Spray lake lakers stomach content

[ak-71]

I am surprized that the only thing I see in this fish is the smelt it stole from me or my son's hook, most have emty stomachs. One had a peice of a tree twig in it which was also odd.
Anyone found anything they are actually feeding on?

[The Fisherman Guy]

It's a cold, deep lake; I would imagine that the food sources are few and far between.

That being said, I have also discovered what you have mentioned. Only smelt for stomach contents.

[BeeGuy]

Originally Posted by ak-71

I am surprized that the only thing I see in this fish is the smelt it stole from me or my son's hook, most have emty stomachs. One had a peice of a tree twig in it which was also odd.
Anyone found anything they are actually feeding on?

Look closer,

the fish are primarily planktivores.

[ak-71]

My eyesight is not that bad. Lake trout I catch there has just clean white stomachs for some reason. Or may be I just catch the really hungry ones

[BeeGuy]

maybe

I have only cleaned a few and they have all had stomachs full of zooplankton and other invert's.

It is my understanding that they are so small because of this diet.

[ak-71]

BeeGuy
Just curious - IF they were feeding on small fish how long would one smelt size fish last them? Would they need more than one a day?

I think you said somwhere you studied biology I thought you might know

[Dust1n]

theyre slow growing fish so im assuming that theyre metabolsim is also slow.

[BeeGuy]

Originally Posted by ak-71

BeeGuy
Just curious - IF they were feeding on small fish how long would one smelt size fish last them? Would they need more than one a day?

I think you said somwhere you studied biology I thought you might know

Much much less than 1 per day, especially in the winter.

As I mentioned before, these small lakers in Spray are primarily bug eaters, not fish eaters.

Lakers can be slow growing, but I bet if we compared Spray to Minnewanka, we would find that the Minnewanka fish grow 10x faster.

Growth rates are relative to ones environment.

[walking buffalo]

ak,

For info on Spray, go to this page, click on Biological characteristics.

http://sunsite.ualberta.ca/Projects/...oir&number=115

[Dan Foss]

Originally Posted by walking buffalo

ak,

For info on Spray, go to this page, click on Biological characteristics.

http://sunsite.ualberta.ca/Projects/...oir&number=115

That data is very very outdated but also very valuable

[jacenbeers]

Lake trout are planktivorous and eat plankton until they are large enough to primarily feed on fish. They then change to a primarily piscivorous diet (fish eating) and then their growth rates spike rapidly. Spray is a good example of this. Most of the fish are small until they are big enough to start feeding on other small lakers and whitefish minnows.

[ak-71]

Thanks, it's not much for them to eat to grow big there then
Looks like I've being feeding a lot of happy lake trout there with whole smelt and my poor hook/bite ratio.

[Dust1n]

does anyone knows what happen to the lakers after 12:00?
im thinking the cronimids and other water bugs start to hatch when the water is lite up by the sun making it somewhat warmer for the bug life to start so the lakers start to take advantage of that.
Any other thoughts for spray?

[ak-71]

I had some bites after 12:00 last weekend and one before that but it is slower later in a day. This weekend I watched them shifting from 45 FOV to 85 FOV from 8:00 to 11:00 and then going somwhere else (I assume even deeper).
Another thing is that once I started using smelt and not tube lures with smelt parts I seem to catch a slightly bigger size fish, but it could be a location too

[ArtVandelay]

Originally Posted by BeeGuy

As I mentioned before, these small lakers in Spray are primarily bug eaters, not fish eaters.

Well then, if that's the case I have a fly box full of treats here for them this weekend! Seriously though, does anyone ever catch them on flies in the winter - Copper Johns, leeches, worms?