Conference wahoo::fishing-v2

    
         To answer your question about the smelt it is more water
    temperature than time of year. I'm sure the angle of the sun has some
    play in it as it seems to with everything else in nature such as deer,
    birds, etc...
    
         I've always been under the impression that the smelt begin their
    spawning ritual between the water temperatures of 40 to 50 degrees. I
    don't believe that the late ice out will screw up the salmon fishing.
    However, it may consolidate it somewhat as once the ice cover is off
    the water will warm up quicker than it would with an earlier ice out.
    
         Just as a side note I was ice fishing a small lake two weekends ago
    and this past weekend I was trolling and catching both browns and
    rainbows on the same pond. After the ice is below 6" it may only take
    few days depending on the weather as the ice this time of year becomes
    porous and more susceptible to rain and especially to wind.
    
         This late ice out will probably make for a great Salmon Derby up
    there on Winni.
    
    FWIW,
    Bob M� 

    The weekend of April 15/16, the ice was still 3" thick, but lots of
    cracks and it wouldn't support any weight.  The wind pushed large flows
    back and forth, and many large open spots were seen (though changing).
    Icebreaking with a canoe was "interesting", especially the time I
    unstuck an icejam and had to run for it.
    
    Melvin Bay was pretty much open, and someone was out in the whitecaps
    with what seemed to be a stringer hanging over the side.  I spend some
    time Saturday morning around Long Island bridge with no luck.  Not
    enough salmon dues paid yet I guess....
    
    bill

    
    Spoke with a guy at Zyla's today and he told me Winnie was iced out
    Monday (Apr 18) except for around some of the islands.
    
    I was in Alton Bay Sunday and when we left around noon there was 
    still ice at the lake-end.  I guess the wind really did a number
    on it!  
    
    I left with a 24" salmon - he was real lean though - only a little 
    over 2 lbs - wintered in the river, still had the big kipe!
    
    					Steve

	Something to think about....

	An old timer told me that Salmon tend to hold near the edges of the ice
	just before complete ice-out. He found finshing pretty productive if he
	trolled near this edge.

    
    
        Went up to Merrymeeting lake on Monday with a friend. Ice was also
        out except for a few edges. Marked a few fish but got skunked, the
        wind was really making it rough out on the water, we even had snow 
        flurries! 
    
        Gus
    

    Anyone know if Nubanusit has iced out?
    
    -donmac (planning a little trolling for saturday)

    
    I have my doubts about Nubie being iced out yet - I've been trying
    to get a reading myself though.  I think it was only 3 1/2 weeks 
    ago I was bouncing the auger motor off the top of the ice - LOT of
    ice this year.
    

    I think the ice out at Nubie is usually 2 or 3 weeks after Winni.
    
    Mark,
    

    Nubanusit was iced out on sat am.  A little ice in some coves.
    Saw a 21" lake trout, in someone else's boat unfortunately.
    
    -donmac

    Well I guess it's now official! According to ch 9, the lake (Winni) was
    declared "ice out" on Saturday. This means "THE WINNI QUEEN" can make
    a complete voyage from Merideth, to Wolfeboro, to Alton Bay and back
    again. Now someone should let the salmon know. 8-)
    
    I also heard that Echo Lake, up in Franconia Notch, is still frozen
    pretty good, some exposure along the shoreline. That was as of Thurs.
    
    Does anyone know the conditions of some of the smaller lakes up around
    Winni. I would venture to guess if Winni is clearing out that maybe the
    smaller ones are already open but would like to know for sure. My
    brothers & I are heading up there this weekend.
    
    Also any reports on how the trout & salmon fishing is doing up around
    the lakes region and possibly up towards the notch?
    
    Thanks 
    Alan
    

    
    
    
                              1-603-627-9702

    Ice on Winny was just in some of the coves and just a few at that.  I
    spent 5 hours and caught squat, but my depth finder kept me entertained
    at around 12-15 feet.  The water temperature was 38-40.  Meanwhile, I
    was given 2 of three fish a friend caught in Squam, where there was
    still some bays iced in.  The big one was 24" and made great steaks. 
    He claims his was 3-4 inches bigger.  
    
    bill

    I also tried Winni this weekend and got skunked. There was a report
    over the radio on a 6.5lb salmon taken on a live smelt three colors
    down. I got one hit on a Grey Ghost but lost the fish. I also saw a
    fish taken from the dock in Alton on a Fly rod. We tried some smelt
    purchased at the shop at the Alton rotary but they were going belly up
    within five minutes of putting them on the hook. We were later informed
    that the store had these smelt for over a month.
    
    Jim
    

    	Thanks for the replies. Looks like it might be a half-decent
    weekend weather wise, now if the fish hold up their end of the
    bargin........
    
