thanks for your insight Big John. i am going to flatten the barbs this season. what's your opinion on single hooks ?? i have never tried them but i realize after talking with John Viar that something needs to be done.

Single vs treble is a very controversial subject, but the last time I spoke with fish and game about it they felt the bigger single hooks could did more harm ????

Big John

It's not my experience that single hooks do more harm. Matter of fact just the opposite. Much less time getting the fish out of the net because less opportunity for hooks getting caught in the net, and much less time getting the hook out of the fish's mouth. Seems to me that often when I get one hook of the treble out another gets engorged in the mouth of the fish.
I haven't noticed that a large single hook gets swallowed any deeper than a treble hook.
I think there would be less hook damage done to the fish if we all converted to large single hooks with barbs pinched.
Cal

Maybe they should limit poles per boat then poles per fisherman!!!

I'll be fishing single barbless this spring...I catch & release almost all salmon anyways so why injure them...

I guess the whole thing is a Catch 22, most of us like to pactice catch and release and think we are doing well by the fishery. But the fish are all hook wounded to one degree or another and might as well have been "harvested".

We try to keep the bigger, older fish (or badly hook wounded) as they are over the hill and wont do much for the fishery except eat precious Smelt the younger more hardy Salmon could be eating.

I've never tried barbless hooks, but I do agree with barbs injuring fish and getting caught in the nets, etc. If we can de-hook "faster" and get them back in the water "faster", use rubber nets, etc. the combination of all three should help the fishery, certainly wont hurt.

I think some barbless hook regulations should be tried and it can be enforced easier than some other suggestions.

We just need more and more and then more again awareness, from Fish and Game, the Bait and Tackle Shops, fishing web sites, sporstman rags, etc.

I think we should all be practicing barbless hooks and promote it as much as possible and hopefully we will see an improvement over the next couple of years if we all do our part.

I still don't know about single or treble hooks, but barbless either way should help. Old Fisherman flatens the barbs down with plyers, so we dont have to change our hooks on spoons and flys we have if that works well.

I do think some common sense in "harvesting" (how am I doing Cal) will go along way too, don't throw all those big boys back put em on yor wall and take the badly hook wounded ones home..

Big John

Do they sell barbless hooks? Single or treble?

Louis

Semi-barbless hooks...we flatten the barbs on our plugs that we use for striper fishing because makes releasing the fish much easier... I still think we should self-limit our catch & release/ day for salmon...I'm not convinced it is good for the fishery to catch and release 20-30+ salmon day after day in summer/ early fall when the water is warm

I think F & G laws should require a "limited daily catch" for catch & release...but will fishermen do it ?

Realy tough to enforce, besides most guys are targetting more than Salmon. What about Lakers and Rainbows, wou;d they be included or would it be a Salmon rule alone ??

Allot of people that fish Winni travel 1.5 to 2.5 hours to get there, to catch 2 fish in maybe a 1/2 hour (or less) on Winni, then go home aint happening. Some, like yourself, include an overnight stay in a motel, two quick fish and game over would discourage many out of staters from even buying a liscense.

I think Fish and Game are sensitve to this
and allow more than two fish to be caught by catch and release, better for the area and state economy you could say.

I'm not against it, but realisticly, it cant be policed well and could seriously effect the overall
economy of the area.

But maybe I'm exagerating some ?????

Big John

good point Big Jon. guess i will go barbless and release fish carefully without weighing.
looks like winter is finally here, guess i will hunker down till spring. hope shoulder is improving..

Hello,

Another suggestion to preserve Lake Winnipesaukee's big fish population and fishery might be to impose a slot limit.

Two possibilities (keeping the min length limit) are:

a) 2 fish allowed, 1 > 21" and 1 < 18" so that all fish in between are immediately released. That includes mortally wounded fish in this size range unfortunately. The cusk would benefit.

b) 2 fish allowed < 19" all fish greater than 19" are immediately released.

Option a may preserve the spawning population which would help stocking efforts. Option b would make sure there are always large fish in the lake for sportmans securing the local economy would have visitors. Albeit - photography is needed to make a trophy mount but it means trophies are still there. The possibility of big fish is what will bring anglers.

Just a few thoughts how to protect a fishery that has recently been pounded. Maybe slot b goes into effect for a few years and then option a takes place.

