First published: Thursday, October 11, 2007

Lake's salmon declining

During the 1980s and even into the '90s, anglers who fished Lake George enjoyed a good fishery for landlocked salmon. In the fall months, a lot of anglers would simply wade in off Million Dollar Beach and wet a line.

Salmon were even caught in good numbers by ice fishermen.

In the past decade or so, salmon numbers have declined. According to anglers like Tom Lutz, the salmon fishing of 20 years ago have all but disappeared. In his opinion, "The salmon are all but gone from Lake George."

While his conclusion is probably a bit more drastic than the claims of other anglers, there is a general agreement fishing for landlocked salmon hasn't been very productive as of late.

In an April report about the state Department of Environmental Conservation Region 5 Fisheries Unit, senior aquatic biologist Emily Zollweg writes, "We are seeing a decline in numbers of landlocked salmon in a number of lakes in the Adirondacks."

The report, a summary of the 2006 angler diary report for Lake George, looks at the catch rates and angling success for both lake trout and landlocked salmon.

The catch rate for anglers fishing exclusively for lake trout was 0.62 per hour in 2006. While the average lake trout length was 21 inches, about a third of those caught were greater than 23 inches long.

For anglers fishing exclusively for landlocked salmon, the catch rates were 0.09 per hour with an average length of 15.4 inches. This translates to about 11 hours of fishing per salmon caught. The catch rate in 2003 was 0.03 per hour.

In 2004, though, the salmon catch rate was 0.12 per hour -- within the 0.12-0.18 range the DEC has set as an ideal for Lake George anglers.

"We think one reason the salmon declined is due to predation by lake trout," Zollweg wrote, "which is why we are now stocking salmon in the fall that have been reared to longer lengths, so they will be less likely to be fed on by the lake trout."

The increases in predation rates has been attributed to an increase in the Lake George lake trout population that has occurred since the '80s.

"Lake trout are successful in spawning in the shoal areas of the lake," Zollweg said.

Spawning is tougher for salmon because Lake George does not have large tributary streams like Lake Champlain.

Each spring, the DEC stocks salmon in Lake George. In the spring 2006, 30,000 7-inch salmon were stocked in the lake, followed by 2,940 10-inch salmon that September.

According to Zollweg's report, stocking larger salmon should increase annual survival.

In addition to size, the DEC is trying to diversify the genetics of the landlocked salmon by getting eggs from Sebago Lake in Maine and rearing them in the Adirondack Hatchery.

To monitor the stocking survival, the DEC clips the fins on fall-stocked salmon to determine when the fish were stocked when examining specimens.

Lack of food does not appear to be a problem for Lake George salmon survival. Landlocks prefer to eat rainbow smelt, and reports based on the spring smelt run in area streams indicate that there are high numbers of smelt in the lake. So the signs point to predation by lake trout being the likely cause for the salmon decline. The catch rate for anglers who are exclusively targeting lake trout was the highest on record in 2006, and the creel data indicates anglers are releasing over half the lake trout they catch. The creel rate is an improvement over 2003, when anglers released nearly all the legal-sized lake trout they caught.

For the salmon, it will be several years before Zollweg and other fisheries staff members can gather enough data to determine if the shift in stocking strategy is working. The good news is that early indications are positive, and the hope is things continue to head in the right direction.

Salmon and laker populations will be a question of balance though, because it is obvious that the two species are not going to both exist in record numbers.

Rob Streeter is an outdoors columnist for the Times Union. You can reach him at rstreeter@nycap.rr.com or send items to 961 Stoner Trail Road, Fonda NY 12068.

[ Alliance Projects ] [News Articles ] [ The Future Of Lake George ] [ Meetings]
[ Fish Species ] [ Members] [ Home ] [ Contact Us ]