Spring musings

[Gill-T]

The first wave of starlings showed up in my yard this weekend. Today I saw a Robin. 

[thumbburn]

It will happen early this year…. But bet we are spring king fishing in snow squalls this year…

[GAMBLER]

Robins and wood ducks made an appearance in my neighborhood this week.  

[Steve.e]

I think a lot of Robins never left. I've been seeing them all winter long. We're going to get nailed probably sooner or later.

[HB2]

Caught a nice  Small mouth this morning 

[Gill-T]

Wow! That is spring-like. Smallies don’t bite in the winter. 

[schreckstoff]

Record Alewife year class?

[PuddlePirate]

2 minutes ago, schreckstoff said:

Record Alewife year class?

Don't count your alewife before they hatch!

[schreckstoff]

Well put!

[Gill-T]

I think the smelt are loving the mud plume. I think you will see an uptick in smelt. I think you will see a great looking class of two year old kings that have been able to feed up all winter on YOY. Surface temps that I believe are recorded 30’ down are showing 39 degrees offshore.  Kings actively feeding all winter might balance out any gains in alewife stocks. 

[Gill-T]

Edited February 16, 2023 by Gill-T

[chasdc1]

Looks like we're primed for a monster lake effect Noreaster :/

[GAMBLER]

2012 again? Wasn't the 2011 2012 winter warm like this?  That season was amazing!  

Edited February 17, 2023 by GAMBLER

[Gill-T]

2018 was when we had that incredible 2 year old bite. 2016 was a mild winter and record hatch of alewives 

[Capt Vince Pierleoni]

15 hours ago, Gill-T said:

I think the smelt are loving the mud plume. I think you will see an uptick in smelt. I think you will see a great looking class of two year old kings that have been able to feed up all winter on YOY. Surface temps that I believe are recorded 30’ down are showing 39 degrees offshore.  Kings actively feeding all winter might balance out any gains in alewife stocks. 

Agreed. 2 yr old Kings will dominate and be healthy. I had a 10lb returning “Jack” from last Sept aged by DEC because I was suspicious by it build that it was only a 1.5 yr old. Sure enough it came back at 1.5 yrs old!

As for Kings feasting on that big alewife year class- lets hope so. It will even out the age structure and give this years alewife crop a shot at better survival.

If not for King predation on alewife, this biomass would be a mess.

[Capt Vince Pierleoni]

1 hour ago, GAMBLER said:

2012 again? Wasn't the 2011 2012 winter warm like this?  That season was amazing!  

2012 was amazing. Not only the non winter but the 2 yr old yr class was the result of the largest wild hatch of Chinook the Lake has seen. 2018 was also very good due to strong survival of the 2yr old age class.

[Kevin J Legg]

I’ve seen robins for a month and saw a sparrow hawk last week.

[Tomb]

We had blue birds at our house in Hamlin yesterday.

[GAMBLER]

2 hours ago, Capt Vince Pierleoni said:

2012 was amazing. Not only the non winter but the 2 yr old yr class was the result of the largest wild hatch of Chinook the Lake has seen. 2018 was also very good due to strong survival of the 2yr old age class.

2012 and 2018 were my two best seasons on Lake Ontario.  Big fish and lots of them!  

[Gill-T]

2012 was the last time I caught a fish over 30 lbs. 

[GAMBLER]

51 minutes ago, Gill-T said:

2012 was the last time I caught a fish over 30 lbs. 

We caught 3 fish over 30 that year.  2 kings and a laker!  hopefully we will see more 30+ lb kings in the future!

[Trouthunter]

We will never see large kings again until the DEC goes back to the old days & takes eggs from the largest. kings that come up the river to spawn & we get new genes from the pacific coast our kings are compromised

[Sk8man]

On 2/16/2023 at 9:58 AM, Steve.e said:

I think a lot of Robins never left. I've been seeing them all winter long. We're going to get nailed probably sooner or later.

There are always some Robins that stay around all winter and don't head for Florida. When they do come back though they are usually in large numbers when they return.

[chasdc1]

I'm seeing more enroaded skunks-- that's always a good sign that spring is on the way!

Edited February 19, 2023 by chasdc1

[jerryriggin]

10 hours ago, Trouthunter said:

We will never see large kings again until the DEC goes back to the old days & takes eggs from the largest. kings that come up the river to spawn & we get new genes from the pacific coast our kings are compromised

We went 20 years without 30 lb kings on lake michigan.  You have 1 problem and it is too many fish. When I was at the niagara bar last spring for 8 days during the LOC derby we landed 296 salmon and trout. In 2012 on lake michigan we had fishing similar to that all summer. Small fish couldn't catch a king over 20 lbs all summer. Then the dnr cut the stocks. And within 6 years 30lbers where common along with a great lake record king.