Conference wahoo::fishing-v2

    I know of at least 3 lakes that have good laketrout and Smallmouth
    populations. Sunapee, Winni and Champlain. I'm sure others can fill
    in more. I'm pretty sure the two species spawn at different times.
    Laketrout in the fall and bass in late may/early June, at least
    in New England. The lake trout fry swim in large schools right along
    the shore, usually in a sandy bottomed cove. The Bass aren't in
    these areas. When they get a little bigger the trout move into the
    deeper parts of the lake...The two species probably don't come into
    contact much...
    
    Marty

    re: .1
    
    The Lake Trout population in Winnipesaukee is under severe stress,
    actually, as witnessed by the small fish taken (and miraculously
    bragged about) and the ongoing research of the F&G into just what the
    problem might be.
    
    I have to disagree with you about the location of the Trout fry and the
    bass. I see them in the same areas, and this year I noticed that, as
    long as the Trout fry are abundant, so are the larger Smallmouth Bass,
    which is what alerted me to the potential conflict. Sunnapee and
    Champlain are two lakes I am not familiar with, having only looked at
    them from the surface. 
    
    My information about spawning times agrees with yours, but I don't
    think the time of spawning is nearly as important as the area
    inhabitated at specific times.
    
    I'm not sure what you mean by "right along the shore," but I usually
    take that to mean the area along shore from 0-15 feet through late June
    in most northern lakes. Is that what you mean?
    
    
    John H-C

    John,
    On Sunapee I've never seen Lake Trout (either large or small) around
    the typical smallmouth hang outs, rocky drop offs usually in the
    upper 20 ft of water. Even in the spring when the water is cold
    they are more likely to suspend over deeper water. In the summer
    they're right on the bottom, 60+ ft down. When I say they hug the
    shore, I mean within 10 ft, and it's only a foot deep or so. We
    see huge schools of them in the early spring in front of our cottage.
    By july they're gone. The decline in laketrout size in Winni is
    due to overstocking of Salmon (50000 a year ???). The rainbow smelt
    population has been nearly destroyed, leaving a bunch of very lean
    salmon and lakers....The lakers in Sunapee seem ok, but the salmon
    are very thin. I think it has to do with a large amount of suckers
    that swim the bottom of Sunapee. The smallmouths tend to be content
    with the abundance of crayfish. The lakers eat some smelt and lots
    of small suckers, and the salmon seem to be full of small insects
    when examined. My guess is they hang down in the cold water, pop
    up to the surface, grab a few black flies, and head back down. Not
    an ideal diet for growing big salmon.
    
    Are you sure your seeing schools of Lake trout fry around the bass?
    When do they hatch, and how big would they be now ? I'm just assuming
    that the fish we see are trout, because we see the lakers come in
    during the fall and make beds in the sand. The next spring there's
    lot's of baby fish, well before the bass and perch spawn. When we
    were kids we'd catch the small ones in buckets. It's not easy to
    tell what species they are.
    
    Marty
    
    

    I've been seeing what I take to be Trout fry in about 30 feet of water
    during the day and in 10 feet of water at night. Their numbers have
    declined (the size of the schools I mean) as the summer has progressed,
    and last week I saw only two solitary ones.
    
    They were about an inch long in late May, and they are about three
    inches long now. Almost transparent. I suppose they *may* be rainbow
    smelt fry, but the locations where I see these fish are far from any
    incoming stream. (Becky's Garden, Birch Island, and Hermit Cove, for
    those of you who know Winnipesaukee.) They are also all prime, and
    heavily populated, Smallmouth Bass habitat, which is how I arrived at
    this piece of speculation. I am, by the way, trying various sources for
    a positive ID of these fry.
    
    John H-C

    Yes, they dump huge numbers of salmon into Sunapee too. It's very
    rare to spot a school of bait fish on the fish finder now, and the
    brook near our cottage, that use to run thick with smelt during
    the spring spawning run, has been empty the past few years. Fish
    and Game should quit stocking Salmon for awhile and concentrate
    on bringing back either the smelt, or some alternate bait fish.
    Then do some realistic studies of how big a population of salmon
    the lake can support...
    
    IMHO
    Marty

    This note is a request for species identification.
    
    I've seen this fish three times. All three died almost immediately
    after retrieval from a minnow trap. They do not survive handling of any
    kind, regardless of how gentle.
    
    All three that I've seen were the same size.
    
    Description:
    
    1 to 1.5 inches long.
    
    Silver.
    
    Shaped like a sunfish. (No "ear flaps" and no color other than silver
    like the rest of the fish around the gills.)
    
    Very very faint vertical greenish bars on its side. (A sign of stress,
    perhaps.) 
    
    Pelvic, pectoral, and anal fins were transparently colorless.
    
    The caudal fin was not forked. 
    
    In fact, it looked very much like a sunfish in all respects 
    excepting its markings.
    
    It differs dramatically from sunfish in its response to captivity.
    
    Found in very shallow walter (3 feet or less) among subsurface rock
    piles.
    
    I've looked through all three of my normally reliable reference books
    (McClane's, Thompson's, and NH F&G) and cannot find this fish.
    
    Does anybody out there know what it might be?
    
    
    Thanks.
    
    John H-C

 juvenile crappie?

    Well, "juvenile crappie" occurred to me, but as far as I know, the only
    crappies in Winnipesaukee are redbreast sunfish and pumpkinseed.
    (Anybody out there who knows where there are some bluegill in
    Winnipesaukee, please let me know where you saw them.) One-inchers of
    their ilk are readily recognizable, and they handle captivity extremely
    well.
    
    Juvenile whitefish also occurred to me, but the tail isn't forked.
    
    One other point, the dorsal fin does not flair when the fish is
    stressed, as it would in a perch, for example. The fish simply expires.
    
    

    John,
    
    Could it be an exotic?  Over the last week a pira�a was caught locally
    (I think Douglas Lake) and a Pacu was caught earlier in the season out
    of Fort Loudon Lake.  Biologists tell us none of these would last the
    winter in Tennessee waters but makes you think twice before going for a
    swim.
    
    -SSS- (2 weeks left at DEC)

    An exotic?
    
    The thought hadn't occurred to me.
    
    Thanks for the suggestion. I'll walk the walls next time I'm in one of
    the Mega-Aquarium stores. Maybe I'll see it.
    
    Long way to go to empty an aquarium, though.
    
    John H-C

    Redbreasts and pumpkinseeds are not crappies. There are two types of
    crappies, black and white. I do not think white crappies exist this far
    north (N.H.), but black crappies (pronounced croppies) do and are
    commonly called calico bass, among other things. Your description of
    the minnow sounded like a juvenile smallmouth.
    
