Gobies don't leave the lake floor. Salmon and trout are pelagic. I would say the goby effect on salmon and trout has been positive. The only drawback I can see is they are carriers of VHS and can pass it up the food chain. High in thiamine....good. Easy to catch by predators....good. Filled a niche left by huge decreases in shiner levels....good. Lake Erie has millions of them but walleye and perch have learned to coexist. Lake Ontario bass and walleye will "figure it out" IMO.
Love the Ospreys. Congrats. Which model and length? That boat looks perfect for lake Ontario. Plenty of room to walk a long leader dipsy fish to a waiting net.
Do not run flashers with 15 fluoro unless you want to get rid of some gear. Rig up with 30 lb. This is big gear time. The fish are aggressive, they are getting their teeth and the big ones are showing up now. Salmon do not care about 30 lb test. With the green water green line is all but invisible 100' down.
More numbers than last year. Lots of Kings were hiding/spread out offshore over deep water during the June/July "every-day-wind-blew-from-the-East" time lakewide except for the Rochester area. East winds often help Rochester anglers as the warmer Genny water stays in the bowl longer attracting fish. There are lots of uncaught fish swimming around out there as a result. Due to two tough winters there will not be as many 30 lbers swimming around. If last year is an indicator of what the run will be like (weather has been similar), the Canadian rivers will probably have another strong run of fish and our runs will be "off" a little. Just my feeling.
IMO the reason the fish are inside is the availability of food. Stomach contents of walleye and perch this year have been predominantly small gobies. Gobies need structure to hide. Find the rocky humps and you will find the walleye. By matching the hatch and using 1/2 crawler you may find more hook-ups. Traditional "perch" areas are loaded with walleye this year.
Nick we found the warm water break was around 185' deep last weekend. Fish were in the 215'-230' range 100'-135' down. With the moon the bite was after 10:00 am for us.
Should be ok with rigger weights if you keep your down speed closer to 2 mph. You won't get much below 80' down with a standard dipsy. You could always add a torpedo diver 50' ahead of your dipsy on an OR-16 release to get additional depth.......or you could just buy a Mag dipsy for $12 and catch some fish lol.
Chrome edge/ double crush glow is always in the water for me......SD or Protroll. Make sure when you come up to bring your heavier downrigger weights and your Mag dipsys.
I don't get into the debate over what is better. The Protrolls displace a little more water and have the echip making sound so more of a "loud" paddle. When fish are beginning to get aggressive (like now) sometimes they prefer the protroll paddles. Otherwise......no real difference in hook ups for me.
I don't understand the rationale. A dead buck is a dead buck and your tag is punched. It does not matter if the buck is killed October 1 or November 1. You manage the herd with the number of tags given out not the date the deer is shot.
I don't believe a brown and an atlantic can mate to make a hybrid as their genetic makeup is too different. I could make a correlation about humans and sheep ......but you get the picture
Good call on heading in early with fish as the seas grew to 6'-8'ers by 10:00. Luckily we had a Navy vet! Mac, as he is known by his fellow vets, handled the rough seas like a trooper battling kings on his knees to keep from falling over. I think we gave him an adventure he will never forget. I would have to say the sponsor product given out were FANTASTIC. Anyone thinking about doing this event next year....do it!
PS: Unfortunately the rules committee will not allow smallmouth bass be submitted for the brown trout division
Thank you to everyone involved with the event. Team Gill-T Hooker will be back next year for sure.
PS: The fishing and conditions were pretty good today off Sodus. Big fish are around!
You are correct on the scam/prices. Any southern tier Ag/feed store will usually carry that stuff. They don't have to pay to have Lee and Tiffany's face on the bag so MUCH cheaper.