If the data is true, I'm all for cuts too. My only issue is the growing lake trout population. Lakers out number kings by numbers for sure. There are 4 year classes of salmon max. Lakers, there could be WAY more. They say cutting laker stocks will not do anything for four years but the laker biomass we have will put a hurting on the population. We need to raise the creel limit and fish them. The cuts also need to be put on the lakers.

The stats from the hatchery a season or two ago stated 2 year olds were the highest percentage returning to the hatchery followed by the three year olds then the 4's. The 4 year olds that returned were only a couple % of the returns. I will look it up.

Where?

Genetics play a huge role in fish size. Most kings are spawning at 3 and 4 years old not 3 - 4 years old like they used to. If they are taking eggs from 2 and 3 year olds and very few 4 year olds, is that affecting the fish size?

May / June would be better because more boats are on the water. I would be willing to sponsor a derby like this! We could call it Alewives Lives Matter Derby!

The adult laker population has been climbing for the past couple years even with stocking short falls recently. This should be enough reason to support a laker cut along with the king cut they are proposing. If they want to be proactive about the future of the fishery, the long living lake trout population needs to be cut. If a stocking cut does not happen for lakers, the creel limit needs to be increased to knock the population down to save alewives.

Lakers are stocked. Muskies are a self sustaining population. Big difference.

I had 82 degrees for a surface temp yesterday on 2 different fish finders and my fishhawk. I am another vote for the clouds.

It has not affected king natural reproduction yet since the fish hatched this summer are swimming around the lake.

I too believe we will never see an increase again. The feds foot the bill for lakers.

The laker stocking should be cut by a higher percentage. That percentage needs to be higher since they added 300,000 to the mix a couple years ago (500,000 up to 800,000. They would not stock more kings because of the bait numbers but they felt it was OK to stock more lakers.