Why chinook?

[MichaelAngelo]

Something has been bugging me quite a bit this season. I really should call the ministry and have my questions answered, but I'll post them here first .

Why does the ministry stock Chinook salmon? Why would they stock a fish that doesn't feed in the rivers, and then have an open season for people to "fish" for such a species in the rivers..... blows my mind.

Why instead... maybe they can stop stocking Chinook... and wait until the lake is ready for Atlantic salmon.. the true native Ontario salmonid. I mean... cohos at least... as least cohos are nice to look at!

I mean... CHINOOK...really!?!?! Of all the things they could stock... WHY CHINOOK! Why does the ministry want our riverbanks to smell like ROTTEN FLESH for an entire month. Snagged, gutted or just left to be.... ALL OF THEM DIE AND SMELL HORRIBLE. It's disgusting to everyone hiking the trails to smell the dead salmon bodies.

I really can't see any logic in stocking chinook.

I'd love to hear everybody's take on this matter, it's really bugging me.

[Giuga10]

I think they stock Chinook because they are the most active by far Salmon in the lake and especially rivers even if they dont bite there are a good amount and occasionally some will and because even though they are constantly abused, killed, rotted, and smelly they are a part of our environment and they serve a roll just like any other fish, plant, animal, whatever . Also the I guess the ministry gets a kick out of how many people they can fine for licenses, illegal fishing ect. Lastly because they always have that great run in the rivers many fisherman flock to these locations to fish for them which in turn causes a decrease in population (if you've ever been to Ganaraska River you'd understand completely ). So I guess since most of the Salmon don't even make it to spawning that's the only way to keep the population balanced.

Just my opinion ,
sorry if any of it was rambling or didn't make any sense, I'm tired and have no idea what I'm doing lol ,
Giuga10

[MuskieBait]

I'd rather have...

Atlantic salmon - They hit dry flies even when spawning...and on the east coast, the Atlantics overwinter in the river, then make a big push back to the ocean in the spring. These returning salmon are hungry and you can catch over 30 in a day.

But if I can only pick from the Pacific salmon...

1) Pink salmon...the swarm the river in large groups and spawning pinks will hit spoons, spinners and flies aggressively.

2) Chum salmon...again, spawning chums are aggressive...and they look soooo much better than an ugly brown/black chinook...even very late in the spawn.

3) Coho salmon...like you said, some of them do bite aggressively, and they also are more beautiful than chinooks.

The reason chinooks are still stocked is to maintain the charter industry along Lake Ontario. Over and over again you hear from charter guys who say chinooks are better because big fish attracts more customers. No one would pay $700/day on a charter catching 5-6lb coho or Atlantics, or 2-3lb pink. Chum salmon get upwards of 20lbs, but I think the experiment to stock them into the Great Lakes failed. So chinooks are still stocked.

Really, I can careless about chinooks...just stop stocking and let them naturally reproduce, and redirect the money to stocking more Atlantics and doing stream rehab to reestablish the Atlantics. Black boots that don't bite is not only frustrating, but very annoying when they keep running into your line and you lose hooks, splitshots, swivels and the occasional floats when you try to pull the hook on those accidentally snagged fish...especially when you are after steelhead, browns trout and coho.

[OldTimer]

(09-26-2012 10:42 PM)MichaelAngelo Wrote:  Something has been bugging me quite a bit this season. I really should call the ministry and have my questions answered, but I'll post them here first .

Why does the ministry stock Chinook salmon? Why would they stock a fish that doesn't feed in the rivers, and then have an open season for people to "fish" for such a species in the rivers..... blows my mind.

Why instead... maybe they can stop stocking Chinook... and wait until the lake is ready for Atlantic salmon.. the true native Ontario salmonid. I mean... cohos at least... as least cohos are nice to look at!

