Hemlock Lake report?

[dremarquis]

that looks like a brown - again, based on the tail

LLs have a forked tail. Browns have square tails

andre

[BSmaster]

Reminds me of the first brookie I caught.  15inches in a culvert hole in Allegheny county.  You could cross this creek without getting your sneakers wet.  Mine was lighter color than the one pictured above and my first words were - what the h e l l is a laker doing here?  Then I looked closer and the square tail - I never saw one that big before without all the color so I instantly went laker.  Nice fish.  BTW - I have seen natural reproduction in the creek that crosses the road on the way into the boat launch.

[fisherman21]

2 hours ago, bosco said:

So is anyone 100% sure on what this one is?

Beautiful brown! Nice work

[bosco]

13 minutes ago, fisherman21 said:

Beautiful brown! Nice work

Thank you. I said Brown, my brother said LLS. Tail and mouth told me Brown. Very few spots below the lateral line and orange fillets told him LLS. I'm a walleye guy and it was my first time on Hemlock. I was going for Salmon but I won't complain. 

[muskie141]

Reminds me of the first brookie I caught.  15inches in a culvert hole in Allegheny county.  You could cross this creek without getting your sneakers wet.  Mine was lighter color than the one pictured above and my first words were - what the h e l l is a laker doing here?  Then I looked closer and the square tail - I never saw one that big before without all the color so I instantly went laker.  Nice fish.  BTW - I have seen natural reproduction in the creek that crosses the road on the way into the boat launch.

shhhhhhh, that's a blue line

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[muskie141]

Thank you. I said Brown, my brother said LLS. Tail and mouth told me Brown. Very few spots below the lateral line and orange fillets told him LLS. I'm a walleye guy and it was my first time on Hemlock. I was going for Salmon but I won't complain. 

Care to share where about in the water column he was? I'd love to get a chunky brown like that since the Lakers won't play with me.

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[bosco]

It came on a tip up  8’ below the ice over 40fow. We had 8 tip ups out between 5’-15’ under the ice. That was the only flag we had all day.

Edited February 1, 2022 by bosco

[muskie141]

It came on a tip up  8’ below the ice over 40fow. We had 8 tip ups out between 5’-15’ under the ice. That was the only flag we had all day.

Hey it was a good one at least. Interesting you say that though. About 50% of my marks jigging have been 15-30ft deep or so, and I got that brookie directly under the ice in 80ft of water. It's weird to be that deep and fish right at your feet

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[bosco]

Honestly, it was luck. I'd heard that they cruise under the ice looking for smelt so I just spread them out randomly with 15' being my deepest. It was also freezing and terribly windy/drifty so I spent most of my day cleaning holes and didn't spend much time refining things once I got everything in the drink. On the vex, everything was on the bottom but it looked like schools of smelt. We downsided bigtime to try an catch some. We'd get tiny little ticks but nothing on. We also jigged the bottom with raps, kastmasters, etc, to no avail. 

[Steve.e]

Anybody ever caught a walleye through the ice on Hemlock? Or does anyone attempt it?

[dremarquis]

10-15 years ago there used to be a half-way decent population of eyes in hemlock (stocked by the wayland gun club) but it's been so long since any stockings that eyes in there are EXTREMELY few and far between. But i suspect there are a few big ones cruising around...

dre

[Steve.e]

I did catch a couple around 10# and 2 around 3# many moons ago, have tried a couple times over the years but can't seem to get them. A friend of mine told me recently that someone that a friend knows has some success with them. I have marked nice schools of something under bait fish on the northwest side in about 25ft of water but couldn't get a hit. I'm thinking maybe suspended ones in the mid lake deeper water in the summer might work, they could be out there following the alwives around. We'll see this summer.

Edited February 1, 2022 by Steve.e

[andyhuber]

I agree that is a brown trout.  

 

Lakers and brook trout are actually members of the char family while rainbows and browns are actual trout.  One way to know the difference is char have light spots on a dark body and trout have dark spots on a light body.

 

I caught my last walleye in Hemlock 3 years ago.  I had some nice ones trolling but never through the ice.

[sawbelliesam]

The one being held in the shanty is a brown. 100%

The one on the ice is a brook trout. 100%

Anyone that thinks that either of these fish are lake trout needs to bone up on their fish ID.

Brook trout were stocked experimentally decades ago. They didn't take and were never stocked again. If that brook trout was taken from Hemlock lake, then it's anybody's guess as to how it got there. I have been a diary holder for Hemlock since the early 80's and we receive the final reports from the DEC for all of the cooperators and there has never been a brook trout reported. I'm told by the DEC that there are none present. 

