Inland Sea Salmon Size

Dockside · Post by **Dockside** » Thu Jan 19, 2012 4:29 pm

Has anyone figured out why the Inland Sea produces the biggest salmon in Champlain? Food, temp, water quaillty????

pete · Post by **pete** » Thu Jan 19, 2012 6:52 pm

They dump the breeders out of the hatchery?

Heijac · Post by **Heijac** » Thu Jan 19, 2012 10:27 pm

Really? I dont believe it does. I think there are more 5+ lb salmon caught down south than there are in the sea. I've spent alot of time fishing both over the last couple seasons, and its pretty clear to me. Anyone else think so?

Ludo · Post by **Ludo** » Thu Jan 19, 2012 10:31 pm

Maybe it produces the biggest salmon just because people are catching them with Dockside baits !

digitroll (ron) · Post by **digitroll (ron)** » Fri Jan 20, 2012 5:21 am

It seems the last two to three seasons with the white perch invasion and the trawl data from the sea show the smelt population has crashed. Or absent of bait piles. The fish have been very skinny especially when they hit 19-20" or more in the photos on the forum.

Reminds me of the skinny kings caught in Lake Huron the last 10 years as a result of the alewife crash there.

Seems Malletts Bay / Outer Bay / Inland Sea seem to be in trouble for producing larger salmon greater than 20".

Thorny and I were discussing this dilemma at the workshop a week ago. Maybe it will change this year.

Just one person's humble opinion.

raz · Post by **raz** » Fri Jan 20, 2012 5:38 am

Inland Sea...May 22, 2011.
What's so skinny? Certainly not me

I'm just sayin....

Heijac · Post by **Heijac** » Fri Jan 20, 2012 6:13 am

No doubt, there have been a few nice ones taken from the sea. But they are not as common. Of course, I live closer to Converse than to the IS, so I'm biased............

digitroll (ron) · Post by **digitroll (ron)** » Fri Jan 20, 2012 7:02 am

I am 45 minutes from Converse and 25 minutes from the Sea.

Those are nice fish Raz no doubt about it! There is always a few data points outside in the 90th percentile (which is a good thing), however, the trend of the salmon size has been skinny with the up and coming fish 19" to 21". I fished the Sea once last year with Thorny in early June, but that was my only trip that was more than an hour to two there. I have maybe 8 hours on the Sea in total for the season.

Just reviewing the photos and all the trips on both forums does provide a lot of data or sample of the season.

In the past the Sea was full of bait the prior 25 years and as Ben asked I am sure contributed to the big fish.

Dockside · Post by **Dockside** » Fri Jan 20, 2012 7:40 am

Including the state record the top 10 of 14 Champlain salmon have come from the Inland Sea? I am not trying to boost the ego of the Sea I am just stating facts. I think Convers area may have a higher number of fish but fact is the Sea is producing larger fish.

State Record Walleye was just taken in the Sea a few years back? That is the biggest walley in the state ever!

There is something in the water!

Reelax · Post by **Reelax** » Fri Jan 20, 2012 8:09 am

The are Inland Sea fish caught in last 2 seasons...

I agree Converse has more fish, in general and that may lead to more bigger fish also due to numbers, but the Inland Sea, when the time is right can hold it's own.... Trouble is there is only a narrow sweet spot in the Sea for the good action....

Salmoneye · Post by **Salmoneye** » Fri Jan 20, 2012 8:57 am

Ludo wrote:Maybe it produces the biggest salmon just because people are catching them with Dockside baits !

Always the diplomat!

You have a little something on your nose...

Shake-n-Bake · Post by **Shake-n-Bake** » Fri Jan 20, 2012 6:29 pm

Fantastic fish in those photos! Never ventured into the sea, got to check it out someday.

Heijac · Post by **Heijac** » Fri Jan 20, 2012 7:18 pm

Matt, how many other salmon over 4 lbs have you caught in the sea in the last 2 years? I believe that when you went out on my boat in june, we boated 8 or 10 over 4 lbs, in one day!
Ben, where did you get your data? Looking at the VT Fish and Wildlife site, the top 10 salmon out of LC all time, the most recent entry was from 2007. You may be right, maybe most of them did come from the sea, but not in the last few years. Most of the big salmon in the LCI this year came from down south, including Effies pig!
I am certainly no expert on all this, but it sure seems to me that there have been more, and larger average size fish coming from the south in the past couple of years..............

Dockside · Post by **Dockside** » Fri Jan 20, 2012 8:49 pm

Sure let's look at the past few years.... The only record breakers were walleye and sunfish. Can anyone guess where they were taken?

Effie's fish was a LCI super tank but it a few pounds short from the state record which was caught on the Sandbar bridge. (Inland Sea)

How is the Super Sea making these Sea Monsters?

The hatchery is on the main lake side, so there is no real help there.

Black Ghost (Ken) · Post by **Black Ghost (Ken)** » Fri Jan 27, 2012 5:08 pm

I'm a little late sounding on this post, but I want to state my experience even if nobody's listening - I grew up in South Hero and that makes me partial to the IS. However, I've got to say that I've never been skunked out of Converse. I think I've been skunked on the IS as many times as not. These days, I travel the further distance to Converse.

Ken
Essex Jct

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Inland Sea Salmon Size

Inland Sea Salmon Size

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