10,000 Salmon

[Mistress]

On the way back from Charlotte earlier today from a pre-bid meeting two F&W stocking trucks passed me and being the curious fish head that I am I decided to spin around and follow them and they led me right to the Charlotte Ferry landing. I got out and chatted with the guys and they informed me they were waiting on a captain to take them out on the back up ferry so they could dump 10,000 one and one half year old salmon in the lake. It’s good to actually SEE our F&W folks at work and delivering the fish to bolster our fishery. Given the volume they dropped I’m certain we will be catching a good number of shorts and I won’t be running any treble hooks for a while to minimize the trauma on the little duffers while releasing them

[raz]

That's awesome.
Thanks for posting this.

[Jump]

That's great, Pat!

Mid lake stocking really cuts down on predation by cormorants and such. One and a half year olds sound to be of good size for good year class survival rate. That was often the big boo boo here in NH. They got them outta the hatchery too soon for their own good and many just became forage.
I have often found the best way to spare the little tykes their aggression was to pull rods and move.

Still on the look out for a weather window to make my boat haul. Next Wednesday and Thursday looked promising for temps but then I started looking at wind speeds. The more perfection I seek the less fishing I get.
Belt it out for us you Sons of the Pioneers "Cool Clear Water" You gotta be old to remember that song, but old sure beats the alternative.

Did the Bio-Guys happen to mention anything about average stock size? 8 to 10 inches would be nice.
Size does matter.

Jump

[ATLSALMON]

You never need to run trebles any way single hooks work better as they catch & do not injury the fish

[Mistress]

Hey Jump,
The salmon they stocked were indeed 8"-10" range and yes our F&W figured out that daytime stocking the lake can be tricky due to predators, specifically the Cormorants you mentioned. Some 20 odd years ago I watched a hatchery truck back up to the launch at the Winooski River and unload a mix of salmon and browns and the few seagulls that were around started feasting on the few fish on the surface and before we knew it there were 30 plus cormorants gorging on them. I along with another angler admonished the F&W guys for not taking predators into consideration and the following year they changed up their program and have even stocked at low light for that reason.
I plan on taking a slide from work next Friday the 10th to fish Converse with my bud Daren from Florida and if you decide to come up shoot me a text or call!!
Regarding treble hooks and salmon I rarely run lures with them, mostly in the spring on Pins Minnows and when I encounter a herd of juveniles I move to another area regardless of the time of year.
See you all out on the water
Pat

[Gecha (Gerry)]

Thanks Pad for letting us know about the salmon stocking. It is great news.
Looking forward to catching a few of them in 2-3 years.

[Jump]

Right you are, Gerry
Two or three years is the BIG difference maker at the Champlain dinner table.
We marvel at the small heads on some rotund fishees within that short space of time

Will try for next week, Pat. I am dying to pull a few of those homemade Purple Brown imitations deep into Town Farm

Jump

[Jae Sun]

Thanks for this post/ update. Really cool to know and see em stocking.

Question: do they only stock in charlotte or other places too?
Is there a report/ schedule for such stocking please?

My target species is salmon and i launch/ fish from Plattsburgh generally.

Thank you in advance.
Jae.

[Mistress]

https://anrweb.vt.gov/FWD/FW/FishStockingSchedule.aspx

Here is a link to F&W stocking schedule and reports Jae Sun.