In my previous post, I meant to say "2 Lakers and 2 Salmon and/or Rainbows (or other Trout species) total of 4 fish".

Bass have been catch and release for along time by the majority of Bass fisherman, maybe 100%. They seem to thrive very well still and without any outside help, but at the same time eat allot of bait too.

How much bait is there for "all" the game fish, this is why I think the Fish and Game concentrate so much effort on the Smelt..

What would the overall fishery be like if all fisherman kept 1 fish a day, I think better maybe, less overall fish, more bait, euqal bigger fish.

John S.

Catch & release most of the time. Use a rubber net or just shake the hook out of the salmon's mouth while still in water. Don't touch salmon because they are extremley delicate.

I wish I knew how to keep post in order, some of my post under this subject are was out of the order I sent them, hope people can sort it out OK ???

John S.

I'm no expext here and this is just my opinion form what I have obsevered. We have a had a camp on cow island since the early 60s. I think currently salmon and lake trout fishing are as good as they have ever been. In the early 70s we caught some bigger salmon but not a lot of them. My dad and I used troll off rattlesnake island in the summer with wire line dave davis spoons and f7 flatfish lures. a good moring or evening for us back that would be 2 to 4 fish sometimes five but we got a few salmon that were 6 to 7.5 pounds. Back that we used zebco delairs to wieght fish so they might have been a bit off but these were bigger salmon that what we call big now granted we had no and than very primitive fishlocators than too so it;s had to compare numbers today where a 10 plus fish day on 4 lines isn't that uncommon most days of the seasons. we also seem to catch more lake trout now while salmon fishing than we did back than where it seem we only cuahgt lakers if we were fishing for them (ae deep and slow) except for in the spring. We are alomost 100% catch and release unless a fish has been hooked to badly to put back or we occacionly keep one to eat. We use a rubber net and take great care in the way we release fish.

Bass on the other hand I think have suffer from fishing presure on winni but there are still alot of them and they are not hard to catch. I don't fish for them but I have noticed that the number of larger bass nesting in our cove in june is not like it was years ago, and I have seen the same fish caught 10 times over in the same afternoon by the parade of bass boats working the shore of the island. Not that there is anything wrong with that and they have the right to fish. but i wonder how that impacts there spawning and what there release mortality is. Maybe we are catching the same salmon 10 times over too? and I wonder what our mortality rate is when releasing Just my thoughts on the subject.

Glen

Glen:

Thanks for your thoughtful comments. They make a lot of sense to me. I guess given the rise in the number of people using the lake, where we are isn't all that bad. Actually, from the sounds of things, it seems fishing is pretty awesome. I guess you have to give credit to Fish and Game and maybe an assist to increased catch and release?

Just my 2 cents but if i remember a quote from John Viar, he said you should never "shake" the hook out of a Salmon that you plan on returning to the lake as it tends to injure them sometimes mortally, Take Care God Bless and Good Hunting LOL Dave From up North

I think the Lake is in a good place as far as the fishing goes. One more thing that I think has changed the lake alot over the years is all of the high inpact building construction on the shoreline especaily the islands. If we look at places like governers island the west shore of long island and other places where the natural shoreline has been replaced with lawns and other things. I think this greatly increases run off into the lake and has lowered water quaitly over the years and this I think has change the eco system and the fishing In anserw to your question I do think fish and game has done a very good job mantaining and managing the fishery in the lake. I'm sure Catch and relase goes along way to mantaining the fishing we enjoy I also
think that most of the salmon and bass fisherman on the lake are both very informed and ethical in the prusuit of their sport. I know that the menbers if this board are and thats goes an long why to protectecting what we are enjoy. Also if you need any advice on setting up your boat for next year post post your questions here You will find a lot helpful advice for guys who realy know what they are talking about when if comes to fishing for salmon and trout on
winnipesaukee

Glen

Glen