    Chris

    re: .11
    
    I've noticed that in Alabama and Iowa, crappy is pronounced "crappy"
    and refers to every sunfish that is flat (as opposed to basses, which
    are also sunfish). I usually hear it used to avoid the bother of
    distinguishing among the various sunfish, in much the way a lot of
    people call all sunfish "bluegill" because of the blue on the
    "earflap."
    
    I think if you look in one of the freshwater gamefish guides, you'll
    find black crappy/calico bass in the same sunfish section as bluegill
    and warmouth. Maybe not, though. Part of the great freshwater
    mystery....
    
    
    John H-C
    
    

    I've lived (and fished) in Georgia, Alabama, S. Carolina, Tennessee,
    Mass and N.H., and have never heard anyone use the term crappie to
    refer to generic panfish. Not to say that it isn't done, I just haven't
    heard it. I have heard the terms "bream" (pronounced brim), sunny,
    kibbie, bluegill, etc. used to describe sunfish of all types. Crappie
    fishermen are an odd lot and tend to be rather fanatic about their
    fish. They would NEVER call a shellcracker or a redeye by the name
    crappie.
    
    Chris

    
    
    re. .12
    
       I've lived in Iowa all of my life and have never heard anyone refer
    to Bluegill as a crappie, (pronounced croppie).  Although sunfish is 
    an oft used word.  Considering most fishing is done in small farm ponds
    that have been stocked with LM bass, channel cat, or Bullhead,  and
    seem to end up with bluegill somehow, you will hear Bluegill alot.
       Those are about the only fish around unless you head to a fairly
    large lake with regular stockings.
    
    Bear
    
    

    Well, I finally saw it last weekend: a fished out lake.
    
    A Divers' Environmental Survey team looked at 6 sites around Schoodic
    Lake, ME picked by the Schoodic Lake Association last Saturday.
    
    The lake is teeming with benthic life (food for baby fish) and looks
    for all the world like the healthiest of healthy lakes. 
    
    The problem is that there are almost no fish.
    
    We saw two small smallmouth bass, about six redbreast sunfish, four
    sticklebacks, two perch, and about a hundred suckers (all together in
    the same place). There were no young-of-the-year seen from any of these
    species. These were the only fish seen in twelve man-hours underwater.
    
    The "culprit" appears to be overfishing, compounded by some apparently
    ill-advised fish stocking. (Specifically, the people on the lake have
    been asking the state to stop dropping 5,000 salmon into the lake every
    year, to no avail. They feel the salmon compete too well with the local
    lake trout population, and in the end, none of the fish grow. I'm
    tending toward agreeing with them that the salmon may well be a large
    part of the problem.)
    
    In the meantime, here is a lake without an acid-rain problem, with an
    extremely healthy food-web center, and no fish to be seen.
    
    [I should say that I _know_ that our having seen so few fish is not
    necessarily an indication that they are not there. However, in that
    much time underwater, looking at that many different habitats (6), we
    would normally have seen more fish than we could count, even in a less
    healthy lake.]
    
    FWIW
    
    John H-C
                          

    re: .6
    
    I captured a couple of these fish in a minnow trap set in 15 feet of
    water about a month ago. In the trap were two redbreast sunfish of
    comparable size.
    
    They are all doing quite well sharing a 70-gallon tank with a crayfish
    from White Pond, some winkles from Lake Winthrop, some mussels from
    Winnipesaukee, some planispiral-shell snails and a redbreast sunfish
    from the Shawsheen River.
    
    I handled them *very* carefully, and they have survived.
    
    They have turned out to be bluegills.
    
    Yes, there are bluegills in Winnipesaukee now. This is news to me. I
    have yet to see an adult bluegill anywhere in the lake, but they have
    to be there somewhere....
    
    John H-C

    While fishing in Littleton this weekend I noticed the water was filled
    with what looked like jelly fish.  They were smaller than dime but
    clearly visable to the eye and there were thousands of them all over
    this pond.  Is this possible, if so are they harmful to the fish
    population?
    
    Brian

    Brian---
    
    Congratulations! You have seen freshwater jellyfish! 
    
    What pond in Littleton?
    
    They are *NOT* at all harmful to the fish population. They are just as
    much a part of the freshwater environment as crayfish, shrimp, and
    finfish. They live the early part of their lives as hydras, then go
    through a brief pelagic stage before metamorphosing into the medusa
    stage we recognize as freshwater jellyfish (FWJF). 
    
    They are actually quite rare, and to the best of my knowledge are found
    mainly in mesotrophic ponds and lakes. Last year when they appeared in
    Lake Boone (Hudson/Stow), it was the first time they had been seen
    there in 30 years, and there were writeups in various newspapers,
    including the Globe. People came from all over NE to see them. (I did,
    too, not having seen any FWJF for almost 10 years. Next time you're
    there, I highly recommend taking a mask and snorkel and watching them
    swim beneath the surface.)
    
    There are only 8 lakes in NH where they have been reported. The number
    of host lakes for FWJF in MA is lower, I believe.
    
    I was surprised a couple of weeks ago when I gave a presentation on
    "Aquatic Habitats from a Diver's Perspective" to a lake association in
    Maine. When I got to the slides of the FWJF, nobody in the audience
    said a word. (These are great slides, and most folks just automatically
    ask why I have pictures of jellyfish in with my freshwater slides.)
    Turns out they have FWJF in their lake every October, like clockwork.
    
    The presence of FWJF medusas lasts between 2 and 5 weeks (that's based
    on not very reliable guesstimates). They won't sting you, and they
    won't hurt the fish. Fish don't seem to like to eat them. They are
    *very* fragile.
    
    Anyway, if you have an aquarium, you might want to nab 10 of them or so
    and let them reproduce. They'll be invisible for most of the year until
    they break out into the medusa stage. 
    
    
    FWIW
    
    John H-C

    John
    
    They are all over the front part of Knopps pond in Littleton/groton.
    
    Thanks for the information.
    
    Brian

    RE: FWJF, and other wierd freshwater species, this is what i came
    across, i was fishing in millbury,hopefully by the time i finish
    i'll remember the name of the place, anyway i was fishing near a
    dam along the shoreline,and it varied between 2-8'deep and i noticed
    like these colony's of who the hell knows what. atleast i know i dont
    its a first for me.
    anyway, these things i saw we're connected to the bottom and to each
    other along the reef, they kinda reminded me of a mushroom but we're
    fully shaped all the way down to there connecting point like a bunch of
    baloons, they we're mostly white but had some dark colors on them. they
    we're kinda spread out 4-5,,,4-5 there it was strange i did however
    poke at one with my pole they we're rubbery and could be penatrated.
    nothing came out. and it gave me a wierd feeling like something out of
    a movie. like the movie cacoon or something????
    has anyone seen such things?
    
    NOTE:: and i wasnt drinking buzzedwieser.
    
