Weekend Waywayanda Trip

[GetANet]

You can usually keep 2 to maybe 3 dozen in a 5 gallon white bucket with a decent aerator if you keep it out of the sun. Got to keep the water cool and lots of bubbles! Get a lid that snaps on and drill a hole for the air tube, push it thru and when you get our bait get the bucket filled almost all the way to the top, Sloshing water in the bucket causes them to get stressed during transport and will cause you to loose them quicker. Finer shiner is a great thing to add to the water to keep them lively and hardens the scales. If you start seeing foam and scales troubles coming! you can cool the water with a cold or frozen water bottle or throw a few cubes in a ziplock bag and toss it in Do Not add ice directly to the water because most ice has chemicals in it that will kill your bait! And when you see dead ones or ones that are swimming erratic take them out. Hope that helps you out.

[Capspath83]

Originally Posted by GetANet

You can usually keep 2 to maybe 3 dozen in a 5 gallon white bucket with a decent aerator if you keep it out of the sun. Got to keep the water cool and lots of bubbles! Get a lid that snaps on and drill a hole for the air tube, push it thru and when you get our bait get the bucket filled almost all the way to the top, Sloshing water in the bucket causes them to get stressed during transport and will cause you to loose them quicker. Finer shiner is a great thing to add to the water to keep them lively and hardens the scales. If you start seeing foam and scales troubles coming! you can cool the water with a cold or frozen water bottle or throw a few cubes in a ziplock bag and toss it in Do Not add ice directly to the water because most ice has chemicals in it that will kill your bait! And when you see dead ones or ones that are swimming erratic take them out. Hope that helps you out.

Thanks GetANet! I will definitely test that out. Thanks for the reassurance!

[go_fish]

What type and size hook do you use? Where do you hook the herring, behind the dorsal fin, thru the nostrils or something else?

[bulletbob]

Originally Posted by Capspath83

Went out early Saturday to Waywayanda for my first time in search of Salmon and Rainbows. Tried trolling at 2mph about 15-20ft down with some spinner baits and spoons for a couple hours around both holes with no luck.

I then met some fellow fisherman anchored in 85ft of water who I assume noticed that I was not having any luck, he then offered me some of his live herring and a different hook and told me that his LTS advised that salmon were about 25ft down in the column that day. I thanked him for the bait and tackle, threw on some splits to get me down to the right depth, gave the other angler some space and BOOM, the bite was on. The drift was pretty quick but managed to boat 4 and release 2. What an awesome day! Those fish definitely put up a good fight!

Wondering if heartier Fathead Minnows will do the same trick for next time

Anyways, I'll definitely be going again. I already bought myself a portable aerator for the cooler

Typically, if a lake is full of landlocked alewives and there are trout and salmon in that lake, they will key on alewives to the exclusion of just about anything else.. they don't relate to structure or lesser food sources..
Trout and salmon in nature are stream fish.. Stocking programs over the years have made them lake fish, and they have adapted.. Most trout/salmon lakes are loaded with alewives, and thats where they go in such lakes, swimming right in among the balls of baitfish.. They become strictly pelagic and no longer eat natural trout food such as insects, crayfish, small minnows, larvae of various types, worms, etc..They eat the food thats most calorie efficient, and with easiest access. When I lived in NJ I tried using other minnow types in Waywayanda, .. Nothing touched them while guys with herring slayed trout... Same here in the Finger Lakes.. Trout and Landlocks ignore shiners and fatheads. You wouldn't know there were trout in the lake until you put an alewife on the hook.. Up here alewives are call Sawbellies.. On a good day you might catch a small freshly stocked trout or salmon on a fathead, but the keeper size fish generally don't hit them.. I suppose you could try fatheads, but in all the years I have fished I have done nothing with trout or salmon using smaller minnows in big lakes that have good alewife populations.. Your mileage may vary of course, but IMHO, lures are a better choice than "off brand" minnows on alewife eating trout/salmon... bob

[Capspath83]

Originally Posted by bulletbob

Typically, if a lake is full of landlocked alewives and there are trout and salmon in that lake, they will key on alewives to the exclusion of just about anything else.. they don't relate to structure or lesser food sources..
Trout and salmon in nature are stream fish.. Stocking programs over the years have made them lake fish, and they have adapted.. Most trout/salmon lakes are loaded with alewives, and thats where they go in such lakes, swimming right in among the balls of baitfish.. They become strictly pelagic and no longer eat natural trout food such as insects, crayfish, small minnows, larvae of various types, worms, etc..They eat the food thats most calorie efficient, and with easiest access. When I lived in NJ I tried using other minnow types in Waywayanda, .. Nothing touched them while guys with herring slayed trout... Same here in the Finger Lakes.. Trout and Landlocks ignore shiners and fatheads. You wouldn't know there were trout in the lake until you put an alewife on the hook.. Up here alewives are call Sawbellies.. On a good day you might catch a small freshly stocked trout or salmon on a fathead, but the keeper size fish generally don't hit them.. I suppose you could try fatheads, but in all the years I have fished I have done nothing with trout or salmon using smaller minnows in big lakes that have good alewife populations.. Your mileage may vary of course, but IMHO, lures are a better choice than "off brand" minnows on alewife eating trout/salmon... bob

Much appreciated insight Bob. Thanks for all of that. I am definitely going to use Herring the next time I go in September or October. I will just need to find out how deep they are at that time. My fishfinder, granted it is over 20 years old, did not even pick up the fish that I was catching that day.

[Capspath83]

Originally Posted by go_fish

What type and size hook do you use? Where do you hook the herring, behind the dorsal fin, thru the nostrils or something else?

Size 4. The presentation varied. When there was not much drift it was behind the dorsal. When there was a lot of drift in the afternoon I switched to through the chin, out the nostril.