Where is salmon

[C-Hawk]

I had a brief run of cooler water a week ago and the wind changed overnight and blew it out. I don't really mind warmer water, but just give me a steady pattern , at least for a long weekend, tons of bait one day, wind and temp change the next and only fishing two days a week, tough to find fish. I think it may be tough for the fish to find bait at times, at least up here in the islands.

[ThreeBuoys]

Jeff,
It that by choice or has the weather kept you off the water. I know that is the case with me.
I don't really enjoy getting bounced around like a cork in the 3 footers. The main reason I chose the Sea on Sunday.

[C-Hawk]

I moztly only fish weekends, unless I'm on vacation, which I try to do a lot of in June, coming up for another week soon. Went out Sunday afternoon, Colchester Reef, Hogback Reef looked good, bait ,active fish, 2 releases in 2 hours. Keep an eye on it if you go, follow the contour, caught a few salmon there in August last year, be careful there, bottom comes up fast and you need to have your stuff right against the wall.

[ThreeBuoys]

Yup, know the spot well.
Learned the hard way

[C-Hawk]

Let me toss this one out there since we're into cormorant bashing this year; are the dirty birds breaking up schools of bait, sending it deeper and more dispersed, thus scattering salmon. I have not seen as many and as large bait balls as in years past. Blame it on the birds?

[BottomDollar]

I think the only reason people are getting into salmon down south is because of the funnel effect. They're just too scattered on the broad lake to bother targeting them.

I also believe that most of them are gone. If we're lucky, and USF&W gets their act together re: cormorants, we could have a healthy population again in 5 or 6 years.

I'll keep fishing because I love being on the water, but it's just not worth chasing landlocks on the main lake now.

Every time out now I see literally hundreds of cormorants. The bait fish population is likely suffering as well, hence the lack of schools. I caught and gutted a laker yesterday with nothing in its stomach but worms.

[digitroll (ron)]

I have refrained from bashing the birds this year....However a lot of people I have spoken too have seen less birds this year on the lake including myself. There seems to be other factors playing into the equation. It's a bit more complex than killing all the birds as an end all solution.

The funnel factor is a very good characterization from Otter to the bridge and a lot of the 3 derbies and general traffic was concentrating that pressure further south this year. Especially some of the 8 lb plus fish begin caught in that area in the derbies that shifted more boat traffic in the funnel area.

With Salmon / Brown trout / Steelies living 4-5 years and Lake trout 40-50 years there is quite a disproportional amount of Lake trout in our lake competing for the forage or in the case of chasing them around moving them from day to day. When we have located pods of bait we have been catching lots of Lake trout looking for silver.

[BottomDollar]

You may very well be right, Ron, and I'm certainly not questioning your experience with cormorants sightings. But I'm seeing more from Burlington to Willsboro than I've ever seen. But I've only been on the lake for 10 or so years, so it's a smaller sample size than you guys that have been here all your lives.

I hope you're right and I hope we can figure out what's going on with the one and two year class mortality rates.

Good point about lake trout life span...that really helps keep the population robust. They're mostly clean fish, too, so at least that's a win for lamprey control.

[keithm87]

I have been seeing more birds this year than last, the flocks seem to head north from the brothers every morning around 730-8am. The flocks I have seen stretch well over a mile hugging close to the water heading north.

[digitroll (ron)]

They must be all flocking and feeding in the Burlington area. Or when I go out at 9 am they have already moved and dispersed around the lake. Timing thing maybe why I haven't seen as many as others or I haven't launched or fished the Burlington area this season. There was a video shared on Facebook showing a huge flock in Burlington harbor by WCAX TV.

[Reelax]

They must be all flocking and feeding in the Burlington area. Or when I go out at 9 am they have already moved and dispersed around the lake. Timing thing maybe why I haven't seen as many as others or I haven't launched or fished the Burlington area this season. There was a video shared on Facebook showing a huge flock in Burlington harbor by WCAX TV.

Like Keith said the flocks this year are much larger than I have seen in past years. THe other thing I have noted is all the birds deep fishing.nseems everywhere I look they are diving down and staying under for over a minute to get deeper. I wouldn't doubt if they have effected the bait profile... And they are not just chasing alwifes. ThEre are salmon with beak Mark wounds in bellies. Right now I think cormerants are as big or bigger of a threat to the cold water fish than lamprey!!! And we aren't doing anything about them....

It's amazing to me to spend all the hatchery effort just to feed these birds... Right now the hatcheries aren't even able to keep up.!

[BottomDollar]

Like Keith said the flocks this year are much larger than I have seen in past years. THe other thing I have noted is all the birds deep fishing.nseems everywhere I look they are diving down and staying under for over a minute to get deeper. I wouldn't doubt if they have effected the bait profile... And they are not just chasing alwifes. ThEre are salmon with beak Mark wounds in bellies. Right now I think cormerants are as big or bigger of a threat to the cold water fish than lamprey!!! And we aren't doing anything about them....

It's amazing to me to spend all the hatchery effort just to feed these birds... Right now the hatcheries aren't even able to keep up.!

Agreed. When the 4 and 5 year olds start to spawn and die we may see a total collapse of salmon on the lake. It's a sad situation given all the progress that had been made.

I have caught a few 20" salmon up here, but they're a once-a-day event over several hours. We'll know a lot more soon in terms of how many shakers are being caught in late July and August.

[JDK]

You guys know the lake and it certainly sounds like something is going on. However, is there any possibility that the salmon are there just not in the traditional spots and numbers usually seen?

The reason I ask is I keep pretty detailed logs on the lakes I fish. Up until a couple of years ago, for the past 20 or so years, there were spots that were automatic at certain times under certain conditions. Things changed and while the salmon showed up, it was later and they were deeper. Spots that I have marked on my GPS that have produced salmon for years are barren today. However, move into shallower water and there is bait and fish. With the amount of rain and wind, I'm wondering if the fish are somewhere and that somewhere is not where expected.

Just a thunk.

[Reelax]

You guys know the lake and it certainly sounds like something is going on. However, is there any possibility that the salmon are there just not in the traditional spots and numbers usually seen?

The reason I ask is I keep pretty detailed logs on the lakes I fish. Up until a couple of years ago, for the past 20 or so years, there were spots that were automatic at certain times under certain conditions. Things changed and while the salmon showed up, it was later and they were deeper. Spots that I have marked on my GPS that have produced salmon for years are barren today. However, move into shallower water and there is bait and fish. With the amount of rain and wind, I'm wondering if the fish are somewhere and that somewhere is not where expected.

Just a thunk.

I know there are folks who agree with your thought on this... I sure hope you are correct and we are just worrying about nothing... The conditions are definitely different this year so there is a good chance you are right and the fish are just spread out and in new spots... I know I have done more prospecting this year than ever and it can be frustrating. I am going Friday and have absolutely no idea what to expect. On a good note just got a text from a member who landed a nice 5+ pound silver minutes ago at one of our usual locations... so who knows...

[JDK]

We do not have cormorants but do have a number of loons. That said, the salmon patterns have changed here over the last few years. In the past, you never, ever, had to fish deeper than 40 feet to catch salmon. Now in late summer they are down 50 or more. The last few years, (this time of year) the fish have been up on relatively shallow (30-40 foot) flats instead over deep main lake waters. It is odd.