Lamprey Invasion, More lampreys this season then ever

Evening folks,

Just throwing this topic out there to see findings from a larger crowd.

Our fellas we know around Burlington and east have seen more mature kings and any other type of fish caught with multiple scaring from lampreys.

I know this is a common thing - but the number of open wounds and lampreys removed this season has terribly high and brutal to see. Reached out to see what ministry has been doing the last few seasons in way of traps and killing off the lamprey reproduction cycle in the river systems - but it would be great to see if there’s more we or anyone can do to put a greater effort in to curtail this situation.

Curious if this will get some traction or what other anglers thoughts are.

I was told that the MNR suspended their lampricide programs during the pandemic. Not sure if this was for both years or only one. They restarted them this spring.....so I would say what you are seeing is not surprising.

When I spoke to them yesterday seemed to be hinting at both years there was no effort put in correct.

New York also suspended all lampricide treatments during Covid.

glad you brought this up as I have noticed the same thing last year as well


Hopefully they will be under control again down the road.....till then we may lose quite a number of fish...whose to say

Nearly all the mature salmon we have been catching on the west end gta have bite marks some multiple. Caught lots with lampreys attached and even one with 2 lampreys attached. terrible! goes to show what the fishery will be like without intervention.

I do not catch even close enough Salmon to make a comparison compared to anyone who guides or fishes Lake Ontario regularly.
I have been extremely luck this year and only caught one salmon with one lamprey scar on it. I also have not been targeting mature chinooks much but have caught several. I have been targeting Cohos/Steelhead more so not sure if that would make a difference.

I think there was info in OOD magazine about suspension of lamprey control due to covid-19. If I remember it correctly they say that the effect of the suspension, if any, would be seen only in two-three years.
I don’t catch many salmon's in LO or GB, just a few every year but I catch a bit more pike in GB and almost all of them have some marks… I’m not sure if this is lamprey… I fish for pike around Moon river bay and I don’t know if lamprey could go “inland” or it prefers only open water.
Here is an example. It’s a bit unusual because it is very bright and long…
Any thoughts on that if it is lamprey?

Looks like lamprey, you wouldn't expect them up there in pike too far.

They didn’t build the locks at Big Chute because of lampreys, leaving the marine railway in place as to not allow migration upstream to Couch/Simcoe, so they can def go that far inland. (Similar distance inland as Moon River Bay)

Thanks! Interesting. I was always thinking why they keep this awkward marine railway...

I was always under the impression that lamprey are more of a "cold water" organism, which is why they targeted salmon and trout.

Unless that pike was suspended over deep water (which is totally possible - as they do enjoy Cisco), I would think something else attacked it.

How big was that pike? I'm wondering if it was attacked by a bigger fish, or maybe an Eagle?

The pike was above 80 cm long (31’+). I really doubt that any other fish or eagle could do this harm. I’m not sure if this one was a lamprey, but as it is indicated in the post made by Drew, lamprey can go very deep “inland”... Consider this: it came to LO through St. Lawrence Seaway. Some 15 locks I believe...
Again, I don't catch many salmon in the area (only two shakers this year so far) and I don’t see much lamprey scars on them, but I get one or two pikes every outing and more often than not they have some type of scars. So I’m curious if it is lamprey or any disease or something else.

A lot of pike swim near the surface especially early morning and get hit by skegs.

Arnie

Recently, on an episode of Dirty Jobs, Mike and the crew were working with a crew of Fisheries and Wildlife people catching and neutering wild lampreys in a river in northern Ohio that was several miles from Lake Erie. They caught hundreds of lamprey in the segment. Their decision to neuter the males was based on "let them spawn with the rest of the population, but since their gonads were removed they'd be shooting blanks.