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Re: Message board

I'll e mail you in private about maybe fishing with me and some info on Squam.

I wont be answering everyones report, but this one is close to home and I like to help guys new to Squam if I can.

Looks like a few guys are hearing my plea, even a few guys new to the board, super start.

Mike, Your lake is a sister to our NH lakes, no sweat, love to hear reports from Sebago, I'm sure everyone does. The NH/Maine border is only a line on a map.

Big John

Big John

Thanks to all,

Big John

Re: Message board

I think that many vets of the site might feel that techniques have already been discussed "to death" and that all that info is in the history and easy to search for so why keep re-posting that info.

I only fish Winni a few times after late May for salmonids which is why I don't post reports often but I do try to contribute when questions are posted. Also, since I don't get up there much due to the cost of each trip, I usually directly ask some of the other vets for "inside info". When I get that info back, I don't post details out of respect for the person(s) providing it.

I would like to see more reports on the site though and am not sure why everyone stopped posting reports. Trav was attacked on this site and I certainly can see why he is upset...he reached out for years by providing reports and info on this site as well as running FREE seminars and was rewarded by being called out on his own website. I'm hoping he puts it in perpective (there will always be a-holes out there) and begins posting again.

John...time for you to give up on Squam and come down to Winni so we can get more Winni reports...lol. It has to be a pain to launch the Barge everyday but I miss seeing the pics of all the large and numerous fish boated on The Barge over the past few years and Squam just isn't giving up fish like she has in years past.

After my last "short trip" post of my 15-20 minutes that I fished Winni. I'm chomping at the bit for another trip up there...maybe in a few weeks....I'll post a report - promise!

Re: Message board

Thanks MikeF, I keep the boat on Squam, have a dock camp there, so no launching every trip, thank God.

I allways say "good things come to those that wait", there are bigger fish in Squam now than years past, just not many of them and enough bait for 4 Winni's, so to say they aren't always hungry would be an understatement, but boy do they grow in that lake.

The missing year classes are really apparent on Squam this year, it's big Salmon or nothing, more so than other local lakes. I just want to be out there when one gets hungry, ha,ha. The Bows were big earlier and are growing fast now, new Bows 17" allready, so it's not like we don't have any action at all, it's just not a Winni, in many ways.

We did get a few nice ones earlier this spring that we will post on the bragging board at some point, let's just say that up I'm very happy up to this point and can't wait til the Hex Natch is over..

I did miss my annual Winni 4 weeks early fishing, no Derby, but maybe next year.

Can't wait til next year, ha,ha.

Big John

Re: Message board

I’m new here - just found the forum a month or so ago. Really wish I had discovered it sooner, though its only my second year salmon fishing after years going after bass.

Guess I just missed the recent mudslinging, but I’ve been on a number of other types of forums over the years, and sadly, it happens everywhere sooner or later. Really hope the vets can patch up their differences, because we all learn from each other. So far, seems like a pretty cool bunch of guys here who aren’t afraid to be the bigger person when that’s what it takes to put a fire out.

Live us toooooo short to get hung up on the crap. The older I get, the more pleasure I gain from giving back to others and watching them bear the fruits of their newly acquired experiences. I hope to be able to do this here in the future. For now, I have much to learn, so most of my participation will prolly be on the asking side, but know that I appreciate the depth to which some of the guys go when asked basic questions, even when they pop up over and over. You guys are first class, all the way. Let’s keep it that way!


I love this site, would really hate to see it decline, so just my .02 here.

GL on the water.

L

Re: Message board

Hey guys,

John - I know I used to post a lot more and with the way things are looking I will be posting more. I have been too busy to go fishing for fun!

This year I started a mowing/landscaping business that has just taken off which is great but at the same time it takes up my life when I am not running trips.

As for Sunapee reports - I have only fished it 3 times this year and have boated nothing but Lakers (biggest being 6 lbs)

I would like to give a report this weekend on my LCI experience and maybe a couple other trips.

Let's get her goin again!

Kool-Aid

Re: Message board

Okay, I'll play...
As one of the "past contributors" to this site, I'll give my perspective as to why I don't post anymore, but do check the board often.

I made a lot of friends here. Ones that I still fish with and chat with via email. Probably always will. I like to check in and see if they have posted their stories and photos as a way to keep up with their adventures when I can't be with them.

