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Re: Derby results

Scott D from Merrimack
We had a good weekend, no winners either. We caught a lot of salmon but mostly 2 year olds, a few 3 year olds but only 2 fish above 20".

They said that 100 salmon were checked in on Friday over 20" and 76 on Saturday. I am not sure for Sunday as I didnt go to the awards that day. We only caught 1 fish that had any sign of hook wounding and we kept it just because....all of the others were released except the 2 that we checked in.

I thought it was funny, even if we wanted to, we couldnt do a catch and release after check in. The guy at the weigh station said it HAD TO BE DEAD by state law?? I thought if we wanted we could of carried it up in a bucket, had it checked and then released, but apparently not.

I like the LCI derby for that very reason, a lot more fish released to live on and keep growing. Its a shame every fish that is enetered in the Winni has to be killed.

-Scott

PS I wanted to thank Craig (Slip_Knot), Adrien, and Travis for all of the information they have given me over the past few years. I went from catching no fish in my first derby 5 years ago to catching close to 50 this year. Setups and knowledge were the key to our success.


Thanks for the report Scott, you are 110% right on, this board and the guys you mentioned have helped allot of us including yours truly.

as far as killing the Salmon, it's the law and probably should be, the fishery is managed as "put and take", if every Salmon caught went back in, the fishery likely would tank, only so many mouths to feed with the available food.

I do think they went a little crazy with the law that "all" fish on your boat need to be dead or killed, it used to read no fish can be taken from the lake alive,like all fish in your possession need to be dead when you "leave the lake" makes more sense. Example, your going out Crappy fishing for a fish fry, all you catch is "one" lone Crappy, not much of a fish fry, why not be allowed to keep it alive and release it.

But I do see the killing of Salmon as important to discourage culling, maybe Bows too, but not all fish in your creel.

Thanks again for the report.

Big John

Re: Derby results

Thanks John!!

Re: Derby results

Great Derby for the Talewalker team. Weighed in some nice fish - biggest was a 3.54 lb 4 yr old male that won my daughter a nice tackle box. Also caught a number of 3 year olds that looked really healthy. Excluding last year, this makes our 8th straight derby together(she just turned 16) - priceless. Hope she'll continue to want to go fishin with Dad... Great to see you all out on the lake.

Re: Derby results

Easy Ed fished with me on my boat. He entered a 6 yr old Salmon that only weighed about 3 1/2 # and 20 1/2 in. I entered a 4yr old Salmon 20 3/4 in that weighed only 2.78 in. (Both good fish to cull. Either was going anywhere.) I came in last place Sun!! LOL. But did win $129.00 in the 50-50.

Salty

Re: Derby results

I'm not sure what is going on with the Derby results.
I see the Derby web site has the largest Salmon taken on sat.at 4.5 lbs, but this AM paper had the largest Salmon taken on Friday at 4.88 lbs by a person from Center Tuftoboro.
Who is the real/actual winner???

Louis

Re: Derby results

Some are daily prizes and some are grand prizes. 4.88
is the grand prize in the Salmon division.

Salty

Re: Derby results

Salty
Easy Ed fished with me on my boat. He entered a 6 yr old Salmon that only weighed about 3 1/2 # and 20 1/2 in. I entered a 4yr old Salmon 20 3/4 in that weighed only 2.78 in. (Both good fish to cull. Either was going anywhere.) I came in last place Sun!! LOL. But did win $129.00 in the 50-50.

Salty


Congrats Salty, now you can add a "little gas" to your tank.

We had a similar 4 yr old Salmon caught this weekend on my boat, had 1/2 a tail, great fighter, but it was his last battle, the lake don't need Smelt eating machines that are poor specimens.

I'm surprised no 5 pounders with some of the spring postings here ???? Surprisingly, 3 years in a row a 4 pounder won, but it was nice to see "multiple" 4's registered.

Big John

Re: Derby results

Salty, I saw you at the awards and was suprised because for some reason I thought you were holding out this year. Glad to see you out there though. I saw your boat earlier on the water.

Nice job on the 50/50! I was hoping for a piece of THAT prize!

Great weekend. The fishing was phenominal. Best derby ever for the crews coming out of our camp. We all hit on different colors and hit gold in different places.

One of the guys in our party recognized the winner...he was fishing right next to us most of the day Friday. Just goes to show, it can happen for anyone at any time anywhere on the lake.

My only critism for the sponsors/event handlers is with two lures in each grab bag. One was a lure with a bank logo on it and the other was the "Winni Derby" lure. Neither will ever see the water for probably anyone and thus are going right in the trash....guys - if you are gonig to give grab bags and spend the money for lures - put something in there that can be used. After I tosed the bank lures, I saved the container it came in. I'll use it to store matches when camping or for deer scent in the Fall (so the bank lure was actually good for something).

Re: Derby results

I got 3 DB Smelts and a Top gun in my Grab bag as well as the Bank lure and a spool of 6lb Vanish. I did not get the 2011 Winni lure...but I bought one from Alan just to have it.

Sorry you didnt get a better bag. I was fine with what I got.

I didnt really recognize anyone at the Saturday awards night....I saw Cody and I believe the mans name is Roland, I think I met him with Adrien and Craig up at the LCI a few years ago.

