Good Morning fellow anglers and friends,

Many of you know me by my sign on name, but I want to be clear who I am. My name is Jason Parent, I am a fishing Guide and retail fishing supplier on Lake Winnipesaukee. It is very easy to give an opinion when you do not have to be personally held accountable for your thoughts and ideas. I say if you have an opinion and it is yours put your name to it... NOT a sign on. Not a Log on or a "LOL" or a "Tight Lines” but your name. (Not picking on anyone)

The New Hampshire Guides Association has elected a new President (Rick Estes), retired Fish and Game Officer and Lakes Region Resident for 60 some years. Rick has put together a Panel of 4 Guides to do some research and collect ideas for purposed rule changes. I am looking to this website for ideas. That being said please take the time to mull over your ideas think about things like, is it realistic, possible, a fairytale or can it even be done. Also please review the other ideas submitted. If you would like to support an idea please just post which idea you support. The Board has a meeting scheduled with Fish and Game the first week of February and I would like to express some of the opinions of this site as I have been such a part of it over the years, I know there are a lot of great minds who contribute regularly. Quick Review: The New Hampshire Guides Association has formed a panel of four NH guided, all with different backgrounds and ideas, to come up with some ideas to support and get behind. Please help us, help the resource.

My opinions often fall upon deaf ears and I have grown to accept that over the years but I once again am going to give a few of them. I express that these are my personal Jason Parent’s opinions not the opinions of the Guides Association. (VERY CLEAR) Fishing pressure goes in cycles, when the fishing is good word travels and lakes receive more pressure. Example Sebago Lake in Maine, word got out of some giant salmon getting caught and the boats started to migrate. I guess what I am saying is pressure on Lake Winnipesaukee will take care of itself as it did in the 90s. Boats will stop traveling as long as the fishing numbers and quality stay down. Everyone who wants to see a decrease in fishing pressure and boats fishing on Winnipesaukee, you will get your wish! Cause you know what, the people will not come here like they did in the past. A man once said “If you Build it they will come” NH Fish and Game built up an excellent fishery and they came.. from all around but now the fishery is in turmoil and it is everyone’s fault not any one group or organization. We can sit back complain, grip, insult and point fingers or we can come together sacrifice, contribute and join forces to bring it back in a manner that will sustain when “they come”.

2010 is not going to be a banner year in the retail sporting goods business on lake Winnipesaukee and the number of guided trips will be down for sure as people travel other places to fish. I will personally suffer from this as will many others on the lake but I will diversify and change my focus in 2010. Just remember it is always easier to blame someone else, guides had no more to do with the downfall of the salmon population than did the NH fish and game seminars on fishing or Rick Forges tips for landlocks and lakers which was the first in a long line of educational tools used to help new fisherman gain the knowledge to catch more fish. From Hal Lyons Book to Travis and AJ’s website people are thirsty for knowledge if they didn’t get it from one of them they would have gotten it someplace. Honestly speaking anyone who tells you they are self taught 100%, is a straight up storyteller but then again they are a fisherman.

Thanks for reading
Jason Parent

Hi Jason, you did not mention the 4 guides that will be on this panel. Do you know who they are, names??

Thanks,
Greg

I support a salmon stamp for f&g to be able to put larger fish in the lake and maybe start a baitfish stocking program to go along with that.I would support a shorter season as most of us like to start hunting in semptember anyway.I do not support any rod or creel limit changes.Rubber nets should be mandatory.Barbless hooks and single hooks I'm up in the air on as most of the salmon we see with any damage we have done are on the one year olds.I would support a slot size limit.Dave Paul

Jason
I applaud your getting involved on the board, and also the other guides, whoever they might be. My suggestions are as follows.
1. More smelt in Winni.
2. This may be throwing a turd in the pool, but perhaps it is time to think about limiting the number of fish that can be caught and released in one day. Maybe we don't need to catch 20, 30, 50 fish in one day.
3. More smelt in Winni
I gree with what you say about the people not coming, and the lake may correct itself in time, but it would be better for all of us fish folks, and I imagine for the guides especially, if these swings were not so wide and severe.
Bill Finn
107 Cross Road
Lebanon NH 03766
603-398-6265.
Been fishing Winni since the late 70's
If there is more info that we can oput with these posts that will help the board please speak up.
thanks
Throbbin Rods

First of all I think Travis should auction off his high tech fishfinder and donate the money to Fish and Game.

My opinion:
Rod/line limit change, no.

Creel limit, don't care.

Derby cancel or "change format", yes (including ice Derby) more in favor of change than cancel.

Adhere to net results (quality, count, results, etc) and forage count results in determining stock rate for all lakes, including Winni, yes.

Rubber nets, yes

Barbless or picnhed barbs, yes

Some sort of slot limit, yes

Salmon stamp, positively (used for Salmon fishery only)

License hike, yes (same as above, fishery only)

More ccntrol on Stock size (deal with the Gov. agency that's effecting the Salmpn growth in the hatchery now, it's not F and G)

Shorter season, NO,
(I don't even own a gun, bow and arrow or ice fishing tip up, some of us live to fish open water only.

Everyone has same rules and limits, yes

Not sure if I forgot anything, senior momnent.

John Sampson

john, excellent reply. that gives a great idea. if anyone has the time, maybee we could have a questioneer with everything raised and everyone can answer like john did. that would be easy to sum up the results of a bunch of opinions.

Manage some of the other Salmon lakes. And bring back a decent fishery. Or if it isn't possible. Put the time and money into a different fish. Or into Winni. Dont waste it on something that isn'''t going to happen. A few more decent salmon lakes would take a lot of pressure off winni. Dave Cushing

Hi Jason,
Has anyone considered that the problem of smaller salmon is because of "catch and release". By that I mean more fish are being returned and thus more hook injury is noted. Also its easier to become laker bait when you're a smaller, weaker fish than a robust healthy fish.
Before all the new technology we were lucky to catch two salmon a day, and they were taken home for dinner.

This past summer I stated to my fishing partners that the smelt "clouds" were a lot smaller and fewer of them. Maybe the smelt/salmon ratios are off because F&G are calculating stocking rates on old info. (When more salmon were kept (harvested) there were fewer fish to diminish the smelt population).
Just some thoughts.
Cal