Conference wahoo::fishing-v2

It's true... The annual Winnie Ice Derby is now scheduled for February 11th 
and 12th.  

    
    Hi there.   I just spoke to Ron Ulm, who sits on the executive
    committee for the Winnie Derby.  He stated, and I quote "The derby
    has been post poned until Feb 11 and 12."  They made that decision on
    1-25-95.   He stated that there is currently "good" ice in the
    following locations:
    Alton Bay, Wolfboro, Center Harbor, Moultonboro Bay, and Meridith Bay.
    He questioned the safety around Leavitt Beach, saying that the last he
    knew, the ice was about 4" deep.  He said that this past saturday, the
    ice in Center Habour was recorded at about 1 foot.  
    
    I asked if there would be another delay in the Derby, if they gauged
    the ice to be unsafe for the 11th and the 12th.  Ron stated that the
    committee would cancel the derby versus delaying it again.
    
    If you would like to call the Meridith Rotary directly, the number is
    1-603-279-7600.
    
    Good Luck to all who entered the derby.....
    
    Regards,
    Christine
    

    I hope they get the ice in time.  If it's not safe to drive on,
    I think they should cancel.  There is just not enough parking
    around the lake for everyone.   Too much private property!
    
    Gone fishin  (I hope)
    Gaff 

    
    
    Hi there.  I just spoke to Ron Ulm again at the Meredith Rotary.  He 
    stated that the Derby is still on.  He is also advising that everyone
    walk to whichever location they choose on the ice, no driving or
    snowmobiling...due to unsure ice conditions.  He stated that they are
    not allowed to post signs stating the above, but he does strongly
    suggest to everyone to not go out on the ice with a car or snowmobile.
    
    He stated that the only place on Winnie that is still open is the
    broads area, and the area infront of Wears Beach.  
    
    Again, you might want to call to verify the info on the area you wish
    to fish. 
    
    Have a good one,
    
    Christine 
    

    Too bad about not driving on the ice.  I wonder how the local police
    are going to react.  Are they gonna be "nice guys" and look the other
    way at parking violations.  The goodwill will certanly help the
    tourism aspect.  Or, they could turn this into a money maker for
    the towns, ticketing everone they can  :*(
    There is so much posted land and no parking signs, I can forsee
    a real problem.  Even though I entered, I'll probably skip this year.
    
    Gone fishin, not
    Gaff

    Gaffer,
    	
    	I'd be willing to bet it's the latter.  I know from first hand
    experience during the Summer, they'll ticket you for anything they can.
    They don't treat their ramps (listed as public docks) like we do down
    here.  Most of the time you got to be a resident of the town the ramp
    is in to avoid any hassles.  During the off season there doesn't seem
    to be any problems.  
    						Gary

	   The three reasons it's not cancelled...  They're running it 
	because of the political pressure from the towns!  Tourism $$$
	is the reason it's still on!  They'll make up for the lack of
	participants by ticketing a few thousand cars...

				B.C.

    Any trip reports?  Was the ice safe enough to drive on?

    We were able to drive out on Alton Bay. The ice was 12-15 inches thick.
    Fishing was slow for us. One lake trout by jigging a cast master in
    less then fifteen feet of water...Did any one see the results? The
    winner was a 3.? rainbow that was 18 inches....there were fish 19 to 20
    that weighed in less then 3 lbs...It seemed kind of strange. The lake
    trout we caught was nice and fat with a wide girth, 20 inches long and
    only weighed 3lbs...bows don't usually fatten up that much...

    There were a few people who ventured out by Merideth Bay.  Only saw 2-3
    trucks on the ice.  There were about 5 people fishing not far from us
    who pitched a tent on the ice for the night, and parked the truck about
    50 feet from their tent.
    As for catching fish, my brother had a rainbow on Friday afternoon,
    lost it at the top of the hole, and my other brother got a small salmon
    Sunday, and that was it, I got skunked, not even a wind flag.  
    I don't know where they caught the ones that were on the board at
    Derby Headquarters, but there were some nice rainbows hanging up there.
    