    						(Gill_Raker)

    If these things look like some kind of freshwater coral, round kinda
    look like a brain or fat mushroom, I have seen them in Eagle lake in
    Rutland, they are formed on the rocks between the dam and the lake.
    
    Strange things to see, gave me the willeys too
    
    Brian

    re: .20 & .21
    
    Bryozoans.
    
    So far, I've seen four different kinds in New England waters.
    
    Colonial filter feeders. Some of the colonies are truly bizarre in
    appearance. I can't really tell from your description whether what you
    saw is one of the four I've seen. Thus far, I have good closeup color
    slides of two of the four. Like FWJF, they are a normal inhabitant of
    standing freshwater. They feed on phytoplankton, which is why you see
    them so close to the surface in less-than-crystalline water.
    
    They'll form colonies on just about anything that will sit still. There
    is one kind that prefers to take up residence on waterlogged wood,
    expecially thin sticks perpendicular to the surface. They form a hollow
    globe around the stick. The globe is made up of individual colonies
    and has a sort of quilt-like appearance, where all the patches are same
    color and size. Underwater, these usually appear a dull reddish brown.
    Above water, they are a brilliant orange. The thing I like about these
    is that they always startle saltwater divers into thinking there may be
    more to freshwater habitats than they thought. The individual bryozoans
    have "zooids" that protrude from the body. These zooids are what
    captures the prey from the water. When the colony is feeding, all the
    zooids are extended. If you touch a side of the colony, or if you wave
    your hand in front of it, all of the zooids in the colony retract, and
    the globe becomes almost an inch smaller in diameter. I like to watch
    the other diver's eyes while he/she sees it for the first time.
    
    Sorry about the long-winded reply.
    
    John H-C

    Oooops. I just read .20 and .21 again.
    
    I just assumed in .23 that you were talking about something that seemed
    about an inch high.
    
    There are two kinds of sponges common in NE freshwater. The "blanket
    sponge" (informal naming conventions used here) spreads out over rocks.
    Near the surface, it is usually bright green because it has a symbiotic
    relationship with a certain kind of blue-green algae. If the blanket
    sponge is growing on the *under*side of a rock, it remains the
    white-beige color that is natural to it, since the algae won't try to
    set up residence where it can't get sunlight to photosynthesize. The
    other kind of common sponge is the "elkhorn sponge." It sets itself up
    on a silt bottom. It really looks like elkhorn coral in miniature.
    
    Normally, you would only find these sponges in their natural
    beige-white color in well-oxygenated water too deep for the algae to
    get enough light to photosynthesize (except in the rare case of a
    blanket sponge growing on the underside of a rock). In Winnipesaukee
    and a few oligotrphic lakes in Maine, you only find the white-beige
    sponges below 50 feet.
    
    Apologies again for this second long-winded reply.
    
    John H-C

    I didnt think they we're sponge because they seemed/looked hollow
    and inflated, but glad i wasnt the only one to see such a thing.
    it was a first for me.
    
    						(Gill_Raker)

    re: .24
    
    I'd be happy to take a look. If I don't know what it is, I will take a
    sample to one of my scientific resoures and have it identified.
    
    Can you give me directions?
    
    Thanks.
    
    John H-C

    re: 66.4
    
    Does anybody know anything about the mentioned "sheepshead" fish?
    
    Native range?
    
    Habitat preferences?
    
    Diet?
    
    Reproductive habits?
    
    That these fish consume zebra mussels is news to me, and I'd like to
    know more about them.
    
    Thanks.
    
    John H-C

    
    
    
    John,
    
       Sheepshead are  a big sought after fish here on lake O for certain
    people, they are about the same use for food as cusk (chouder), but
    carp eaters fish for sheepshead also.
    
        they look like a carp,but they have very strong jaws they have been
    known to flatten a hook gap (crush the hook) their main diet here is
    soft shelled crabs, but I have caught a couple on NK 28's.
    
      I know they are in lake champlain too, a friend of mine catch's them
    and gives them to a neighbor, the only thing he does is splits the
    skull open and removes 2 little bones that have a L on them, they are 
    called lucky bones.?
    
                                           Lee
    

    Hmmm....
    
    The "Sheephead" that I am familiar with is a salt water fish.  I've
    seen it only in Florida.  They are not a "swimmer" but more of pier
    dweller.  They kind of poke around.  The fish has very striking 
    thick, longitudinal stripes that are black and white.  They have
    a dorsal fin that opens up when you pull them from the water...great
    for stabbing the throats of hungry pelicans (but not good enough:-)
    
    It's actually not a bad looking fish.  I have heard that people eat
    them.  Then again some people eat blowfish.  It's one of those fish
    that gives you a false feeling of excitment initially when you hook
    one.  I always let them go and have always enjoyed seeing the buggers.
    
    Is this the same fish that you see in the Great Lakes??
    
    /brett  

    
    	re. Sheepshead.
    
    	I don't think that it's the same fish(or related to) the salt water
    one-but I may be mistaken.  
    
    	As far as their consming ZMs, from what I remember, they WILL eat
    them-but they are not a main food source.  But I guess that if the ZMs
    force out all of the native food supply, and the fish wants to stay
    where it is, it will eat them.
    
    	Chuck(still trying to get over the thought of that boat hull
    encrusted...yuck)
    

    Went to Knopps Pond during lunch today to show the FWJF to a couple of
    saltwater divers. The FWJF are gone already. Sunfish everywhere
    (including my first sighting of a "red-ear" sunfish), mostly blue gill.
    Saw a lot of young-of-the-year largemouth bass, but no adult ones. My
    buddies did see one mammoth lm when I was looking in another direction.
    Pickerel all over the place, some of them full size (New England
    freshwater barracuda). 
    Do folks keep the bass they catch in Knopps Pond? 
    It seemed odd not to see any large bass in a pond that is such a perfect
    largemouth bass habitat.
    
    
    John H-C

    I thought it might interest some people that Knopps Pond has a rare
    turtle living in it. No tail, as aggressive when riled as a snapper,
    but smaller than a snapper with a unique shell. I saw one and picked it
    up to look it over on my first visit there. I had it by the rear of its
    carapace, and it did its utter best to bite my fingers. (A snapper
    would have been able to.)
    I've been unable to identify it in any of my guidebooks, despite its
    destinctive markings. (All my guidebooks are for generalists.)
    Any turtle experts lurking in the FISHING conference?
    
    John H-C

    re: .last
    	How about entering a description? I'm no expert but I'll give it
    	a shot.
    
    	I assume when you say that it had no tail, you mean that the
    	tail on this individual was either bitten off or that it was
    	a deformity. I've never heard of a turtle species without a
    	tail.
    
    					Robert.
    
