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3. NYS Landlocked Salmon

Sight fishing at its finest....to Landlocked Salmon!

This was the largest fish from today. Landed a couple more, lost one as well. Purple always seems to work best with these guys.

Great way to spend a fall day!

Look at the kype on that bad boy! Nice!

Spence

Nice. I wanna do that!

Me too!! What a beast.

Wow, that's a scary-looking dude. Well done Sir!

Jonathon

Thanks guys.

Very nice.
Am I safe to assume those are not Salmon River or Great Lakes fish?

Correct - those aren't Salmon River / Great Lakes fish.

Finger Lakes Fish.

JohnW, Louis...How can we be sure that Artie Loomis isn't "Gonzo" posting under an assumed name? ;)

Spence

Just a monster! awesome fish, well done. Great kype. Fight well? Check your PM's

John wrote:

"Am I safe to assume those are not Salmon River or Great Lakes fish?"

John, I might be mistaken but I'm quite sure the SR has no lanlocked salmon. An attempt to re-establish Atlantic Salmon has been underway on the SR, and it's tributaries, for at least twenty years. The SR gets it's name from the zillions of salmon that once roamed Lake Ontario's depths (although I don't really understand how atlantic salmon could of been there) I'm not aware of any river exiting Lake Ontario that empties into the Atlantic ocean. For sea going Atlantic salmon to have swum in LO that would have been a prerequisite. I often wonder if the salmon that is spoke of were not in fact landlocked salmon?? Can anyone else shed more light on this?

St. Lawrence River a.k.a. St. Lawrence Seaway

From what I have read, Atlantic salmon have long existed in Lake Ontario, having access to the lake through the St. Lawrence as Tony has pointed out. Sea lamprey and alewives, two species that caused havoc in the upper Great Lakes, have also always co-existed with the Atlantic salmon in Lake Ontario, gaining access to the upper Great lakes only after the construction of the Erie and Welland Canals to bypass Niagara Falls for shipping. interestingly enough, Atlantic salmon apparently didn't follow these other two species...

That's what I know anyway, if someone else knows more please correct me.

Jonathon

I believe Atlantic Salmon were native to Lake Ontario. Looks like they became extinct around the turn of the century.

Check this report: http://www.glfc.org/pubs/TechReports/Tr36.pdf

From my understanding, Landlocked Salmon and Atlantic Salmon are the same thing. Landlocked salmon simply have no ocean to dwell in, so they are "Land Locked". Since Lake O does have an outlet to the Atlantic, I believe the correct term for the Lake O fish is Atlantic Salmon.

The Feds had a mandate to reintroduce AS to Lake Ontario. I met the guy in charge and it appeared he was underfunded but determined. He also received flack from the Charter Boat association that feared AS would interfere with Pacific salmon stocking -the bread and butter of the industry. It got ugly. It was sad. Don't know where it stands now.

An early planting by the state brought very limited success. A number of potentially viable streams were stocked with parr and I inadvertently caught quite a few, and eventually learned how to avoid them. Streams were then closed to fishing in the fall they were expected to return. None did in many of the smaller tribs stocked. But the Salmon River had a modest return. A friend, Fran Verdoliva, caught a number of them up to about 14lbs. I knew of one caught by a charter boat in the lake proper that was 19lbs. But the poor return, the flack from commercial fishing interests, and the fallout from stream closure, crushed state support. They do maintain hatchery stock though and plant them in a number of larger lakes in NY including the Finger Lakes.

One thing that turned out to be pretty cool about the stream closure was that it excluded the lifters (surreptitious snaggers) and allowed the browns. bows, coho and chinook to behave naturally. This brought flocks of interested spectators and everyone agreed it was just a refresher to get to watch. Prior, any visible fish would have been snatched as soon as it appeared.

Sorry Matt I was having a brain cramp and I saw a monster of a brown as opposed to the land locked salmon. I have heard of atlantics being caught in the Salmon though but it is not a common event. I know big lake run browns are far more common.