The first reason I stopped posting here was due to the fact that there was too much bickering between too many people. Not necessarily words that were posted on the board, but things said and done behind the curtains. It grew old fast.
Me being me, I always had to put my two cents into the foray (when it was on the board) and in the end that created a "love me or hate me" situation. I think the vote went 50-50 on that. Haha.
I finally learned to read my post prior to posting it on the board for all to see. After that, a lot of my posts were self-deleted and never posted as I feared they may strike the wrong nerve with some of the others on the board. I was sick of the drama, so opted to not be part of it. It is so much easier to just read whats here and not have to worry that my posts are going to upset anyone. IE: too much info, not enough info... posting a location, not posting a location... posting numbers, not posting numbers... are my photos to brag or just to show a tale... so many things people complain about.

I liked learning new things here and I liked posting some of what was working for me. However, as some of you know I became close friends of a few people here that catch fish in their sleep. I was then being told I wasn't giving enough info on the site. People wanted me to give the "secret techniques" these other guys were using. In respect of those guys and in respect of the fishery, I opted to not divulge all the techniques I learned. That made some people upset... to the point that I received emails that were quite distasteful from several folks. To say this put a sour taste in my mouth is an understatement.
Enough bad blood came of those days of turmoil that I stopped posting to the site. It also took away from my love of the sport. There are still so many bad memories from the things that were done and said, that it has turned me away from my desires to troll here.
I had a boat sit in my yard from August of last year til early June of this year that was never used. I had no desire. I ended up selling that boat (which I had pieced together as a trolling machine) and buying one that has been and will for the most part be used only in salt water.
I really enjoy the change, its a totally different fishery... and one with many surprises and techniques left to learn. I really enjoy the learning part.

I still check the board and DO send private emails to answer some of the questions asked or to comment on some of the photos or events posted. Not often, but I do.

As you've all stated, the board is nothing like it used to be. The "regulars" of four or five years ago are mostly gone. This doesn't happen for no reason. Unfortunately, I am probably part of the reason with my earlier days of "saying it like it is". I feel good knowing I have patched the wounds with several from the old network of posters... but there's still a few wounds that bleed and hopefully in time they will heal as well.

I don't know that the board will ever hold the passion that it once did. Maybe if the fore-fathers start posting again, it would help... but for now its a totally different board to me.

Time changes everything...

Re: Message board

My two cents. Over 90% of the people on this Board. Really like to see and enjoy reports. And ask others for help with problems. The other very small percentage would complain. For the sake of complaining. Even if they were hung with a new rope.I DON"T care what these people say its only to stir up trouble. If you want to post something on this board please do. There are to many, That have so much knowlage about fishing.That do not say anything on this board. Its a shame. And with out there help. I don"t see this message board lasting.And then these morons tick off the people that gave use this site. Please help save this great site. THANKS

Re: Message board

Here goes my .02
When I first started spending time in this website there was a kinship about the place. We were like a band of unruly brothers. We were all looking out for each other and the best part of it was meeting all of the new people you could fish with. Of late, there is a nasty undercurrent that is not at all welcome. There seems to be a bullying feel to it. I think we need to take back our web site, and we need to police it and remove the undesirable element. I have been fishing Lake Winnipesaukee since the 1970’s. There was a time when I used to catch fish, but that was before LOL Dave sneaked my luck out of the yard with the Islander when he and Rob picked it up lol. I actually know a couple things. I have introduced several people to Salmon fishing that are still hard at it today. At the other end of the spectrum, I have fished with other folks who made me feel like it was my first day! One thing that was always in evidence was a genuine fondness for each other and the sport. Fishlakewinni.com used to be the first stop I made on the web. No longer. That honor now belongs to a different web site where there is a feeling of friendship and camaraderie that brings back memories of the way this site was, right Craig? Right Dave? We can be the place we used to be but it is going to take work. And it is going to take change. The first change is this. If you think you are better than every one else, find another web site. If you like to stir up trouble, find another web site. If you would se this web site go down amid the bickering and arguing that has been a staple the last few months, find a new web site. Don’t **** in our ears and tell us it is raining. Don’t whisper behind someone’s back to stir the *****. Don’t talk crap about the guy who provides the forum for you to vent your spleen in such an odious manner. Get the hell out of fishlakewinni.com and let it be what it used to be.
Signed
Bill Finn - aka Throbbin Rods
Trav, if this thread causes you to have to ban me I totally understand – go for it.
bill

Re: Message board

Bill if the old posters don't come back we will have to go with those that are willing to partcipate now.

Besides maybe a few of those that left were part of the problem, maybe some feel I am part of the problem, as I do more posting than most anyone else.