    Garry
    
    

    I know 2 out of the top 3 tagged rainbows were caught in Meredith bay.

    Third place was caught by a tipup about 30 feet from me.  

    First place was caught 8:20 Sat morning right in front of the board.
    It was released in '93.

    Second place was supposedly a female that had to be trucked in to the
    board.  Story I heard was it was losing eggs on the way over, lost
    weight was enough to lose the big boat.  Didn't here where it came from
    though.

    Sat had more action than Sunday, mostly windflags on Sunday.

    I didn't catch a thing.  As of 2:30 Sunday there were only 2 lakers
    on the board.  Any legal laker would have taken $80...

    George

    Does anyone know of any names and phone #'s for hotels/motels in the
    Merideth area.  On the water is preferred, but's ok if it's close to 
    Merideth.  Please send mail to SALEM::GIONET.
    
    Thanks, 
    Garry
    

How much ice did Winni loss during this warm spell ?

		Thanks
		 Jim

    
    Jim, my friend brought his ice house up to Alton Bay this weekend for
    the derby and said there was at least 14" of ice. I might be heading up
    saturday to check out the spot and catch some fish;')
    
    Gus

Thanks for the update Gus. I'll have to send in the
registration. I was just looking at the prizes.
Boy these are a couple of nice boats. 

Just FYI here are the prices

1st place 18' center console with 88HP and trailer
2nd place 14' aluminum with 15hp and trailer

Then the rest are cash prices.


		Hope we get some cold weather.

			Jim

    I just got mine back yesterday. We will be heading up on saturday to do
    a little fishing so I let you know first hand on the conditions.

    It sure would be nice to win that 18' center console;')

    Gus 
    
    P.S So who's going to the derby this year?

    I'll be there...... Last year was the first time I missed it in 5
    years. I just didn't like the ice conditions. Looking forward to the 
    weekend away. If you want to win, just fish where my buddy and I aren't.
    That will probably be Alton Bay this year. It's about the only place
    we haven't tried. Everytime we try a new "hot spot" it is usually dead
    and we have yet to see any Rainbows, never mind tagged ones, pulled 
    though one of those holes. For some unknown reasons we do attract some
    of the most beautiful Landlocks that you have ever seen. Only to
    release them immediately. Then when the Salmon Derby roles around in
    May they disappear:"(
                                     
    Bob M�

    The tourny is 2/10-11 this year, right?
    
    Thought I'd read that someplace, but someone over the weekend thought
    different.
    
    -donmac

> The tourny is 2/10-11 this year, right?
    Yes, that correct. 
 
    Will you also be fishing the derby ?

		Jim

    Yes, I will.  Don't know where we'll be fishing though.  While I've
    spent many many more hours than my wife has appreciated fishing for 
    bass on the lake, and a little time trolling for salmon, I've only 
    iced fished up there once, in the derby a few years back, and I don't 
    recall pulling any fish thru the ice.
    
    I understand we're going to join some locals up there who know a few
    good spots.  Hope so...
    
    -donmac (who has yet to power up his father's day ice auger)

    Bob, we will be fishing Alton Bay also. We'll have to try and hook up
    during the derby and compare notes;')
    
    Gus

    We'll be heading up again this year.  Finally found a place to stay
    in Paugus Bay.  We'll probably fish near Derby Headquarters in Meredith
    Bay.
    
    Garry
    

The ice should be nice and slippery this comming weekend.  It really rained hard
up there saturday night and there is no snow left on the lake.  There was one
shanty with about a foot of it's roof sticking above the water this morning in
Merideth.  It was placed in front of the stream comming into the lake by the
boat launch which has open water out about 100ft.

