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Squam report, outlook bleak mid way point of the season.

Not much of a report, again ???????????

Got to the camp Saturday at 5:00 PM, fished Little Squam for a few hours:
13" Bow, 25 feet, Gold Spec DB
13" Bow, 25 feet, Orange/Gold DB
16" Salmon, a little football 35 feet, Gold Speck DB
A real nice Rainbow, 3+, lost at the boat (****) 28 feet, Gold Spec DB, good Spoon tonight.

Saturday, 4:45 AM, all set to hammer them, new mooon, cloudy, overcast, LAKE A LITTLE FLAT HOWEVER.
Caught a few Bass otherwise not a bite until about 9:30.
4lb/11oz Laker, about 24" (a guess) 5 Colors Lead Core, Live Shiner.
Fished til 11:00, not another bite, tried everything, Jigging box w/streamers and spoons, lead core w/live Bait, Downriggers w/Live and spoons, .5 MPH to 2.5 MPH, etc.. One fish shy of another Skunk. Only Salmon of the weekend was the 16" Salmon on Little Squam Saturday night, nice to see another 16" Salmon as we don't see many of these, but Salmon of any size are scarce the past 3 weeks for most of us ??????????

6 boats fished the same area as I and as far as I know all got skunked, most were regulars that normally do very well. There was one Lund that we did not talk to and rumor has it they got 1 or 2 early in the day, I saw them get the net out once and put it away without netting a fish. One guy left and fished Sandwich Bay, he said it was the same there, quite a few boats fishing, not catchin ????

What's up with Squam ???????? Allthough some really nice Salmon came out of there thus far, most of these big fish were the difference of skunk or no skunk for the lucky anglers.

I've been waiting for things to settle in and become normal, but now I find the season 1/2 over and I'm still waiting, I hope this is not going to be the "norm" for the season.

Last July was a super month, I hope it is this year too as I'm headed up for 10 days this coming Friday, if this keeps up I may have to book a charter on Winni first week in July, I'm in need of a Salmon fix.

I may have to take my Bass rods up for the 10 days ???

I noticed a post a few days ago from a guy named "Old Fisherman" that's been fishing Squam "only about 50 years" and he's saying it's been his worst year ever on Squam, he's quite concerned about it, as well as allot of others. I hope his wisdom and long seniority on the lake are not an indication of what's to come.

Squam has been in the middle of what many are calling a terrific comeback, I hope the past 3 or 4 weeks are the end of the slump.

Thermocline was estimated by a few guys to be from 30' to 35', water temp. was very erractic I found from surface of 75 Degrees (just about everywhere) to 47 degrees at 33 feet and 55 degrees in some other areas same depth ????????

Oh well, we will give it hell in July and hope everything comes around, do you believe the seasons 1/2 over.

John S.

Re: Squam report, outlook bleak mid way point of the season.

I might add, several of us this morning and the past few weeks have been marking what they feel are record numbers of Salmon as well as bait. They just wont bite ???? Wait til the Smelt of the year are present in huge numbers, bites will be even more scarce.

Three of us, several occaisions each the past few weeks, have saw fish come up to our bait/spoons, etc. and take a look (I guess) and go right back down, no bite. Maybe we need to speed it up some when they do this to trigger a bite, just thought about this on my way home today, a little late huh ?????

By the way, 2 nice Lakers in 8 days (7 and 5 pounds) not normal at all for me, 2 in a year is more like it and usually under 15", today I was not targetting Lakers, last week I was.

John S.

Re: Re: Squam report, outlook bleak mid way point of the season.

John,
I am experiencing the same thing in Sunapee as far as the salmon go. Today we trolled 7 lines for 5 hours in fog so thick I couldn’t see &*$#. 2 laker hits neither one landed, in 5 hours! Last year all summer I caught maybe 4 Lakers, this year so far at least 20, many 10-12” and only about 3 salmon? Hope those little Lakers aren’t eating all the bait! Lets hope July and August are as good as last year.
Whip

Re: Re: Re: Squam report, outlook bleak mid way point of the season.

Why eat metal when you can be a glutting on smelt and baby smelt????
Thought for the day...

Popeye

Re: Re: Re: Re: Squam report, outlook bleak mid way point of the season.

I hear ya, how did you make out, tried to call you but no service I guess ???

John S.

Re: Re: Re: Squam report, outlook bleak mid way point of the season.

Actually we started off great with Salmon and several other guys caught some reall nice fish, quite a few 5 and a few 6 pounders have been boated so far by myself and a few regulars that fish there. Popeye had a great day there too, skunked the following week with Live Smelt, then it died about 3 weeks ago it died. It still gave up a few 5 and 6 pound Salmon but single fish to those that caught them and none at all to others.

I think it's really a too much bait thing, but then again, why all of a sudden it just shut down is a mystery. And I cleaned a Laker and a Salmon today, not a smelt in either one, last year this time I was finding 6 to 10 Smelt for each fish we cleaned and they still looked for more. Plus I'm not sure how big the Smelt of this year are now, if they exist at all yet, not to smart on this stuff yet ?????????

One guy said he thinks they will eat "Smelt only" right now, even Shiners wont do. He may have a clue here because frozen Smelt have been taking big fish for a guy I know, still not many fish however, maybe 1 or 2 each trip and he was skunked today.

The fact that they are empty of any food is a good sign I guess, it indicates they are just off their feed or eating something else we can't see. If they were stuffed to the gills, like normal.

I might add, to me it seems Winni reports ae a little off from last season this time and Winni (like Squam) started off great thos year ????

Maybe it's all the rain, who knows, but I think it will work itself out soon, plenty of fish that don't seem to be eating can't last forever. Perhaps some of our residents experts will have some ideas on the matter, maybe it's normal now and then too ???????

But look at Sebago, it's on fire from what I read here ????

Good luck on Sunapee, Popeye will be gone for a while, that will have to make a diffetence, LOL.

John S.

Re: Re: Re: Re: Squam report, outlook bleak mid way point of the season.

it may be the bugs that they are eating.the weather doesnt help at all.even though i did very well on champlain last weekend i heard regulars and locals saying that its off up there too.we had surface temps as low as 52 degrees when we left champlain on mon.I just think all the big waters are all screwed up right now to a degree they will straighten up, mother nature always corrects herself.ill be on squam thurs and fri am this week and give it hell.

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Squam report, outlook bleak mid way point of the season.

Not sure what time and when we will be up, could come up Thursday night.

I don't get discouraged to easily and most can tell, it's just the initial let down after a slow day in the Lake, which we have had many lately, next day I'm fine and rearing to get back out there. Perhaps your right, Smelt, etc. are just not the fair of the day lately. If they were stuffed with Smelt and were not biting well it would be another story, hoping they put the regular fed bag on real soon.

The Riveredge Marina Open House Saturday night was impressive, got off the Lake just in time for a beer before they closed down for the night. I guess they had over 300 guest, a catered affair, plenty of food and drinks. They had 5 or 6 really super antique boats in the showroom, brought in special for the event, nothing like you see on the Lake, real show stoppers.

A few surprises too, I didn't know Kevin M. was the G.C. did a super job, he's come a long way from when he built our place we had in Center Harbor years ago.
And I see Baker is now going to be a manager of some sort, good for him, nice to see these kids, men now, doing pretty good... Overall it looks like a very nice addition to the lake community with some really nice old style mansions (as Condos) coming on the Hill soon, everything really nice, but very, very pricey.

I'll be looking for a good fishing report Thursday night.

John S.