    	P.S. - If you couldn't identify it, how do you know its rare? :*)

    OK, memory snapshot here:
    
    About the size of an adult painted turtle with a snapping turtle's
    mouth/jaw appearance and a "stinkpot" musk turtle's coloring along the
    upper and lower jaws. Rather than a tail, it had a rough, bulbous
    protrusion under the rear end of its carapace. 
    
    (I discount the possibility of it's being a maimed musk turtle because 
    it was twice a musk turtle's maximum size of three to four inches.) 
    
    Its carapace was somewhat ridged rather than domed. I'm embarrassed to 
    admit that I did not turn it upside down to examine its plastron. 
    It behaved as aggressively as a disturbed snapper, much as
    softshell turtles reportedly behave. It did not make much of an
    exertion to hide from me as other turtles, including snappers, tend to
    do. Perhaps it expected me to know to stay away from it?
    
    It appeared healthy in all respects, energetically trying to bite me
    and quickly swimming away --- though not very far --- when it saw me
    and when I released it. It did *not* retreat into its shell at any
    time, even when I lifted it out of the water to show to my buddy. (I
    had thought the snapper was the only turtle that did not pull into its
    shell when threatend, and that only because it is physically incapable
    of doing so. This turtle's shell seemed roomy enough for it to hide
    in.)
    
    For the record, I'm aware of the possibility that severe illness could
    have been manifested by these traits:
    
    1. Maimed tail
    2. Uncharacteristic aggressiveness
    3. Unwillingness to withdraw under plastron
    4. Inability to engage in extensive escape procedures
    
    The thing is, even if I put a tail, any tail, on it, I still don't find
    a turtle with the same jaw/markings combination in any of my field
    guides. (FWIW, the red-belly turtle and the spiny softshell turtle do
    not appear to have tails.)
    
    Care to hazard a guess?
    
    John H-C

    John
    
    We caught many 1 1/2-2lb LG in Knopps this summer.  But for every bass
    we must have hooked Pickerel at a ratio of 5 to 1.  Wouldn't such a
    high denisity of Pickerel keep the bass population low?  In fact I was
    seriously thinking of culling out all the pickerel we were catching. 
    
    Does pickerel deplete bass populations
         
    Brian

    >Does pickerel deplete bass populations?
    
    Yes, they deplete the population of everything small enough to consume,
    as do bass both large- and smallmouth. There were pickerel-dinner-size
    largemouth all over the place, as well as other sunfish, but
    too-large-to-be-consumed-by-anything-but-people largemouths were what
    my buddies saw one of and what I saw none of. Just struck me as odd
    given the habitat. Yellow perch, including a couple monsters, were seen
    many times. (These and suckers are primary pickerel food because they
    reproduce in such huge numbers.)
    Ah, well, maybe I was just in the wrong part of the pond that day....
    
    John H-C

    John
    
    Yes but does culling the pickeral population help.  I know that day
    between the four of us we must have caught 20 pickeral 12-14" in
    length.  Would killing these pickeral help improve the bass population
    or just screw up the eco system?
    
    Brian

    I saw something earlier this evening that might amuse or bemuse a few
    folks.
    
    My smallmouth bass has been looking stressed for the past few days
    (dark and striped/spotted and not moving around much), so I decided to
    move him to the tank inhabited by an adult redbreast sunfish. Both
    tanks are 35-gallon tanks. 
    
    Netting the bass and moving him to the other tank took about five
    seconds. 
    
    The two fish started checking each other out immediately. The bass is
    longer (about 9 inches), but the redbreast sunfish is fatter. All in
    all, they are about the same size.
    
    Both fish changed color within seconds. The redbreast sunfish's breast
    got a brighter red and the rest of him got darker---I could see the
    same barred markings on him that I could see on the smallmouth. The
    smallmouth also got darker.
    
    Then they started trying to mate. Holding in one place, side by side,
    they wriggled their bodies in unison about an inch above the bottom.
    They did this over and over again for about five minutes. (Or maybe
    longer, for all I know, but I had to go somewhere.) They'd do it for
    awhile in one place then swim to another spot as if they were glued
    together and start doing it there. When I finally thought to look at
    the thermometer, I saw that it read 64 degrees. Maybe a coincidence,
    but then again maybe not.
    
    When I came back four hours later, the bass was pale green and swimming
    around. She (I now believe he is a she) won't let the redbreast sunfish
    have a moment's peace, chasing him all over the aquarium and nipping at
    his fins.
    
    If the redbreast sunfish looks worse for the wear tomorrow, I'll move
    the bass out again.
    
    FWIW
    
    John H-C

    Some things that might put the last reply in perspective:
    
    The smallmouth bass and redbreast sunfish are related,  both being
    sunfish.
    
    The weather has been warm the last few days, which over time raised the
    temperature in both unheated tanks to the magic 64-degree mark.
    
    Male smallmouth bass start building their nests when the water hits 62
    degrees, and the females come into the shallows to be nabbed at 64
    degrees. That is the same magic breeding temperature for redbreast
    sunfish.
    
    So, with the water at the magic temperature, both fish seemed to
    recognise a member of the opposite gender and proceeded with their
    programmed response, desregarding the inability to interbreed, and
    disregarding that the female had no eggs to drop, given that she won't
    be ripe to drop eggs until late next spring (assuming there is a cycle
    involved in egg development).
    
    So, basically, the temperature dropped into the high 50's for awhile,
    and then popped up to 64 after several warm days, and the fish were
    suddenly actively trying to breed, even though it was a physical
    impossibility.
    
    Does that help explain why I entered the previous reply in this topic?
    
    John H-C

    I spent some time reading through _McClane's New Standard Fishing
    Encyclopedia_ the other evening and happened across the entry on the
    "freshwater croaker."
    
    It is also known as "sheepshead" and "white perch."
    
    Is there anybody out there familiar with both white perch and
    sheepshead?
    
    Are they the same fish?
    
    The illustration left me in doubt. They may well be the same fish in
    some places. I mean, what is known as a white perch in Lake
    Winnipesaukee may well be known as a sheepshead in Lake Erie.
    
    Anybody out there know?
    
    Thanks.
    
    John H-C

    	Hey!  Welcome back John.....  We've missed you.  So Santa was good
    enough to give you a REAL fish reference book!
    	I believe McClanes lists any commonly used names for fish as well
    as the proper names.  Such as Walleye are also called Pickerel in some
    areas.  I believe the freshwater sheepshead is common in the Great
    Lakes and someone from that area could give better info about it.  My
    memory (sometimes it works!) tells me that the sheepshead and the white
    perch as we know it here in New England are very different fish.
    
    					B.C.

    
    	Sheephead and white perch are not the same fish.  We have both
    here in Champlain.  White perch look much like a yellow perch without
    the green/yellow markings.  Sheephead get much bigger than the white
    perch.  
    
