Gill-T

Cold, clear black water.

The large class of kings everyone will be catching are three years old this year. Yes, they will start egg formation now. Empty stomachs this time of year is not abnormal on a late spring. Most of the alewives are still on the bottom in 400'+ feet of water. Alewives did not start on the bottom, they slowly move there over the course of the winter because warmer water and Mysis zooplankton are found there. Younger class of kings are not suited for 400' of water. More likely they are feeding on the suspended bait 150'-250' over the winter. As more and more bait heads to the bottom, there is a time period when kings are running out of food and go looking- ending up along the shore in time for the spring inshore migration of alewives to begin. Adult alewives are coming into the Niagara, Genny and Oswego river flows along the bottom, hit the bank, find warmer water, then begin to populate the upper warming layers of the water column that is developing inside of 100'. This is the normal pattern. What is not normal is the size of this year class of kings and the effect on bait levels. The early-in from last year and this year is they are having a negative effect on alewife populations based on trawler surveys. Do not hesitate to keep your kings for the barbecue this year. Next year.......that is another story- lots of cormorants have me worried about king numbers.

Yes but with fog couldn’t tell how far it extends.

We have mud inside of 40' off Olcott.

Find the birds, don't fish below the fish, find warmer water.

I am seeing tons of cormorants everywhere I go. Upper Niagara to ports on Lake Ontario......more than usual.

I wonder if the DEC is aware of this condition. Sounds like it might be a food pellet or a incubation temp issue?

My concern is they will return to the salmon river and end up back at the hatchery. The fish I have seen with the condition appear healthy and functional. I worry about the ones we don’t see that die in the system.

Since we are seeing gill plate rot with more frequency, I think as a group collectively we should consider keeping these fish and getting them out of the system. Thoughts?

https://coastwatch.glerl.noaa.gov/modis/modis.php?region=o&page=1&template=sub&image=t1.19118.1607.LakeOntario.143.250m.jpg

Ice leaving Erie fast. Check modis satt image from 28th and you can the ice piled almost to Olcott along shore.

double post please delete

Great start Rick! Congrats! Do you happen to have a pic of the leaderboard you could post? Thanks.

Nope, boom out. The river is filled with truck sized icebergs. Hopefully some of it breaks down over the falls.

Got a glimpse of the huge ice chunks coming down the river today. These are boat wrecking sized chunks (see also The Titanic).

Keel weights, large split shot, small big Jon disks, tadpoles, Leadcore, short copper etc etc. lots of options and no one way is magical.

Evening wind increases have pushed a ton of ice down the river. Here she comes!