Gill-T

Wow you have spent some time cleaning her up! Great shape.

Yes I am kidding (sort of) I would like them to strip only late October and November-run fish to make the run later when water temps are better. I like the science stuff but I have a healthy dose of common sense. I never liked the idea of the nose tagging/ fin clipping machine. Ask a 5 year old if it would be a good idea to shove something into the nose of a fish, then clip off a fin before letting baby salmon go. The resource is too valuable to be jerking around. Glad the program is done. I look forward to the LOLA survey results as well. Interesting stuff happening to the food chain. Good reason to give lake managers more flexibility to determine stocking figures on a year-to-year basis to adapt to changing environment.

Same. Last time out on my boat was first week in June! The honey-do list seems more important when the fishing is off for Kings. If the state has ever had a whiff of wanting to stop King stocking for money reasons the ROI should be checked comparing sales tax revenues from years previous against this year. Think of all the gas stations, mini-marts, Tim Hortons, thruway fares, launch fares, charter business, tackle business etc. etc. Tackle sales down.....house paint sales up! Kings drive the Lake O business. Maybe they should be pushing the Atlantics out of the fish collecting wier and servicing the Kings!

Fleas are not filter feeders. They are predators that feed on other zooplankton.

Looked like some nice Coho in the mix also

The only other thing that might contribute to the "lost year class" theory was the presence of VHS in Gizzard Shad collections from last year's die off in the spring. No proof of VHS in Kings on Lake O, but one could extrapolate if Gizzard Shad are carrying VHS and Kings feed on Gizzard Shad, then Kings might come in contact with VHS. I choose not to believe this one but it is conceivable.

Seriously, what is the Niagara doing? Currents are all FUBAR'd this year.

A little on the stocking.... a lot on the weather. The numerous east wind days on Ontario and the cool basement layers from the cold winter have combined to change the normal cycle we have enjoyed in past years. You need to only look at the Niagara plume how it has been blowing out the top instead of staying tight to the shoreline. The result is cooler water is allowed to push into the near-shore areas. For every action there is a reaction. The Niagara is pushing out in a NE direction and the result is a backfill of cool water along the shore. We need to have sustained SW or W winds to correct this. All season the daily wind direction has been from seemingly different directions. There is a greater toilet bowl effect going on with most of the lighter warm water offshore on the West end from the spinning winds. Majors are probably out there but spread out all over the offshore areas as they never really had to leave their winter pattern. Instead of moving inshore to green water in May, the green water came to them. No reason to leave. My theory could be a huge pile of crap also and yes every king I have caught was LOADED with alewives, so much so that the porkers are not pulling drag as much as they usually do. I have been surprised a few times when I swear I had a Lake Trout on the line only to find a FAT Coho or Steelhead that was too stuffed to scrap.

Teeth marks from the Oswego shark

Nice jump in size. Amazing what letting those 3.5 year olds go to year 4 will do for antler and body size. Good luck.

Perfect.