Sorno Talks Tigers
Category: chat
Feb 25th, 2010 by OutdoorsFIRST
Modified Feb 25th, 2010 at 12:00 AM
Steve_Worrall: Sorno, want to Talk Tigers?
sorno: tigers, yeah, I’ve heard of ’em
 |
 |
|
|
sorno: I’d be happy to talk about them, I have a bit of a bias I suppose
Steve_Worrall: Sorno has some experience in fishing Hybrids, how big was that Lax reproduction, S?
sorno: mmm, let me turn my head to the right and check…
sorno: 51.25 x 24
muskydeceiver: thats a huuuge fish
Steve_Worrall: how old do you figure that fish was?
muskellUnged: niiice
sorno: it had me plenty rattled til it was in the net
sorno: probably 8 years
Lightning: Are tigers more aggressive? I have heard yes and no
sorno: yes and no
muskydeceiver: that seems young for that big of a fish
muskydeceiver: wow
Lightning: Well ok I am hearing right
sorno: they seem to be on the extremes – either on fire or awol
lambeau: you caught that trolling a J-13 Rapala…do you run standard hooks on those or do you upsize for tigers.
Panfish: tigers jump a bit more ?
sorno: standard hooks, but change split rings
sorno: well, I have very limited experience w/ pures, so in my experience, yes they jump a bit more
lambeau: wow…have to take it easy with the big ones then to not bend the hooks?
Steve_Worrall: Some of us know Sorno and what he does for a living, let’s say he knows Utah fish and fisheries in his area…and the fish in all of them… pretty well
sorno: yes
sorno: lol
sorno: the older J-13s had beefier hooks, I might change the ones that they come with now
muskydeceiver: what is the forage in the lakes out there?
sorno: panfish and carp mostly
muskydeceiver: do you think your moustache helps you catch fish?
sorno: utah won’t stock esocids and salmonids together
sorno: it used to…
Steve_Worrall: Were Hybrids originally stocked to control those species?
Lightning: Are the lakes very clear
sorno: yes, they were destined for panfish control with the fishery for muskies only being a by-product
sorno: seasonally clear, yes, but we do get algal blooms too
TJ: sorno, do you troll all year round or are there times casting is better?
sorno: up to 12-15′ visibility down to about 2′
sorno: I usually cast in the spring – the flooded vegetation isn’t easy to troll – it’s all flooded willows and they eat lures
Steve_Worrall: As a rule, do you downsize your lures for Tigers?
muskydeceiver: you ever use a fly rod?
sorno: I actually cast about 3x more than I troll year-round
lambeau: downsize. hehe.
sorno: of course not; I use baby wabulls just like everyone else!
sorno: a full sized Wabull would be a big lure for me out here
muskydeceiver: when do you use the w/a vs the regular
muskydeceiver: on the baby wabull
Lightning: What are the maximum depths of the lakes your fishing?
sorno: since I got a W/A I use those about 95% of the time over the reg
sorno: Pineview is 85′ at full pool; summer drawdown varies but can be as much as 40-50′
muskydeceiver: are these all reservoirs?
|
 |
|
|
sorno: yes
sorno: all reservoirs
Lightning: interesting
Muskyhunter247: Do you have many tigers hit in the figure8?
sorno: I’ve had one fish follow through the fig 8 and I got it! a handful on the first turn but most spook 10-12′ out
sorno: for me – I’ve been told I suck at it though
PE: Do you make any adjustments to your W/A babies to keep the rear hook from hanging up?
Steve_Worrall: What”s a ‘good day’ in numbers and size for your waters; you turned in some impressive numbers in Match fishing last season
sorno: I bend the nail that holds the tail on up about 5 degrees from horizontal
PE: I’ll try that….
sorno: well, ‘good’ is a sliding scale of course, but I have had days of 20, 14, 10, and 9 I think
TJ: what kind of speeds do you troll?