    Headed up North Friday night with some friends. Started fishing Alton
    Bay around 7:00am, just in time for the rain. Thank goodness for ice
    houses. Shortly after the rain started, the wind decided to join in the
    fun. Trying to walk to our traps was a riot, five steps forward, and
    then get blown back ten. Boy, it was slippery out there. Getting my ice 
    box on ski's back to the parking lot was also pretty funny. Three of us 
    trying to push and tug the thing trying desperately not to fall,
    although I did manage to hit the ice with my butt three times;') 
    
    Well we had no flags all morning, not even a wind flag but there was 
    another group that pulled up a nice size pickerel. I hope the fishing 
    picks up for the Derby.

    Gus

    P.S. The ice was a good 10" thick.
                             

    Gus,
    
    Which part of Alton Bay do fish? We were thinking of trying the open
    end where the depths range anywhere from 10 to 100'. Although that does
    leave us open to all the lovely winds and whatever else nature throws
    at us. I did find some nice spots during the spring salmon derby by
    the Sands Resort while trolling. Varying depths from 10 to 50'. We
    were able to take a couple small salmon and a small laker there.
    
    I don't know. It's like looking for a needle in a haystack. When you go
    up there, some days your lucky to get a flag.......
    
    Bob M�

    Bob,

        My friend who has the ice house set up a couple of hundred yards up 
    from the parking area. This is the first time fishing this spot and the
    water depth is 20 to 40' so we'll see what happens derby time. In the 
    past we have fished black point with no success. There will be nine of us 
    fishing so were bound to get a flag, I hope;')
    
    Gus
    
    P.S Ya, I guess that would be a wee bit of a walk!

    So, how did everyone fair at the Great Meredith Derby? That was my last
    one up there for me! We've been going up there for about eight years
    now and have won some money but this weekend just Royally Tee'ld me
    off. 
    
    It's bad enough that your competing against an element that cheats. But
    when they start stealing my equipment that's it for me. After packing
    up Saturday we decided to go check out the board. We weren't gone five
    minutes. There were literally 100's of people and police around. After
    returning to my truck. I came back to find it cleaned out. My two year
    old gas auger being the most painful. No one saw a thing!!!!!!! After
    running around like an idiot I finally figured out that it would be 
    impossible to find. Every other unattended truck had augers in them.
    I guess I just got lucky. It's too bad that the same element always
    seems to show up. 99% of the guys up there are regular hard fishing
    Sportmen but I've had it with the Bad Ones............
    
    As far as the fishing went we had about the same luck. Two flags all 
    weekend. The first one the bait was gone with about 6" of line pulled.
    The second one must have been hit by a submarine. The whole reel of
    100 yards of 35lb test with a four foot leader of 10lb Berkely Cold 
    Weather line gone. In the time it took me to go 50 yrds that fish
    doubled it and then proceeded to break the leader. I would like to 
    assume it was a Salmon but there was one big Rainbow caught around us
    also....
    
    Oh well, I'm done venting......
    Hope everyone else faired better.
    Bob M�

    I'm sorry to hear about your equipment being stolen. It really burns me
    up to hear stories like this! Planning a fun trip and maybe having a
    little added luck of catching a winner has to be ruined by these jerks.
    There should be real laws on the books that would end crime period.

    We had a good time fishing but out of twenty traps, 10 guys, we only
    had 7 flags, one pickerel and a lost brown or Salmon, we didn't get a 
    good look at it before it unhooked itself. We ate well and had a great 
    football game Saturday afternoon to break up the day. The spot we picked 
    though had to much traffic. Lots of snowmobilers and vehicles going by. 

    So what was the size of the winning rainbow???
    
    Gus

    Sorry to hear about your loss.  That really bites.  
    
    The highlight of my weekend was landing a real nice salmon.  Of course
    I had to drop it right back in the hole, but it was fun.  Had to have
    been 5lbs, 26" maybe.  Biggest salmon I've ever caught.  Caught another 
    smaller one (would have been a keeper though).  My partner caught a 
    couple salmon, plus 8-9 white perch. We couldn't find any lakers or 
    rainbows.
    
