rdebadts

Penny- we look forward to it. We really appreciate you reaching out to the ams for our input! Sent from my iPhone using Lake Ontario United mobile app

My goal steelie is 15 lbs- or anything over 32 inches. We did one on our boat last year finally, but it is going on my brothers wall (he caught it). A brown, coho or Atlantic in that range is worthy as well. My goal for salmon is 31+ and laker is 21+. Those are rare fish- in my time owning a boat, with well over 1000 fish boated, we have had 5 that have “made the grade.” Sent from my iPhone using Lake Ontario United mobile app

I see your point, but from a scientific standpoint it is not all that vital to have identical trawls. If you have a sound method, the results should be reproducible and able to compensate for yearly and daily variability. It is interesting to look at the different years- there are some places that always have fish, and some that are quite hit or miss. That variability is what a good scientific method can account for. With as many trawls as they do, it is unlikely that they “missed” enough fish to make a huge difference. Regarding the number of bait sampled- removing the earbones and aging over 1000 fish is more than enough to have high confidence in your results. Obviously more data gives your more confidence, but it rarely changes the result. The other thing I wanted to address is everyone’s contention that they “see a ton of bait on our screens”. As compelling as this seems, from a scientific standpoint there is nothing LESS useful than observational data. Firstly, we are all biased to WANT to see more bait. Secondly, we actively search out bait! Good fisherman fish where the fish are, and a good KiNG fisherman is good at finding bait. It is highly probable that you see the same bait pod several times in a day, as you circle back over productive areas. It’s not that they are ignoring what we are saying- it’s just that the information is relatively useless, given issues with reliability, unconscious bias, etc. I work in medicine and have to be very good at reading scientific papers. I do it all the time. I can spot bad science from a mile away. This looks like sound science. Regardless, we are wasting our time arguing about the science- because for the most part we don’t have a leg to stand on. They are the experts, for better or worse. It is far more useful to argue the meaning of that science and the management changes. I see their point of being conservative, but my biggest question is “when do the cuts get undone?” What are the “ideal” findings that we need next year to get the normal stocking numbers back?? If we have a huge class of 2016 yoy, does that not make up for at least one of the missing classes, considering the boom and bust nature of alewife?? To what extent can our lake support chinook with the bait we currently have?? Should we be doing more to increase natural repro, so that we can be less dependent on the stocking whims of the state?? These are issues where we can have a productive conversation Sent from my iPhone using Lake Ontario United

So is the data is skewed, and it may be, that’s still all they have to work with. It shows a big blunting of the 2016 yoy, which tells me they got feasted on. The big 2012 year class will be out of the system by next year, so that leaves us with one big huge year class, 2 slightly below average classes and two nonexistent year classes. Caution seems advisable. You don’t want to be wrong in the side of too many predators. I get the hesitancy with cuts, as generally something isn’t restored once cut. But correct me if I’m wrong, arent we coming off back to back recording setting fishing?? is it possible that this is due to a well managed lake??????? I think we all want the same thing here guys- good fishing for years to come! The Fishin' Physician Assistant

Perhaps, but the warning signs are there. Diatom concentrations are way down, as are mysis numbers. And quaggas are extending into deeper water. We are in better shape for sure, but as long as quaggas continue to proliferate I am worried. The Fishin' Physician Assistant

The science is that alewife are literally toxic to Atlantic’s- as in if they eat too many, healthy Atlantics will die. They become infertile too. If the idea is to increase Atlantic stocking, this is the exact wrong way to do it. Just sayin... I don’t like it, but I trust steve and Andy. I’d rather err on the side of caution than crash the fishery... Sent from my iPhone using Lake Ontario United

We hit the water early for a short trip in the rain. I knew there were stagers and given our short time window I resolved to work those inside Fish. The plan really payed off, as we were 8-12 on kings by 10 am, with a 4 really nice kings around 20 lbs. we had 2 doubles and never went more than 30 mins without a hit. Mostly a spoon and fly bite, though that is because I forgot my cutbait!! We worked 110-130 right out front, down 40-80. Temp was in the low 50s down 35. The Fishin' Physician Assistant

We brought the boat out to the oak this week for family vacation. We launched Saturday at 5:45 and were Fishing by 6:10. We set up in 120 fow a mile east, with mag spoons on riggers down 30 40 and 50, and meat on dipseys and coppers. Pretty much immediately we were into Kings and steel. We worked a mile long stretch of water 1-2 miles east, and picked away at 2-3 year old kings, with some nice steelies mixed in. We ended up with our biggest king of the year (25 lbs) and our boat record steelie, a 15 pounder! We were 10-15 by 11 am. Sunday, we went to our water from the day before and immediately got into fish, but they were tiny and the marks were a lot less. We took a peek in 100 and our to 160 and it didn’t look good, so we blew out to the 29 line on a north troll. We found a pod of very active fish at the 30 line and put together a nice box of juvenile kings and steelies. No big fish today, but the numbers were better. We were 12-16, mostly on regular sized dreamweaver uv spoons. More to come this week The Fishin' Physician Assistant

I think 1300 and 2700, I think. I knew the inside water was gonna flip, that’s why we roughed it out in the deep, stable water. Where’d ya find the laker? We spent about 20 mins trying to find one- and if we had, we would have gotten 2nd! The Fishin' Physician Assistant

It was pretty gross out there- 3-4s from multiple directions. Turning was no fun! The Fishin' Physician Assistant

My brother, as well as my buddies Andrew and Jordan fished the am division of the Sodus Pro am, as usual. Fishing has been great, with salmon coming regularly in 80-200 fow the last few weeks, so we knew this was gonna be a salmon tourney. I didn’t even bother scouting for Browns, because they have been pretty easy to catch. The plan for big fish Friday was to search out the salmon both near shore and offshore. We started in 120, and found a nice pod of matures just west of port in 170-210. We went 2-5 in there, with a couple of mid teen kings and the rest screamers that we lost. Recongnizing that we had that group of Fish figured, we went out deep to find those fish. I saw that the forecast was for south and then ne wind, so I knew the offshore bite might be very important. We found the fish again in 270-320, hitting them on a north south troll. We ended up going 5-8 out there, with one dandy king and some more low teen fish. Our BFF box was about 4 lbs out of the money, but a respectable 48+ lbs. they wanted a mag carbon 14, on just about setup. Meat took a few shots but wasn’t prominent. Saturday greeted us with strong se winds. We started in 180 and had 3 hits, but only boated one. It was getting iced out in there quick, as I worried it would, and we went out to our deep waypoints. Once we hit 280 we had 2 shots on legit screamers that we missed- so that by 9 am we were 1-5 on big fish. I was upset, but my guys weren’t and we kept on the grind.. luckily, we boxed our next 7 bites, all kings except for one steelie. We had a mix of 3 year olds and 2 year olds. They wanted meat, and quite deep. Our hits all came 80-110 down, even though the temp was 54 down 60. We needed to weigh 2 Fish around 5 lbs, and those 4 missed screamers really hurt our finally tally. Either way, we ended up with 123 pts, good for 3rd place!!! Sunday was cancelled after a big nor’easter, so Saturday’s results stuck! We ended up winning 800 bucks- not too shabby! Here is a pic of our gps- we beat the hell out of this spot. My buddy Jordan did some excellent driving in the 3-4 footers out there! We got our butts beat out there! The Fishin' Physician Assistant