Another slob laker

[GAMBLER]

Here is a laker I took last Wednesday. Took a glow pink dot peanut behind the Hammerhead Crystalina cowbells.

[B8buket]

AWESOME! .....how long was it and how much do you think it weighed?

[stan]

now that is what I talking about. Thanks for the picture. my ques 32"

[mschott]

nice fish ! how deep were you ?

[Missdemeanor]

Brain....Gotta love those lakers.... They are definitely the "Rodney Dangerfield" of the lake. Great pic

[Gotta Bite]

What is the big stigma attached to the lakers?? Everybody seems to put them down on this site. I have yet to catch a laker on Lake O. I fished for them yesterday for about an hour by putting the ball on the bottom. No luck. I have heard that they don't fight great but a big fish is a big fish. IMO

[Cheers]

Most of the time they are around and willing to bite. They are a very important preditor and have saved the day on many uneventful days

[Missdemeanor]

Cheers I couldn't agree more.

Gotta Bite.....Lakers are notorious for being poor fighters. Ive caught Lakers in the upper teens and even twenty Lbs before and they fight great....Nice runs and totally bull dogging the bottom. When you catch a laker that is suspended , they tend to fight a little better. My theory is when you drag em up from 100ft or more, their bladders expand, thus causing the fish to fatigue and display a poor fight. I know guys who fish for them all winter at the Bar. They use medium action spinning gear. I guess those fish really put of a fight on that light tackle. I'll have to try it this year.

The one thing some people don't know is the DEC does not stock these fish. The stocking is done by the Federal government because Lake Trout are considered a "native" fish to the Great lakes. I'm not 100 percent sure, but I think that the Feds stocking program, isn't as vigorous as the DEC is with other Trout species. 95 percent of the lakers landed on my boat are released.

[GAMBLER]

This fish was 20+lbs and was over 36". We did not put it on a scale so we could get it back in to catch when the summer LOC starts. Jax snapped a quick picture and back she went. So many people talk smack about lakers. If you run a little bit lighter rods, and don't horse them up, they will survive. We go to extra measures to make sure they survive. Burping them, misting their gills with the washdown pump, and having a cooler with water in the boat to revive them helps. I have caught many 20+ lbers over the years and they do fight well. The 24lb. 11 ozer I caught 4 years ago was an awesome fight. If people don't want to fish for them, thats fine with me. More for me to catch.

[LongLine]

Brian - Nice fish. Good to see some of the older ones showing up. (I'm guessing at least 8 yrs old)

G2Bite - They're poor fighters when compared to Kings. Matt's right about bringing them up from the depths. They seem to take a little while longer to resusitate than other fish. However 98% of us would love to be able to consistantly catch those "poor fighters" like Brian does.

Matt - Feds raise the fish. Last couple yrs they've come from Vermont Fed hatcheres. However NYSDEC does actually do the stocking. It's cordinated via GLFC & considered a joint venture with USFWS. Here's how this years stocking went:

http://www.watertowndailytimes.com/arti ... /305269976

Actual 2008 Lake Ontario stocking numbers:

Kings: 798,780

Rainbow: 643,720

Lake Trout: 500,910

Brown Trout: 420,170

Coho: 228,000

Atlantic: 49,470

The target number for Lakers has been 500k for a number of years.

Tom B.

(LongLine)

[Missdemeanor]

Longline....Thanks for the update on the laker stocking. I'm glad to see that they are putting bigger numbers into the lake. heck maybe between the lakers and the browns, the gobie population might slow down a little.

[FISHINMAN]

We go to extra measures to make sure they survive. Burping them, misting their gills with the washdown pump, and having a cooler with water in the boat to revive them helps.

Yeah that's just freaking great Brian thanks a lot

I horse them in as fast as possible, pour more water down there gut, rub the scales off them and put them back in belly up . Just kidding don't want the PETA people or anybody else on here to get the wrong idea, the one I caught with Jax wasn't to bad even on the wire and we did everything possible to make sure it swam back

[GAMBLER]

Tom,

Jax is getting me that picture for ammo. Thanks!

[hemlockman]

Very nice Brian!

[adirondackice]

Nice fish. Lakers fight good through the ice. While they may not be the prettiest fish or best eating, I always found it fasinating that live soo long, believe 30+ years...something to think about when you catch a biggun!!!!

[skyn60]

i jig lakers on the bar in winter with med tackle and finger lakes year round the fight is awesome .over 2000 fish and counting ps no 20 lbs yet close