Update? Seymour Lake (Trent River)- Solider Weed?

[Cloudy15]

Hey All, 

I have a cottage on Seymour Lake, and it seemed like the fishing was way down this year- Bass, Pike, Walleye (don't really target),  even Sunfish. Also, haven't caught a muskie in year, I'm assuming it has to do with the Pike taking over, still surprised tho.  I know they've sprayed really aggressively for solider weed the past few falls, and thought that might have something to do with?

Anyways curious to hear your thoughts, and what you've experienced on the water.

Thanks,

 

 

[OhioFisherman]

I had never heard of Soldier Weed, here are some links,

http://www.greencastonline.com/current-label/reward-landscape-and-aquatic

Sinking water soldier permanently - FINALOIPC-WEBINAR2017.pdf

Stratiotes aloides - Wikipedia

Species Profile - Water soldiers

Water Soldiers/Stratiotes aloides - Wisconsin DNR

[Reef Runner]

Our situation on Canal is similar since the pike moved in.  Walleye fishing dried up to pretty much non-existent (I think loss of spawning habitat and the inconsistent rise and fall of the water levels in the fall/spring is the likely culprit here).  Musky were in there but were getting few and far in between - did produce some decent tigers.  Still an awesome bass fishery - that has always been constant.  They did some spraying years ago, but it got too costly for the cottage association and was a losing battle.  Now the lake is choked by weeds early in the season.  My feeling is the fish are there, just harder to get at with the plentiful growth to hide in. 

[tb4me]

Im just downstream from you at the bottom of the locks on crow bay ..Same thing..Worst fishing in YEARS. I assume its from the hydro dam repairs towards Campbellford.

[Chris J]

On 10/15/2019 at 9:18 AM, Cloudy15 said:

Hey All, 

I have a cottage on Seymour Lake, and it seemed like the fishing was way down this year- Bass, Pike, Walleye (don't really target),  even Sunfish. Also, haven't caught a muskie in year, I'm assuming it has to do with the Pike taking over, still surprised tho.  I know they've sprayed really aggressively for solider weed the past few falls, and thought that might have something to do with?

Anyways curious to hear your thoughts, and what you've experienced on the water.

Thanks,

 

Pike have been in Seymour for years.   The water soldier spraying doesn't seem to affect other aquatic plants so I ASSUME the fish are ok.    Its a highly pressured stretch of water that''s hosted multiple tournies throughout the year for the past 25 years.

 

[Cloudy15]

1 hour ago, Chris J said:

 

Hi Chris, 

I get what your saying about fishing pressure, pike presence, however the drop off seems very dramatic, and seemed like it had been on the rise 2016 and 2017.

[Old Ironmaker]

And the opposite on Lake Erie, sort of. Walleye fishing was on fire, newbies were limiting out with regularity but, and a big but, there were zero Perch to be found, even the commercial guys complained about the Perch. A big money fish exported to Japan. Perch bring in more bucks than Walleye. High water levels were a factor according to the commercial fleet. I haven't read anything from the Ministry explaining the drop in Perch catches. Google time perhaps. Ohio might beat me to it, be my guest Paul. 

[OhioFisherman]

19 hours ago, Old Ironmaker said:

And the opposite on Lake Erie, sort of. Walleye fishing was on fire, newbies were limiting out with regularity but, and a big but, there were zero Perch to be found, even the commercial guys complained about the Perch. A big money fish exported to Japan. Perch bring in more bucks than Walleye. High water levels were a factor according to the commercial fleet. I haven't read anything from the Ministry explaining the drop in Perch catches. Google time perhaps. Ohio might beat me to it, be my guest Paul. 

John, no real answers on that from me, but the commercial fishermen always claimed they weren't taking enough Walleye to hurt the population either? With the years of experience they have netting perch and today's electronics it seems logical that they could decimate the population?

I can recall Emerald Shiners being hard to find during the heat of the summer here at times, but it seems to me that is becoming more common? They were always the go to bait for us for Perch on Lake Erie.

Erie’s Central Basin Lost Perch by Paul Liikala – Great Lakes Angler

[Old Ironmaker]

And just 3 years ago the Perch were on fire here on the north shore. My good pal and I went out for a few hours one afternoon west of Long Point on a Walleye trip. We unloaded the truck put the boat in and I said lets try and get some Perch for supper. Bought some Emerald Shiners and went out for a few hours. A 14" Perch is a personal best for most guys, I've been close but not a 14"er. He caught no less than 3 of them in that short afternoon fishing trip. 3!!!!

[dave524]

On 10/17/2019 at 2:51 PM, Old Ironmaker said:

And the opposite on Lake Erie, sort of. Walleye fishing was on fire, newbies were limiting out with regularity but, and a big but, there were zero Perch to be found, even the commercial guys complained about the Perch. A big money fish exported to Japan. Perch bring in more bucks than Walleye. High water levels were a factor according to the commercial fleet. I haven't read anything from the Ministry explaining the drop in Perch catches. Google time perhaps. Ohio might beat me to it, be my guest Paul. 

On the Niagara Fishing forum the guys are doing great on perch off Pt. Abino, Crystal Beach, sixty feet of water, when the damned winds cooperate.

