Welcome Fish Lake Winni Angler's

Log On Today - Fish On Tomorrow!

(603) 731-1804 / (603) 344-8698

 

Welcome Fish Lake Winni Anglers
Start a New Topic 
Author
Comment
View Entire Thread
Re: Winni Derby

Those of you that know me also know I do not hurt the population at all LOL I will be fishing the derby, and in the previous 4 years I have fished it we only brought 2 fish to the weigh station. Released a ton others. So I do not think I will be impacting the fishery, I only dream that I could make a tiny dent.

-Scott

Re: Winni Derby

I will be sitting the Derby out!

Cool Water

Re: Winni Derby

I will be fishing the derby.

Salty

Re: Winni Derby

I'm not sure if I'll be fishing the derby this year. Have done it only twice. I beleive the comment made here is what some of us are concerned about: "We have caught a ton of salmon" and only brough two to the board.
This may cause injuries and that is why some people question the deby after last fall's netting.

Louis

Re: Winni Derby

Derby or no Derby, I will not be on the lake untill I feel its healthy to support everyone. I feel its to early to start this tournament again. Its sad to not fish the lake anymore but I will be fishing other waters for the time being. Good luck to all...

C.C.

Re: Winni Derby

The old fisherman
I'm not sure if I'll be fishing the derby this year. Have done it only twice. I beleive the comment made here is what some of us are concerned about: "We have caught a ton of salmon" and only brough two to the board.
This may cause injuries and that is why some people question the deby after last fall's netting.

Louis


I am trying to walk lightly here but if everyone "who caught a ton of salmon" are responsible for the state of the fishery then we have to cast a broad net to many on this site....am I wrong? Let's be fair if you took the total number of fish caught and released and caught and kept during the derby and compared that to the total number caught and release and caught and kept just by members of this site...do you honestly think the derby rate would look worse in comparison?

This is an old topic that tends to get heated each time it gets churned up but it's hard to sit quietly on the side line when I feel the Derby is being unfairly slammed and that perhaps its participants and interpreted as caring less about the fishery than the non-participants.

My opinion on the matter is the demise of the fishery was much more related to several years of releasing very small salmon from the hatcheries that quickly became laker/smallmouth food. That appears to have been corrected (at the same time that the derby was cancelled for one year) so many will see the fishery being more healthy this year as related more to the derby than to adjustments made at the hatchery.

I will try hard to have this be my last post on the matter. Good luck to all who choose to participate.

Re: Winni Derby

Hell, everyone knows that I don't catch fish, derby or no. If I catch 2 fish while I am out there it is a banner day!!! And, I am gonna eat them. I will fish the derby but the chances of me catching a fish during the derby are somewhere between slim and none judging by past experience. If you want to know why this is, you have only to look to a certain someone here who purchased a boat from me, and while my back was turned, threw my luck into the danged boat!! what kind of a fella does that anyway???
I do manage to scratch a few at Lake Ontario and Lake Champlain. Just not at Winni.

There are many reasons for the problems the fishery is experiencing. Many of them have been outlined in print and in public presentations. One Derby will not undo all the good that can be done if the other factors are addressed. My .02
Throbbin Rods

Re: Winni Derby

I believe winni has always had good numbers of salmon. But at time"s the quality suffers. Winni for a few years now has had tremendous fishing pressure. Which with hook wounding because of this has hurt the quality. But with better handling hopefully this will help. And this means during the derby also. And to have Quailty salmon as travis stated at the gathering the big ones have to be released. To reach 5 lbs they have to be 5 years old at least. If all the 3 year old salmon are taken this will never happen.The only concern I have with not having the derby. Is the tackle shops its a huge part of there business.They are few and far between as it is. And also the derby itself has to be a key player in helping with these problems. My two cents.

Re: Winni Derby

Throbbin Rods
Hell, everyone knows that I don't catch fish, derby or no. If I catch 2 fish while I am out there it is a banner day!!! And, I am gonna eat them. I will fish the derby but the chances of me catching a fish during the derby are somewhere between slim and none judging by past experience. If you want to know why this is, you have only to look to a certain someone here who purchased a boat from me, and while my back was turned, threw my luck into the danged boat!! what kind of a fella does that anyway???
I do manage to scratch a few at Lake Ontario and Lake Champlain. Just not at Winni.

There are many reasons for the problems the fishery is experiencing. Many of them have been outlined in print and in public presentations. One Derby will not undo all the good that can be done if the other factors are addressed. My .02
Throbbin Rods


I know the fish are safe with you Bill, ha,ha. Only pulling your leg.

Looks like nobody catches any fish, so how did Winni hook wounding increase last year, even with no Derby, **** sure it wont improve this year.

