Salmon are here

[Scott]

Well I'm not about to give up on trips to Maine, but this is pretty cool.

NJDEP-News Release 06/38 - Landlocked Salmon Arrive in New Jersey.

Now we'll need a "trout & salmon" stamp instead of just a trout stamp!

 

[NJFred]

I saw that article. Pretty cool.

Anyknow know what's the best time of year to target the landlocks with Fly gear and with what tactics?

 

[Pete]

I'm not sure 1000 fish in Waywayanda or 500 in Aeroflex is going to produce enough of a population to justify "targeting" salmon. These are juveniles, there's bound to be some mortality before they mature.

I suspect that occasionally someone fishing for other species will get a pleasant surprise.

 

[JeffK]

Those stocking rates aren't bad. I have been fishing the Finger Lakes lately, and here is a comparison. Seneca and Cayuga Lake are a shade under 50,000 acres and get 20,000 LLS. Thats about 0.4 salmon/acre. Aeroflex is 115 acres and got 500 salmon for about 4 fish per acre. Thats 10 times what NYS stocks in what some claim are New York's best LLS lakes (although Cayuga has had poor LLS fishing this year and stocking procedures/strain of fish are being changed)

Another aside, the returning LLS to Cayuga Inlet have to pass over a fish ladder where they are counted and measured (LLS run up creeks to spawn in the fall). 100% of the returning LLS had hook scars (and 70% of rainbows)! The theory is that the juveniles are very aggressive and school up. Trollers find the schools of juveniles and pound em, bragging about 40 or 50 salmon days. Controversial to say the least. NYS is attempting to stock juveniles that wouldn't school up as much and present easy targets.

In the Finger Lakes the LLS cruise the thermocline for bait. Used to be smelt, but now it is alewives. Find the bait and the salmon wouldn't be far behind. In the late fall through early spring they can be caught by fly casting when light winds make a choppy surface and the bait is near the top. When the thermocline gets too deep to fly cast the trollers take over. Maybe NJ will be the same.

 

[Scott]

I saw that article. Pretty cool.

Anyknow know what's the best time of year to target the landlocks with Fly gear and with what tactics?

Landlocked salmon behave much like trout. The only difference is they typically are more agressive, and are fierce fighters & highly acrobatic. Think of a rainbow jacked up on caffiene & sugar. Now bump it up a notch or two, and you have a LLS.

When the water warms you will find them down deep, as deep as they can go and what you would consider Lake Trout country (which is why they don't compete well with lakers). They prefer water between 50 and 60 degrees.

In the fall, some of them (although young) may feel the urge to spawn. Then you can find them congregating at the inlets and outlets of lakes, and possibly moving up into tributaries. I'm not sure if they will actually move into a river to spawn here in NJ, as they are being stocked as juveniles, not fry, parr or even smolt. However they will instinctively follow the current, especially if the water is cold so it's quite possible. Look for shallow gravelly or sandy areas to find a happy redd-borhood.

Streamers are great. I would suggest using a baitfish pattern like a Grey Ghost when the water is clear, bright colored when it is not. Pretty much anything you would fish for trout with, you can fish for LLS. Dries, wets, nymphs, they all work.

here's one I'm calling an Olive Ghost:

It's basically a Rangeley Favorite with an olive saddle substituted for one of the grey in the wing, the shoulder is from the white band on a Ringneck pheasant neck, and the cheek is Jungle Cock.The fluffy bits is fluff from the base of the saddle feather used for a beard and crest. It works pretty well - looks awful here, but moves nice in the water where it counts.

 

[Pete]

Those stocking rates aren't bad. I have been fishing the Finger Lakes lately, and here is a comparison. Seneca and Cayuga Lake are a shade under 50,000 acres and get 20,000 LLS. Thats about 0.4 salmon/acre. Aeroflex is 115 acres and got 500 salmon for about 4 fish per acre. Thats 10 times what NYS stocks in what some claim are New York's best LLS lakes (although Cayuga has had poor LLS fishing this year and stocking procedures/strain of fish are being changed)......

You may have a point, I was looking at absolute numbers and considering the tendency of young recently stocked salmon to school in the shallows. A predator would find them an easy target and it wouldn't take long to deciminate 500 - 1000 fish.

Upon reflection, I speculated on reasons why they stocked these fish relatively late in the spring:

• If the thermocline has already formed and the shallows are warm, they may seek deeper water immediately and avoid warm water predators.
  
  The sunfish are spawning. The bowfin in Waywayanda will be concentrating on stalking bedding sunfish.

I hape you're right.