    Alan

    Did anybody head up for the Winny Derby for some of that fabulous
    fishing this past weekend? I did and I can honestly say that it wasn't
    worth it, for the fishing anyways. We basically got blown off both
    Friday and Saturday except for a few hours.
    
    Had one hookup late Saturday afternoon after the wind stopped howling.
    When the pole went over I assumed it was on bottom after going through
    a shallow area. I never stopped to think that the other three poles 
    were fine and that the drag was going out faster than the boat was
    moving. After giving it three hard tugs to unsnag it I see this salmon
    come screaming out of the water about 150' behind the boat. Sh*t! my 
    buddy screamed! I never saw a rock jump like that before. That's all he
    had to say. That fish went straight for a rock pile and wrapped the
    line. SNAP!!!!!!! First and last fish for three days of trying.
    
    Today's paper had some of the results. Over 3,000 people entered and
    only 118 salmon and 13 lakers caught. That figures to be less than 
    4% of the entrants catching fish. It was a humbling experience.
    
    Was anyone else up there???
    
    Bob M�                     

    I was up there last weekend with my two B-laws. We fished Browns Basin
    on Saturday to stay out of the wind. We did manage to get one 19inch
    salmon along with a good size smallmouth. Both fish took live smelt and
    were released. No luck on Sunday but the weather was nice. I heard
    people say the that the water temp was still too cold for the fish to
    be active. Maybe next time!
    
    Jim

    We entered the Derby and even headed up early thursday to get a jump on
    things.  YOu're right, the fishing wasn't worth it.  Thurday afternoon
    was good on the lake, but Friday morning we wnet out at 5:30 and
    back in at 9:00.  Just couldn't keep fighting the weather.  We caught
    one small salmon and one small laker (neither keepers) on Saturday. 
    Sunday was great weather, but too late for entries, of course.  Sunday
    wehad about 4 releases, but no hookups.  Lots of work for so few fish!!
    But, we had a great time!!  :-)
    

    We went up for the 3 days. We were also fishing in Browns basin
    Saturday. After taking a few waves over the front on Friday we opted
    to try and fine calmer waters! No strikes Friday or Saturday. Sunday
    we caught two lakers, 19 and 21 inches...no entry, off rattle snake
    island. I'd have to dispute the water temp theory as I had great luck
    at Sunapee last week, and the water was 3 degrees colder then Winni (42
    vs 45). I boated a 5lb, 4lb and several smaller lake trout, lost 2
    large salmon, boated a small salmon, and caught my largest smallmouth
    ever at 21 inches and 5lbs...this was two days worth of fishing! We had
    friends who were not entered into the derby that we spoke with later
    Sunday. They fished the southeast side of rattlesnake, drift fishing
    smelt, and said they couldn't keep a line in the water...fish on all
    day long with the largest salmon running 4lbs...That particular area
    has never been productive for me before so we didn't troll it. The fish
    I caught in Sunapee were also not in an area that I would expect to
    find fish. I have a hunch that fish may migrate from southern sections
    of the lake back towards the north shortly after ice out, and due to
    the late ice out this year fish weren't where I'd normaly look for them
    during the second half of May...at least this seemed the case for
    Sunapee. I'd like to try and plot fish location versus the number of
    days after ice out so I could establish a reference database to help
    in determining where to start fishing in future years...
                                                            

    Yes, Salmon are tough buggers to figure out!!! I think that's why I
    find fishing for them to be more of a challenge and therefore more 
    exciting.
    
    My method has usually been to try and figure out what the smelt are
    doing. I love fishing rattlesnake but due to the high winds we stayed
    closer to home. Well, I found clouds of bait fish. My fish finder was
    going black in 80' of water. It would read 80' and two seconds later...
    2' for the next 30 yrds. They were being beaten on to the southern
    shoreline from the northerly winds. The bigger fish were also there but
    I think we found too much bait.... Sort of like taking a sandwhich to a
    picknick��!!
    
    I have to agree that Salmon love cold water but there have been other
    times like when I was fishing Moosehead Lake, ME. last July in 59
    degree temperatures with only 4 colors out on the leadcore and we ended
    up catching 20 salmon and 5 lakers. Why were they there?? I don't have 
    a clue! We just happened to stumble on them. 
    
    They just don't do what they are supposed to!!!!!
    
    Bob M�

    Does Moosehead suffer from oxygen depletion at the lower depths during
    summer, which could account for the trout and salmon being at 4
    colors (top 20-25ft)??? I agree it's hard to figure them out, but I'm
    convinced there's a reason for there actions, I just haven't figured it
    out yet!

