In passing this week when I called about a 24-10 king caught in mid-August, Indiana biologist Janel Palla said she was anticipating one of the better shoreline runs for bigger kings this year.
The reduced stocking in 2006 and the alewives and some good weights in May were reasons for her optimism.
It's always a tricky business trying to guess how the fall run of kings will be, weather and water conditions impact both the fish and the fishermen.
Even so, I figured it was worth asking Lake Michigan program project specialist Steve Robillard for his take.
On Wednesday he sent this:
``I'm not particulary keen on predicting what fall returns will be like. The stocking reduction does appear to have benefitted the fish (and anglers). There are big Chinook out there - I saw a few over 20lb last Saturday at the SU tournament. One that I measured was 25lb. I also saw A LOT of 17 inch fish. There weren't many in the 15-20 lb range however - others were in 8-12lbs. Either way, they didn't seem as plump as they did in the spring. I saw several in the 18-20lb range that were good, round fish back in May.''
i plan to poke around a bit tonight, hopefully a few will be in.
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