Lake Ontario Bait compared to Lake Huron & Lake Michigan

[GAMBLER]

I fish lakers all summer and only gobies in them early in the season before the alewives show up....

[Ryno23]

I fish lakers all summer and only gobies in them early in the season before the alewives show up....

I don't fish for LT I accidentally catch them some times but I never keep them they go back in the lake. I think most people throw back most LT caught plus the limit/slot limit on the lake help that. So the put and take program side of things is much better than the salmon/trout side of it.

So there is always a decent class of LT around now from what I'm seeing caught and people crushing LT anytime they want when their targeted fish is not ard or not biting.

[Gill-T]

It bears watching as part of the Michigan bait collapse was fueled by the 10's of millions of lake trout they were shoving down anglers throats despite all the warnings on consumption

[ut_falcon]

Ontario just made 8 separate 12hr round trips with the stocking truck to deliver 160000 lakers to lake ontario, our money well spent for sure. 150000-200000 delivered each year for the last 3 years from the hatchery in northern ontario.

[Gill-T]

For a fish that lives 20 years we put a lot of them in our lake

[Sheepdog264]

I am one that mainly practices catch and release 90 percent of the time , however with the long life span of LT's and aggressive they are it probably isn't a bad idea to re-consider harvesting more of them (with in our legal limits of course).

[salmonboy41]

I agree with what you are saying. It seems counterproductive to stock more mouths to feed.

Aren't they saying the LT are eating the gobies? Are they trying to control the gobies?

Due to the LT's preferred temps and depths, gobies will only be available to them in the cold months so from say June to say September/October they are eating smelt and alewives.

 

If the DEC really want to stock a trout that ate gobies more often then not they would increase the number of browns being stocked.

[salmonboy41]

For a fish that lives 20 years we put a lot of them in our lake

For a fish that very few want we put a lot of them in our lake

[GAMBLER]

For a fish that very few want we put a lot of them in our lake

People want them as a back up plan.  Most will not admit it but by the number of people buying my lake trout rigs, I would say there is a lot more interest than you know.   

[fishmaster13184]

For a fish that very few want we put a lot of them in our lake

I'm pretty sure they are the only native salmonoid species currently in Lake Ontario

[Gill-T]

The strains they are using are not native so the whole thing is a farce

[Ryno23]

People want them as a back up plan. Most will not admit it but by the number of people buying my lake trout rigs, I would say there is a lot more interest than you know.

Yes people want ur setups for backup plans to catch fish bc there are so many LT now, but the problem is not many people keep LT and the fact regs help people put them back.

The put and take side of their program is off base for LT compared to Salmon/Trout like I said In my previous post. Not many people eat LT so they don't keep them, it's dog food and fertilizer in my mind.

To ur point since people catch and release most LT it seems stocking so many more seems off since they live so long and from my understanding they are doing well in natural reproduction.

This just my opinion of course.

[salmonboy41]

The strains they are using are not native so the whole thing is a farce

VERY true and the same can be said about the Atlantic Salmon they are stock.  Just like the blue pike the fish that swam in LO 200 years ago and are long gone and the LT's and Atlantic's of today are not really any more native then the kings and steelys.

 

And Brian everyone is buying your rigs one because LT's maybe all that's left, two the oak pro am and three you catch some seriously impressive LT's. 

[rdebadts]

Lakers get a bad rap. They are not my preferred species by any means, but boy is it nice to have them around for the mid day lull from April- June... And it is always possible to catch a 20+ lb fish, which is a pretty rare thing in just about any other body of water.

I kind of doubt they have a huge bearing on the alewife situation. It seems me to that they are only a part of their diet, as lakers appear to have a pretty diverse diet.

Edited April 27, 2016 by rdebadts

[Sweet Caroline]

If Alewife entered LO through the canal system is it possible that there still is an influx of new Alewife coming into the lake from the ocean? Not sure if this is still possible or if has ever been studied but I thought I'd ask.

[Ryno23]

It appears people say LT main diet from June to septish is Alwives. Not very diverse.

