Lack of Baitfish

[Red Childress]

I am not sure about the rest of you but I am in amazement about how few baitfish I am seeing. I suspected the super high water right in the middle of the spawning cycle would hamper the spawning of some fish but not as severe as it appears now.

I am usually seeing piles and piles and piles of freshly hatched dace, bass, walleye and pike but this Spring I have seen 17 individual fry in 35-40 hours of river fishing. Typically, the only year of reduced spawning success I had previously noticed on this river translated into a very good fishing year.....especially for trout and walleye.

The water was not just high this Spring but the highest I had ever seen it in my 19 years here. All islands were completely submerged and weed growth is way down too. There were no areas for the fish to successfully spawn with an extra 5-7 feet of water to contend with for such an extended period of time. From the time the water temps were in the low-40's to upper-50's, the river was raging.

(The Kinzua walleye bite is on fire this year as well an I am hearing mixed reviews of decreased bait populations there too . With the huge DAV walleye tournament coming up this weekend, it will be interesting to see how many limits come to the scales.)

After the outstanding days of trout/walleye fishing we had this past weekend, the lack of "food" has to be the primary reason. The bite lasted all day long with the early morning period being the worst period for action which is abnormal. The largest fish were caught when the sun was high and canoes/kayaks passing in front of us. Go figure.

It is going to be interesting watching this unfold just to see if things remain "hot" or was it just a lucky few days.


Is anyone else noticing a decrease in new fry this year??

[lowbidder]

I have not been out on the Yough yet, but would anticipate the same being under similar conditions this spring. Have not been on the Mon yet either.

The Buckhannon is full of emerald shiners. That river has no flood control dam to sustain high waters, so that lends credence to your theory. It rises quick and settles down quick.

[jlong33]

I was on the water on the 5TH AND 6TH from Warren to Tidioute, and didn't notice the usual fry along the shoreline that you usually see this time of year. Actually there were more toads then bait fish. I wonder if the billion little trout that were there in the fall helped clean up some of the bait, they are probably legal size 8 months later.

[cband]

Man, That's funny...We were spotlighting last weekend and my Dad made the comment about how many shiners there were. We were south of Warren. There may be some hungry fish with the lack of bait.

[Red Childress]

You guys were seeing .5 to 1 inch shiner down that way or adult shiners? They are warm water spawners (75 degrees or so) so the high Spring levels would not have affected them.

We have only made it South of Starbrick 1 time this year so far. We will begin working that lower section for muskies this weekend since they stocked 20,000 rainbow fingerlings at the tailrace and another batch right at the Glade Bridge in the past couple of weeks.

I also heard that the small perch are everywhere on the 59 side of the tailrace (power station area). The guy told me it looked like there were millions of them along that shoreline. I think they hang near the dam for the coolest water and I rarely see any schools of them South of the dam during Spring/Summer.

[Red Childress]

It sounds like Kinzua is packed full of bait fish this year and the higher Spring water levels really helped the spawn cycle there. Perch and shiners are everywhere from what I am hearing. Fat, chunky walleye and pike are being caught as a direct result.

[Red Childress]

Plenty of food south of Warren for sure......saw bait skipping all day long.

[ppalko]

Finally got a chance to wade around the river for trout....there are little "baitfish" all over the place. I'm guessing they hatched late? Lots of little bass as well.

Phil

[Red Childress]

I have seen more bait fish the past week but nothing like in years past. I am seeing tons of 10-16 inch suckers in the musky areas as well.