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OK, starting a salmon specific thread. I saw in the other post that the Salmon numbers in Lake Michgan were down. We have had really low numbers in Georgian Bay last three years. I used to catch about two in a morning plus a few trout, but last two years salmon were rare. There is no longer any significant stocking so most of what are there are "natural" spawners, but there are not that many and they are small. The alewife have basically disappeared I guess and I understand that smelt are not as plentiful or as nutritious. The funny thing is that the Rainbow trout are doing fine. Our Ministry of Natural Resources is spending money to restock Lake Trout as indigenous rather than the much more fun salmon.
Hi Creekwood: I am in London, ON. I am not surprised the salmon fishing is down in the Georgian Bay area. Cronzy always said that the restocking program is not working. I know the lower part of Lake Huron, Kincardine down to Sarnia, the salmon fishing is not the same. Many of the guys who have fished for years have said even if they did catch a salmon the size is half of what it use to be. Someone mentioned the baitfish (alewive) are scarce. Where do you fish out of Georgian Bay? Dwain
We only have a few boats out of our place that fish them, but last summer was a pretty good season for them all around(Northern Lake MichiganGreen Bay). They were not all that big, but I can not recall any trips wherecustomers were skunked.
Andy
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Lake Huron salmon fishing CRASHED about 3-4 years ago. The alewives population dropped and the salmon fishing has died in most ports. Much has ben written about this and the problems is related to the zebra mussel and lack of food for the alewives. You can read more at the Michigan DNR web site. Rainbow trout feed on a mix of bugs and small fish. Also they live much longer than salmon and do not consume as much food as the faster growing salmon. King salmon require huge amounts of food to grow to adult size in 3 to 4 years.
I fish the West side of Lake Michigan regularly and the fishery has been outstanding. A lot of coho in the spring, Kings have been consistent thru the fall and we had best fall brown trout season than I can remember. The rainbow/steelhead have been down a bit - hopefully it's just a cycle. I know Huron has had their challenges. I hope it doesn't hit Michigan.
salmon food is down the salmon are doing their job eating ailwy salmon numbers are down . smaller salmon
not all bad news the ones that are there are very healthy and the fight is better than ever . you will just have to work a little harder and possibly fish a little farther off shore but there is plenty of fun out there to be had
OK. give me some ideas of some new ideas to try for Salmon. I normally do the normal kind of thing, flashers with herring strip or anchovie, flashers with squid/fly, or the normal suspects of spoons (NK, RAC, etc). I saw some interesting high flash plastic body baits (for bass actually) that I was thinking might be neat to try behind a flasher. Anybody ever tried that?
we use a lot of lead core set ups and the king flashers
there are a bunch of great fishing web sites you can learn a lot fast from
educated angler site
suindiana site
chitownangler site
glangler site
there is a big push to put some money into the salmon tournaments on lake michigan
get good at it might win some money and have some fun while you are at it
Really wish the salmon was better in Huron (lower). Would like to fish for more than just Walleye. Hopefully everything will cycle and they return to Huron. Pretty much a pipe dream, but I'm still hopeful. I guess until then I'll just pull the boat across the state for some salmon. Just wish it wasn't so expensive. Good thing the show isn't too far off.
I have echo SIM(Andy) and rrrwel, In the fact that although the fish were smaller this year ,the fishing was still good on the Wisconsin side of Lake Mich.
We caught a lot of fish! I also fish in the south (Honda Cats area) and we caught fish.
I think it'll be awhile before we see big fish (25# plus) in Lake Michigan again. Maybe we need a road trip to Lake Ontario......timmarine.....come join and fish our Flint Chapter tournaments this year. We start in Huron in the Spring which would be the best chance for catching any silver over on this side. They are fun tournaments mostly....now that I think about it, Rich ahs probably mentioned them to you before.
Question: kinda side tracked but Cronzy came up. Do a lot of guys out east watch Goin' Fishing? I know we have a chance to have Cronzy come out with us in BC this summer and tape his show, so I'm just curious if it'd be worth it. Seems like a great guy though!
I think it'll be awhile before we see big fish (25# plus) in Lake Michigan again. Maybe we need a road trip to Lake Ontario......timmarine.....come join and fish our Flint Chapter tournaments this year. We start in Huron in the Spring which would be the best chance for catching any silver over on this side. They are fun tournaments mostly....now that I think about it, Rich ahs probably mentioned them to you before.
Rich has mentioned them a couple of times. Whenever he had spots on his crew I was busy. Last boat wasn't set up for salmon (180 Grady). I would definately consider it though. Where can I find some info on dates and locations? Would love to fish out of a boat like yours (or should I say like you had). I still LOVE those Grady's. But I have to admit, I think my next rig is going to be a 25 Carolina Classic straight inboard.
These are all Lake Ontario (west end) products. We have a very active club with web site lotsa.org
If you are in the neighborhood we are hosting a great Salmon Expo on Feb. 24th, info is on the web site. We also have a very active forum (members only) well worth 10 bucks a year.
Regarding Cronzy: I think quite a few people watch the show here in Ontario. He tells it the way he sees it. Usually he is on one of the ministries cases regarding stocking programs or what to stock? Nice to see some of the B.C. charters with Cronzy. Great Kings you are fishing out there. Make certain you tell Cronzy that this is "Paradise" before he does. It is his favourite saying. He is very knowledgeable.
Some more Lake O chinnies:
This was taken last october, this would have been this years fish, it weighed over 18 lbs, fish would have been 30lb`+ this fall.
Come on spring, I need some blue/green water theropy.
Rich
I do 99% of my salmon fishing on Lake Michigan, but my friend has a cabin on Georgian Bay. He has a slip in Lion's Head. I've been fishing about a weekend a year out of there for probably the past 6 years. It's definately a different ball game. It was much better 5 years ago. On Lake Michigan we pull three rods per person. On the Georgian Bay you're limited to one per person. Whatever you pull, it's much more important to make it count.
We've done better the past two years on Georgian Bay primarily because we use more leadcore. 10 colors (100 yards) has done very well for us. Two years ago we caught 4 - 5 salmon every trip. This past year the conditions weren't as good, surface temps were around 50 degrees. We managed one or two fish every trip. All of the fish came on spoons behind leadcore. It really works well in that crystal clear water. Georgian Bay makes Lake Michigan look dirty. This year we also caught a lot of lake trout, like 4 per trip. We had never caught that many lakers before. Probabaly had a lot to do with the cooler water temps.
__________________ 1995 Grady White Sailfish w/ 200 Yamahas
creekwood- late next spring, my wife and I have to go to new jersey.My wife has never been to canada, so we would like to come back to the midwest by traveling the north side of the lakes. Won't be a fishing trip, but we would like to scout some locations for when we do have an opportunity to do some fishing, Any recommendations for the north side of lake ontario?
Salmon 