We should keep any and all hook wounded fish, only way we are going to help the fishery, be selective what you keep and what you put back, Derbies are not won this way however. But how do you do that when 2000 folks are cacthing and releasing as many as they can in 3 days in search for a big boy. I guess if your fishing a Derby and laying out the money, you really have to catch allot of Salmon and "cull" hard for 3 days, or be very lucky to win a prize.

From all reports, it did sound like a good rebound last year as far as size of the Salmon, no 2010 Derby had to have something to do with it

It was not my intention at all to bash Derby participants, bash the Derby perhaps yes, the question was asked if who was fishing the Derby, I gave my answer.

Have a good time all, I enjoyed the Derby the times I fished it and it's a ton of fun, win a prize or not, I don't know what the answer is.

If there is a pre-Derby dinner anywhere like in past yeats, I'll be there, nice to see allot of folks after the winter. Gusseppis would be great, I know
I spelled it wrong, but great food.

Big John

Re: Winni Derby

The old fisherman
I'm not sure if I'll be fishing the derby this year. Have done it only twice. I beleive the comment made here is what some of us are concerned about: "We have caught a ton of salmon" and only brough two to the board.
This may cause injuries and that is why some people question the deby after last fall's netting.

Louis


Good point Lou, excellent as a matter of fact, that is precisely the problem hook woundin a ton of fish trying to find one decent one.

Big John

Re: Winni Derby

I most likely will not fish the derby this year. I used to not fish it because I don,t like crowds. I,m not a great salmon fisherman but I,ve learned alot over the years from this board and other fishermen and enjoy salmon fishing very much. But I still don,t like crowds. That,s my story and I,m sticking with it. I wish they had held off on the derby for at least one more year. Cal P.

Re: Winni Derby

I was only asking the question out of curiosity, no hidden agenda.

My Posse of Cowboys is 14 strong, we have had a long standing “guys fishing weekend” date on the family schedule for years! So last year we didn’t dare mess with that! We went anyhow, divided into our normal 4 boats, tossed a bunch of cash into the hat and hit the water for not only salmon but mixed in some bass fishing during the slow salmon hours! Several of our gang members went home with more cash than they brought! We bought 4 identical scales, 4 Rubber Nets and did our own catch and release game! We had more fun than any of the “Winni Derby’s” we have played in over the past 15 years!

We are planning on repeating “our game” this year, at the same time as the “new winni derby” So if you see us catching the big boys, taking a quick weight and photograph and letting them go at the same time! Yell hello to Sculpin and crew!

For those who fish the derby, good luck, and have fun! That’s what it is all about boys and girls, having fun away from the office!

Piece to all,
Sculpin

Re: Winni Derby

Food for thought here. Do you think this fishery would be better served if the 2 or 3 days that are going to be avoided this May by some of us be better served if they were taken in July or August??

What i am thinking is this, most of the people who participate in the derby go out maybe 2,3,4 times a year or so and are happy just to be involved and have some action, maybe catch 2 or 3 fish each day and they are probably happy and figured it was a great weekend and a lot of fun.

In the summer it is not unusual for the serious fisherman to dial them in and boat 10-20 fish on a summer day, bringing them up from the deep after a long battle into the 75-80 degree water...do you think that these fish are more at risk then or when a bunch of two or three a year outing type fishermen (along with the serious fisherman) at the beginning of the season when the fish are a little tougher to come by? 6 of 1...1/2 dozen of the other in my opinion.

I agree with Big John, it's all about the money, if they were really serious about it they would not have cancelled it for just 1 year and there would have been serious talk about making it a laker ice derby or cancelling that all together also. I think there is too much out there that is not known, if they thought that cancelling the derby was the trick why did they let it run this year then?

I think if you want to do the derby do it and have a ball!!!! If you want to avoid it because you think it's the cause of the problems then it's an admirable statement ...me, I think there are more hook wounds because the fishermen are just plain better and catching more fish derby or no derby. Whether you catch them at the derby or in the summer, have your fun....let's just try to handle them w/ care.

I have only been to 1 derby (09) and i loved it. I had fun talking to everyone on the radio and just being out there with everyone. I am disappointed that some of the people I was looking forward to seeing out there are not going, it will not be the same with out them but I plan on being out there with my friend nick on my boat (and my son Lucas hopefully) and Forrest and his son Doug on his. Good luck!

Re: Winni Derby

I may be wrong on this, but I am under the belief that State law will not issue any new derbies. and for any derbies that have been operational in the past, you can renew, you can take 1 year off, but have to renew for that 24th month, or you become fully expired and then can not renew. has anyone else heard this?

