Underwater salmon videos

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Gray Ghost
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Underwater salmon videos

Post by Gray Ghost »

Underwater salmon videos
This past summer, July, August and September, I shot about 80 hours of underwater videos while trolling for salmon on Lake Winnipesaukee which yielded 20+ YouTube videos after editing. Captured salmon in many different posturing situation while trying to attack lures/flies and attractors.

The camera is attached to the fishing line on one end and the other end a 24” leader with a lure. The camera is tilted down so that the view at 24” from the camera is in the middle of screen. Since the camera is attached to the bait it travels with hooked salmon.

A sample video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W1zv64Uw5mM

To view other videos use:
https://www.youtube.com/user/greyghost6 ... =dd&view=0
Gus
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Gecha (Gerry)
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Re: Underwater salmon videos

Post by Gecha (Gerry) »

Great videos.
Incredible how some fish will follow and play with the lure while others shoot up and commit right away.
Thanks for sharing.
Gecha (Gerry North of the Border)
digitroll (ron)
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Re: Underwater salmon videos

Post by digitroll (ron) »

Interesting video's Gus!
Doublebag
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Re: Underwater salmon videos

Post by Doublebag »

Wow! Great videos! Some thoughts/observations:

1. Salmon uniformly approached the lure or fly from straight behind. In striking at the lure, the fish pushed it forward, creating a bit of slack in the line. The slack gives the fish a brief moment to let go of the lure before it can be hooked. A fish is only hooked if, while holding the lure, it turns from the direction the lure is being trolled while holding the lure in its mouth. Seems while trolling we get far more bites than we realize! There is a lot of potential to catch more fish by converting these bites to hook-ups.

2. Fish would grab and let go of a lure several times. It would seem that a salmon would be able to tell instantly upon putting a fly or lure in its mouth that it was not food, but they still bit at it multiple times. Perhaps curiosity, rather than feeding, is the primary motivator for salmon biting a trolled lure or fly. Maybe it is a combination of feeding and curiosity.

3. Most of the salmon approaching the lures were single fish (though there were a few pairs and one group of three). The fish did not seem to be exhibiting competitive "gang" feeding behavior like perch or smallmouth bass will.

4. Some fish rushed at the fly or lure several times without biting and then turned away. Perhaps these fish did not bite because the lure did not react to the rush like a scared baitfish.

Thanks for sharing. I'm sure you put a lot of time into this project.
Gecha (Gerry)
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Re: Underwater salmon videos

Post by Gecha (Gerry) »

Great remarks Doublebag.
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fishy1
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Re: Underwater salmon videos

Post by fishy1 »

thanks for the videos very entertaining.
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ThreeBuoys
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Re: Underwater salmon videos

Post by ThreeBuoys »

Gray Ghost,
Were you using a Water Wolf?
Those are great videos!
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Gray Ghost
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Re: Underwater salmon videos

Post by Gray Ghost »

ThreeBuoys wrote:Gray Ghost,
Were you using a Water Wolf?
Those are great videos!
Yes on the Water Wolf.
Gus
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Gray Ghost
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Re: Underwater salmon videos

Post by Gray Ghost »

Underwater Salmon videos comments.

As observed in the videos, salmon do not have good eye to mouth coordination, they miss the bait often and need to strike and restrike. Lure action acerbates the poor eye to mouth coordination. The lure does not only move side to side, up and down and every position in between at rapid speeds beyond the ability of salmon to anticipate and react.

The lure that we see/buy is not the bait the salmon see. We view the lures from the so called front and back side with all the colors and detail of the design and the salmon sees the bait from the rear, tail hook sloshing around and flashes of colors. In the case of flies as the bait, salmon have the coordination problems. Salmon take a chase posture behind and looking slightly up at the lure.
Most salmon approach bait/lure from under and rear. Once, in close range they recognize that the thing that they are chasing is different from the bait that they have been feeding on night in night out. The lure wiggles differently, colors and scent are not what they have experienced, total confusion.