Lightning: Wow
sorno: I expect to get a fish, and over the course of one of my better years averaged over a fish per trip
muskydeceiver: you get most of your fish trolling?
sorno: size…another matter
sorno: troll usually 3.25-4
Lightning: what is typical size
sorno: I troll faster than most out here
peeps: Do you use any spoons?
muskydeceiver: are there very many that have started to chase muskies in the area?
Steve_Worrall: You mentioned that your big hybrid was probably around 8 years old, how long to the Muskies live in that water?
sorno: sizes of fish tend to clump in the upper 20s to mid 30s – but that all depends on what the dominant year class is
sorno: very few do it by midwest standards – there’s about a dozen of us that are pretty hard core
Panfish: whats the stocking like yearly ?
sorno: I’ve never seen any data from Utah DNR or Colorado DOW that showed hybrids in western waters living any longer than 9 years
Steve_Worrall: Do you think you released a State record….maybe?
sorno: we’ve had problems with availability for the last few years, but now have our own source
Lightning: Any reason why they don’t last long
sorno: Pineview quota is about 10-15,000 fish a year )2-3″ fish)
sorno: I think I did Steve
sorno: the brightest candles burn the shortest duration
sorno: they put all their energy into growth
sorno: and then burn out
sorno: currently there is a c&r only reg in place
sorno: the existing state record is 33#10oz- 48″x21.5″
Steve_Worrall: What’s the general public perception of the muskies out there, positive or negative…other than for those who fish them?
Steve_Worrall: Then you DID release a record
sorno: mostly positive
sorno: but most are just scared of them
Steve_Worrall: too many Monster Quest shows
Lightning: Just like the fishermen down south
sorno: well, when you live your whole life in an area where a fish over 20″ is a monster, you can kind of understand it
Steve_Worrall: I suppose so
Tdiddy: Do you ever sight fish for those dudes in spring time?
Steve_Worrall: are there particular structure elements the fish use seasonally other than the willows in the Spring floods?
Tdiddy: up in the sand
sorno: yeah, sight fishing is fun, but often frustrating – they are pretty cowardly
Lightning: Is it the splash that gets them
Lightning: or is it more the boat
sorno: the main lake points (mostly rock) get some of my attention as to the steeper parts of the reservoir by the dam
sorno: not sure what spooks them most
Tdiddy: How do you approach them sight fishing? I do it for the naturals, but never really for tigers.
Steve_Worrall: are they seemingly oriented to current at all?
Steve_Worrall: Probably what spooks them the most is Sorno….
sorno: I actually don’t sight fish them much T
Tdiddy: Gotcha. Something to put on the list for this year. 😉
peeps: Have used any spoons, like cleo’s?
sorno: early spring they seem to be near the river mouths where runoff water is coming in, but I haven’t noticed it much otherwise
lambeau: what’s your most productive bait type/technique: spinner, jerkbait, plastic, topwater, etc.? and why do you think that is?
sorno: spoons have worked – mostly Red eyes and Len Thompsons
Tdiddy: I might have missed this earlier, but I know you do “ok” trolling for them, are you fishing structure or open water, and are you usually running baits fairly deep, or do you find they hang higher?
sorno: lambeau – it seems to vary by year; the last couple years the wabull has been my go to, prior to that spinnerbaits were king and the year before that small cranks
sorno: it might havce something to do w/ preference by year class
Steve_Worrall: What are water temps like during the summer out there?
sorno: I don’t troll real deep – they’ll come up for it if they want it
sorno: max summer surface temps where i fish for them run about 76-77 or so
sorno: it’s still runoff water all year
Steve_Worrall: Do you have to adapt quite a bit as the reservoirs are dr awn down during the year?
Tdiddy: what kind of baits are you running? Ever do good on the bigger baits, or just the smaller baits?
sorno: constant adaptation; good spots one week might be literally dry the next depending on irrigation demand; each trip is a new adventure in finding them again
Tdiddy: Do they slide deeper as that happens but similar locations, or do they totally relocate on you?
peeps: Why do they stock tigers only and not pure?
sorno: I like the mid sized baits since I can get a combination of action and confidence that the bait won’t get completely destroyed
muskydeceiver: I just looked through the tiger pictures in the research forum, your pictures with the mountains in the background have to be some of the prettiest I have ever seen…..