Re: Winni Derby

Sculpin
I may be wrong on this, but I am under the belief that State law will not issue any new derbies. and for any derbies that have been operational in the past, you can renew, you can take 1 year off, but have to renew for that 24th month, or you become fully expired and then can not renew. has anyone else heard this?


The way I understand it, yes no new Derby permits will ever be issued, uhm that being the case, there must be a reason. The winter and spring Derby are grandfathered, miss a year and it's OVA, never again.

What the Spring Derby folks did last year was take the 2010 permit out but not excersize it, which covered them.

Also I believe Fish and Game had nothing to do with 2010 being cancelled. The story goes like this, the organizer witnessed the fall netting of 2009 and felt it would be in the "best interest of the Salmon fishery to not run the Derby in 2010". If there was any back room arm wrestling with F and G and the organizer not made public I couldn't say. Many feel the Derby was not held because it was not making the money it did in the past and it was sold before another bad Derby revenue year was experienced as participation was dropping every year and sponsor intrest was waining. The last sentence is only hearsay, but rumors of no more Derby for financial reasons were going on long before last yeas Derby was cancelled.

It was hoped by many that the new organizers would come up with some inovative ideas to take the pressure off the Salmon, same went for the winter Derby, so far didn't happen, winter or spring ?

I hope that answers the question as I understood it.

Big John

Re: Winni Derby

I personally am going to the derby and bringing my son along with me, this will be his first time. As far as people saying Hook wounds this hook wounds that, I personally want to know where the derby has anything to do with this? before I get a bunch of hate mail I want to know with the exception of the few who actually do just catch their limit and go home,who stops fishing after two? Most of the people that have posted above just keep right on a catching and releasing just as many as will take the Fly, live bait, or lure. I myself am guilty but no way am I ashamed to admit it nor should the others. I also would say I care as much for the salmon as anyone, but I like to catch salmon and trout and as long as they are biting I am going to keep catching,That is what the state puts them in the lake for, recreation (having Fun). We all try to take care of these fishRubber nets,single hooks? Barbless hooks? catch and release etc. but some get hooked wounded. it is a put and take after all, the state puts in more every year this is what our license money goes for. The season is open for six months roughly 180 days a year, out of those 180 days on a good year lets say maybe 50 I am able to go fishing, maybe 8 of those days which includes the derby are fished on Winni. If you want to stop hook wounds I think you better come up with a better excuse than blaming the derby. You know I have read a lot about how fish and game have not done a very good job and I have also seen alot of people defending the fish and Game the defenders say "they know what they are doing". Well Let me tell you I agree with the people who are in the fish and Game Dept's corner. So to all you who are in their corner ask yourselves this question, Do you think that the fish and game dept. would let this derby take place if it was as detrimental to the fishery as you want us to believe? come on you can't have it both ways. Good luck to all who go to that derby and Have fun.

Re: Winni Derby

I think the derby brings alot of fishermen to the lake that normally would not come here,which in turn stresses the resourse even more.How many people register for the derby(3000?)that's alot of hooking going on.If it wasn't about money for somebody, do you think anybody would have bought out the old derby organizer.MONEY TALKS AND YOU KNOW THE REST!!!What are the new organizers going to do for the resourse?

Re: Winni Derby

poleski
I think the derby brings alot of fishermen to the lake that normally would not come here,which in turn stresses the resourse even more.How many people register for the derby(3000?)that's alot of hooking going on.If it wasn't about money for somebody, do you think anybody would have bought out the old derby organizer.MONEY TALKS AND YOU KNOW THE REST!!!What are the new organizers going to do for the resourse?


All good questions to ask at the F and G meeting this Friday night, I know I have a few.

Re: Winni Derby

I will not be fishing the derby this year, mostly because of work though. I don't know whether or not the derby, or lack there of, contributes to or harms the fishery. I do know that the quality of salmon in Winni was much better last season. Was not having a derby a factor in that? I really don't know, but if we see the quality in the 2 and 3 year old classes really take a nosedive this season maybe we will have to take another look at it. Good luck to all who enter and grill up some of those hook wounded fish they are delicious with the right garlic and butter!

Re: Winni Derby

This is a touchy subject. I do not believe the lack of last years derby had much effect on the Salmon fishery. If not for one of the derby founders, we would not be fishing for Salmon in Winni. Just my opinion but the catching of Salmon in 65 + degrees water is the biggest issue and should be addressed. Us two, other friends and family will be supporting the derby. My .02 cents Roland

Re: Winni Derby

Lets not forget the fishing pressure was also down quite a bit. At least it seemed to me it was. The few times we fished on winni last year. Didn"t see near the amount of boats as in the past years. If so this has to have helped the salmon also.