Mysterious King Salmon Winter Vacation Location

[ReelPower]

OK Gents, here is the brain teaser: where do Ontario Kings spend the winter?

Absent abduction by aliens, they are out there. They must be eating. On top of the blue zone? On the bottom of the lake waiting for the fish gods to blow the Spring horn? Reading Cabelas catalogs? Near shore but no one fishes for 'em yet?

Seems like some over-eager angler should be able to crack the code but I've never heard of anyone trying. If I was closer to Ontario I'd be stupid enough to give it a shot or two just for the challenge. Seems like the first King reports are heralded with a fascination as to the King's "arrival". OK from where?

Interested in the sage opinions to be found here as I am a curious sort.

See y'all in April, Erie walleye are kickin' in the western basin.

Jarrett

[Fishtails]

I don't really know for a fact....but I'd start by looking at your question a little differently. The question is...where do the alewives spend the winter? Where there is food, the Chinooks won't be too far away. As far as I know, Alewives winter in the deeper water, then migrate in to shallow water in the spring. My guess is at least to a degree, your Chinook cycle will sorta mirror that of the Alewives.

On another not....remember that they are cold blooded, so their need to feed is pretty modest in the winter when compared to the summer.

[Tim Bromund]

They spend a normal winter in the warmest water available, which is 38-39 degrees. That water is at the bottom of the lake, so they can be anywhere from 200-500 or more feet down until the surface water warms enough to bring em up to follow the baitfish.

Tim

[ReelPower]

Makes sense...fish deep water, find the alewives close to bottom before the spring spawn draws the wives in tight.

No one fishes this pattern, eh? I'll have to give a go if the April kings aren't firing shallow.

[ Post made via iPhone ]

[ReelPower]

Oh yeah if they are cold water loving critters I think that means they will feed more during winter compared to other species.

[ Post made via iPhone ]

[rolmops]

The first good catches are usually on or close to the Niagara Bar,so my guess would be that they like to hang out in the fertile lake Eerie water coming down the falls.

[Tim Bromund]

Actually they show up first on the far western Canadian end of the south shore which is fairly shallow sandy bottom and warms first. Jordan Harbor, 50 Point etc see kings several weeks before they show up near the bar, then they show up off St Catharines/Port Dalhousie then finally, they make it to the Bar. In a normal year, the ice water coming out of Erie corrals them on the Canadian side as the water pumping out of the river is initially, normally 10 or more deg colder than the lake water to the west and that kind of forms a thermal barrier that they don't seem to want to cross.

Erie does quickly warm up and once that water coming out of the Niagara equals or is warmer than the surrounding lake water, the bait pile in and the bar fishing takes off. This year all bets are off. I would expect the kings to spread out much earlier and not all be concentrated off the Bar for any length of time since there won't be that thermal barrier present to restrict their movement.

Tim

[muskybob]

My first king, caught on March 28, 2005 out of Oswego

50 fow using a blue/silver Husky Jerk

I didn't know I was supposed to be fishing for browns that time of year.

[Fishtails]

Oh yeah if they are cold water loving critters I think that means they will feed more during winter compared to other species.

All fish are cold blooded....Lower water temperatures slow fish body movements and decrease their food intake. They eat, just not nearly as often as they do when their body warms up in the summer. I have noticed in the early spring, when the water is still colder, we have a lot more kings that will follow lures for longer periods without striking. They aren't hungry, but they are still interested. By changing up speeds or using a G2 jigger (http://www.cut2spec.com) we can create impulsive strikes.

When a baitfish swims along at one speed, a king may follow it for awhile even though it may not be hungry, just because it's a predator and passing up a free easy meal isn't natural to them. This happens more than you realize, especially in the spring. I find you can get these fish to strike more often by forcing them to make a decision. If that baitfish (our lure) changes speeds, thus imitating that it's either trying to escape, or it's injured. I've found that a following king will often times strike impulsively. I don't think they can help themselves.

[carpedium]

Nice Bob!

[ReelPower]

An intersting excerpt from the In-Fisherman sheds some light on the winter habits of Lake Michigan and Lake Huron Kings...

DEPTH IS NO BARRIER FOR KINGS

BY MATT STRAW WITH MARK CHMURA

Captain Mark Chmura tells the first mate to “send one downtown.†When the cannonball hits 400 feet, it’s not there yet. When this crew sends a bait “downtown,†people speaking Chinese pick it up on sonar. Chmura, the salmon-pro, angling-theorist, Renaissance man who came up with the Stability Zone, which we chronicled in our June 2007 issue, would like to announce that king salmon are biting, right now, in depths exceeding 500 feet all over the Great Lakes.

Recent findings by scientists working for the U.S. Geological Survey back this up, meaning king salmon go deeper than anyone previously believed, deeper than common lake trout, and on a regular basis. Roger Bergstedt, research fishery biologist for the U.S.G.S., says he implanted recording devices called “depth tags†in chinook salmon and released the fish into Lake Huron. “The data chip records depth, temperature, and time,†he says. “I’ve got over 30 tag returns from anglers, and these tags tell us there are more deep movements of kings than people think.

“Kings make a lot of vertical movements. They’re not hanging in there at 54°F all day. Any day. Movements to deep water are common and I’ve got to believe they’re down there on business. They’re hunting, and if you put a lure in front of them they’re probably going to take it.†Bergstedt says one of the tagged fish journeyed into the deepest water in Lake Huron, into depths exceeding 700 feet, during the night in winter. At daybreak the next morning, that salmon traveled from the bottom to the surface in a matter of minutes.

“One of the most interesting things we noticed in the preliminary analysis was that salmon were close together at night, and just after dawn they really spread out,†Bergstedt says. “Some actually went deeper at dawn, some shallower. If we plotted maximum depth by hour during late summer, they’re tightly grouped during the night at 55 to 60 feet. Once the sun came up, some fish went deeper than 400 feet. In winter, the deepest one we marked was within a meter or so of the deepest point in Lake Huron, or a little over 700 feet. In winter, the chinooks we tagged were 400 feet down at night, but they would come right up to the surface in the morning. They would be up there very briefly and head right back down to bottom. Tagged salmon were making daily vertical movements of 400 to 600 feet in a matter of minutes, sometimes once every hour or so. These were larger specimens, too. It seems smaller salmon are drawn to warmer water much of the time, but in winter they all head deep.â€

[carpedium]

Interesting. Thanks for posting.