[Old Ironmaker]

I haven't heard that. For some reason I don't check that forum like I used to. Thanks Dave, I'll pass it on. Winds and the lake have been fairly calm the last week, NE winds. 2 guys were out in front of our place this afternoon trolling. Must have been for Smallies I'd guess, they were catching them with regularity. No they didn't get my permission!!!! (I'm just jealous.)

Edited October 19, 2019 by Old Ironmaker

[Nappan]

Started fishing Seymour in 1962, grandfather owned Nappan Island and the Puff Ball Inn, fishing resort (no longer there). Last 7 years been renting a cottage for a month, fishing was definitely down, probably because of the late spring, even pike catches were down, however caught more Walleye than any previous year. Soldier weed spraying has opened up areas in the back channel for targeting Bass. 

[Cloudy15]

Hey All, 

I wanted to check in and see how people are finding fishing in the Trent River/ Seymour Lake area. I've found that numbers have continued to drop for just about every fish (Pickerel might be slightly better, although I never target them). I sue to catch 100's and 100's of rock bass a year, now I might catch 20.  

 

I also haven't seen any common carp, and haven't bump into any large pike in quite sometime. 

 

How's everyone finding the fishing? And any idea why things are so slow- Hopefully, I just don't know what I'm doing

I pretty much only target bass, 10 bass between two people use to be a given after a couple of hours of fishing, now I'm finding 5-6 is an above average day. I'm usually the only one seriously fishing. 

Thanks!

 

[Cloudy15]

Oh, On the bright side, I haven't seen any solider weed this year. 

[tb4me]

35 minutes ago, Cloudy15 said:

Hey All, 

I wanted to check in and see how people are finding fishing in the Trent River/ Seymour Lake area. I've found that numbers have continued to drop for just about every fish (Pickerel might be slightly better, although I never target them). I sue to catch 100's and 100's of rock bass a year, now I might catch 20.  

 

I also haven't seen any common carp, and haven't bump into any large pike in quite some time. 

 

How's everyone finding the fishing? And any idea why things are so slow- Hopefully, I just don't know what I'm doing

I pretty much only target bass, 10 basses between two people use to be a given after a couple of hours of fishing, now I'm finding 5-6 is an above-average day. I'm usually the only one seriously fishing. 

Thanks!

 

We have been up all week. Just below you on crow bay. Bass has been hot but walleye despicable sadly we're walleye fishing. Sounds like we need to swap spots lol 

[Cloudy15]

13 minutes ago, tb4me said:

We have been up all week. Just below you on crow bay. Bass has been hot but walleye despicable sadly we're walleye fishing. Sounds like we need to swap spots lol 

Glad to hear the bass are biting somewhere!

[tb4me]

9 minutes ago, Cloudy15 said:

Glad to hear the bass are biting somewhere!

I just hope this wind doesn't change things up now..

[Nappan]

Fish the bays with the stumps and weeds mostly where the depth is 3-5 feet (south, west and north shore of Nappan Island. Soldier Weed is gone, fished the first 2 weeks of July, 33 pike, 18 bass and 3 Walleye, all released. Bass ranged from 16" to 19.75". Drifting and casting.

Carp are everywhere in the shallows. There are big pike, this one caught by lady at Red Setter, they troll the weed beds at the edge of the channel.

 

 

[Garnet]

Rice Lake is on the clock.

All slots are 19 inches and just a slew of 20 inch overs . In 15 trip never caught any low slot walleye and zero under slot. 
 

Clock is ticking

[tb4me]

5 minutes ago, Garnet said:

Rice Lake is on the clock.

All slots are 19 inches and just a slew of 20 inch overs . In 15 trip never caught any low slot walleye and zero under slot. 
 

Clock is ticking

Sorry what do you mean by that? "Clock is ticking"?

[Garnet]

That’s 4-5 years of no reproduction.

[Cloudy15]

Thanks for the tips, and nice fish!!!!

[TilmanSantarius]

I've spent a lot of days over the past seven years fishing around Nappan Island, Hardy Island, Puffball Bay and the big, stumpy bay to the south of Hardy. Twenty good fish in a couple of hour outing was not a rare thing for me up until last year, when the fishing declined dramatically. All of the spots and techniques that were working for me so well just stopped producing those numbers of fish. Interestingly, when the water soldier was thick in Puffball bay, I used to catch ridiculous amounts of fish that were using the water soldier as cover. Now (as someone posted above) 2-3 fish is the average. I don't see anywhere near the same number of pike, either. It used to be that small pike were hitting all day long.

Anyway, let's hope it returns to those glory days.

[Garfisher]

On 7/31/2021 at 2:34 PM, Garnet said:

Rice Lake is on the clock.

All slots are 19 inches and just a slew of 20 inch overs . In 15 trip never caught any low slot walleye and zero under slot. 
 

Clock is ticking

Maybe you're just too good at catching big walleye to catch any little ones 🤣 (I hope that's the case anyways, otherwise YIKES)

Edited August 2, 2021 by Garfisher

[tb4me]

We were out all day yesterday managed to toss a couple slot sized eyes in the live well. Caught a bunch of cigar sized ones too. I think it was just the weather change that slowed down the bite..The only fish we didn't catch yesterday was a musky, trust me we tried. Lots of pike. 

Edited August 2, 2021 by tb4me
My horrid spelling