    - Rob

I think sheepshead are called buffalo in Oklahoma and Texas. We caught
some on small chrome spoons while fishing for bass in Oklahoma.
Definitely nothing like the white perch in New England. If anything, they
looked like scup we catch in Narragansett Bay but with a damaged nose.

    Common Names --- Spoonbill, spoonbill cat, shovelnose cat, and 
    spadefish
    
    Description --- The long, flattened snout and the pointed gill cover 
    extending to the middle of the body make it nearly impossible to 
    mistake the Paddlefish for any other species.
    
    Table Quality --- The firm, white meat is very good eating, either 
    fresh or smoked. The eggs make excellent caviar. Some commercial 
    caviar contains both Sturgeon and Paddlefish eggs.
    
    Sporting Qualities --- Paddlefish are strong fighters; their large 
    size and the strong current in which they are usually found demand 
    very heavy tackle. They rarely take a baited hook, but can be caught 
    with snagging gear. Snag-fishermen use stout rods, heavy line with a 
    big sinker at the end, and several treble hooks tied 1 to 3 feet 
    apart.
    
    Habitat --- Most common in slow-moving stretches of large rivers and 
    in adjoining backwaters, particularly where the bottom is muddy. 
    Paddlefish can survive in reservoirs if they have access to a free-
    flowing section of river that meets their spawning requirements. They 
    prefer relatively cool water, from 55 to 60 F, and stop feeding when 
    the temperature exceeds 68 F.
    
    Food Habits --- A Paddlefish feeds by swimming about with its mouth 
    open wide, filtering plankton from the water with its closely spaced 
    gill rakers. As it feeds, the bill sways slowly from side to side. 
    Contrary to popular belief, the bill is not used to root organisms 
    from the bottom, but rather to feel for concentrations of plankton. 
    The huge gill chamber enables Paddlefish to filter enormous quantities 
    of water. Fish occasionally are found in Paddlefish stomachs, but 
    probably were swallowed by accident.
    
    Spawning Habits --- Spawn in early Spring when the water level is 
    rising, usually at temperatures of 50 to 60 F. The eggs are deposited 
    randomly on silt-free gravel bars that were exposed to the air or 
    barely submerged at normal water stage. The parents do not guard the 
    eggs or fry.
    
    Age and Growth --- Paddlefish grow rapidly in their early years, then 
    growth slows considerably. They reach ages 30 years or more.
    
                      Typical Lengths (inches) at Various Ages
    Age         1     3     5     7     9     12     15     18     21
    North      8.1  27.2  36.0  48.0  53.3   55.9   62.4   62.8   64.2
    South     19.1  35.8  53.2  61.0  64.9   67.7   ----   ----   ----
    
    
                 Typical Weights (pounds) at Various Lengths (inches)
    Length     34    40     46     52     58     64     70     76
    Weight     5.7   9.7    14.5   23.6   29.2   40.4   55.2   67.5
    
    
    World Record --- No official record, but a 142-pound, 8-ounce 
    Paddlefish was caught in the Missouri River, Montana, in 1973
    
    -----------
    From _Freshwater Gamefish of Morth America_ by Dick Sternberg, 
    published by The Hunting & Fishing Library. Reproduced without 
    permission.
    -----------
    
    The Distribution Map over the drawing and photograph shows the range 
    to extend from central/western Montana in a shallow bowl through the 
    Dakotas and Minnesota, skirting the southern tips of the Great Lakes 
    and extending to southwestern New York, including western 
    Pennsylvania. It shows a crude V-shaped distribution down to 
    Louisiana/Mississippi/Alabama. Basically, the Paddlefish distribution 
    follows the Mississippi River Basin, from Montana to New York to the 
    Gulf of Mexico.
    
    
    John H-C
    

    
    
    
          John
    
        thanks for the reply. the info is just what I was looking for.
    
                                     thanks again,
     
                                             Lee
    

    
    	FWIW, in this months(Feb) Readers Digest, there is an article on
    	poaching, and a section on Paddlefish being caught and killed for
    	their caviar.  I am still under the impression that this fish is a
    	protected species in some areas. 
    
    
    	Chuck
    

    Can anybody out there give me a description of what a 6-month-old lake
    trout looks like?
    
    I just looked at an enlarged version of one of my slides from a lake 
    survey last year and am having doubts about my initial species id
    (banded killifish) of the fish in question.
    
    Thanks.
    
    John H-C

    I'm hoping one of you wizened old anglers can help me out here.
    
    I don't see enough trout from the surface to tell the difference
    between a brook, rainbow, or brown trout from the surface. In fact, I
    don't see enough of them underwater to recognise the difference between
    a brook and a rainbow. 
    
    Ok, I admit it: I really can't tell one trout from another until it's out of
    the water.
    
    So here's the reason I'm asking: I've been seeing live trout in the
    Shawsheen River. I've seen three of them in the last month. This is
    something of a breakthrough for the Shawsheen, since all the trout that
    get dumped in late April/early May are either caught or dead by the end
    of June. Here it is 6 months later, and at least 3 of the creatures
    survived the summer. Maybe our efforts to clean out the channel are
    having some effect already....
    
    Anyway, if any of you all have so tips on identifying trout as they
    swim by the bow of your canoe, I'd sure like to hear them.
    
    Thanks.
    
    John H-C

    John,
    
    From the perspective of swimming by the bow, that's a tough one... 
    But, this time of year the brook trout are in their spawning colors, 
    very dark coloring.  One of the easiest markings for me to spot is 
    the white edge on the pectoral fins and the other set of fins on the
    rear portion of the belly.  The backs are darker than brown and
    rainbows.  In clear water, with the sun on them, the tails flanks
    appear redish orange.  
    
    Brown trout and rainbows are harder to differentiate when in the water.
    They both have much lighter backs.  Sometimes I can see a little of the
    red lateral stripe on a rainbow's side.  Rainbows have more of an olive
    colored back and the brown trout are more of a golden brown.  
    
    Tails on all three are not forked, square tail is an old name for brook 
    trout.  
    
    That's the best I can do over the tube.  If you want to observe all
    three varieties, go to the Swift River in Belchertown.  There are 
    plenty of all three varieties and this time of year they easily be
    seen.
    
    Regards,
    Greg
    

    Thanks!
    
    I did notice some white on the edge of the pelvic fins (couldn't make
    out the pectorals), but I have a hard time believing there would be 
    brook trout in the Shawsheen River.
    
    Does F&W stock brook trout or are do they only exist where they spawn
    and grow up?
    
    I'm actually looking at these fish from a low-riding kayak, so I'm a
    lot closer to the water and to the bow that I would be in a real canoe.
    