    I had fun though.  Weather wasn't too bad.  Wind put us in the portable
    bobhouse on Saturday.  I left around noon time on Sunday.
    
    I'm hoping to hook up with that big salmon again in April on an
    ultralight...
    
    -donmac

    WINNING FISH...
    
    according to the radio this A.M. was a .97 lb tagged Rainbow.  That's
    right, a fish less than ONE POUND won the grand prize!!
    
    I'll be the winner was shocked!
    
    
    Me...I'm waiting for ICE OUT!!

    Yeap, I was suprized at the size of the tagged rainbows too.  If I'm
    not mistaken they've only been tagging the rainbows for a couple of
    years, so there are no old holdovers.  Plus most 'stocked' rainbows 
    are typically 12 inchers.  There were a few nice lakers on the board,
    but even if they were tagged from years past, they didn't count towards
    the tagged fish prize, rainbows only.
    
    -donmac

    Geez, sorry to hear about your equipment being stolen, that really
    would ruin a weekend for anyone.  We saw quite a few ignorant or under
    the influence people where we were.  We were set up by one of the only 
    spots you could drive on and off the ice in Meredith.  Some people with 2 
    wheel drive cars trying to get up this hill were a riot to watch, it was 
    good entertainment since we only got two flags all weekend.  Two good 
    size salmon, that was it.
    
    We went to the board Saturday night, and the biggest tagged rainbow
    trout was 1.41 lbs.  All day long on Sunday they were saying this was
    the biggest one so far, we did not hear who won??
    
    
    Garry
    

    Thanks for the condolences.......I screwed up and trusted people...
    Every now and then I do that!!! There is a bright side. When sweeping
    the truck out last night I found one of the major screws which hold 
    either the motor or the blade. This was probably due to the Frost
    Heaves surrounding the place shaking the auger and me up!!! Maybe
    they'll get a face full when they start her up!!!!!!!
    
    As far as fishing goes. If everyone in this notes file gets skunked up
    there. Where the heck do all these fish come from??? Especially the
    tagged ones. I was talking to the director of the derby and he thought
    Waukewaun would be a good place to try. We did, and saw one 6" yellow
    perch caught out of the ton of tilts out there. You can use 6 tilts per
    person so needless to say the place was well covered. The other
    question is, how come so many beautiful Salmon are caught and hopefully
    released during this derby? During the Spring Salmon Derby, which by
    the way is a little harder for the "element" to cheat at, the size and
    quantity are way down!! Must be boat shy.......
    
    Now I have to figure out if I am ging to right off the Spring Derby. I
    think I'ld rather focus my attention on Trophy Browns and Steelhead at
    Lake Ontario. Now that's fishing!!!!!!!
    
    Thanks Again
    Bob M�

    To bad about your stuff Bob. What was the cheating you witnessed?

    I've never personally witnessed any cheating except for the guy who
    I think 4 years ago(?) brought in the largest tagged Laker and was
    waiting to pick up his boat unitl one of his jealous friends let the
    cat out of the bag. It appears, and he finally confessed to while up
    against Grand Larceny charges that he had caught the fish the Wednesday
    before the derby began!!! If that wasn't bad enough he also caught it
    on a Cusk Rig which is only legal for Cusk and not Lakers....
    
    They also now have an exray machine for the hard fishing people who
    decide to bring in their fish with AA batteries, lead and anything
    else which would give them a push on the scales.....
    
    Then there's always the occasional gentlemen you hear bragging about
    the fish in the freezer he's ready to enter. It's very easy to cheat at
    these winter derby's with sub freezing temperatures. Without some heavy
    duty and expensive testing it is virtually impossible to determine when
    these fish were caught. However, when the temperature climbs it is then
    very difficult to cover up and old catch......
    
    FWIW,
    Bob M.