Good information. But, really how can a lake go dead? How can can pan fish die?
How can a lake die of all small fry?
Charleston Lakers...
-
Trophy Hunter
- Participant
- Posts: 31
- Joined: Sun Aug 02, 2009 9:49 am
The big C is loaded with baitfish , absolutly no decline in forage fish , try changing up your plan of attack , jigging in 20 - 60 ft with gulp minnows has been producing great catches this year vs trolling which is not producing much at all , the lake is about 10 degrees warmer this year so adjust accordingly good luck Bill 
RJ - great report.
Andy - Beauty - and well proportioned... Laker!
------------------------------------------------------------------
The reality is, Charleston Lake has an abundance of baitfish.
However, the forage base for a specific species is not equivalent to the term baitfish. Baitfish as a term covers all the forage base for all species of predatory fish.
The shallow water forage base in Charleston for Bass, Crappie and Pike is healthy. Actually, VERY healthy. However, the deep water forage base in Charleston for Lake Trout is not so healthy, compared to even 5 years ago, and it is a mere shadow of 10 years ago.
Deep water forage includes Cisco (Herring), Alewife (Shad) etc. (In Loughborough this also includes Rainbow Smelt).
Charleston's traditional deep water forage base is primarily Alewife (referred to by locals as "shad" and also Cisco. The larger, older trout have "grown-up" on this and that's what they know. The larger trout are starving as a result of the reduced deep-water forage, primarily the Alewife.
The smaller, younger trout are very healthy and well proportioned and are still feeding on smaller baitfish, as well the smaller trout are adapting to the reduced Alewife by eating other game fish, such as Perch and YOY Bass - especially in the winter months after the lake mixes.
I live at Charleston Lake and have been fishing it for over 20 years, mostly C&R with a few trout and bass making the table. Ganman is correct that the shad numbers used to be incredible.
Trophy Hunter, there are exceptions to every rule. There are still a few decent weight longer fish, I got a 7lb at 29" earlier this summer. But 5 years ago, many days we had double-headers with 6-8lb fish. Not anymore - and the majority of the fish >25" are big head & tail skinny body fish.
In summary, Charleston has not suffered a baitfish collapse. But it has suffered a SEVERE reduction of Alewife / Shad, which is the primary Lake Trout forage base in Charleston Lake. I don't believe it is a total collapse though...
The good news is, there are still shad here, and there are more shad this year than last year. But nothing like 10 years ago. It will come back but will take time. Google Alewife Collapse, this is a recurring phenomenon with this non-native species of deepwater forage.
Cheers
Andy - Beauty - and well proportioned... Laker!
------------------------------------------------------------------
The reality is, Charleston Lake has an abundance of baitfish.
However, the forage base for a specific species is not equivalent to the term baitfish. Baitfish as a term covers all the forage base for all species of predatory fish.
The shallow water forage base in Charleston for Bass, Crappie and Pike is healthy. Actually, VERY healthy. However, the deep water forage base in Charleston for Lake Trout is not so healthy, compared to even 5 years ago, and it is a mere shadow of 10 years ago.
Deep water forage includes Cisco (Herring), Alewife (Shad) etc. (In Loughborough this also includes Rainbow Smelt).
Charleston's traditional deep water forage base is primarily Alewife (referred to by locals as "shad" and also Cisco. The larger, older trout have "grown-up" on this and that's what they know. The larger trout are starving as a result of the reduced deep-water forage, primarily the Alewife.
The smaller, younger trout are very healthy and well proportioned and are still feeding on smaller baitfish, as well the smaller trout are adapting to the reduced Alewife by eating other game fish, such as Perch and YOY Bass - especially in the winter months after the lake mixes.
I live at Charleston Lake and have been fishing it for over 20 years, mostly C&R with a few trout and bass making the table. Ganman is correct that the shad numbers used to be incredible.
Trophy Hunter, there are exceptions to every rule. There are still a few decent weight longer fish, I got a 7lb at 29" earlier this summer. But 5 years ago, many days we had double-headers with 6-8lb fish. Not anymore - and the majority of the fish >25" are big head & tail skinny body fish.
In summary, Charleston has not suffered a baitfish collapse. But it has suffered a SEVERE reduction of Alewife / Shad, which is the primary Lake Trout forage base in Charleston Lake. I don't believe it is a total collapse though...
The good news is, there are still shad here, and there are more shad this year than last year. But nothing like 10 years ago. It will come back but will take time. Google Alewife Collapse, this is a recurring phenomenon with this non-native species of deepwater forage.
Cheers
-
dead_weight
- Bronze Participant
- Posts: 239
- Joined: Tue Jul 27, 2010 9:09 am
Entirely possible. However, it wouldn't be very successful unless the conditions that caused the decline are addressed. The shad need food or the restocking would be feeding seagulls.dead_weight wrote:OK I have a feeling that I'm gonna be totally out in left field here ... but is it possible to stock shad and some other fish that forms the primary source of food for lakers? I've never heard of it so i'm guessing it's not possible or really doesn't do any good ...
The conditions that caused the decline in the shad is speculative at best.
