Article on Round Gobies in Lake Simcoe and how Angling Tactics have Changed

[J-M]

As most may know, in Lake Simcoe, Round Gobies have taken over the lake. The food web has changed and Lake Trout and Whitefish are starting to feed heavily on them. This has changed the angling tactics on how and where to catch them. I wrote a little article on it. I also talk about a Hand Tied Jig I made called the Neo (See pic below). This little jig helped me ice a few Whitefish last winter as it looks like a Goby. Hope you enjoy the article...

The Round Goby Invasion and its Influence on Angling Tactics

 

[OhioFisherman]

Don't panic? There were all kinds of doom and gloom articles when the mussel and gobie invasion started here on the south side of Lake Erie, the mussels can be a pain, the gobies just seemed to turn into another food option for a variety of other fish species. I personally view the common carp as a big danger, they get huge and seem to consume anything in their path, a lot of food for other fish gets consumed growing those water hogs to 30 - 50 pounds?

I certainly don't think allowing the gobies to spread any farther is a good idea, some of your trout streams, rivers , and lakes really couldn't handle them?

Small hair jigs like those will catch just about anything.

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[Rattletrap2]

Those are some beautiful looking bugs you tied! Especially the one in the bottom left. I like the feathers to resemble the pectoral fins of Goby.

[cisco]

Goby stomach content analysis needs to be done on lake trout spawning locations to see to what extent the critters are eating the eggs and fry.  Since the trapping method also captures similar-sized fish check their stomachs also. My theory is Gobies have tilted the balance drastically. BUT if so Goby traps could be devised to protect spawning areas. Not a fun job but that's what bios, techs and students are supposed to be doing, namely, developing and testing hypothesis to asap find out what is going wrong so hopefully a solution can be devised.  

[BillM]

Lakers are definitely chowing down on the gobies like everything else out there.  Ever wonder why you're catching lakers in 40ft of water in Feb?  

[misfish]

Mine is not as flamboyant, but it works.

 

Nice tie

 

I picked up some sculpin heads for my new ties.