    Do rainbows and browns not show any white at all on their fins? If not,
    then the edging on the pelvic fins might indeed indicate a brook trout,
    no?
    
    As you can tell, trout field ID is not my area. In fact, it's very rare
    for me to see a trout. One of last year's highlights was my swimming
    beside a brown trout for about 10 seconds before it spooked when I
    decided to see whether it would let me touch it.
    
    John H-C

    John,
    
    The white is predominately a brookie trait, I can't remember ever
    seeing it on brown's or rainbows.  The rest of the fins on the
    brookie, besides the white edge, is like the tail this time of 
    year, reddish/orange/amber.  The fins on both rainbows and browns
    are about the coloring of the back, light olive to golden brown.
    
    Regards,
    Greg

    John,
    
    The white line on the Brookie's fins is very apparent, in fact if the
    fish is holding above a dark sedimented bottom, it may be about the
    only thing you can see.  If you have good light though, the line is
    very bright white and outlines the fins very well.
    
    I presume a guy that spends as much time on the water as you knows
    this, but if not, you absolutely have to have a pair of polarized
    sunglasses!  When trying to look through the surface glare to spot
    fish, the difference is like having cataracts removed from your eyes
    (I presume).  I would expect this to be even more true when observing
    from a kayak, because of the extreme angle at which you're trying to
    look through the water surface.  To get the most from the glare
    reduction of the polarized lenses, you can rotate your head slowly with
    respect to horizontal.  You will be able to see the glare increase and
    decrease as you do this.  When the polarizing lines in the lenses are
    perpendicular the majority of light waves of the reflected glare, they 
    will have their maximum effect, and cut out the most glare.
    
    Glad to hear that you are seeing hold over trout.  The more proof we
    can gain that our rivers and stream can hold trout year round, and even
    support naturally reproducing populations, the better our chances are
    of convincing anglers that it is worthwhile for them to release some or
    all of thier catch.
    
    I'm also happy you are seeing some of your hard work on the Shawsheen
    paying off.  Keep up the good work.
    
    Happy Trails...
    
    Al

    re: .51
    
    Thanks for the pointers, Al, and for the encouragement.
    
    About all the time I spend in/on the water and not knowing what
    "common" trout look like, well, all I can say is that the trout aren't
    all that common. That is, I am seldom anywhere near a body of water
    when or right after it is stocked. (Anglers flocking over a small body
    of water like crows around a dead cow give me a queasy feeling I like
    to avoid.) When all the dumb hungry trout have been caught, there just
    aren't that many around anymore, and those are the secretive survivors.
    
    I've read that the Swift River has a lot of trout in it, and I may
    venture over there some day just to get a tutorial on trout spotting,
    if I can figure out where it is. I wonder how all the anglers would
    feel about a kayak drifting by?
    
    About the success of our efforts in the Shawsheen, well, I try not to
    get overly optimistic. 1992 was the Summer of Pinatubo. The ocean was
    consistently about 8 degrees colder than "normal" all through the
    summer, and there were so many fish around that people who weren't
    diving locally couldn't believe what they were being told. (I took some
    photos off Cathedral Rocks to prove that visibility was low only
    because you couldn't see through all the fish.)
    
    Anyway, freshwater was colder than usual, too, and colder water hold
    dissolved oxygen better, so the holdover of at least three trout in the
    Shawsheen River could be the result of cooler weather more than of our
    struggles to restore the channel. We'd all like to think our trips to
    the ER were rewarded this way (with surviving salmonids), but we're a 
    pretty realistic bunch of maniacs <grins> who don't want our hopes to
    soar just so they can crash and burn later.
    
    John H-C

    John,
    
    The Swift River is located in Belchertown, Ma.  The area of the river
    where the brook trout are spawning is located upstream from the Rt. 9
    bridge.  This area is FF only and catch and release.  All you have to
    do is walk up the bank of the river to spot trout.  As far as the kayak
    is concerned, fisherman do not typically appreciate boaters...  What a 
    shock!!!  The Swift up in this area has some riffles that are not much
    more than ankle deep.  I know a kayak or canoe doesn't require much
    water, but if you put your kayak in here, you will have to walk it thru
    a few spots...
    
    Regards,
    Greg  
    

    
    John,
    
    With all of our dive time spent in Webster lake, my son'n I haven't
    even seen a trout either.  Nor in Wallum lake either.  But of course
    they can see a lot further than we can. At least largemouth bass
    can.  Evidence to that was while we were cruising the bottom the
    smallmouth are friendly and like to follow along. So we'd dig them
    a crawfish or two and feed them.  I dropped one crawfish and this
    largemouth zoomed in, grabbed it and zoomed right out of my sight 
    again. Hmmmm, I tho't.  Dug another and from about 5' up I let it
    go while looking to see if there were any I could see. Again one
    came from out of sight and returned there in a flash!
    
    Spotted just about everyother species in there but trout and suckers.
    
    Fred

John and others..

I've caught holdover trout in the Shawsheen and its tributaries.  Browns
tend to outlive the Brookies and the Rainbows.  Browns seem to be more
territorial and most likely will position themselves either below a bridge,
deadfall, boulder or undercut bank.  They also are nocturnal feeders so
are more difficult to spot.  The brookies are more social and therefor
swim together unitl they either succumb to a flashy metal object, a garden
worm or that #$%^en power bait.  It just takes them longer to smarten up.
A few do smarten up and find a cool place to spend the summer avoiding the
otters, mink, turtles and herons.  They don't grow very rapid though in the 
Shawsheen.  There also isn't much good spawning habitat as most of the
bottom is silt.  I do know of rainbows surviving in the Sharsween as well.
How they overcome the odds is a mystery as they  typically present a
larger target than its stocked cousins.   Most of the brown trout stocked
in the Shawsheen (and tributaries) will not have that classic German brown
appearence and color. 

If you keep pulling the tires and shopping carts out of the river I don't
know where all the trout will live.... 8^).

I think anadromus (sp?) fish are prevented from travelling upstream by a
dam in Andover.  I'm not sure how this problem can be solved without
allowing Lamprey eels to pass as well.  

Keep up the great work on the river....

    re: .55
    
    WHOA! When was the last time you caught a holdover trout in the
    Shawsheen?!?!?
    
    From what I and others have been able to glean from soem rather
    widespread conversations, the last holdover trout was caught in the
    Shawsheen a little over five years ago, and it was a brown.
    
    You're right, BTW, about the dams in Andover being the only serious
    obstacle to anadromous fish. We're working on removing the Stevens
    Street dam (legally, that is) and we are starting talks with the owner
    of the Ballardvale dam about building a fish ladder.
    
    re: a few back
    
    Thanks for directions to the Swift.
    
    John H-C

responding to .56   to answer when...

