Adrien, I notice the bellys on these guys this year are really big and most fish cleaned are full of the YOY W. Perch, more so than I ever noticed before, nearly no Smelt.
Myself, I'm only doing this for a few years now as you know, what's your take on this trend, W.Perch and not many Smelt, etc. Has it allways been like this and I just didn't see it ???? Or is it just that's the pods they've been working the past few weeks ????
Seems like they prefer the YOY W.Perch over Smelt and are on a feeding frenzy for them.
I believe that you will almost never see yoy smelt in their bellies because they are so delicate and fine that they digest very, very, very, fast, as opposed to the w perch that take longer. i only see the yoy smelt if they are coughing them up and that is very often, just not sitting in their bellies. the yoy smelt are how they pack so much weight on because they are never full and keep eating them as fast as they digest them and turn them into fat and muscle quickly.
This is hear say, not my original thought but i believe to be from a reliable source.
Makes perfect sense, I never did see any YOY Smelt in their guts either and on Squam there are no way near the W. Perch population as Winni (also from a reliable source) Soooooooo, perhaps that's why the Salmon on Squam lately have nothing but remnants of food in thier gut and we can't tell what it was. I know when they start chowing down the YOY Smelt, we hardly ever see an adult Smellt in thier gut. So seeing all the YOY W. Perch is common on Winni, every year.
That's been bothering me all summer, glad I asked the question as your answer shed a whole different light on the that puzzle too. Thanks.
See guys, if you have a question, don't hold back, the answers are usually here and freely given by one message board members. Adriens answer answered two quesions, one I hadn't even asked.
I apologize for my ignorance but what is a YOY smelt? Iheard of rainbow smelt. smelt roe, but I don't know what YOY is please wxplain if you will?
thanks forry
We (Salty, Grey Ghost, Jack and I) were talking the other day about a abbreviation Glossary for our own language.
First on the list of course would be:
C.F. 1st word is Cluster, 2nd word ????
L.D.R.= Long Distance Release
R.F.P.= Retired Fishing Partners
YOY = Young Of the Year
CBL= Cable
etc.
Might not be a bad idea for some computer lingo too:
LMAO
LOL
etc.
Does anyone remember John Viar saying at the spring meeting that he was concerned with the lack of water in the tribs this past spring? I would think that there aren't many YOY smelt and because of this, the salmonids are feeding on what's abundant. Any thoughts?
ive kept 2 fish this year, one had smelt, the other was 50/50 smallmouths. havent seen the yoy smelt yet where i fish though ive recently heard where they have been sited and where they should be shortly
