Lake Ontario 2017 Fishing Recap, Chinook catches best in 30 years...

http://www.newyorkupstate.com/outdoors/201...c_meetings.html

American article, but very relevent for any Lake Ontario angler. Lots of data sharing with Canadian side and a great recap. Werner will find this interesting, as did I..

Points of interest: Chinook fishing in 2017 was best in 30 years!

Brown Trout catches way down.. No reason given

Steelhead numbers down, but rebounded some in 2017

Eastern basin smallmouth bass, experiencing spawning issues, maybe due to gobies and predation by cormorants.

Yellow Perch numbers on the rise, walleye population is stable. Walleye monitoring study is in the works, with radio tagged walleye.

2017 stocking numbers for Lake Ontario:
*The DEC reported it stocked Lake Ontario last year with 1.35 million Chinook salmon, 232,020 coho salmon, 656,505 rainbow trout, 127,011 Atlantic salmon, 201,147 lake trout and 170,000 walleye.

Stocking of baitfish / forage species:
93,553 fall fingerling bloaters (members of the whitefish family) by USGS staff and 2150,000 fall yearling bloaters by Ontario fishery staff.

cisco (a shallow water baitfish). A total of 87,730, 5-inch fall fingerlings were stocked, along with 321,143, 2-inch spring fingerlings.

And there is a blurb on the alewife situation at the end with lots of numbers..

Enjoy..

I am re -reading the entire reports for 4th time.....there are some gaps

more later, but the 2 things that jumped out at me were.

1.the alewife biomass in the lake.... not even gonna touch that one

2. the dramatic reduction of steelhead catch rate for 2015 and 16. hey that's only two years after the reduction is it not? hmmmmmmmmmm

it was a great season for sure, best since 2012, with odd tough days as normal

have a theory only for fall brown trout [lack of]

I got lots more to add later, but want to see what others think as well.

I agree.. There are some gaps and discrepancies in the reported data. I wasn't sure either.. Check out chinook and steelhead numbers harvested -- misprint?

I tried to look for another source online of the results of these 3 DEC meetings with raw data etc. did not find anything yet. Will update if / when I find more info. But interesting all the same.

I didn't know alewife were invasive, very interesting. I will say, I didn't get out as much as I'd like last year but whenever I did, perfect eater size chinook (2-3lb) seemed to be quite abundant, maybe more than we've seen come in the boat in the past, and we always had lots of action. All of this Lake o talk is getting me excited! Can't wait for more mornings like these...

ya Jerry, that is a lot of info to digest for sure.

what I recall is that last year we had a warmer spring and then a stable summer,, so no crazy wild temp swings in the spring and early summer, that usually offers us solid fishing in shallow 50 fow or less and most likely also good for anything spawning in spring as well.

2015 and 16 were the opposite with wild temp swings as well as winds

as far as decline for smallies in Erie, the thing not mentioned is pre and post spawn fishing.......

it would also help to see the full Ontario numbers

far as it being best in last 30 years I cannot say...for myself 97 to 2008 were stellar with most days of 20 plus fish, many with 40 plus

and I can only speak for the south shore

this year looks like we are running 2-3 weeks behind with the colder temps to date

ya Jay.......last year there were lots of shakers and all year classes

also got the least number of browns I can remember after May.

have a good season out there

ya Jay.......last year there were lots of shakers and all year classes

also got the least number of browns I can remember after May.

have a good season out there

Thanks man you too