On 8-Jul-1985 I released a couple of browns in the riffle right below  
X street on the Shawsheen.  Got em on a #14 light Cahill.  Catching
trout on this river in July is an exception.  The water was low and
weedy.  So as not to stress out these fish any further I left them
alone and did not return.  These fish were my pals as I had released them
before.

26-Mar-1986 the Shawsheen was stocked with Rainbows.  On Friday, March
28th I was fishing X pool below X street.   There was an early hatch
of fluttering grey caddis.  I released three of the just stocked rainbows.
One fish I was working towards was the sole fish keying in on the caddis
hatch.  As I held this scrawney brown I recognized him as the fish I
had caught the previous year.  I released him.  Three days later I
got talking to an elderly gent who fishes from a wheelchair and has
been fishing the river for eons.  He told me he caught (and ate) a
scrawney holdover brown.

More recently, some of the feeder brooks on the state owned land behind
TEW-MAC have surrendered holdover browns, brookies and an occasional
rainbow.  These fish can come and go into the Shawsheen with no impediments
and since it is tough going are not overfished.

    Gee, I think I know exactly where X street is and what its name is. <g>
    
    It was in the pool under the railroad trestle that I found myself face
    to face with a brown that must have weighed about 2 pounds just last
    month. We cleaned out the channel so at least the fish has room to
    leave the pool if it wants to.
    
    Thanks for the information. Care to join us on a paddle through
    Billerica this Saturday? Start at 8:30 at Middlesex Turnpike and end at
    the Whipple Road/Brown Street bridge around 12:30. We're posting No
    Dumping signs and picking next year's Billerica cleanup sites. We have
    two extra canoes for anybody who wants to join us.
    
    John H-C

    John D: "X pool" and "X street"? You oughta be ashamed of yourself!
    
    				;^)  ;^)  :^)
    
    /dave 

    does anyone know the nesting habits of pickeral?  do they build nests
    like Bass?  I was all over the water sunday and saw a multitude of
    nests and usually a couple of pickeral real close by.  I am not sure if
    they were on the nests and I scared them off or if they were waiting
    for the bass to move so they could scoop the babies.
    
    brian
    

    Pickerel breed in very shallow water right at ice out. In small rivers,
    you'll see the water roiling in still backwater areas. Around eastern
    MA, that's usually around the beginning of April, though it was
    probably a bit later this year. They don't build nests as far as I
    know; the way they shake up the bottom in their breeding frenzy
    wouldn't allow a nest to stay intact.
    
    Carp basically do the same thing, though later, when the water is a bit
    warmer.
    
    White suckers head for deep (a foot or so) riffles where the current is
    moderately swift. They're done by now, too.
    
    It is not at all unusual to see pickerel hanging out near sunfish
    (bluegills, bass) nests. If the male guarding the nest is small enough,
    it makes an easy meal. I think the pickerels hang out there to feed on
    all the smaller scavengers coming in to dine on sunfish eggs, in effect
    supplementing the male sunfish's protective efforts.
    
    Just speculation, though, sorry.
    
    John H-C

    Do carp leap out of the water in chasing food?
    
    I was fishing the merrimac and saw a lot of very large carp rise to the
    surface then dive down after barely breaking the top.  At the same time
    there were huge rises that we could hear and see the aftermath but
    could not see what was actually jumping.

    
    Brian, It could have been shad. There usually in the 6 to 8lb range and
    can be very acrobatic.  

    Gus

    Brian,
    	This time of year, the carp are spawning. Sometimes they even jump
    clear out of the water but mostly roll across the top in some mating
    ritual. A lot of times they appear to be wrestling with each other. In
    one pond in Auburn Ma, I've seen 3-4 pairs splashing around at once. A
    pretty cool spectical to watch. Probably what it was....
    
    							Butch

    
    they sure do, Ive never witnessed such erratic movement until
    i've witnessed it, unfortuneatly after I took the boat through 
    500 yrds of lilly pads to find that they were carp. then also found
    that they do that in 1 ft of water also, I thought they were some
    monsters on a feeding frenzie.
    					Ronni

    Brian,
    	
    	I've seen and heard the same thing you saw quite a few times on the 
    CT. river.  Yes, unfortunatley they are CARP.  It's drives you nuts
    listening to this and like Ronni said, hoping it's a big bucketmouth on
    a feeding frenzy.
    						MM

    Yeah I admit, I motored over to many of those big splashes and spent 10
    minutes trying all kinds of stuff.  I remember my first exposure to
    carp.  I was driving through Laconia and always saw a river with a
    bridge and lots of people fishing.  That day it was raining so there
    was noone there.  I pulled in, pulled out the rod and started fishing. 
    I saw these huge brown things rise and got all excited, huge brown
    trout.  I fished worms until I finally caught one, it was huge bent the
    rod in half, took me time to land.  Pulled it out and saw the homliest
    fish you ever saw.  At that moment a cop roared into the lot when he
    saw me land this thing.  He jumps out of the cruiser and walks over
    saying what did you catch.  I picked up this thing said no idea.  He
    looks at the wiskers, and I swear the drool coming out of those lips
    and said oh......a carp.  that pause told it all, I cut my line and let
    it go.  My first and last carp.  
    
    Brian

Shad in the Merrimack average more along the lines of 1-3 pound.  The males don't
get much bigger than 4 and females much bigger than 8.

    Would one of you kind souls with a few spare minutes and a book handy
    please enter the Latin and common names for the known salmonids,
    including those whose names do not start with "salmo?"
    
    Thank you in advance.
    
    John H-C

fishies swimies in freshies waterius

;-)

    North American Salmonidae - five families
    
    Latin      			Anglish
    -----			-------
    		Charr
    		-----
    
    Salvelinus fontinalis	Brook trout, squaretail, speckled trout
    				(aka king of the hill, best of the bunch,
    				and the most beautiful fish in the world)
    	"      alpinus		Arctic charr
        "         "		Blueback trout (landlocked version of A.C.) 
        "      	  "		Sunapee trout	    "         "    "   "
    				(disputed- some recognize as a seperate
    				species S. Aureolis)
	"      malma		Dolly Varden
        "      namaycush	Lake trout, togue, mackinaw
        "      siscowet		Siscowet, Lake Superior only, similar to
    				lake trout, not sure it's still recognized
    				as a seperate species
    
    		Trout
    		-----
    
    Salmo Salar			Atlantic salmon, landlocked sal., ouananiche
      "   Apache		Apache trout, Arizona trout
      "   Trutta		Brown trout- not native to N.A.
      "   Clarki		Cutthroat trout-numerous subspecies such as
    				Lahontan, Yellowstone, Piute
      "   Gilae			Gila trout-Gila River, N.M.
      "   Aguabonita		Golden trout-high altitude, western U.S.
      "   Chrystogaster		Mexican golden trout-very small area in Mex.
      