Steve_Worrall: So you frequently are fishing a new reservoir every trip…what do you look for, just extensions of the same points, or do you have a process in place?
sorno: they just seem to slide deeper or to the next adjacent available habitat
Tdiddy: Makes sense
sorno: no pures because we have an active ‘bucket brigade’ and pures reproduce
sorno: often I just fish deeper in the same areas, but I’ll slide to the deeper side of the basin as the water drops
Steve_Worrall: explain ‘bucket brigade’, please
sorno: citizens that take it upon themselves to stock a water with a new species illegally
Steve_Worrall: interesting
sorno: it’s very common with most cool and warm water species out here
TJ: very interesting
Steve_Worrall: so if the ‘stock’ hybrids, illegally, it’s a single tier population of a couple, no harm no foul?
sorno: yes, and then usually only a very very limited number of fish
sorno: no harm ecologically; if they’re caught, Class B misdemeanor
Steve_Worrall: How many acres in each system…about?
Tdiddy: Do they have the death penalty for that?
Steve_Worrall: wow, some serious fines then, yes?
sorno: Pineview – 2800 at full pool, Newton 250 acres
sorno: it can be serious, but I don’t think they’ve ever caught, and been able to successful prosecute anyone
Steve_Worrall: What’s the main sport fish there?
sorno: wildlife law is viewed as pretty unimportant overall
sorno: main sportfish is trout of various species
Steve_Worrall: is a trout really a fish?
sorno: I think they’d work just fine on a quick strike rig
sorno: but alas, no live fish for bait here…
Steve_Worrall: I bet!
sorno: in fact, no dead fish or amphibian parts bigger than 1″ on any of our muskie waters
Mark_Gostisha: Hi Steve and all
sorno: it’s essentially artificial bait for muskies
Steve_Worrall: Sorno, I understand you also know how to provide libations…home made, are you still making Beer?
sorno: I do on occasion, the brewery seems to only have produced cricket sounds lately…
sorno: I need to get another batch going
Steve_Worrall: What’s the reaction from the trout folks when they see your net?
lambeau: it’s hard to find good yeast analysts.
sorno: They just don’t understand
sorno: true lambeau very true
Mark_Gostisha: Sorno has the most beautiful musky fishing in the world
sorno: thanks Mark, wish the fish would have cooperated for ya though
Steve_Worrall: Yes, I agree, and beautiful fish, too
Steve_Worrall: You said you have a source now, where are the Hybrids coming from for stocking these days?
Mark_Gostisha: a slimy net is only a small part of a great trip
sorno: we have gotten them from Nebraska the last 2 years, but we have pures in a secure facility now too, so we’ll be making our own once the pures mature sexually
sorno: anyone want to get into a strain of hybrid debate?
Steve_Worrall: Now that, sir, is funny…
TJ: lol
Steve_Worrall: Sorno, MuskieFIRST Thanks you for bailing us out tonight, we need to have you on as a regular next year!
Tdiddy: Thanks Sorno!
sorno: lol; sure anytime
lambeau: the funny thing…those are MN strain pures…
Steve_Worrall: one more question for you
Mark_Gostisha: Nice job sorno
sorno: were, my friend, were
lambeau: lol
Panfish: thank you all for your time
peeps: Thanks for stepping in
MuskieMike entered the room.
MuskieMike: I missed a chat with Sorno?
Steve_Worrall: If muskies can hear, what tunes do you think they like and will respond to with a strike?
sorno: aw jeez, look who drug himself in…
Steve_Worrall: MM usually IS late
MuskieMike: How could this be?
MuskieMike: Unhappy camper right here folks
sorno: first, muskies CAN hear, and second – they will respond to anything they can hear over the annoying thump of a Magnetic Resonance Imagery machine!
Steve_Worrall: Hoo boy
Steve_Worrall: Very noisy indeed…
MuskieMike: Sorno can catch nice muskie, AND take AMAZING photos of fish you catch as well.
—————————————————————————
Watch for more amazing images from Sorno’s boat in 2010!