Re: Derby results

We had a great derby. The fishing was better than years past, the lake was not over populated with boats, the chatter on the radio keep us going all weekend. We started off the derby with a board fish at 5 minutes of 5 Friday, and ended with a another really nice salmon at 1135 Sunday. (yes Lena, lead core!!!lol) We caught 11 fish over 20, 4 that were 21-23, and a really nice bow at just under 4 pounds.
I really dont know the true effect on the salmon population as i am not a fish as far as all the charters and all the hoopla on overfishing, but i can tell you that in years past there were thousands of people out there, and the boat traffic was crazy. I would think that alone the number of fishing boats would have an effect on any lake. Maybe they were in the 4 pound range from the derby being cancelled last year, i dont know, but I think if they keep the size of the derby as it was this year, and if people do not over harvest, the fishery will remain as good as it is for us. I actually think that the folks that did not go because of this helped us all out. The traffic was good, and competition was less. Thanks!!!
And thank you to all that brought the derby back!

Popeye

Re: Derby results

We had a fun weekend fishing the derby. We brought in and released many fish that were all healthy and they will continue to grow!

We ended up harvesting 3 salmon on the weekend. Each were both hook wounded and able to bring us a prize. One 4 year old female that hadn't released her eggs that came in 8th or 9th?? on Friday. A 5 year old male that had been wounded which put me in a 4th place overall for the tournament. And dad weighed in a 21" 5 year old female that weighed 3.5 lbs ( hook wounded) which gave him 9th or 10th?? on Sunday. We put in our time and had a blast.

I fished the southern(ish) end of the lake and had all of our success with live smelt from 0-15' deep. I heard my handle shouted a couple times from different people but the VHF on the new boat doesn't allow me to get the range I want. Happy with the new boat though, very comfortable to fish out of. Sorry if I didn't respond! Good talking to Popeye and Ilucus and Throbbin Rods though! I also saw the KJ Louis pulling out of West Alton! What a ride!

Overall good weekend with the family. I was very happy with the quality of the fish that we brought in! Thank you West Alton Marina and A.J.'s Bait and Tackle for your support throughout the weekend! What great people and places to do business with!

Cody Dodds
Kool-Aid

Re: Derby results

Just as an FYI - I also bough one of those Winni Derby Lures from Alan - caught 2 salmon on it, one over 20"
Had a hit on the bank lure - yep, I put that one in too. After I caught a laker on a teaspoon that a guy had bent and drilled, I decided that anything was worth a try.
We had a good Derby, I didn't pull the numbers of fish that some did but I am willing to bet that I had at least as much fun.

Re: Derby results

I fished with my son and girlfriend and we had a lot of fun.Girlfriend has never been salmon fishing so this was a new thing for her.Stayed at Bay Side Inn in Alton Bay great people,did not change rates and no dock fee.Like everyone else we did very well on numbers of fish.Couple of 21 inch fish but nothing worth entering.Boat traffic was a lot lighter than past years or at least where we were in the southern part of the lake.Forry I was wondering if you found that virgin and have gathered them goats yet!!! Lot of laughs on the radio.Headed to flooded champlain in 2 weeks for the Plattsburg derby.Had to rent a cottage at appple island campground has the camp we usually rent has 4 inches of water in it. B-man

Re: Derby results

Lena and I had a good derby, we regestered two fish, one on Saturday and one Sunday. Not sure why but I did not see any with hook wounds and we did catch enough fish that we should of seen quite a few. Sunday Lena placed around 12th. The chatter on the radio was great entertainment. Salty will you be starting a moble roach coach on water? Forry, I'm not sure where you'll find virgin goats in Mass. Again thanks for the laughs see you on the waters. Roland

Re: Derby results

I also saw the KJ Louise pulling out of West Alton! What a ride!

Thanks Cody

She is our fishing machine! Rigged for everything from Salmon to Tuna,Sharks, Stripers, Blues and Lobster! As we like to call her she's our summer home.

Your new ride is great too! I was sneaking a peak this past week while it was on her Trailer at the Marina! Good Luck with the rest of the season.

Steve B

Re: Derby results

I fished with a few guys from work. We too stayed at the Bayside on Alton Bay. Lets just say that we didn't have a negative impact on the fishery. We did manage to enjoy a few cans of beer, listen to some music, tell stories and laugh our asses off listening to guys on channel 12.

We have a little different goal than most when it comes to the derby. Although a new boat would be nice; we enjoy the time away from work, the wives and the daily grind and just have a good time. We are all looking forward to next year and if we could buy our derby tickets now we would.

I hope everyone else was as successful as we were.

Re: Derby results

John, There were a lot of 5# fish reported earlier, but they wern't weighed at Derby headquarters.

Salty

Re: Derby results

Im not a PHD scientist like the great brains that wrote the new fishing laws... But I am pretty sure the Fish can't read the bank logo on the free lure! and will still hit it because it has the right shape and wobble at the right time! Brilliant Move throwing them away boys! LOL!

Re: Derby results

Salty
John, There were a lot of 5# fish reported earlier, but they wern't weighed at Derby headquarters.

Salty


Ha-ha-ha, I gotcha. I had one of those scales once too, then I bought a Boga scale. But if I really want to know how much a fish weighed, I'd go to Holderness Market and have it weighed, fish and game will only accept registered scales with a signed paper from the store/market and witness by another fisherman (or liar). I guess fisherman have been known to fib a little now and then.

While on the subject did I tell you about the "multiple" 10 pound Salmon I caught last week, I've been doing it on a regular basis this year, but you might have heard (or read) that, ha-ha.

Big John