Where are the lakers?!, Comon boys, post them laker pics

Wow that's quite a procedure to release a large trout. If they swim away when you hold their tail , then I figure they are going to have a good shot at living. I've never witnessed anyone doing this list...

How many lakers in the summer will just swim away when you hold their tail? Not many at all.

Maybe the winter is different when you pull them up from 30 FOW and the water is cold.

Also, I don't think people are killing them purposely. The problem is with lakers is they aren't handled correctly and because people can't get them back down, and/or they die shortly after release.

This is a great discussion.

Regarding the top-heavy population "pyramid", I fish an inland lake near Georgian Bay where the smallest laker I've pulled out was about 9lbs (among a sample size of about 8 fish - I don't fish lake trout often).

I think something else may be going on in addition to boneheads pillaging the population and improper release practices.

This is by no means to say we should disregard the issue of over- "harvesting", which absolutely is an issue on pressured waters, but would like to understand all phenomenon at play.

I agree. This is a great discussion to have as I don't see proper laker handling discussions very often here. In fact, I wanted to create an entire educational video on it last year but ran out of time. It will be one of my first videos in the coming soft water season, where I demonstrate the fish descender specifically.

I think everyone should have one of these if you are fishing whities/lakers on Simcoe:

https://www.amazon.ca/Sebile-Qualizer-SQL-R...t/dp/B00DMKCF76

There are even cheaper types of fish descenders that are just a hook system like this:

https://www.amazon.ca/Fishsaverpro-in-Hero-...g/dp/B0838QP4K1

I am just beside myself that the MNR hasn't mandated that these be on fishing boats at all times in Simcoe when targeting deep water fish. Places in the US and Canada require these when you are fishing deep water fish because the ministries know that getting a fish back down to 100+ feet is very slim, especially when the water temperature difference between where the fish feels comfortable and the surface is extreme.

But lastly, logically if a population of fish is top-heavy, that means that the adults aren't spawning successfully. That could be many other factors rather than just overfishing. The ministry is stocking tens of thousands of them a year, so there is new blood being born... what happens to them after that is anyone's guess. Predatory fish could be eating them, or they could be dying from diseases because we certainly aren't pulling them up on our rods.

"Some info to support the above statement for people reading this: Lakers grow only about 1 pound per year. This means that a 10 lbs laker is about ten years old - give or take a few years. A 20 lbs laker is generally accepted to be about 20 years old."


This statement may be true in some lakes but definitely not for lake Simcoe. I would guess it to be more like 3 lbs per year considering the food base for the lake trout. Also for a lake like lake Joseph which many of you fish it is more like 1/2 lb per year. Thanks

It'd be interesting to see if anyone has any articles directly stating the avg lbs/yr for simcoe.

If the mnr stocked simcoe with 105,000 lake trout in 2021 are they treating it like a put and take fishery now?

Lots of lake trout are eaten by bigger fish

Then they're doing it wrong. I personally do this even with salmon except the gloves. Large fish doesn't mean can take a lot of abuse, especially not after a long fight.

And this, if lower price is important. Although one drawback is this will put another hole in the mouth of the fish (similar to your 2nd link)

https://www.basspro.com/shop/en/seaqualizer...sh-release-hook

Nice find. That one will work as well and is only $20. I'm certainly going to buy a few different types to do my video and show how each one works. I feel it's a worthwhile time and money investment for me to make the video because it makes me feel like I'm giving back to the sport if I can at least help one person return these fish successfully.