[Ryno23]

If Alewife entered LO through the canal system is it possible that there still is an influx of new Alewife coming into the lake from the ocean? Not sure if this is still possible or if has ever been studied but I thought I'd ask.

I always wonder that myself..not sure if the locks prevent that now.

[rdebadts]

It appears people say LT main diet from June to septish is Alwives. Not very diverse.

Admittedly I don't keep a ton of lakers, but they more often that not have something OTHER than alewives in their stomach. They have a hell of a lot more diverse diet than a king, which eat pretty much exclusively alewives all year long. Listen, I agree that if the dec is so worried about bait, that filling it with tons and tons of long lived lakers doesn't make sense. But I think they occupy 2 very different parts of the ecosystem with relatively little overlap.

[Ryno23]

Admittedly I don't keep a ton of lakers, but they more often that not have something OTHER than alewives in their stomach. They have a hell of a lot more diverse diet than a king, which eat pretty much exclusively alewives all year long. Listen, I agree that if the dec is so worried about bait, that filling it with tons and tons of long lived lakers doesn't make sense. But I think they occupy 2 very different parts of the ecosystem with relatively little overlap.

I'm not a fish biologist, not sure you read the entire post but I asked about LT eating gobies now and people who fish for LT said they do not eat many gobies from June to sept/oct they said their diet are Alewives.

I'm not arguing what they eat, I just don't understand the DEC put and take side of their program. I do not think it is balanced for LT compared to Salmon/other trout in the lake. Compared to life span of a LT compared to others.

I put all LT I catch back that I accidentally catch, and I know most people also do.

[Rich D]

Actually if you listened to what the trawls were finding last year, was the gobies are going deeper and deeper every year. So I believe we will see the LTs eating them more and more, especially since they are easier to catch for them. Salmon and lakers do eat pretty much the same food, esp when the kings are eating in that deep water, and the bait is down near the bottom due to temps. We need to sit back and see what happens this year. We can think and say what we want, Mother Nature in the end will level the playing field and everything will be fine.

Take for example the die off of Steelies we had last year in the tribs. That was

Mother Nature doing her job on keeping everything in balance. We can do all the research and studies, and try to counter act everything, but in the end she will prevail. Just my two cents. Now get out and enjoy the great fishery we have, whether it be kings, Browns, Steelies or lakers!!!

Capt Rich

[GAMBLER]

When there are alewives around higher in the water column, lakers feed on them heavily in low light hours. First light laker fishing is slow and you do not mark as many. Magically late morning, tons appear on the bottom. They are not finding gobies up in the water column. The Summer LOC winner we caught last summer, we marked up high and it streaked to the bottom and followed the rigger for a minute before hitting the rod. If alewives are no where to be found, they will eat gobies. I have found perch, stocker Browns, alewives, smelt, shad and emeralds in lakers. They do have a very diverse diet.

[Sk8man]

Brian is right they do have a very diverse diet....even the ones in the Finger Lakes. I have found everything from multiple alewives, smelt, small sunfish, perch, shiners, fresh water sculpin and even a couple plastic worms   in them over the years.

[dgfidler]

One thing Lake Ontario has going for it is being downstream from Lake Erie. Lake Erie has a much higher (maybe too high) nutrient load. Low nutrient load has been cited for the baitfish crash in Lake Huron

[ut_falcon]

20-40% of the phosphorus comes from lake erie, the rest from rivers and non-point sources like farm run-off.

[jimski2]

The north shore now has six million people adding their waste products to Lake Ontario now daily. Michigan stocked smelt a hundred years ago to support the commercial fishery. They thrived and exterminated the cold water species such as lake trout,blue pike, viscose and white fish. In the 1960's Canada began trawling them out and shipping them to Asia. In the 1970's Pacific salmon were stocked to reduce the alewife and smelt biomass. The Federal Fish guys can stock only native fish, not foreign invaders like Pacific salmon, rainbow trout and European brown trout. After forty or more years of stocking these guys, the forage base is over controlled now. What we have now is not like the past years and may never be again but it is still better than Pacific Ocean salmon fishing.