I can remember when Craig (Slipknot) used to reply to allmost all the post with some **** good comments and advice, this advice is sadly missed. But I also know where he was coming from, I was one of the people that made him feel torn in different directions and maybe helped turned him off. We were best friends and then it went sour for a few of the reasons he mentioned, by me sometime divulging others secrets, etc. I'll leave it at that. I'd love to see Craig start posting again, but I doubt he will, he has good reasons. We are still friends, maybe not as tight as before, but friends.

In my opinion, secrets are bul----, this site was supposed to help folks until some felt people were getting to good at fishin. So then it was don't let out too much info, to the point of decieving people who came here to learn. IN MY OPINION, THAT'S WHEN THE BOARD "STARTED" IT'S SPRIRAL DOWN, WHEN EVERYTHING BECAME A BIG SECRET, NUMBERS, SCENT, NO SCENT, BLADES, NO BLADES, etc, etc.

Then followed the name calling and people busting Trav's cookies, etc, etc. and the final straw was when Fish and Game wanted to "adjust the pressure to the fish" instead of the "fish to the pressure". Everyone had their own agendas then when they thought they might loose what they had. NHSA was formed and as far as I know is not active anymore.

We all know this and everything else that was said by a few others earlier, lets let it all die, "except the message board". We don't have to drag out all the reasons why it's "not what it used to be". Let's try and "make it like it used to be" with the good folks we have now and maybe a few that are sorely missed will come back too ????

We need:
Reports (good and bad)
Methods (spoons, flies, blades, scent, etc.)
Numbers (good and bad, maybe some restraint here so as to not slight those that are just getting into it)
Colors
Water Temp
Depths
Salt, Champlain, Big O, Sebego and hopefully some local lakes too, it's all fishing. These are the types of things that made the board so great in the past.

The reports started coming in earlier today and now I sense maybe a few steps backwards. Lets look forward again, not backwards.

My intent was not to slight anyone, if I did I am truly sorry. I'm taking a break (vacation) and hopefully the board will take off again. No more soap box speeches from me, only reports and advice if I feel qualified to give it..

Thanks again for what seems to be a sincere intrest by all to "rev up" the message board.

Big John

Re: Message board and John's good initiatives

Dear friends and angling colleagues,

I'm over in Munich Germany where I teach 6 months of the year and where my new bride lives and that is my main reason, as an old angler, for not posting much recently. But when I'm at my 140 Bear Island hide-away and fishing most evenings, I do read this Forum and post both "catching" and non-catching "fishing" reports, though I must honestly confess to more "fishing" than "catching." Happily I have missed some of the unfortunate, toxic bickering discussed in this thread. But you know, that kind of thing happens in all relationships from marriage, to friendships, to blogs like this. John is right. Time to get over and beyond it and salvage all the good that this forum has and can have. One good which has been spawned by this forum is the establishment of a comunity of retired anglers, the Retired Fishing Partners (RFPs) who, on fixed incomes, communicate in our own forum when we have open spaces on our boats for others to join us for angling fellowship. This fine group is full of Master Anglers!

I refer many anglers, both novice and experienced, who contact me because they may or may not have read my book, to this site for up-to-date info on Lake Winni salmon fishing. We have here an excellent site -- especially for the novice just facing the challenge our big lake poses to a new angler. This site can save years of "learning curve" on trolling for salmonoids.

I was recently asked to author a 16-part series of on-line articles on the Master Anglers of Lake Winni -- mostly excerpts from my book, Angling in the Smile of the Great Spirit -- for the Lake Winnipesaukee Travel Guide (http://www.lake-winnipesaukee-travel-guide.com/lake-winni.html). I decided to plug our www.fishlakewinni.com site as the best, honest source of information for new Lake Winni anglers.

I know, there are many other of you Master Anglers out there (like John, and the others posting here) other than the original 15 in my book and in this series I mention a few others. The original 15 Master Anglers have over 600 years of angling wisdom and experience fishing Lake Winni. If you add the regulars here to that figure it will be over a thousand years of experience. Where else can one find such a concentration of wisdom in one place!?

The introduction to the series plus the first few articles -- leading with those three Master Anglers who have sadly passed on: Paul Phillippe, Barbara Cotton, and Al Stewart -- plus the one on Bill Martel are already up, or soon will be. Remember that Trav Williams and Jay Parent are among the original 15 Master Anglers and the stories, excerpts from the book, on each will follow in this series.

Hopefully this on-line series, along with my book and DVDs, will preserve a slice of the colorful history of angling in Lake Winni of which you are also a part.

But this great web site is the living, changing, on-going, vibrant day-to-day tale of angling in the "Big Lake" -- the history as it is being lived and written today. Don't let it die!
Warm wishes and good luck out there!

Hal Lyon