Are the alewives in Champlain responsible for the slow bite?

[Vt Piker]

 I primarily target Pike, but jig perch while waiting for a flag. But this year...no perch except for dinks. And the Pike bite has been slow.  It seems like any fish big enough to eat an alewive is doing just that.
 Has anyone else noticed a slower than normal bite for their target species?

[VERMONSTER]

         I have noticed that Champlain hasnt been anything like normal at all this year.
     I hate to say it but could there be some new invasive???

[Fish Farmer]

Well, when you catch and kill perch/pike in an area of alewife populations, cut it open and see what it has been dining on. That should tell you a lot.

[laddyboy]

a slow bite for sure! i've fished southern champlain three full weekends this year, and have tried two types of shiners (in various sizes), flies, and grubs as well. indeed, the fishing is  slower than usual.   it should be noted that some nice "slabbers" have been taken though.

[vermonner]

YES YES and YES
another skunk on Mallets bay today and everyone I spoke with was talking about a big alewfie die-off=easy picking for the perch and others, so I surmised they're just sitting there, looking at your (mine too) bait and acting like it's 3:00 p.m. on thanksgiving afternoon..."uh, no thanks, I couldn't eat another bite"
That will end soon cuz all the alewives are dead now and the fish just need a few days to digest what they ate, and we'll have regular bites again in a week or so.  I'm going to the cowbanks tomorrow, will let you all know how I made out after the Giants win the Superbowl!!!!!!!!!!!!

[eightptrob]

i fishied the sand bar and keller's bay last weekend for salmon got one salmon and had 3 flags all weekend got a hand full of decent perch that i kept all were full of alewives fished tonight off hog islang got 2 perch haven't cut them yet i think the alwive have alot to do with the bite on champlain last week i had 7-8in alewives floating up in my tip-up hole when i was checking my bait and i have never seen soo many dead fish trough the ice as i did last weekend 

[ajsoma8]

I have seen the same thing.  I fished for salmon up on Hyde point and the alewives were floating up into the holes half dead.  What a great looking baitfish, but obviously not hardy enough to be a dependant source of food for the fish in the lake.  Got a ton of perch up there but only a afew were good sized

[whitetail05401]

I have noticed the bite slowing down on the ponds also maybe the fish are getting to much to eat. It all makes sence that the bait not being used is going down the hole why the hell will the fish eat the bait on a hook just wait for the waterfall of minnows at the end of ones day. Well there is one way to look at it is when you do get a fish it should be good size with all the extra bait being dumped in the water. My 4.5 cents if anyone wants it.. Oh Shelburne pond today Got SKUNKED never before has that happened not only skunked but not even a BITE in 2.5 hours.........jim s

[fishstalker]

This has been the worst year of perch fishing ive EVER had! I would have to agree with the perch being full. Ive never seen anything like this before. Usually the first weeks of ice are AMAZING for me, not this year.

[fishstalker]

[VERMONSTER]

   Does anyone know why all these fish are dying? They have been in Champlain for a while now and is this the
  first year we have had a die off. Is it a natural cycle or are they overpopulated. I know we have had die offs of Crappies and Bluegills in the past and was told that this just happens and it was natural.
     Is it as big of a deal as everyone is making out of it? Could it be something else, like a virus or invasive species? The fishing has been poor everywhere!!! Maybe it is just the extreme temperature change.
   Is the alewive die off affecting the fishing south of the bridge?

[fishstalker]

What it all comes down to is that Alewives are not made for large fluctuations of water temps. So when the lake freezes, you almost always have a fish kill. If you think this year was bad, wait for next year.

[vermonner]

Alewives tend to die off at a water temp of 37 degrees--a slow freeze (like we had this year) will prolong the duration of the die off which equals a longer time at the "all you can eat alewife buffet" for predator fish.

[Little Brown Dog]

There is a lot of information about alewives in this report.  Covers some about the die offs as well.

http://www.vtfishandwildlife.com/library/Reports_and_Documents/Fish_and_Wildlife/Alewife_Final_Report_-_April_2004.pdf

[VERMONSTER]

          Thanks for the info guys. This is all kind of new to me. For years I didnt really hear much about the alewives except here and there they would find them in some interior pond or lake and the explanation was that a fisherman must have dumped them in there. I hear they are a great food source. Are they native to lake
 champlain?? If not do they compete with the smelt and yellow perch? What is the alewives primary food source? Is this going to keep happening year after year.

[Little Brown Dog]

Alewives are not native to Champlain.  They are competing directly with smelt for food (zooplankton) , and with all other fish by eating the eggs and young. 

St. Catherine used to have a good smelt population, now none can be found.

Die-offs don't happen every year, but in cycles of population boom and bust.