Sunday funday Lakers/bows

[Jigman13]

Scuds and shiners.

Lakers ate all the herring and the water doesn't have substantial phytoplankton for herring to feed on to prosper.

[Billfish715]

Originally Posted by Jigman13

Scuds and shiners.

Lakers ate all the herring and the water doesn't have substantial phytoplankton for herring to feed on to prosper.

So, in your opinion, was the introduction of lake trout into RV a good thing? Something obviously disturbed the food chain and thereby the ability of The Valley to maintain any semblance of its being a trophy trout impoundment. Without food for the herring, their numbers have dwindled. Without the abundance of herring, the growth of the trout is limited. A long time ago, the Valley was loaded with herring and the brown trout fishing was doing fine. The trout were large and could often be caught throughout the water column.

To what extent are the biologists responsible for the disruption in the food chain? Is anything being done to improve the situation? A laker or rainbow has to eat a lot of scuds to grow to a trophy compared to their growth potential when they feast on herring.

[NJSquatch]

Originally Posted by Billfish715

To what extent are the biologists responsible for the disruption in the food chain? Is anything being done to improve the situation? A laker or rainbow has to eat a lot of scuds to grow to a trophy compared to their growth potential when they feast on herring.

From my understanding they didn't anticipate the lake trout being able to reproduce.

Round Valley Trout Association's meeting tomorrow 3/15 (open to everyone) will have a presentation by NJDF&W Principal Fisheries Biologist, Shawn Crouse. He will present the findings of the ongoing study of the reservoir. He also presented this topic at the Fisheries Forum in February and it was very good. I would recommend attending.

http://www.fishrvta.com/

[Chrisper4694]

Originally Posted by NJSquatch

From my understanding they didn't anticipate the lake trout being able to reproduce.

Round Valley Trout Association's meeting tomorrow 3/15 (open to everyone) will have a presentation by NJDF&W Principal Fisheries Biologist, Shawn Crouse. He will present the findings of the ongoing study of the reservoir. He also presented at the Fisheries Forum in February and it was very good. I would recommend attending.

http://www.fishrvta.com/

they may not admit it but, yeah, they were basically stocking lake trout in there for years based on the assumption that they would not successfully spawn. When they finally realized not only were they spawning, but very successfully, it was too late and they population is now stunted in that medium/avg size range (also because of the forage problems). basically someone really screwed up bad when they declared the lake trout wouldn't be able to reproduce in rvr haha.

[thmyorke1]

Curious to know more about the story of lake trout, such as why they initially thought lakers wouldnt reproduce. From what I hear they are currently seeing if Golden Shiners can fill in that high demand from the lakers.

[Chrisper4694]

Originally Posted by thmyorke1

Curious to know more about the story of lake trout, such as why they initially thought lakers wouldnt reproduce. From what I hear they are currently seeing if Golden Shiners can fill in that high demand from the lakers.

I'm no biologist, but i would imagine a pelagic species of bait fish (like herring) would be the best solution in a deep reservoir like rvr...unfortunately, as was said already, the lake can't support herring in it's current state apparently.

maybe there is another pelagic bait fish species they could look into, idk if that's a viable option..probably some regulation preventing it (just like everything else that makes too much sense in this state)

[Jigman13]

Not pelagic but what about gobies?