Salmon Run . . . . .

[Photoz]

Just curious . . . . I first started shore fishing salmon & paying attention to derby results about 7 years ago. I KNOW the runs were much heavier then, in ALL the Lake O. tribs, and your fish had to be high 30's to even get a weekly prize. If I remember correctly, last year a 37+ pounder took all the cookies, this year a 33?? Next year an under 30? Also, the 3 main tribs I fish are almost devoid of fish, only one easten trib producing anything at all? I've heard along the shore that several of these tribs were barely stocked at all in 03, 04, & 05, so if there were no fish stocked and the barely reproduce naturally, this would likely be why there are barely any returning? As for the smaller sizes in the lake . .. . shortage of forage? Cormorants getting a lot of the baitfish the salmon eat? Anybody got any answers or opinions? I'm sure a large percentage of the members of this board know a lot more about salmon's comings & goings than I do?

[mooseroo]

I've heard that much of it has to do with the way the MNR is stocking the salmon population these days. No actual knowledge of this but... apparently the MNR is dumping the salmon fry from break walls along the lake shore rather than dumping them way upstream.

 

Apparently, the reason this is impacting stock is that the salmon "imprint" on the river and return to the same river to spawn. When they are dumped directly in to the lake, the imprinting doesn't occur.

 

Another possible thought is the clipped fins on all stocked fry. I gather the MNR "marks" each fry as stocked by clipping off a fin on each fish. Some believe this lowers the fishes ability to chase down bait fish and is resulting in smaller fish.

 

Invasive species like the two mussels (zebra and the other one whose name escapes me) and the goby are also likely impacting the food chain and possibly limiting food supply.

 

I'm not wildlife biologist so debate this until the cows come home... just passing on what I've heard in recent years.

[LeXXington]

It all comes in Cycles.

Lots of Salmon, eat lots of bait

After they eat most of the bait they get less and smaller

The bait flurish, salmon get bigger, eat more start cycle over.

 

Stocking just makes the cycle go faster

 

What Cormorants can have an effect, SOMEONE contact the MNR we need a study too see how much.. ;-)

[ilario]

the chinook fishery has indeed declined and althought he MNR seems to always take the blame for everything, it appears that other factors are contributing...

 

the salmon have been getting smaller for years and returns of mature fish are more likely the result of fewer fish living to maturity than stocking practices

 

the baitfish numbers are down - anyone rememeber when we had massive die-offs? those days are long gone...

[John Bacon]

I've heard that much of it has to do with the way the MNR is stocking the salmon population these days. No actual knowledge of this but... apparently the MNR is dumping the salmon fry from break walls along the lake shore rather than dumping them way upstream.

 

Apparently, the reason this is impacting stock is that the salmon "imprint" on the river and return to the same river to spawn. When they are dumped directly in to the lake, the imprinting doesn't occur.

 

Another possible thought is the clipped fins on all stocked fry. I gather the MNR "marks" each fry as stocked by clipping off a fin on each fish. Some believe this lowers the fishes ability to chase down bait fish and is resulting in smaller fish.

 

Invasive species like the two mussels (zebra and the other one whose name escapes me) and the goby are also likely impacting the food chain and possibly limiting food supply.

 

I'm not wildlife biologist so debate this until the cows come home... just passing on what I've heard in recent years.

 

 

Metro East Anglers has taken over the raising and stocking of Chinook salmon from the MNR. We stock both directly into Lake Ontario and into the rivers. To the best of my knowledge, this has not changed from when the MNR did the stocking.

 

Only salmon that are involved in the pen rearing study are clipped. This is only a small percentage of the total Chinook stocked so this should not have a significant impact on the total results.

 

As far as the size of salmon, fewer salmon stocked should result in large salmon because there would be more food per fish. The MNR limits the number of fish stocked in order to avoid depleting the population of bait fish leading to a collapse of the fishery.

 

Invasive species can definitely impact the Alewife population which controls the growth rates of salmon. Weather conditions will also impact the growth rates.

[ilario]

Yes, invasive species... I wonder what the impact is of water fleas, which weren't impacting untill the late 90's

 

i've heard they eat huge amount of zooplankton thereby competing directly with alewives