Gill-T

I agree. You targeted way too deep for staggers and for silvers you may have been too shallow.

No stretch with wire. Keep drag on the loose side esp. on the initial runs.

I don’t think you need permission for a “live” thread. As you and others populate it, the thread will live at the top of the page. I will say this year and next, it will prove difficult as I was very busy at the back of the boat and would have difficulty keeping up lol!

Bass Pro in St. Catherine’s has them.

They show in pods but shoot the river fast. Here today. Gone tomorrow. October starts the main run. On Erie Tribs we see jacks come in as early as August if nights get cool enough.

My friend is in town (Buffalo area) the first week in October looking for a lake Erie walleye charter. Does anyone have a good reference for Sturgeon Pt. to Dunkirk at that time of year? Thanks.

Have found this year.....the season of the king....constantly changing leaders because of rubbing against wire during battles. Most of the time I would swear the line never got into the wire before netting but you never know what happens to the line after the initial strike and run up towards the surface. I will routinely walk off my wire at the local school soccer field to lay the wire back on tight and even on my dipsy reels. I will find all kinds of kinks 50-150’ back on the wire that indicate our gear gets together more than we think. I was also finding my mono leaders I was clamping a slide diver on was getting a pinch from the two sharp rumble strips the clamp arm pushes the line against. The issue is not 30 lb test IMO. Check your gear!

I would add a few items. On the tag end of a braid knot, tie long so you can do an overhand knot in the tag, then burn the end. For micro lead, you will not be able to do a willis knot because of the small diameter. The sheath is spectra so just remove lead (similar to willis knot) and just use the sheath to tie a double wrapped improved cinch to what ever you are tying to (braid backer {double wrap this also}or mono/fluoro leader). When I used to splice copper I used to use a haywire twist and cover with 2 minute epoxy.

Genesis

Now a days most people can figure out how to pull up a radar loop or buoy data in real time on their cell phone.

That is kind of what they do now. The shaker fitness and king natural repo numbers just add additional layers of info.

To me the tool not being used to track YOY alewife health is the weight of one year old kings by August. Both year classes of the different species are joined at the hip. The returning three year olds (graduating 4 year olds as of October) are going to be recorded as smaller than historical figures. These fish I have been catching are short but fat. These fish as one year olds got stocked in a spring with virtually no YOY alewife survival. I checked some stomach contents of some scrawny shakers that got dragged around and weren't going to make it a few years ago and I found bugs but not bait. Last year the one year olds in August were huge because of the 2016 record alewife hatch coincided with their stocking. These are now the 2 year olds everyone has been catching and driving the record catch rates. I was really worried how this year class of kings was impacting the bait levels as these fish were EVERYWHERE I went-from the Niagara to Sodus. The natural reproduction of kings in the Salmon River in 2016 was the most prolific ever recorded. Why so many two year olds? Was it a fitness issue of the highest YOY hatch every recorded in 2016 meeting the highest natural reproductive success year of kings ever recorded (simple predator vs prey relationship graph). Was there any "extra" surplus hatchery kings that were raised-and not destroyed by Canadian hatcheries (Andy Todd please respond if reading this), placed in the lake in lieu of the mild winter of 2016? Then there is the non-scientific data your eye sees when your are watching the fishfinder throughout the year.....how much bait are we seeing? This year was a tough one to get a handle on bait levels via sonar. There were more deep mixing roll-overs on the lake than I can ever remember on a given year. There was cold water around all year. As such, bait did not appear as large floor to ceiling bait balls like in years past. Bait often showed as loose and around the surface cavitation level of the fishfinder. Stomach surveys of the fish I cleaned ALWAYS had plenty of bait present. Lately, I have felt much better about bait levels as the one year old kings I am catching are big and healthy plus as the lake has finally set-up, there is lots of large bait pods showing on the sonar (Olcott to Niagara). The final effects of next year's large class of graduating kings will have on overall bait levels in Lake Ontario won't be fully understood for two more springs. Who won out .....the 2016 alewife class or the 2016 kings? I would love lake managers to develop an algorithm that considers all the factors effecting alewife/chinook salmon numbers when figuring out chinook stocking figures. With all the years of data, we should know the effects of winter temperatures on alewife survival rates. We should also be able to figure out the effects of water levels/water temperature during October/November on Salmon River chinook salmon natural reproduction success. Merge the two data points into a formula that can be used by lake managers to set stocking figures. In the meantime.....I can't wait until next year's fishing season to start. Lake Ontario kicked ass this year!