Great Lakes Smallmouth Fishing & Round Gobies

[David Chong]

15 hours ago, Chris J said:

When you say deep are you talkiing 50 feet +?   Just wondering cause to me it looks like something needs fizzing in that tank behind you, almost look dead.

The fish that are in that holding tank are being cared for by Dr. Bruce Tudts and his students from Queens University! If they deem that they are suffering from barotrauma then they will fizz them. Often fish in a livewell or holding are just lazy, when you put them back they take off right away! The colour on the one in the holding tank actually looks really good and was probably released nice & healthy!

[David Chong]

12 hours ago, Tom S said:

Any thoughts on whether the smallmouth-goby relationship will follow the same track as the salmon-alewife relationship?

The gobies have exploded by aggressively filling a particular niche in the Great Lakes ecology, to the point where they have become a primary food source. Are we now seeing the smallmouth population growing to meet the supply of gobies, and will there be a point where the smallmouth begin to overpopulate to the point where the goby population can't sustain them and we see a decrease in the smallmouth population?

I do believe and I think that Dr. Bruce Tufts will agree that in Lake Ontario the Smallmouth fishery is probably at its peak as many of those big girls are in that 15-16 year old range which is roughly when gobies first showed up I believe.Hard to imagine that the Smallie population will exceed the goby population as far as a food source is concerned as Round Gobies spawn numerous times a year and also predate on Smallmouth nests.

[OhioFisherman]

On 8/21/2018 at 8:22 AM, grimsbylander said:

That is a very health looking fish! What area of Erie were you fishing? Asking because that's a largemouth.

I grew up 3 1/2 - 4 miles from Lake Erie in Cleveland and fished it often as a kid along the Cleveland lakefront, never got a largemouth or even a smallie fishing there. Times have changed with the improvement in water quality, lots of youtube videos now of people catching them there now!

The bass club I was in used to have tournaments in a couple of areas of Erie, bays though, and with a club rule 3 fish limit you still needed 10+ pounds to stand a chance to make the top 3 spots, and a 4 + to 5 + largie was pretty common for big bass.

Even the largies seemed to wander a bit in those areas I guess depending on where the food was, at times they were in 15 - 20 feet of water where the bays meet the main lake on the deeper break walls and break wall rocks. 

[David Chong]

On 8/22/2018 at 8:38 AM, Bass tracker said:

Wife catches the large smallies, I catch the Gobies. Plenty of both in Honey Harbour. 

Beautiful Smallies! Love Georgian Bay Smallies!

[Acountdeleted]

On 8/21/2018 at 8:46 AM, TheKawarthaAngler said:

Sign onto Facebook and look up Tufts Lab.  Or simply use this link :  

I found this quite interesting and informative.

You will see video captured of Gobies eating baby bass at a nest.  This can be a big issue.

It may be great for larger bass to eat the Gobies and get nice and big ... but the threat they pose on the success of the reproduction of the bass population may be a serious problem.  In time I believe there could be potential for the opening of Bass season to be delayed so that the guards of the nests are not disturbed (as that video shows).

 

 

Wow. This is a heck of a video. I actually think I'm going to use this to both show my buddies and my 'Learn to fish' program to show everyone why it is so important to not angle for bass when they are not in season. 

 

David, I think you and I were talking about 7 or 8 years ago at an event at Grenadier pond in Toronto and you mentioned that, because of the gobies that a new Ontario record smallmouth should be caught very soon. I'm still inclined to believe that. The problem is that the gobies are in such abundance. And they have to get their food source from somewhere. I have been doing gravel and rock surveys and there are so many gobies we have to put the bottom substrate type as 'goby' because we legit can't tell what is underneath them. 

 

Its a mixed blessing I guess? ?

[Bass tracker]

10 minutes ago, jerpears1 said:

 

 

Wow. This is a heck of a video. I actually think I'm going to use this to both show my buddies and my 'Learn to fish' program to show everyone why it is so important to not angle for bass when they are not in season. 

 

David, I think you and I were talking about 7 or 8 years ago at an event at Grenadier pond in Toronto and you mentioned that, because of the gobies that a new Ontario record smallmouth should be caught very soon. I'm still inclined to believe that. The problem is that the gobies are in such abundance. And they have to get their food source from somewhere. I have been doing gravel and rock surveys and there are so many gobies we have to put the bottom substrate type as 'goby' because we legit can't tell what is underneath them. 

 

Its a mixed blessing I guess? ?

Thats just amazing, I knew there were alot because every year lately my lures just snag them like running into weeds,, but that many WOW!

[David Chong]

43 minutes ago, jerpears1 said:

 

 

Wow. This is a heck of a video. I actually think I'm going to use this to both show my buddies and my 'Learn to fish' program to show everyone why it is so important to not angle for bass when they are not in season. 

 

David, I think you and I were talking about 7 or 8 years ago at an event at Grenadier pond in Toronto and you mentioned that, because of the gobies that a new Ontario record smallmouth should be caught very soon. I'm still inclined to believe that. The problem is that the gobies are in such abundance. And they have to get their food source from somewhere. I have been doing gravel and rock surveys and there are so many gobies we have to put the bottom substrate type as 'goby' because we legit can't tell what is underneath them. 

 

Its a mixed blessing I guess? ?

Bruce Tufts & his students at Queen's have done some amazing research with Smallmouth Bass! Very informative & educational! Definitely follow their videos, reports & such on FB!

jerpears1, I actually remember that conversation, which is a miracle in itself given the state of my memories these days LOL! I still strongly believe that and still believe that it will come out of Lake Simcoe as the gobies have been there the least amount of time. Every year giant fish 8+ lbs. fish are being caught, only a matter of time before a double-digit hawg is caught and documented!