I mean... CHINOOK...really!?!?! Of all the things they could stock... WHY CHINOOK! Why does the ministry want our riverbanks to smell like ROTTEN FLESH for an entire month. Snagged, gutted or just left to be.... ALL OF THEM DIE AND SMELL HORRIBLE. It's disgusting to everyone hiking the trails to smell the dead salmon bodies.

I really can't see any logic in stocking chinook.

I'd love to hear everybody's take on this matter, it's really bugging me.

I can understand how you might be scratching your head on this salmon thing – it’s sorta like walking in on a movie that’s half way through and you lack required background info………..

In the early 70’s fishing on Lake Ontario absolutely sucked. Pollution was bad. The once massive Lake Trout population had been decimated by overfishing, and by sea lamprey attacks. The forage fish population was out of control…….. non native Alewife were the major bio-mass. There were no charter fishing boats, or derbies, just reeking mass die offs of alewife washing up on shore each year.

Many programs began throughout the next decade…….. pollution control………. Reduction of phosphates in laundry soaps………. Lamprey barriers and lampricide (poison) use………. And eventually - successful attempts at stocking coho, Chinook and pinks.

Salmon introductions were to revive sportfishing while at the same time establish a top level predator to control the Alewife population. Also note that Salmon are less susceptible to lamprey attack than Lake Trout (but not immune).

At the same time Lake Trout stockings were maintained in hopes of firmly re-establishing this species.

Splake programs came and went on the Great Lakes.

Rainbow and Brown stockings have cycled up and down here and there.

The salmon stockings did do as wished………….. Recreational fishing vastly improved…….. and the Alewife population took a big dive.
Along the way laws were passed that prevented bringing in Salmon Eggs that were not certified as disease free. This stopped all imports and we then needed to rely on collection of eggs here on within the adjoining United States.

Chinook salmon I believe give more “bang for the buck” in regards to ease of rearing and in % returns.

So…………. Here we are today…………… The MNR is attempting to re-introduce a self-sufficient Atlantic salmon program on Lake Ontario - while continuing the existing Pacific and Trout programs to satisfy anglers and the commercial sport fishery industry. Similar programs exist for walleye in the eastern basin.

It is a complicated and fragile process. In fact we now have problems that the Alewife population is crashing – thus throwing an unexpected monkey wrench in the works.

The above is a very simplified fast cut at all the various milestones along the way – I hope it helped….bottom line ----------- it’s a work in progress--------- stand by for about another 20 years….

A good read - for more info:


  mnr_e001346.pdf (Size: 3.07 MB / Downloads: 31)

Cheers,

OldTimer

[MuskieBait]

(09-27-2012 08:12 AM)OldTimer Wrote:  The above is a very simplified fast cut at all the various milestones along the way – I hope it helped….bottom line ----------- it’s a work in progress--------- stand by for about another 20 years….

A good read - for more info:

Cheers,

OldTimer

Awesome! I love material like this...very interesting all the different fish (even arctic char and arctic grayling!) stocked at one point in history, especially learning something new today which could help me knock off another species in Ontario without needing to travel to BC or Alaska (although I would also LOVE to catch some of those big salmon in BC or Alaska). I would have LOVED it if grayling had established in the small streams...they are just a fun a beautiful fish...of course, not at the expense of the native brook trout.

[OldTimer]

Speaking of big fish..... Who knows - maybe someday in the far future they'll stock inconnu.

Awesome fish............ a bucket list dream catch for me.

[bettercallsaul]

I've heard that atlantics are harder to stock as they need better water quality and a different habitat. MNR has spent enough money trying to get these guys to go off. But I agree on the zombie fish comment.

[MichaelAngelo]

Inconnu... dreams...



Half of it is the location too...

[OldTimer]

Exactly............ particularly if you go for the ocean runners.

[Giuga10]

(09-30-2012 11:37 PM)MichaelAngelo Wrote:  Inconnu... dreams...



Half of it is the location too...

Did you see the pic of Mike's Inconnu on Roughfish. If only they stocked those bad boys over here.

Giuga10