schreckstoff

Interesting AA and good video. If I understand, you are saying CE trumps wind in driving LO currents. I’m having trouble rectifying that with what I’ve thought of as the general LO circulation being counter clockwise. What am I missing? im all for correct terminology but I’m still not sure why “flip” or “turnover” (limnology term I’ve heard) are such poor descriptions of what happens to the thermal dynamics.

Adult LT survey, gillnetting. You should see the USGS boat (Kaho) and DEC boat (Seth Green) out and about. Remember to watch out for the buoys if you are trolling. Gambler, that’s fricken cool that you have such good eye on the water! (And that my limnology blathering might have been close). Does pH timeseries go back in time like the temperature data does

Seasonal timing would suggest whiting, but whiting events are often associated with increased phytoplankton, so some of both likely. More info here if interested: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whiting From what I understand, in LO events are associated with blooms of picoplankton, which in turn naturally increases the pH to such a point that calcites precipitates out of the water and onto the plankton cells. I read a paper that suggested mussels reduced whiting simply by lowering the lake's calcium carbonate concentration as opposed to filtering...although filtering likely has some effect as well. Just looked at this paper that I think suggests diatoms are a nucleation source https://eartharxiv.org/repository/view/2335/

Here's what the layer can look like at night on a graph. This was south of sunken island (thank you Captain Bliss for teaching me about this area!), in 2016, and was mostly Cisco from the 2014 year class.

That’s a Cisco hot spot so maybe. We see them “layer up” like that at this time of year but they are most often suspended, a little deeper/cooler .

You all know what the predators are eating, For silvers almost all Alewife but when and where other prey fish are abundant (Rainbow Smelt, Giz, Perch) they show up in diets. LT and Browns get up to a quarter of their energy from Goby but still rely on Alewife. Alewife are definitely eating fleas and the correlations suggest that has caused Alewifie growth to sky rocket. I don't think I have the figure in a report anywhere, but basically once Bythotrephes abundance really increased around 2004 or 2005 then Alewife size at age increased. In some years Bytho didn't show up, and in those size at age comes back down. I've hypothesized it is partly because the fleas concentrate the energy of the smaller zooplankton, making it more efficient to feed on a larger item, but also because Bytho can be abundant waaay into the fall, essentially allowing Alewife an extra month. or 2 or 3 to feed efficiently.

I'm here, and have been following closely, and learning a lot! It really is a great discussion. Regarding Spring Prey fish (Alewife) survey - 2020 survey was canceled by administrative restrictions (COVID) and trust me no one was more pissed than me. The silver lining was that with the help of all the cooperating anglers and captains we were able to look at the stomach data and figure out the 2019 Alewife year class was below average. That is section 16 in this annual report: https://www.dec.ny.gov/docs/fish_marine_pdf/2020ontarioreport.pdf One of the issues with the annual report is it comes out too late for decision making. This is why we've changed the reporting and data release format. Now the report and the data are all publicly released in Aug (or early Sep). The 2021 survey results are reported here: http://www.glfc.org/pubs/lake_committees/ontario/Weideletal_April_PreyFishSurveyResults_AlewifeAssessment_year2021.pdf and data here: https://www.sciencebase.gov/catalog/item/6140e604d34e1449c5d6011a The 2020 Alewife was as big as we've seen in 20 years. The 2022 survey was a success and the results are in progress. I still have to interpret the last few hundred otoliths from the Ontario boat, re run the numbers, and get the data QC'd and ready for release. Putting this report and data out early and publicly was to increase transparency and make sure decision makers and the public had the best available, objective information for their discussions. Keep up the constructive critiques, questions, and observations, they help us to improve our science.

Bulletbob, check your PMs

Only 15 more pounds to go! #50ontario

https://bigfrog104.com/holy-fish-first-time-angler-reels-in-35-pound-monster-from-lake-ontario/ I like some of the music they play on that station, but I get a little skeptical getting my fishing news from there.

Looks like a Cisco. Your not alone, the names can get super confusing. L Ontario has Cisco, which used to be called Lake Herring and Lake Whitefish, (bottom turned mouth). One of their deepwater dwelling relatives, called Bloater, are being stocked/reintroduced, and some people call them ‘deepwater Cisco’. I think they are all pretty good smoked…but maybe not as good as browns!

KJL, Just double checking if you thought those other fish were Lake Whitefish or Cisco? Just curious and no disrespect intended. For years I've been learning and amazed by your fish filled posts, thank you! Those fish in the picture look like they have kind of pointy noses like a Cisco, instead of the downward turned mouth (like a sucker) of a (Lake) Whitefish. Those 2 species are easily confused, in fact we have to use genetic markers just to tell the larvae apart. I was just surprised by the idea of catching whitefish given how low their population seems to be. I'm always interested in learning about when folks are catching Lake Whitefish or Cisco and what people think is going on with those fish. In my head I kind of think Cisco are caught more often based on what I've heard from folks like Captain Bliss and our understanding there are kikely more Cisco than Whitefish in the Lake and they tend to be up in the water where they can hit trolled baits easier than Whitefish that are more often close to the bottom. Thanks for all the great posts, bw

Maybe everybody knows about this, but I just found this site this year and it is super helpful https://coastwatch.glerl.noaa.gov/nrcs/nrcs.php no issues with clouds

See I told you we could grow a 50 this year!

Possibly an Eastern Silvery Minnow (Hybognthus regis) This one had me stumped for awhile so I reached out and “the B-man” suggested Eastern Silvery. This was a new species to me, but appears we have it in LO and it can get confused with spottails or other species. Based on the pics I’ve looked at seems to fit. Below are some of the more interesting sites I looked at about ESM. https://www.dec.ny.gov/animals/94437.html https://vtfishandwildlife.com/sites/fishandwildlife/files/documents/Fish/baitfish/eastern-silvery-minnow.pdf https://www.turnerpublishing.net/news/2017/12/19/outdoors-in-maine-the-baitfish-bugaboo/ https://www.maine.gov/ifw/wildlife/reports/pdfs/SGCN_Reports/SpeciesConservationRanges/Hybognathus regius_HUC12.pdf