My take on this- The zebra mussels in Charleston are near or just past their peak. Since shad feed on zooplankton, and so do Zebra mussels, the carrying capacity for shad is reduced to a minimum level while the mussels are peaking. In the meantime, the predation by trout did not decline. So the shad population dropped.
Since there are still shad in the lake, the balance will be restored eventually. Key to this - food supply for the shad as the zebra mussels level off, and reduced predation by trout as the trout population declines due to reduced forage.
Since the lake trout are slow growing, and shad are fast growing, as the larger trout die off, the shad should rebound first, followed by the smaller healthy trout switching primary forage from Daphnia to Shad.
The lake should balance with a lower shad and trout population.
The elimination of stocking of Lake Trout in Charleston Lake, combined with the loss of many of the larger trout, should be of benefit to the speed of this transition / re-balance.
My hope is that there still are enough large natural strain trout to maintain the supply of fry during the transition period. And when it does come back- more fish should be of natural origin.
Fingers crossed...
Good explanation O4T. I teach near Charleston Lake and fish with a co-worker who lives on the lake. Based on talking to fisherman and a study I think was partially funded by the lake association, trout are being caught shallower than normal quite often in the spring, probably due to the lack of deeper water forage.Out4trout wrote:RJ - great report.
Andy - Beauty - and well proportioned... Laker!
------------------------------------------------------------------
The reality is, Charleston Lake has an abundance of baitfish.
However, the forage base for a specific species is not equivalent to the term baitfish. Baitfish as a term covers all the forage base for all species of predatory fish.
The shallow water forage base in Charleston for Bass, Crappie and Pike is healthy. Actually, VERY healthy. However, the deep water forage base in Charleston for Lake Trout is not so healthy, compared to even 5 years ago, and it is a mere shadow of 10 years ago.
Deep water forage includes Cisco (Herring), Alewife (Shad) etc. (In Loughborough this also includes Rainbow Smelt).
Charleston's traditional deep water forage base is primarily Alewife (referred to by locals as "shad" and also Cisco. The larger, older trout have "grown-up" on this and that's what they know. The larger trout are starving as a result of the reduced deep-water forage, primarily the Alewife.
The smaller, younger trout are very healthy and well proportioned and are still feeding on smaller baitfish, as well the smaller trout are adapting to the reduced Alewife by eating other game fish, such as Perch and YOY Bass - especially in the winter months after the lake mixes.
I live at Charleston Lake and have been fishing it for over 20 years, mostly C&R with a few trout and bass making the table. Ganman is correct that the shad numbers used to be incredible.
Trophy Hunter, there are exceptions to every rule. There are still a few decent weight longer fish, I got a 7lb at 29" earlier this summer. But 5 years ago, many days we had double-headers with 6-8lb fish. Not anymore - and the majority of the fish >25" are big head & tail skinny body fish.
In summary, Charleston has not suffered a baitfish collapse. But it has suffered a SEVERE reduction of Alewife / Shad, which is the primary Lake Trout forage base in Charleston Lake. I don't believe it is a total collapse though...
The good news is, there are still shad here, and there are more shad this year than last year. But nothing like 10 years ago. It will come back but will take time. Google Alewife Collapse, this is a recurring phenomenon with this non-native species of deepwater forage.
Cheers
Also the report mentions numerous trout that have been caught and found to have a variety of different soft plastic baits in their stomach, it is believed the trout are scavenging these plastic baits off bottom due to lack of food. The report is at work so I don't have any exact details.
Hopefully over time the deep forage numbers will increase again along with trout numbers.
Excellent report Out4trout! Thanks.
I have fished the Charleston lake trout for many years. In fact, when I learned to fish them in the mid-1950's at my Grandfather's knee, we were still referrring to them as "salmon" and the Johnny Green and the copper Hex Canoe Spoons were the favourite lures.
Because of the present conditions and the fearful pressure these fish have come to experience, I have given-up searching for them for now.
I have fished the Charleston lake trout for many years. In fact, when I learned to fish them in the mid-1950's at my Grandfather's knee, we were still referrring to them as "salmon" and the Johnny Green and the copper Hex Canoe Spoons were the favourite lures.
Because of the present conditions and the fearful pressure these fish have come to experience, I have given-up searching for them for now.
banjoes and williams
good memory Hex.. have to add banjos and williams 
C5
C5
-
Trophy Hunter
- Participant
- Posts: 31
- Joined: Sun Aug 02, 2009 9:49 am
good summery O4T , I agree with what you have concluded , but i hope there is a sustainable forage base, we went through a similar forage drop in Lake Ontario about 20 years ago and the alwive have never rebounded to their peak numbers , the Lakers followed a pattern much the same as Charleston , big heads small thin bodies , in the last 5 years with the increase in gobies the fish are fattening up , but feeding in shallow water , no longer do we fish in 120 - 140 ft now all summer around 40 - 60 ft you can hit paydirt , just as we adapt and change so will the lake Trout , ( remember the smelt runs on Loughborough in the late 70's ) now thirty years later they are sustaining a small natural number .It's great to see someone as well informed as yourself share your knowledge so everyone can benifit Thanks Bill
-
dead_weight
- Bronze Participant
- Posts: 239
- Joined: Tue Jul 27, 2010 9:09 am