    		Pacific salmon
    		--------------
    
    Oncorhynchus Mykiss		Rainbow trout, steelhead, Kamloops
    	"        tshawytscha	Chinook salmon, king salmon
    	"	 keta		chum,dog salmon
    	"	 kisutch	coho, silver salmon
    	"	 gorbuscha	pink, humpback salmon
    	"	 nerka		sockeye, red salmon
    	"	   "		kokanee salmon- landlocked version of sock.
    
    		Grayling
                --------
    
    Thymallus arcticus		Arctic, western grayling
        "     thymallus		same as above, different book
    
    		Whitefish
                ---------
    
    Coregonus autumnalis,nigripinnis,hoyi,artedii,johannae,kiyi,sardinella,
    	      alpenae, nipigon, zenithicus, reighardi- all members of the
    	      Cisco family found in New England, Great Lakes and Canada -
    	      mostly lake fish from 6-20 inches long - never caught one
              myself though
    
        "     clupeaformis	Lake whitefish
    
    Prosopium williamsoni	Mountain whitefish
         "    cylindraceum	Round whitefish
    
    
    Stenodus leucichythys	Inconnu, sheefish - Canada and Alaska
                                good gamefish- up to 50 pounds
    
    
    Above not guaranteed to be all inclusive or 100% accurate. Most gleaned
    from A.J. McClane's "Field Guide to Freshwater Fishes of North America"
    printed in 1978. John H-C, as much time as you spend in freshwater, I'm
    amazed you don't have a copy of this "bible".
    
    Chris
     	
    
    

    Well, as a matter of fact, I *do* have a copy of that particular
    "bible," as well as copies of a few others, but I'm nowhere near my
    study today, and I was sort of hoping somebody like you would pop in
    with the information. Now my curiosity is sated for the day. <g>
    
    Thanks.
    
    John H-C

    Did they decide the rainbow trout isn't really a trout?  Its name used
    to be salmo gairderi (sp). 
    

RE: .72

	  It's nice to see that someone else in here has a reference
	book -and- uses it!

	  I should pick up one of those, sometimes my McClane's Standard
	Fishing Encyclopedia is a bit much to dig through as it covers not
	only the fish of the world but lots of other stuff related to fishing
	including a fair amount of entomology and equipment.  It's printed
	in 1965 though. 8^)  I think I'm due for a new one, but it was $75
	back then!
					B.C.

     Only dispute I have is that the blueback trout is salvelinus oquassa.

    What is a "blueback trout?" What kind of habitat does it prefer, and
    what is its regional range?
    
    Thanks.
    
    John H-C

    As I recall it's native to the Rangely lakes region of Maine. There
    was some discussion back in the early 1900's as to it being the same
    as the Sunapee trout, at least according to one of the books I have.
    On a side note the same book says the cod stocks off New England were
    seriously depleted during the 1800's. A program was started in which
    they hatched/stocked millions of Cod to bring back the population. I
    guess we never learn!

    According to McClane, the Blueback and Sunapee were once thought to be
    seperate species, but are now generally considered to be landlocked
    arctic charr. The blueback is now extinct in all but a handful of small
    ponds in Maine.
    
    Chris

    And yes, the rainbow trout was reclassified in 1988 as a Pacific
    salmon.

I thought the trait that differentiates Pacific salmon from other salmonids 
is their cult-like adherence to the spawn-till-you-die philosophy ;-)

	RE: .81

	   That's why they fight so well, look what you're interupting!!!

					B.C.

    Screwy smallmouth bass nesting behavior at my end of Winnipesaukee 
    this year:
    
    The three-year-old in front of our cabin has built three different
    nests and seems unable to decide which on he prefers. All three nests
    have been there for more than a week, and none has any eggs.
    
    The five-year-old who last year assumed the spot previously owned by
    Moby Bass has constructed an extremely misshapen and oddly ordered (in
    the concentric circles of gradually smaller stones) nest, also with no
    eggs.
    
    The six- or seven-year old who has built his nest in the same place
    for the last four years about 30 feet west of the five-year-old's nest 
    has constructed a picture perfect nest that is full of dead eggs 
    covered with mold.
    
    There are at least five "traditional" nest sites that are without
    nests this year for the first time in as long as I can remember.
    
    On top of all this, the shoals of females who usually hang out just at
    the edge of the dropoff this time of year, waiting to be picked up and
    herded to a nest, are also absent. The places that usually have 30 or
    more bass hanging out in anticipation of a suitor had only pairs and
    trios waiting yesterday.
    
    Any of you bass fisherman on Winnipesaukee noticed anything peculiar
    this year?
    
    John H-C
    
    

    Walked down the hall and asked the resident fanatical bass fisherman
    whether he had noticed anything peculiar about bass mating behavior
    this year.
    
    Indeed he had. He described what could only be described as bizarre
    behavior, as I did in my previous note. He has been fishing for bass
    from Winnipesaukee to Cape Cod in the last three weeks and has noticed
    strange behavior across the board. Given that that range covers four
    climate zones, I'm disinclined to blame it all on the rather severe
    winter we just had. He claims the same thing happened in 1993, but I
    have no memory of such behavior in that year excepting that the bass
    spawn happened two weeks later than usual.
    
    FWIW, as ambivalent as I am about bass (alien species to New England
    that has destroyed so much for the purpose of entertaining anglers/cute
    and friendly as puppy dog who hasn't eaten in a week to a diver), I'm
    wondering with something on the verge of alarm WTH has happened to our
    New England waters.
    
    Also, FWIW, there were newborn fish swimming around in the shallows.
    Maybe the lake trout newborn survived the normal annual slaughter by
    nesting bass this year?
    
    Looking forward to figuring it out...
    
    John H-C 

    It's not just Bass that are screwed up. Reports on the internet and
    from other anglers is that there are still Steelhead in the Salmon
    River!!! They are usually cleared out by this time and they are still
    catching them.
    
    It appears that the local waters are heating up quickly. I'm getting
    surface temps in the low 70's. Considering the fact that I was reading
    high 40's a month ago that's a pretty servere rise. Isn't it????
    
    Maybe that's what is to be expected after a long winter and a cold,
    WET, Spring.
    
    FWIW,
    Bob M�

    What about the high and low pressure changes? I cant seem to remember
    this nunber of fronts come through, and only to have it change again in
    a day or two.
    
    Don

    Atmospheric pressure deltas do not affect the weight of the water,
    which is the source of the pressure beneath the surface.
    

    They may not affect the water but they sure do affect the fish!
    Bob M�

    I suspect that any changes to the behavior of shallow water fish (e.g.,
    sunfish, spawning salmonids) would be the result of weather pattern
    changes attributable to atmospheric pressure changes.