Fat Trout

Fished Lake Winnepesaukee one year, trolling live bait during their derby. We fed out 2 lines 150 back.....the line, the bait...the whole thing was out of the water in a big arc going UP. Was also able to get a little arc of blue putting my finger close to the hook holder above the grip. No lightning strikes but boy it was funky and storms were in the area.

The other big thing that can't be avoided is how the zebra mussels cleared up the lake. That extra clarity really makes a difference in getting bites! I hate to be that guy but "I remember when" you couldn't see a downrigger ball after you sent it down 5 feet lol

OK....google finally did me right. I was a little low for the 80's and through 1992. "Stocking numbers of Chinook salmon in Lake Ontario peaked in 1984 at 4.2 million fish and ranged from 3.2 million to 3.6 million annually from 1984 to 1992. From 1994-1996, stocking ranged from 1.5-1.7 million fish and from 1997-1999 stocking ranged from 2.0-2.2 million fish (Mills 2003)." Here's the link. Not a fun chart like I was hoping for but some good info. I was generally going on memory on stocking #'s and some info found and recalled about 1995-1996 timeframe when the crap hit the fan in Michigan. 2.7 million I found as a quote in something for 1995. http://nas.er.usgs.gov/queries/GreatLakes/FactSheet.aspx?NoCache=1%2F10%2F2013+3%3A54%3A45+PM&SpeciesID=920&State=&HUCNumber=4090002

Before 1996 the salmon river (main hatchery river) would go down to 50 cubic feet per second of flow....or less during the summer. During salmon season they would yo-yo it from 1500 cubic feet down to 100....power generation thinking, not actual river management. Fish would get stranded in the extreme. In spring / summer fry would get stranded and/or overheated. In 1996 after some agreements with then Niagra Mohawk (now Brookfield Power). they made adjustments to the equipment to allow for minimum summer base flows of 185cfs in the summer + 3 or 4 weekends where they would bump the river up for kayakers & other users (provided there was enough water in the reservoir). In addition they had "in season" agreement for 285CFS minimum. The yo-yo'ing cut back significantly (compared to prior). The (somewhat) stabilized system allowed for actual natural reproduction....granted, good years vs bad years depending on actual weather conditions but at least there was a chance where before the summer heat and piss trickle nuked whatever managed to survive and hatch. I fish the river a fair amount...a few years ago we were getting salmon returns that could be compared as hatchery or natural due to a fin clipping program they did for a few years. I think around 4 years ago it was a really good year but the amazing thing was the endless # of salmon that came in from mid august through mid sept. to the river were 90% unclipped. Seemed like the early fish were the naturals to some degree. Either way, it made the "natural" fish very noticable vs the hatchery fish.

Unfortunately 5-8 million didn't happen in the 90's in NY. You compared against the 1.8 for NY now so thats what I assume you mean. I fished then, would have been nice. 2.7 million in 1995. cut down to just over a million in 1996 after Michigan's first crash. brought back up later in the 1990's but not exceeding 2 million. Base water flows in 1996 started the natural reproduction now estimated at a number equal to 50% of the stocking total.

With the exception of the fact that the Salmon river is where the hatchery is (drawing the late summer / fall kings)......Mexico Bay has always been and will always be a crap shoot with a lot of head scratching on where the fish are. Some springs, the wheel of fortune that are the lake currents deliver a bunch of bait and fish with it in the spring. Otherwise yeah I give it to the western ports for consistency.