[OhioFisherman]

Ontario Record

Angler: Andy Anderson
Length: 24 inches
Weight: 9.84 lbs
Girth: 18.3 inches
Waterbody: Birch Bark Lake near Kinmount
Date: September 26, 1954
Bait: unknown

 

That might be a hard fish to beat? What made that lake special? No gobies there, reduced fishing pressure during the ww2 and korean war years?

Not saying a 10+ couldn't happen, but here in the states they have come from states with a longer " growing season ".

[David Chong]

55 minutes ago, OhioFisherman said:

Ontario Record

Angler: Andy Anderson
Length: 24 inches
Weight: 9.84 lbs
Girth: 18.3 inches
Waterbody: Birch Bark Lake near Kinmount
Date: September 26, 1954
Bait: unknown

 

That might be a hard fish to beat? What made that lake special? No gobies there, reduced fishing pressure during the ww2 and korean war years?

Not saying a 10+ couldn't happen, but here in the states they have come from states with a longer " growing season ".

Hey OhioFisherman, here is a Simcoe Smallie that I caught a couple of years ago! It measured in at 23.25" in length and had a 19.75" girth. On my friend's digital scale it weighed in at 8.2-8.3 lbs. according to my friend his scale weighs 0.5 lbs. light so in reality, this fish was in the 8.75 lbs. range. I'm sure that if it is still alive it would be over 9 lbs. now!

[grimsbylander]

One thing about those Simcoe smallies, they don't burn calories 24/7 swimming in current! They are the couch potatoes of the Southern Ontario smallmouth community. lol

David, that fish is as healthy looking as it is big! 

[OhioFisherman]

15 minutes ago, David Chong said:

Hey OhioFisherman, here is a Simcoe Smallie that I caught a couple of years ago! It measured in at 23.25" in length and had a 19.75" girth. On my friend's digital scale it weighed in at 8.2-8.3 lbs. according to my friend his scale weighs 0.5 lbs. light so in reality, this fish was in the 8.75 lbs. range. I'm sure that if it is still alive it would be over 9 lbs. now!

David, that is a great looking fish! I would have been smiling too! As I was growing up we kept waiting for some one in Florida to break the largemouth record, LOL it still could happen?

[buick14]

4 hours ago, David Chong said:

Hey OhioFisherman, here is a Simcoe Smallie that I caught a couple of years ago! It measured in at 23.25" in length and had a 19.75" girth. On my friend's digital scale it weighed in at 8.2-8.3 lbs. according to my friend his scale weighs 0.5 lbs. light so in reality, this fish was in the 8.75 lbs. range. I'm sure that if it is still alive it would be over 9 lbs. now!

Damn.

[Bass tracker]

8 hours ago, David Chong said:

, here is a Simcoe Smallie that I caught a couple of years ago! It measured in at 23.25" in length I'm sure that if it is still alive it would be over 9 lbs. now!

Wow great fish! Whats the odds it made its way to Georgian Bay... lol. That truly is a fish for a lifetime.

[OhioFisherman]

https://www.simcoe.com/opinion-story/8345169-lake-simcoe-whitefish-gobble-up-invasive-gobies/

Sounds like the smallies have some competition for the gobies?

[David Chong]

10 hours ago, OhioFisherman said:

https://www.simcoe.com/opinion-story/8345169-lake-simcoe-whitefish-gobble-up-invasive-gobies/

Sounds like the smallies have some competition for the gobies?

Yes indeed! The Jumbo Perch as well are gorging themselves on them as well! Almost every one that we catch ice fishing is coughing up gobies!

[aplumma]

It sounds like the same relationship we have with the Blue Catfish and the Mud Shad in the Potomac River and the James down in Virginia. The bio mass of the available food is huge and the upper level predators have become gluttens and growing at a accelerated pace. The Snakehead fish that was accidentally introduced and with the food available has already coughed up a new world record within the first 14 years of them being introduced. The good news is it seems that the introduction of 2 top end predators both deemed invasive (1981 blue catfish 2002 Snakehead) has not fulfilled the prophecy of wiping out  the bass population and the food forage base. The waterways seem to have been able to absorb and rebalance to accommodate the load. 

 

Art

[David Chong]

26 minutes ago, aplumma said:

It sounds like the same relationship we have with the Blue Catfish and the Mud Shad in the Potomac River and the James down in Virginia. The bio mass of the available food is huge and the upper level predators have become gluttens and growing at a accelerated pace. The Snakehead fish that was accidentally introduced and with the food available has already coughed up a new world record within the first 14 years of them being introduced. The good news is it seems that the introduction of 2 top end predators both deemed invasive (1981 blue catfish 2002 Snakehead) has not fulfilled the prophecy of wiping out  the bass population and the food forage base. The waterways seem to have been able to absorb and rebalance to accommodate the load. 

 

Art

Cool Art, Mother Nature does somehow often finds a way to balance things out!

[SirCranksalot]

On 8/22/2018 at 8:38 AM, Bass tracker said:

Wife catches the large smallies, I catch the Gobies. Plenty of both in Honey Harbour. 

Sooo- did it put up a good fight??

 

On 8/22/2018 at 8:38 AM, Bass tracker said:

 

 

[misfish]

9 minutes ago, SirCranksalot said:

 

 

If there were gobys where I was this morning, they have been flushed out. LOL