Jump to content

GLF

Members
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    10,261

  • Joined

  • Last visited

 Content Type 

Posts posted by GLF

    Who needs a fishing license?

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    There was 4 of us on my boat fishing out of Muskegon a few years ago and we only had 6 lines in the water. A dnr boat pulled up beside us and said he only needed to see 2 licenses. We showed him all 4, but he said since we only had 6 lines in the water he only needed to see 2.

    Not sure if that is normally how it works or if it was just this particular dnr officer.

    Salmon stocking could be cut in Lake Michigan

    in Great Lakes News

    Posted

    Sorry Mike,

    I shouldn't have put your name in the direct heading. Nor directed the response towards you.

    The post was more as a general information post.

    I've spent a lot of time both in college as well as with local fishery biologist learning, and studying as much as I possibly could.

    Unfortunately I was much apart of the suffrage that went along with the crash in Lake Huron.

    It's terrifying to me personally that the extinction of our salmon fishery as we know it, is a very real possibility.

    Again i apologize.

    No need to apologize. ;) Asian carp are a huge concern!

    The government needs to get off their ass and be proactive instead of reactive! The asian carp are knocking on the door to get into the Great Lakes.......if not already here! We do not have time to wait for a 2 year study to be done before anything gets done.

    Salmon stocking could be cut in Lake Michigan

    in Great Lakes News

    Posted

    Mike,

    That isn't the issue. The issue is what the carp would do to our forage base. These asian carp feed on plankton. They feed at an astronomical rate compared to our common carp that are already plentiful in our lakes.

    We already are fighting a battle with quagga and zebra muscles, which essentially do the same thing. The quagga muscles is what destroyed Lake Huron. They filtered the lake so efficiently that they totally wiped out the forage base to our alewives.

    Adding another filter feeder to Lake Michigan could totally wipe out the forage base of alewives, essentially wiping out our salmon. Another issue with the "asian carp" is their reproductive cycle. These fish will spawn up to 3 times per year!!!

    The main goal of cutting the salmon plants is to increase the number of alewives. With the phenomenal natural reproduction they're seeing for kings, they could become over populated. ((Which is one cause of Huron's crash)The number of natural reproducing kings were severely underestimated causing an unexpected amount of adult salmon in years leading to the crash)

    Lake Michigan has been lucky enough to avoid the catastrophic crash by the way of quaggq muscles because of the lack of rock structure throughout the lake as compared to Lake Huron.

    The issue with our alewives right now is not sheer numbers. But the numbers of adult alewives. Alewives have a 7year life cycle, but are not considered adult(reproducing) until the age of 4. Once these fish grow to the size they are, around the 4 year mark, they are the PERFECT target for our kings. Having an over abundance of kings can severely impact the number of reproducing alewives by over feeding, which will in-turn cause low spawning numbers. It turns into a vicious cycle.

    Unfortunately, carp and alewives are completely different issues, but could essentially be detrimental to our fishery. Both of these issues have to be looked at, but on a separate basis.

    Prevention of the carp entering the great lakes is by far the most important step.

    The next step is sustaining a forage base for our kings. If there aren't alewives there aren't salmon. It's as simple as that.

    I know the carp are filter feeders and will take away the plankton from the alewives and other fish that depend on it.

    My comment may not have been clear. It was about the salmon being a predator and eating the juvenile carp.

    3,996 Members

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    We have been averaging at least 4 new members a day lately. I am guessing tonight or tomorrow we will hit the 4,000 member mark. These are actual members and not spam bots or bogus posters. If you click on the latest member, it shows them as being over the 4,000 member. We had issues with spam bots(I deleted these accounts) a couple of years ago, and I put measure in place to prevent them from registering. :cool:

    I would personally like to thank all of you who have helped out answering the questions of others, and for posting all of your fishing reports. :thumb:

    Onward to 5,000 members!

×
×
  • Create New...