The following article from a retired Maine biologist outlines salmon seasonal feeding habits. A copy for easy of viewing is printed below.
http://www.myfishfinder.com/fishing_for ... #msg734961
This is a very interesting thread with very interesting comments. As Loves to Fish says, " Here's my 2 cents worth, but I have never interviewed a salmon." The same statement applies to my comments.
I'll start with what we know about smelt behavior and their use of various depths of water during the summer months. This info came from many all-night work sessions on Maine's larger lakes in Maine Fish and Wildlife's 22' mini-lobster boat that was equipped with GPS for night navigation of about 15 miles of sampling transects. We used a $30,000 scientific-quality sonar that could detect smelts as small as 2 inches in water 100 feet deep and deeper. During the day the lake's smelts were assembled in large schools closely associated with the lake bottom until about 1/2 - 1 hour after sunset, as twilight is coming on. The sonar displayed the fish blips in colors that corresponded to the fish size. So, about an hour after sunset and continuing all night until about an hour before first daylight, the smelt moved up through the lake's depth and spent the night feeding as individuals on plankton in the upper 30 feet of the lake, then they moved back to bottom i schools as daylight came. The plankton also make migrations from bottom up to the top waters of the lake overnight.
Once winter comes, the lakes ice over and get varying amounts of snow, both of which reduced the amount of light under the ice. There was more light directly under the ice than in the deeper water, so many fish spend a lot of time feeding just under the ice, where there is more plankton, generally. Some fish of course, can see well enough to feed in deeper water.
As others have mentioned in this thread, it seems odd that sometimes the salmon fishing is fast during and immediately after ice out, but other times it seems to take a week or 10 days for the fishing to get good. Often this seems to coincide with the spring smelt runs when the smelts are in shallow water around the lake or ascending the tributaries, and the smelts spend more time in shallows or just under the surface after spawning.
These wonderful creatures called fish with a brain the size of a pea can keep us wondering what is going on for trip after trip! Cool

The following screen shots portrays salmon/bait fish feeding on plankton, young of the year smelt, white perch, more mature smelt, shiners and everybody else who wanting to eat at buffet etc. in the dark. The salmon are accustom to seeing their meal a certain way and lures and flies are not the way.

The first and second screen shots are taken in the dark with a time lapse of several min. and the third is in day light with all the plankton and bait fish descended to the bottom with a few fish taking their time.

Image
Image
Image

The $65,000 question is; what will make the salmon turn on and bite, pursue until they get the bait? Next year’s is to get some videos of salmon feeding on smelt and shiners.
Gus
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Registered Kayak
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Re: Underwater salmon videos

Post by Registered Kayak »

That was a good read! I finally captured some smelt on camera in shelburne bay. I think it would be very cool to see the salmon in action though.
digitroll (ron)
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Re: Underwater salmon videos

Post by digitroll (ron) »

Great read Gus! Has there been any documentation of Landlocks feeding at night? Cut bait has been very effective for taking large Kings in the Great Lakes. Cut bait like trolled sewn smelt could be the closest thing we can troll to live bait that takes larger fish more consistently and something close to the real thing.
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Gray Ghost
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Re: Underwater salmon videos

Post by Gray Ghost »

Digitroll (Ron) wrote:Great read Gus! Has there been any documentation of Landlocks feeding at night? Cut bait has been very effective for taking large Kings in the Great Lakes. Cut bait like trolled sewn smelt could be the closest thing we can troll to live bait that takes larger fish more consistently and something close to the real thing.
I don’t know of any documentation about salmon feeding at night. I have personally have caught many salmon while fishing at night. In NH we are limited to fishing from one hour prior to sun rise to two hours past sun set. Many times on the water before one hour before sun rise and line in water at one hour prior to sun rise. BTW, I have to get up at 2:30 AM to get on my spot, not for the faint of heart. I have a buddy who live on the lake and he is on his spot at one hour prior to sun rise and catching salmon. He fishes just about every day, I look for his wake passing his cabin to see what direction he is fishing.
Logically, the salmon feed where the bait is located. During the day, bait are hiding in the rock and are hard to fine, at night the bait is feeding on plankton which is near the surface, moonlight shows them the way. Salmon are blinded by sunlight, keep the sun to your back when trolling as much as possible.
Lake Ontario, salmon are on the bottom during the day and will start coming of the bottom as the sun sets. Before sun rise use glow lures and spin doctors to get hooked up.
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C-Hawk
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Re: Underwater salmon videos

Post by C-Hawk »

From what we learned during 10 years of off and on ice fishing trips to a pond in northern Maine was that you always set one or two tip-ups 3-10 feet below the ice. These would account for most of our salmon and brookies, with Lakers coming from the bottom. I wonder if this is why it is illegal to ice fish at night in Maine for anything other than cusk(you have to lay your bait directly on bottom at night, and we never caught a laker while cusk fishing).
I'm not sure all the dynamics of smelt can be compared with Maine's colder water, with little thermocline effect, and Lake Champlain. Maybe spring and fall. I have always had good luck fishing until dark, especially areas that have near-shore drop-offs, like the Cowbanks.This camera thing may just bring up more questions than we know how to answer. To those that are thinking that this may give anglers too much of another technological advantage, I say it will just open up more avenues for speculation (and frustration).
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Registered Kayak
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Re: Underwater salmon videos

Post by Registered Kayak »

All the missed bites.......Definitely frustration haha
Gecha (Gerry)
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Re: Underwater salmon videos

Post by Gecha (Gerry) »

Very interesting article Gus.
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