What is in stomachs of the south shore browns?

[schreckstoff]

Has anybody been looking?

 

I bet the prey fish biologists would be interested to know if Alewife or Goby, or anything else was in those stomachs. 

[Xxx]

The one looking brown looks like a goby, a lot of the predator type fish are eating those slimy buggers!! Walleyes, smallies lakers, maybe the kings also. In my mind it’s a good thing, if they feed on them. We will never get rid of them all. Hopefully the fish will fill the void??

[Sk8man]

There may be a downside later on to the eating of the gobies though as they are bottom dwellers/feeders and that is where many of the environmental contaminants exist so the eventual assimilation of them maybe end up in the fish eating them. I believe they also can harbor botulism from what I have read.....always something...

Edited April 19, 2018 by Sk8man

[dgio67]

Cleaned 5 on Friday.  All had Gobies in them.  Caught 3 on a Goby Bayrat.  2 of them were starting to fatten up.

[Fat Trout]

Last week of the fish I cleaned 2 had gobies but 1 had 2 large alewife.  I was pleased to see that as Mexico can be a little short on bait at times so seeing Alewives in shallow fish was nice to see.

[Prof T]

Our SLR fish are just gorging on those gobies and getting chunky as a result. Walleye, smallmouth and pike for sure. Mergansers not shy about them all winter. Cormorants come summer. Watching them from the dock - they seem to be easy prey...not too fast and they move in short hops.

 

Need to spend more time on my brown jig imitators. Storm makes a big paddletail swimbait that rocked the pike for us as well.

[Kevin J Legg]

The two times I was able to get out (a couple weeks ago) most had some gobies in their bellies. Some years they are absolutely stuffed with them.


Sent from my iPad using Lake Ontario United

[oraunlimited]

Gobies.


Sent from my iPhone using Lake Ontario United

[Fishnut]

Gobies.


Sent from my iPhone using Lake Ontario United

Sent from my iPhone using Lake Ontario United mobile app

[Lucky13]

On ‎4‎/‎18‎/‎2018 at 8:49 AM, Sk8man said:

There may be a downside later on to the eating of the gobies though as they are bottom dwellers/feeders and that is where many of the environmental contaminants exist so the eventual assimilation of them be end up in the fish eating them. I believe they also can harbor botulism from what I have read.....always something...

Organisms exposed to Botulism toxin do not live very long.  And for the botulism organism (Clostridium botulinum) to develop, the host must already be dead, as the organism is anaerobic, will only grow in an oxygen free environment.  The hypothesis for Type E botulism, blamed for bird deaths (notably loons and mergansers) in Erie and Ontario, is that as Dreissenids (Zebra and Quagga mussels) colonize and grow, they build layers on older mussel shells.  Eventually, the mussels at the bottom die, and decompose, using up oxygen in the surrounding water.The overlaying layers prevent movement of oxygenated water down to the base layers, and in that oxygen free environment, Type E develops.  The toxins move to the surface of the mussel colony and affect those mussels, which are then ingested by gobies.  These gobies become ill, and are then easier for the birds to catch, then the birds die.  Drum, which also feed on the mussels and small fish in the vicinity, are most susceptible.  If you catch a fish that is obviously sick, does not fight, etc, maybe it has botulism, DO NOT EAT IT,  but healthy fish will not be a problem, at least for botulism.  Other toxins move up through the food chain, starting with phytoplankton, so alewife eaters get just as much toxin as goby feeders.  Lake trout have more toxins because generally at any given size, they are older, so have been accumulating materials for a longer time.

[Sk8man]

Thanks Lucky... you are always an interesting read

[Lucky13]

Now you need to talk to my wife..... if I can wake her up!!!

 

[Sk8man]

[brucehookedup]

Gobies are the main diet until alewifes show up. I have seen baby bluegill , shad, sunfish, shiners , perch you name it. Gobies are the main man.


Sent from my iPhone using Lake Ontario United

[Lucky13]

Here is a more thorough discussion of something everyone fishing on the big pond should be aware (hopefully, we won't see the big outbreaks of ~10 years ago again but....)

http://www.dec.ny.gov/animals/28433.html

[henrybud]

[Tominatorny]

Last week I was fortunate enough to catch a 13.4 lb brown, fish had 6 large alewife in the stomach. They must have been 6-7" apiece... plus it was hungry enough to grab my stinger spoon. No gobies...

[Gowiththefloat]

That's what mine ate

Sent from my SM-G930W8 using Tapatalk

[brucehookedup]

Thats interesting Tominatorny. I have not seen or heard of any alewife yet. I take it you were in lake ontario. What depth of water was the capture?

[Yankee Troller]

I think a lot of people mistaken Gizzard Shad for Alewife. If you're catching these Browns around bays, ponds, or rivers they are probably Gizzard Shad this time of year. I had a Brown Trout puke up a Smelt this weekend and a Goby. You can go to the Tweets page to see the pic. Most of their diet right now is Gizzard Shad and Goby though from what I've been seeing.

[John Kelley]

I have been seeing mostly gobies, but our largest brown yesterday in Oswego had about an 8" perch in its gullet, too!

[Tominatorny]

The brown i caught was on April 12, about 1 mi east of Oswego in about 20 feet of water. I'm fairly sure they were alewife not gizz.

[Lucky13]

Gizzard shad below.  Pretty tough call if they been ingested for a while.

[rdebadts]

I only kept 4 on Saturday, but the ones I did clean had empty stomachs. It is telling though that over 1/2 of my hits came on gold or goby patterns


Sent from my iPhone using Lake Ontario United

[fjs5252]

Gobies, Gobies, and more Gobies

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Lake Ontario United mobile app