I'll also chime in with an opinion similar to those already voiced, and will add a little more. I am also not a fisheries biologist, just an observant fisherman. According to F&G, Massabesic Lake in Manchester/Auburn holds Northern. I live about 6 miles from there but always opt to drive up to Winni to fish for salmon given the option (same passion as most of you following this site). Every year I have the intention of fishing for Northern in Massabesic at least once but never seem to do it. I really wish there was a Walleye fishery within decent driving distance too. I grew up in a region that supported a wide variety of fishing opportunities including Walleye, Salmon, Steelhead, Trout, Northern, Musky, Perch, Bass, etc. and etc. Having the option to fish for whatever I wanted to depending on my mood was great..took it for granted actually. As a rule, spring was always trout in the streams (mostly stocked), deep water walleye in summer, and occasionally a little Northern activity during late summer evenings. My point is that I enjoyed it all when it was available. I strongly agree with others here that introducing non-native species has the potential to destroy fisheries and I have seen it happen. Those people doing it illegally should be shot and dragged around the street with a Northern in their mouth. Intuitively, it makes sense that the introduction of Northern or Musky could decimate trout and salmon waters, at least at the times of the year when they share the same space. I would think that spring would potentially be the most destructive. However, the devil's advocate in me has to question the REAL risk to trout & salmon being destroyed as a result. I lived in Colorado for a while and a friend invited me to try belly boat trolling (fin kicking) for trophy trout with a fly rod in Spinney Lake, a high elevation Gold Medal water (2500 acres, 53900 AF). I can't describe the experience when the first fish hit my woolly bugger and stripped out line to the backing. When I finally got it in I was surprised to find a 28" Northern on the end. It was only luck that it was hooked in a way that its teeth didn't shred the tippet. OK...there is a point here. If the two species can't coexist, why do they do so in some places? Spinney Lake continues to sustain high numbers of both populations. I suspect it is because there is enough depth and temperature variation to separate them most of the time. Again, I'm totally against the morons who may have done their own bucket stocking. But, I'd still like to understand the REAL probabilities vs. the emotional.
