Concern for next year salmon fishery??

[bluedevil]

So we all pretty much know that the fish numbers are down this year but the size of the fish are way up. No complaints from me for this but I do have a concern. Its my understanding that the majority of fish being caught are the 3-4 year old fish judging by the size of them. I have heard of a fair amount of 1 year old skippers but where are all the 8-15lb fish? Seems as though the 2-3 year old class of fish are missing.

Any thoughts or input on this???

[KJ pluggin]

It seems like the smaller kings are starting to show up a little more over on the WI side now. I think they have been scattered out in deep water and that's why we haven't seen better numbers. Hopefully this means we will have an abundance of big kings next year!

Edited August 11, 2013 by KJ pluggin

[Killin' It]

seen alot more smaller fish this weekend.. I agree think the smaller ones have been offshore all summer

[Pioneer]

Plenty of 2-3 year class fish on the WI side. We will see how the bait fairs over the winter, that's the biggest deal.

[slimits]

Out of the 60 fish we got last week, i know of only 7 fish that were not adults, and 5 of those were the one year old shakers.

[jimcr]

Pioneer is correct we have some on this side , as far as bigger fish the DNR says it because we had a few good year classes of alewives .

I have just started fishing again (got the go ahead from the Dr.) All my kings have been over 20lbs , a 36 lb king was caught out of Milwaukee they are running big but we will have to keep an eye on what happens because if according to the way the stocking rules went if the average weight went up is that stocking would increase , only I can't remember how many seasons that would be.

The smaller kings can normally be found out deep near the midlake reefs , along with Coho and Rainbows.

[Ravbowhunter]

The last four fish I have boated have been 10, 12, 13, & 22 pound kings (out of Muskegon).

[fishy1]

We have seen alot of the 1 year old fish in Ludington mixed in with our catches in the last few weeks .

[bluedevil]

We did get into a few middle class aged fish this weekend in Manistee. I still feel a concern for next years fishery. But will be the first to say that this year has been a blast with the size of the fish...

[Just Hook'n]

We caught nothing but cookie cutters last week as well. A few big fish, but mostly 6-8 lbs.