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3. Lake tactics

So my home lake,which I've been fishing since 1996 when I got a cabin there.Sylvan lake in Dutchess county,ny has always had various trout,including lake (it goes 140ft deep),brown,rainbows.In fact there was a record brown taken in the '80's,30 some odd lbs.One of the local bait shops has a picture of some type of hybrid taken in the lake sometime in the '80's,shop owner says it isnt a splake,which were stocked at some time long ago,but really doesnt know what it is,but it is the ugliest fish I've ever seen.There is also some type of landlocked salmon,I think kokanee,not sure,but they are the small variety,I think the record is in the 3 lb range.I see alot of what I asume are those on the fishfinder down at the bottom over 90 ft deep.Never heard of one being caught,tho.Catching trout here has always been sporadic,the big draw in this lake is the bass,they are plentiful,and go very big.My best catch was a 23"er taken on my 5wt fly rod back in '98.Sorry,didnt have a camera,so you'll have to take my word for it,best fight ever,dragged my canoe around for over 20 mins before I managed to boat him,and yes,I released him.Anyway,back to the trout.I did spend an entire summer trolling the depths for lakers,using a jury-rigged down rigger,but only managed to get 2 fish,one 17" and one 21" and on consecutive days at around the same depth,about 80ft.I've managed to catch some browns and rainbows,all but one on spinning gear,from 4" to 15".The 4" rainbow was taken on the fly rod,quite by accident,while I was casting from the dock in early spring,trying out a new line,with a fairly large,about a size 12 dry,it was some ten years ago,but I think it was an adams.
okay,now to the point of my story.A local fishing club,either bought and donated a small piece of lake front,or convinced the state to buy it so they would start stocking it again.Prior to that the entire lake had no official public access,so the state couldnt or wouldnt stock.About 5 or 7 years ago they began stocking trout,the first 2 yrs or so they were putting 2 to 6 thousand fingerlings to about 9" sized browns and rainbows.The last few years they've been just browns and,for example,in '12 they stocked 1800 9" browns and in '13 1500 8.5" to 9" browns.The lake is about 3/4 mile across by a little less wide.And as I said earlier it goes to 140' deep.It seems to me that they have stocked a lot of trout,but they are still quite elusive.I actually caught more trout prior to the stocking.I know I havent really focussed on trouting as much as bassing,but it seems to me that they should be a little easier to catch,considering the amount of trout they've added to the "wild"population.The lake is definately not being overfished,as I have never seen more than 5 or so boats at any given time on the water,gas motors are not permitted,so I am talking about small oar or trolling motor propelled type boats.So,after all that,my question is concerning mortallity rates.Do stocked fish tend not to survive well when released into the wild?I know the water quality is excellent,this lake is "one of the top ten cleanest,non-resevoir lakes in the entire state".This I quoted from an issue of Field and Stream one of the guys has,he keeps it because it has a story that mentions that and the fact that a state record fish was caught in this lake.While we're at it,I'd also like to hear some lake fly fishing techniques anybody may like to share.

That's because the local Bad Boys have been feeding on stockies and need to digest before they will be interested in anything you are tossing...Tie up some Clousers tied to mimic the newbies, size and color. :)

Spence

For the last 3-4 years they've stocked nothing smaller than 7",do you think fish that size fall prey?

Stokes, you said "For the last 3-4 years they've stocked nothing smaller than 7",do you think fish that size fall prey?"

Absolutely. If you have fish up to 20'' in there, I would say a 7'' trout is right in a big trout's wheelhouse.

I was talking to a NYS Fishery Biologist once who was telling me about this particular time he was on his way to give a talk to a local TU chapter about Trout, the stocking program, etc. In the back of his truck he had a large bucket of trout. 4 9'' browns, and one 20 inch brown. From the time when he left the hatchery to when he went to the TU venue, it may have been 10 minutes. When he opened the lid to the bucket, the 20 inch brown had eaten all but one of the 9 inch fish....in the dark and in a moving truck!

I have no reason to think this guy was lying, it is a pretty cool story.

I guess then the hatchery fish would become easy prey.I assume when they are first put into a water they just remain in large groups like they are in the hatchery pools,no?

I can’t recall the size of the brown I had on relative to the 7 inches mentioned but I do recall this: I was swinging a Prince in a foot of clear water through a slow riffle when I hooked up with a brown. I could clearly see the fish I had on when a bigger brown came in and hit the hooked brown with enough force that it was felt through the rod. And these weren't hatchery fish.

I had a guy speak at our club a few weeks back about Lake Trout on a fly rod up in the Northwest Territoies of Canada...He had a picture of a guy holding a 20lb+ fish and the fish had a tail hanging out of its mouth belonging to a fish that might have qualified as the largest fish ever for most of us here on this site...We would of been happy just with the poor unlucky one hanging from Mr. Big's mouth.

He claimed that this was not an uncommon sight!

This speaks to some of the wasteful problems associated with "put-n-take" fisheries...How much of the stock that is planted actually lives longer than a week or two? Add pike to the equation and you have the law of diminishing returns.

Stokes...The newbies do tend to stay bunched up in pods for awhile. They can't understand why there are no food pellets landing over their heads from time-to-time. They are in shock...Then its "fear the night time" when the local residents float in behind them in the dark and chow-down!

Spence

So i would think the mortality rate is much worse in a stream for stockers,i guess the local raccoon population would get more than their fair share.I would bet the local elder critters knows the sound of the truck backing up to a stream.
Getting back to the lake situation,i know trout in lakes are extremely temperature oriented,in fact any i have caught in the summer have all been below the 20ft depth,which i assume is where the water becomes comfortable to them.Am i correct in assuming that even if there is a hatch going on,they wont come up into the warmer water chasing them?I would doubt any game fish in this lake have any intrest in insects as the alewives are quite abundant.in fact,even tho i didnt spend a lot of time lake fishing,the few times i was out i noticed a lot more schools and the guys who fish it regularily agree that they've never seen so many schools of bait fish.it is amazing watching the bass working in groups coralling them and then to see 10 to 20 bass all breaking the surface at the same time

That sounds pretty incredible. That is the type of thing that gets your heart going. That instant before you make your first cast into a super fishy looking spot is my favorite. At times I can do nothing but direct my excitement into focus.

While it is amazing to watch,it is impossible to get any of those fish to bite.they just open their mouth and scoop in from the concentration of bait.I remember snorkeling in a different lake back when i was young and swimming thru a school of baitfish when all of a sudden there was a bass,mouth wide open about to crash into my face.that mouth sure looked like it could swallow my head.