Take that info and make your own assumptions.

[sawbelliesam]

Also, the same can be said for the landlocks. They've not been stocked for decades as well, and like the brookies they did not reproduce in that fishery.

[muskie141]

The one being held in the shanty is a brown. 100%
The one on the ice is a brook trout. 100%
Anyone that thinks that either of these fish are lake trout needs to bone up on their fish ID.
Brook trout were stocked experimentally decades ago. They didn't take and were never stocked again. If that brook trout was taken from Hemlock lake, then it's anybody's guess as to how it got there. I have been a diary holder for Hemlock since the early 80's and we receive the final reports from the DEC for all of the cooperators and there has never been a brook trout reported. I'm told by the DEC that there are none present. 
Take that info and make your own assumptions.

Very interesting! I am a fly guy and a brookie magnet by trade lol. Funniest part was I was talking to one of my friends about 2 weeks prior. I don't want to give too much info, but basically some tribs of hemlock have wild brooks, so we speculated that there MUST be brooks in the lake. Needless to say I didn't need to wait long to get my answer. Best part was I was 0% targeting them. Saw a trout shallow through the ice over 80ft and reeled up to it.... I wonder if someone's illegally stocking? Her fins looked too clean for a stocked fish. Are you sure they weren't once native to the lake? Just called dec and reported it, they didnt answer so if they give me a call back I'll keep the thread updated on their 2 cents as to what it was doing there.

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[muskie141]

Other thing I can say is I'm 100% certain they reproduce a few feet from the lake in those "secret" tribs. Hence my (previous) speculation that they must be in the lake. I feel very accomplished as a fly fisherman to find brook trout populations even the dec doesn't know about haha.

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[sawbelliesam]

The one being held in the shanty is a brown. 100%

The one on the ice is a brook trout. 100%

Anyone that thinks that either of these fish are lake trout needs to bone up on their fish ID.

Brook trout were stocked experimentally decades ago. They didn't take and were never stocked again. If that brook trout was taken from Hemlock lake, then it's anybody's guess as to how it got there. I have been a diary holder for Hemlock since the early 80's and we receive the final reports from the DEC for all of the cooperators and there has never been a brook trout reported. I'm told by the DEC that there are none present. 

Take that info and make your own assumptions.

[sawbelliesam]

I agree with you Muskie. There are a few to be found. They were not however native to the lake. It'd be nice if they took off, but I was told that the water chemistry wasn't conducive to a successful brookie fishery. Happy fishing!

 

[Chuck Smth]

Yep, Brookie and well done on the release. 

[Rlfisher]

Is there solid laker fishing to be had here? I have a fish finder/flasher and all the right baits for lake trout. Willing to hike miles back. Not sure if better off coming in from south end or north end. Willing to give it a solid try but havnt been too encouraged by recent reports. Any tips would be appreciated. 

[muskie141]

Is there solid laker fishing to be had here? I have a fish finder/flasher and all the right baits for lake trout. Willing to hike miles back. Not sure if better off coming in from south end or north end. Willing to give it a solid try but havnt been too encouraged by recent reports. Any tips would be appreciated. 

You and me both brother. I can't catch a laker there at all. I haven't been moving much though. Next trip I'm going to deal with the cold and try to be as mobile as possible. Check the contours on garmins activecaptian app. Still not convinced they're very accurate, and a lot of the lake is unmapped, but it's the only 1ft contours I've found. I've been focusing mainly on the deepest points. Next trip im trying 10-60 ft because I was barely marking any fish out in 90. If you do figure something out please share. I'm getting pretty discouraged. About 24hrs spent and no Lakers.

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[Steve.e]

Hemlock is loaded with bait, probably why catching the trout and lakers is tough. When ever I'm there I mark tons of bait pods mostly on the west side north end about 30-50 ft July time frame. There are lots of hooks under every pod usually. I've run cranks, drop shot bottom bouncers and they just won't hit. Very frustrating when you see so much down there. As for lakers, try pulling copper in 50-60 ft. have had some success with that in the past.

[muskie141]

Update on the brookie. Spoke to the dec today and it turns out it was a stocker. Apparently one of the hatcheries had too many fish and if they didn't get the excess out they were going to die so they threw then in hemlock sometime back in October. The fish looked healthy and the guy said this could be the proof they need to start stocking them. Hopefully they do!

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[troutman10]

Thanks for the update. How big was that fish?