    No, I don't believe there is any problem with the water being
    oxygenated. However, there is a bait fish depletion. Which could
    account for the fish being at that level to feed on insects as the
    baitfish continues to dwindle and the levels of stocking increase year
    after year. They just haven't caught on like New York and New
    Hampshire. They fail to see the correlation or at least they fail to
    implement smelt restoration programs such as they did in Lake Ontario
    and are finally beginning to do at Winni. As a matter of fact I read
    that Moosehead Lake was slated for a stocking of somewhere around
    25,000 salmon this year. Haven't seen the figures for the smelt run as
    of yet. Those fish need something to eat!!!
    
    Your right, there is a reason for everything they do and by the time
    you seem to figure out what they are doing.....there already doing
    something else.
    
    I never said how I happened to stumble on those fish that week. The
    next cabin to ours is a ski bum from Colorado. He works all winter and
    takes the summer off from the mountains and spends a few weeks every
    year on the lake. He knows that I'm a fishing nut and takes great
    pleasure in his practical jokes. Well one day he had taken his son out
    fishing and when they came back I asked him how they did? He said they
    were killing them on the other side of Moose island and that I should
    get my butt out of bed first thing in the morning and get some myself.
    
    5:00 a.m. I had my half a sleep wife in the boat and we cruised
    directly for where he said. Throw on a couple of Wobblers and begin to 
    troll. Five minutes later my wife is wide awake and screaming that she
    has one on. The day continued like that till we had about 10 of them
    caught and released except one for breakfast. After getting back to
    camp I went over to thank him for the tip and show him the 23" we had
    for breakfast. He almost fell out of his chair after hearing what
    happened!!! The whole story he told me was a crock. They weren't even
    near Moose Island!!! We fished there the rest of the week with super
    results.
    
    The moral of the story is that I never would have even thought of going
    there that time of year. If it wasn't for his joke we probably would
    have ended up with one or two for the week (which is good for July).
    
    Ya never know,,,
    
    Bob M�

    A question on trolling a live smelt.  My line gets tangled - not just a
    bit, but a lot.  I just imagine that live smelt twirling at the end of
    the line - rather than wiggling.  Is there any tricks to stopping the
    spin?
    
    bill

    I think you're trolling way too fast. That'll do it. So will trolling
    at any speed if you hook 'em through the back near the dorsal fin. Try
    hooking them through the eye sockets, and think SLOW.

    	I never really did much salmon fishing but I had some success by
    copying what I saw one successful person doing. I hooked the smelt
    through the lips and just drifted rather than trolled. I used only a
    small split-shot for weight.
    
    	If they're hitting well near the surface, this seems to work pretty
    good. Other than that, I've only ever trolled lures (super-duper,
    Kastmaster, Shad-rap, and streamer flies).
    
    	RAYJ

    I haven't done a lot of trolling the smelt but some, the locals in
    Maine taught me how they choose to do it. They sew the smelt on, troll
    it 18-24" behind a large spoon or flasher. They take a long needle,
    thread it with line, small treble hook tied to one end. Then go up the
    butt and out the mouth with the needle, pulling the treble hook into
    the fishes butt. Then up thru the head by the nose with the needle,
    and lace it thru the loop which gets pulled tight against the fishes lips.
    They do not live long, but they don't live long anyway when they're being
    trolled. The theory here is that the fish will die pretty quick no matter
    how you hook it, this way they troll straight and look realistic even
    after they are dead, so each smelt will last until it has been hit/ruined
    by a fish.
	The way most locals use the live smelt for their own action is to
    hook them and let them float, doing their thing. No trolling, and the
    bait lives longer.
	At first when I tried this I found my line twisting as well,
    someone suggested add a swivel (even thought the flasher already had
    one. The double swivel eliminated the twisting problem.
    	Now, if I could only find more time to fish :) 
              

repl.                      <<< Note 372.25 by SUMMET::BENDEL >>>

   This is the way my father-in-law used to rig his "shiners" at the Quabbin,
(he'd never use smelt;-);-);-)) and he'd troll lead line off the Prescott
Peninsula.  He seldom got skunked (he was fishing for lakers, but would
occasionally hook up with a salmon.)  If anybody asked what he caught 'em on
he'd always tell 'em a Mooselook Wabbler.  Unfortunately for me he took most
of his secrets with him to the great beyond a couple years back.

Al

    The ice is all but out of Winny - the only place I saw ice was in
    Meredith and center harbor bay.  I was as far south as Sandy Island,
    and looking out on the broads didn't see any (was a bit hazy, so hard
    to tell).  One hit - nothing in the boat... :-( but I did see someone
    with three nice ones and a claim that he put 7 back.  As for spinning
    smelt - I tried thru the eyeballs rather than thru the lips with only
    slightly better success - trolling at idle speed - maybe I need a
    parachute drag.  In any event - the season has begun!
    
    bill