This type of limit can be enforced although like anytime poachers will occur. But as a lot of the fishery is catch and release, limiting what can be kept can change the quality of the fishery without limiting fishing time and access.

Any thoughts?

Chappy.

There have really been some good ideas posted on here about how to help the salmon population. Here's my 2 cents.

I get to fish maybe 1-2 times a month during the season. I usually have 2 guys with me. My boat is old and only 17 feet long with no open bow so space is at a premium so 3 guys in my boat is max. I bring this up cause I can realistically only fish 4 poles without having a tangle job. I have only 1 manual downrigger so my setup is usually in the spring....2 inline planer boards (NO MAST), 1 downrigger, and 1 leadcore. We very rarely catch double digits like alot of you post and we usually fish from 1 hour before sunrise till 11am. I fish with pretty much the same gear as most of you have I just don't have more or better of it. In other words, if 4 guys are in a boat, it's very easy to run 8 lines if you have the right boat and equip. Between the elec. downriggers, Mast planers and leadcore lines with $1000 GPS/fishfinders, it's no wonder salmon are getting hooked wounded. I'm not knocking the guys who run these setups because they are well within the law right now but it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out why we have a salmon population with a high hook wound rate.

I propose a change that could easily be enforced by Fish and Game.

1- No more than 4 poles on each boat and 2 downriggers. If you run a mast with planers, only 2 lines may be run from them.
2- Rubber nets are mandatory.
3- Barbless hooks are mandatory.
4- Charters follow these same rules as well regardless of how many guys are in the charter.
5- Limits stay the same.
6- No Derby for 2 years.

I have a feeling if these measures went into effect, we'd all benefit with a bigger and healthier salmon population. Just my thoughts....

Matt

I totally agree with you but it wont happen the derbies bring in the money to the locals, the only thing bigger is bike week, also if your paying big money like they charge for a charter you would not go with these limits so its a catch 22, also theres not enough f&g boys on the lake to enforce the rules the Marine Patrol have no power when it comes to fishing all they can due is enforce the boating laws, maybe its time to bring the two together like in MA. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all and God Bless the Salmon!!!

Leave the laws alone and fish for more lake trout and that will help the salmon fishery as all f&g stock right now is laker bait.polebreaker

The 2010 Salmon are on track as we speak for more normal stocking size, keep our fingers crossed that they continue. The last 2 years they were 20 to 24 a pound, they are 12/lb right now, hopefully they can get down to at least 10/lb before stocking, 8 to 9 is normal and would be better of course.

There were some problems that could not be avoided the last two years, some goverment restraints beyond their control, looks like they have found a way around it.

I doubt they will listen to any of our sugestions now, we had an oppertunity to speak out and fell short (see original thread on this subject) I would say now they will do what they themselves feel will help. We are in good hands, they will do what is right.

But Hook Wounding is still a major cause of stunted growth.

Big John

Here we go again...target the native fish, lake trout, to prevent the decline of salmon (a non-native species)...as stated earlier we need to look in the mirror and ask ourselves can the resource take the pressure of double digit days?...are there enough salmon to go around to support the guides, the Derby and the recreational fishing pressure?

I target lakers as much as I target salmon.I just don't like it when someone wag's a finger in my face and says You,You,you are the reason why there are no fish!!!!!!!! when the problem was first started by stocking fish so small that catching any first year fish is an automatic hook wounded fish that must be thrown back in the lake...I try to practice as much care to not damage them as anyone.Personally I prefer to eat lakers they are much sweeter tasting,but prefer the fight of salmon and rainbow's.Besides aren't we already regulated to death????polebreaker

That is true when your number is up its on to a new life but in the meantime we should be trying to preserve the fishery for the next generation not wipe them out by fishing till the days end by thinking catch and release the fish that survive its my guess at least half these fish die and become food for whatever and the way the Lake is being fished in the last 5 years its sad. The new gadgets helping people to get into the fish are to blame the fisherman with the coin and know how are responsible for the problem

We self regulate ourselfs...we do not put legal size fish back into the lake that are hook wounded or bleeders.I cannot speak for others on this and once and awhile we get our limit and we stop fishing because we don't want to hook wound a fish we can't keep.It is just the little guys that you have to put back...it is those little ones the ones that are hook wounded enough to live and not grow normal that I believe is the root of the problem.I hope the stockers this year that Big John has posted about will be large enough to survive a lure that the last couple of years was larger than the salmon trying to eat it.polebreaker