Great Lakes water temps breaking records

Creekwood said:
I was out fishing last evening. Beautiful night. Salmon were there but not interested in what we had to offer. Surface temperature of the water in the middle of the bay was 79.5F and it was in the 70's at 90 ft deep. That is as warm as I have seen it in the 20 years I have been on Georgian Bay. Great swimming though.
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Yes, we were up at Massassauga Park in Three Finger Bay ten days ago. It was 77F at the surface. I cannot remember Georgian Bay being so warm. It just might break 80.
 
Jaws said:
Yes, we were up at Massassauga Park in Three Finger Bay ten days ago. It was 77F at the surface. I cannot remember Georgian Bay being so warm. It just might break 80.
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I'm surprised it was that cool back there. That's a shallow bay that warms up a lot normally.
 
Creekwood said:
Salmon were there but not interested in what we had to offer. Surface temperature of the water in the middle of the bay was 79.5F and it was in the 70's at 90 ft deep. That is as warm as I have seen it in the 20 years I have been on Georgian Bay. Great swimming though.
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It's interesting to read your water temps. As some of you know there has been a decades-long attempt by some tree hugger/salmon lover groups who want to remove the four dams on the lower Snake River.

Their latest attempt was to try to get a court order for the Corps of Engineers (USACE) to maintain a constant water temp of 68*. According to the law suit that could be done by releasing HUGE amounts of water to keep the water from sitting in the bays above the dams and getting warmed up.

The stoooopid things about this are that (1) releasing the quantities of water they are asking for would raise the nitrogen levels to a point where it would kill the salmon; and (2) the water that enters the Snake River from Canada is warmer than the 68* they are looking to achieve.

Are they next going to want the USACE to install chillers in the river to lower the water temp?

Rant off. Don't get me started on that topic.
 
Gofirstclass said:
It's interesting to read your water temps. As some of you know there has been a decades-long attempt by some tree hugger/salmon lover groups who want to remove the four dams on the lower Snake River.

Their latest attempt was to try to get a court order for the Corps of Engineers (USACE) to maintain a constant water temp of 68*. According to the law suit that could be done by releasing HUGE amounts of water to keep the water from sitting in the bays above the dams and getting warmed up.

The stoooopid things about this are that (1) releasing the quantities of water they are asking for would raise the nitrogen levels to a point where it would kill the salmon; and (2) the water that enters the Snake River from Canada is warmer than the 68* they are looking to achieve.

Are they next going to want the USACE to install chillers in the river to lower the water temp?

Rant off. Don't get me started on that topic.
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It’s always a sensitive topic. Our King salmon in the Great Lakes are not native. They were stocked in the 1960s initially to control invasive Alewife baitfish that got into the lakes without predators. The Salmon took off and there are lots of “wild” salmon now. They have found their balance. The deep waters of the lakes are very cold all year round so the fish can find their temps and only hit the warm waters before spawning in the fall when rivers start to cool with fall rains. Out west, climate change that increases water temps in the rivers might push the salmon to extinction in some river systems.
 
CW, I grew up in MI and remember when they had the problems with Alewives and stocked the king salmon. That fishing industry really took off.

The reverse happened out here. For reasons I don't understand, the fish lovers stocked the alewives in our river systems. Go figure.
 
Just how far fetched of a question is it to ask if someday we might have to stock Lake Michigan with sharks to eat the Asian carp? LOL
 
The United States must’ve been a virtual garden of Eden before alewives, emerald ash borer, zebra mussels, asian carp and the rest.
 
MonacoMike said:
The United States must’ve been a virtual garden of Eden before alewives, emerald ash borer, zebra mussels, asian carp and the rest.
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Don’t forget the round gobies that eat zebra mussels and are walleye and bass candy.
 
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