Disappointing season - thus far

[tmcaul]

This is the first season fishing on Champlain for my son and I. As far as salmon go, which we have been targeting, it is has been tough. So far we have only managed a dozen or so salmon and most were small cookie cutter sized fish caught in the late spring/early summer. And it seems to have been a slow season, based on other forum posts, for members besides ourselves.

I realize the season is not yet over and that the months ahead may bring a change in the salmon bite. But...

I wonder if the forum admins could query VT Fish and Wildlife about this season vs. prior years and obtain the Department's take on what might be happening. (Yes, I have read the posts about cormorants, but I would still like to get Department's perspective.) Any response could then be shared with the entire forum.


Just my thoughts.

Tom
Charlotte

[Cas]

I'm curious what the counts will be at the fish lift on the Winooski. This seems like it was the best possible year for me to not have much time for fishing.

[Reelax]

Tom, you have opened the question yourself. there are multiple reps from VT fish and game that read this forum and they hopefully will chime in here... You are right it was a challenging year for salmon. Things have changed, and it would be nice to hear what the experts think are driving this...

Thanks for bringing up this question... Maybe you will get some answers??.

[C-Hawk]

Got a report today that there are a lot of fish in the hatchery brook already

[Adkhare]

Funny this came up, just today I was wondering how everyone else salvaged the season. Right out of the gate this spring Bulwagga was not even close to prior years little did I know then the stage was set for a rough season. We had some good days but nothing spectacular on the more positive note we caught several rainbows and an equal amount of browns which were a welcome surprise but overall I agree it was a disappointing year so far. Keep optimistic thoughts to next year hopefully it's just a minor lull.

[BottomDollar]

Yeah, I was starting to think I had a stray electrical current coming off my boat or something, as my last several trips (including this evening) have been goose eggs. Really weird, 'cause I'm hitting areas that have been historically good for lakers, seeing lots of fish on sonar, but not getting releases. I've pretty much given up on salmon for the summer. I caught 10-12 20"ers early summer, then nothing in August or September.

I'll be more active in the fall and winter, so hopefully things will turn around. It's encouraging to hear that fish are staging at the hatchery brook.

[C-Hawk]

I bet we only did 20 or so salmon, for a lot of hours fishing, this season so far, but I bet we had a 4 lb average. Missed a lot of the early season, never fished Converse or below for spring fishing. Got a nice steelhead, 7.9 lb, a few sixes and lost a seven at the net less than a month ago. Hopefully Nov fires up. Looks like the spawn is on , with reports of fish in the rivers, fish at the hatchery brook and fish that i see on the screen with lockjaw. Maybe an early fall bite?

[jimbow]

Everyone I know who fishes the lake has had a very dis-appointing year. So bad, some have "given up" on the lake until someone finds a solution to the problem. I believe the DEC or Wildlife experts will tell you that they have stocked the same or more fish than in the past, however, we know that they obviously are not there. I would like their HONEST input as to why the fish aren't there, based on real data. The numbers of "shakers" caught the last 2 years are WAY down from my own and my friends experience. Those are the next years "keepers". I had put a note in one of my posts earlier this year warning of some type problem relating to the lack of fish everywhere I went on the lake. And said that some type of "event or events" may have caused this. Last year (2016) was a fantastic year, many numbers and great size fish were caught, but again my own experience was the lack of the juvenile fish present. Something took them out...I have my own theory (cormorants and stocking time in relation to the return/breeding times/leaving of the pests) but there could be more (fishing pressure and the "release" related deaths) among them. With the pressure put on the lake the past few years, it wouldn't take long for the numbers of "keeper" fish to drop since the lake is mostly a "put and take" stocking fishery. I predict the same might happen to the Lakers, (I warned of this in some of my posts this year too) since they have been taking "the hit" because of the lack of salmon. I believe they have a slower growth rate and would suffer from the pressure even more. I certainly hope this won't happen but it is something we should all be aware of. I hope we do get some good info from the "States" as to what happen and a possible solution to problem...we all want a healthy and productive lake.

[Wdrnr]

Nothing going on at Hatchery Brook. Been by there several times of late as I live close by. The pool below the road has been empty other than one big hen fish that was there and gone a couple days later. I did see two pairs of brown trout up the brook near the trapping gate. Other than that the brook is empty. Two falls ago the brook was crammed with fish from August thru Thanksgiving. Not likely to see that this year .

[C-Hawk]

Friend of mine saw 10 or more fish there yesterday morning

[Wdrnr]

Hope it happens... we need some good news

[Captain Paul]

Its quite obvious when you are not catching any Shakers the next year will not be to good this will make 2 years in a row with very few Shakers although there where a few more this year than last still very low numbers compared to years past.

[fishingmachine]

you guys seem to forget that there were charter captains and other fishermen pounding the salmon February,March,and April this spring.That is 3 months of fishing before the usual salmon season,and they did quite well at it ,too.Don't forget,most successful fishermen don't post when they are hammering them. No wonder its been a slow summer.

[ThreeBuoys]

Fishingmachine,
You make very good points.
I keep hearing about other bodies of water having great fishing seasons this year, but here we are complaining about Lake Champlain. So what are the differences? All the other bodies of water are also in the Northeast, so you can't blame it on the weather conditions, late season, blah blah.

[pieman9155]

going up to willboro bay next week fishing thursday to sunday i now we will caught fish