heaviest LO King this year, how

[LongLine]

That's why it's monitored more.  They did that once and a bunch of fish got wiped out.

[Big fat pike]

  On 3/13/2025 at 4:57 PM, rolmops said:

The problem with that is that gobies are warmish water bottom feeders (At least during the summer). The kings and most trout(except browns) like it cold  and they feed around the thermocline.

Do you have any suggestions as in how to get enough gobie supply for your idea ?

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The invasive species disposals and /or small payouts for them

 

https://www.michigan-sportsman.com/threads/coho-went-to-the-goby-buffet.751358/ 
idk if june 13 is too early for summer but i came across this a while ago

[Big fat pike]

  On 3/13/2025 at 6:30 PM, LongLine said:

Fish to be stocked are fed a special diet that is heavily monitored.  Fish are treated for diseases.  I remember a few years ago, an article connecting gobies to botulism.  Another stating that gobies often have a high heavy metal content due to eating mussels.  Heavy metals will disrupt a fish's immune system.  

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Does botulism actually effect the fish seems like it effects only birds and humans 

 

fair point about the heavy metals

 

i think the goby solution is the only option plentiful enough at this point

 

unless someone wants to stock alewives and create a huge disaster

 

 

[LongLine]

I don't know if fish will exhibit the symptoms and/or die from it. Birds found with it were waterfowl and their infection in Great lakes area was attributed to the Round Goby. As shown in previous posts, gamefish are also eating the gobies.  Do gamefish filter the toxin out via their bodily functions thus fishermen can safely eat them?   Gamefish don't seem to be able to filter out other pollutants, hence health and preparation advisories. 

 

I don't know that there's a feed shortage for the hatchery.  I'd rather see some kind of "growth hormone" added to the feed.  Do Bass get big because Gobies are nutritional or because they eat so many of them while defending their nests?

[Big fat pike]

  On 3/15/2025 at 6:50 PM, LongLine said:

I don't know if fish will exhibit the symptoms and/or die from it. Birds found with it were waterfowl and their infection in Great lakes area was attributed to the Round Goby. As shown in previous posts, gamefish are also eating the gobies.  Do gamefish filter the toxin out via their bodily functions thus fishermen can safely eat them?   Gamefish don't seem to be able to filter out other pollutants, hence health and preparation advisories. 

 

I don't know that there's a feed shortage for the hatchery.  I'd rather see some kind of "growth hormone" added to the feed.  Do Bass get big because Gobies are nutritional or because they eat so many of them while defending their nests?

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I dont think the hatchery has that much to do with it i think its either less abundant food or something driving them to spawn younger then they used too 

[LongLine]

"Someone" brought up grinding them up and mixing them with feed at hatchery.  My responses were geared towards that and not to what they eat out in the lake.

[Big fat pike]

  On 3/15/2025 at 11:27 PM, LongLine said:

"Someone" brought up grinding them up and mixing them with feed at hatchery.  My responses were geared towards that and not to what they eat out in the lake.

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Idea is to mix it in the hatchery food so eventually the fish will recognize it if one tries an occasional goby and they will start

[RH93]

All the big fish seem to be on the north shore.

Last year the largest fish that the credit river captured on video in the fish ladder was approximately 120cm (47") fish on the bottom.

 

 

I think we will see a 34 pound fish caught on the north shore in Late august. 

 

 

 

Edited March 16 by RH93

[GAMBLER]

  On 3/16/2025 at 12:43 AM, Big fat pike said:

Idea is to mix it in the hatchery food so eventually the fish will recognize it if one tries an occasional goby and they will start

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To catch and process the gobies into food would be way too expensive.  Would it change their programming to eat gobies, probably not.  

[GAMBLER]

The intake temp at work hit 40 degrees already.  Thats a lot earlier than normal.  I was a bit shocked when I walked in this morning and it was 5 degrees warmer than Fridays temp.  It's amazing what a strong South wind will do!  

[Gill-T]

Let’s hope all those three year old Canadian kings last year left some bait in the lake. I was a little concerned with what I saw on my trek into the Niagara gorge Saturday. Zero seagulls or any other fish eating birds were present. I have never seen that situation in my decades of going down there. Let’s hope the bait runs are ahead or behind and not a sign of the times. 

[GAMBLER]

  On 3/17/2025 at 6:04 PM, Gill-T said:

Let’s hope all those three year old Canadian kings last year left some bait in the lake. I was a little concerned with what I saw on my trek into the Niagara gorge Saturday. Zero seagulls or any other fish eating birds were present. I have never seen that situation in my decades of going down there. Let’s hope the bait runs are ahead or behind and not a sign of the times. 

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Hopefully cold water has them in the slower deeper haunts of the Niagara. 

[LongLine]

Bird flu?   Haven't seen that many around the Genny either.

[Gill-T]

Plenty around the piers in Niagara County. 

[GAMBLER]

  On 3/17/2025 at 7:28 PM, LongLine said:

Bird flu?   Haven't seen that many around the Genny either.

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It would be nice if bird flu only affected cormorants!  

[fcboats]

Canadian kings are not visiting the US for the next few years.  And the largest fish will be caught in the 2nd week of July.

[GAMBLER]

  On 3/23/2025 at 5:29 PM, fcboats said:

Canadian kings are not visiting the US for the next few years.  And the largest fish will be caught in the 2nd week of July.

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I highly doubt they will not travel across the lake.  

[Big fat pike]

Something i dont hear talked about is the size of the alewives could that be an effect or cause of smaller fish

[Capt Vince Pierleoni]

Its a numbers game. Yes, more and more Chinooks are spawning at 2.5 years old. However,  in past years when a huge class of mostly wild fish worked their way through the gauntlet (of highly educated/highly networked anglers) the relatively small percentage that mature a year or two later is larger.

This leaves a few to grow big for this season and perhaps even next season. 2012 was a crazy good numbers year around the lake which started in April just like last season. 2013 then produced some very large Kings.  

[GAMBLER]

  On 4/2/2025 at 2:56 AM, Capt Vince Pierleoni said:

Its a numbers game. Yes, more and more Chinooks are spawning at 2.5 years old. However,  in past years when a huge class of mostly wild fish worked their way through the gauntlet (of highly educated/highly networked anglers) the relatively small percentage that mature a year or two later is larger.

This leaves a few to grow big for this season and perhaps even next season. 2012 was a crazy good numbers year around the lake which started in April just like last season. 2013 then produced some very large Kings.  

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Can we go back to 2012?  That season was amazing for big fish and numbers!