Haven't been there in a few years,wondering how the Alewife population has affected the fishing.heading there on Sat.
Was there this morning to help my boss drop something at his dads camp.... There are dead perch everywhere... His dad said when he talked to the DEC they were not sure but they think its lack of oxygen in the deeper water.... Cant wait to find out what its all about......And my bosses father in law, who fishes it 4 or 5 times a week (for walleye) says the walleye bite is nonexistent this summer...
bass fishing's been pretty good. I know what your after though...they are there, but good luck is about all I can say to that.
You don't miss a trick , do you
Hey Guys. I've been away form the 'net for a while. Thanks to BigJim for alerting me to this thread! Lots to answer here...#1 The perch die off was a short term deal caused by a very rapid increase in water temp over those hot weeks in early july, which caused a depletion of oxygen, made worse by a bad algae (the good algae is allfintered out by alewives and zebras) bloom. We sent several fish for testing, no virus found. Bottom line is, the lake is much darker now, due to abundance of undesirable algae, which makes it attract temp and lose oxy much faster...consequences of years of not preventing invasive species (please join the lake assn. or donate to our lake steward program to prevent more!)#2 walleye bit was VERY slow early on, it was an odd spring. It picked up in June, but died off as oxy decreased. The deep water where many of us have trolled is just plain devoid of oxy. the shallower water is too warm for most 'eyes..making them sluggish. to boot, we have a bumper crop of small perch (thanks ice fishermen who take buckets and buckets of 12" perch..) and alewives for them to feed on.#3 walleye reproduction is almost 0%...I stocked 40k walleye the size of a paperclip in July..thats what the state figured was the most economical, and had the same success rate as the 4" fish, which I agree with. That success rate is awfully close to 0. Natural repro has been 0 for years due to alewive predation. So walleye guys... use a little conservation, treat them like redwoods....what fish are in here now, are all that will be here for the foreseeable future. I talked to a guy today who said he had 50 walleye in the freezer..all proud....I said, "why?....frozen fish aren't worth half what a fresh one is?" and he replied .."because I can catch em!". That attitude will have the lake empty soon.#4 Based on Gill netting and electro fishing surveys that I've been on, alewive count is slightly down, been decreasing for a year or two now, however, the ones that I'm finding on beaches, and even hitting rapalas, are nearing 12"...some big schools of big fish. I can't give advice, but if I did I'd say kill em all and let the seagulls sort em out! PM's go right to me email, please PM me with any Cando questions, I'd love to fish with anybody here!
