Hey Guys, I can assure the quality is up this year from what I saw in the river spawning today. Very, very large and healthy salmon. One male fish I recognized from last year (a bully with a large scar on his nose) added some serios weight over the year. I did see a few wall worthy fish- aka smart fish.
Any early muzzleloader stories or pics of rack'o'saurus rex?

Been hearing good news from Winni all year, what a difference a year with no Derby can make with no Derby. I'd love to know how many fish the Derby and don't come back til the next Derby ??

But I understand the Derby will run AGAIN in 2011, good news many are talking about a boycott, I'll be one sitting on the sidelines for sure.

Now that I think of it, I didn't fish Winni at all this year, no particular reason, just didn't. With Squam ice going out before Winni (a first) I just put her in Squam and left her there.

Big John

This is just MHO,we need to spread the pressure out by improving the other salmon waters,yes Winni is the crown jewel but it would benefit everyone in the long run if the other lakes offered good salmon fishing as well.Just my .02 not trying to stir the pot.
BARRY

Other then squam. Which is overfished. I don't think there are any other options.The salmon don't do well in the other lakes.Fish game has been trying but nothing is working. Again just my 2 cents.It sure would be great too have 4 or 5 decent salmom lakes.

im curious to see what the fall netting on winnisquam was like. From what i heard there was alot of nice salmon caught in the last month or so and all summer i saw an increase in smelt...if anyone has any information on it it would be greatly appreciated since i am now at school in Michigan..

I don't think there is a fall netting at Winnisquam. It's not stocked that heavy with Salmon due the to the lack of smelt. But the smelt seem to be makin a come-back even with Black Brook being a trickle through silt bed. F and G thinks the smelt they have left may now be spawning in open water with no good steams or brooks, interesting.

Big John

People are not willing to fish 7 or 8 hours for maybe one bite, at Squam we fish for that "one bite" every time we go out, if we get it we are happy, most times it doesn't come, if we are lucky we catch a few Bows while waiting for the one bite we want. There are no lakers at Squam, like all then other lakes, to fill in the void on slow days, which is pretty much all the time.

Winni is a numbers Lake, the majority of anglers want double digits, if they get a decent one all the better. I think Winni is just about where most folks want it these days, decent quality and a decent bite, I wouldn't change a thing unless the nets and/or catch rates justify it. A reduced catch rate could help the Salmon fishery overall perhaps, but do you really want it ????

Bottom line is stock rate Vs. available bait (less fish--more bait--slow bite, in Squams case much slower..

Right now I don't think Squam is overfished that much, new boats come every week (not hard to recognise them only a couple maybe) most don't come back. Squam has a problem that nobody can figure out yet, they put em in and the majority disappear,
last 2 (maybe 3) years in a row ? 2007 stocking was the most successful stocking some say in maybe 30 years, the only known difference was the size, they were much bigger than 2008 and 2009. This years were not that much smaller than 2007, but yet did not show in the creel surveys hardly at all, we are hoping they are still in there, wont know til next year ???? If they are in abundance, they will have a much better handle on stock size needed for succesfull stocking at Squam.

Bows do extremely well as far as surviving and they go in at 12" on average, maybe twice the size as Salmon on a good year.

Popular consensus these days is stock size Vs. predators. Unlike Winni, Squam has limited deep basin and total square footage, not many placesto hide or find refuge. For Loons, Comorants, Eagles other big fish, it's like fishing in a fish bowl.. Just a little bigger stock size could make a world of difference. But with a much bigger survival rate, would Squam be able produce any trophies ? Perhaps a catch 22.

Sorry for repeating most of this over and over, the questions comes up from time to time in various post, but the answers don't seem to change.

Winnisquam has a smelt problem but they seem to be making a comeback and a huge laker population, don't know allot about Sunapee (the forgotten lake, nobody ever talks about that lake ? But we know they also have a huge laker population. Same with Newfound, lots of lakers, Bows survive fine, Salmon and very hard to find.

The lakes are what they are, best to maybe think about making each lake the best it can be for the species that seem to historicaly do well there. Sounds easy and we all keep thinking maybe Browns for some of the lakes, but Fish and Game do the best they can given all the variables of each lake which change from year to year..Not an easy job at all.

Big John