Thermocline?
 

Thinking about starting my salmon trolling season soon, as my boat is now available for valet.
Anyone done any trolling yet? If so, are they still on top or has a thermocline set up yet? Thanks!

No thermocline till end of June at best Hill.... Fish top 10' if your going for salmon, water still in 40's!

Good luck!

Dan

Like Dan said not thermocline to speak of right now. The water is very cold. I fished up there last weekend from Thursday until Sunday. We fished productive areas from past years with little to show for it. Out of the 4 days we only managed 4 fish total. 2 Salmon, 1 Rainbow, 1 Laker. We even tried live bait and that didn't help. That was it. I fish this same time every year and usually report 40 or 50 fish caught on the boat. Hopefully it was a fluke and not a pattern for the year.

Get used to it for the next couple years until the missing age classes return... https://www.winnipesaukee.com/forums...ad.php?t=24290

The 4 year olds are nice though!

Dan

One of the salmon we got was just over 3.5 pounds! That was a nice one Dan!

Salmon fishing - past 2 weeks
 

Hi;

I have been fishing the lake for over 50 years. I have noticed that every year the number of salmon has been declining. About 5-6 years ago, me and a buddy, caught 28 salmon in Center harbor in about 4-5 hours. We could only use 1 rod each as the activity was so intense. We had 2-3 "double-headers". Since then, the action is horrible, maybe 1-2 fish per outing.

Over the past 2 weeks, I have only caught 3 salmon. Something is not right !!! The live smelt and shiners that AJ's bait has been supplying has been great. I hope they figure out what's going on, because this is driving me nuts. I have noticed that the 3 salmon I have caught were all badly scarred(scales missing), and 1 had half of it's tail missing. I wonder if the many otters that I've seen recently are attacking and feeding on the salmon????? The other thing that I've noticed is the absence of surface activity (slurping) early in the am and later at twilight is, almost non existent, whereas, years ago, the salmon would be attacking the bugs frequently.

I would appreciate any comments or confirmation of my thoughts.

WINNI BOB

Read this informative, thread by ISHOOT308

https://www.winnipesaukee.com/forums...ad.php?t=24290

They need to ban fishing tournaments in NH. They might be good for the locals making money, but the fisheries are being harmed, especially the winter derbies.

Not the winter derby cause
 

The winter fishing derby is not the cause of the salmon population decline. Salmon may not be taken through the ice.

Dave

The derbys are damaging to the lakes end of story .

There is a Spring Winni derby as well...targeting Salmon, lakers and rainbows.
Matter of fact, it’s next weekend...I truly believe the derby kills more salmon than gets put on the board.

The derby kills a LOT more salmon than what is put on the board. The mishandling of released fish, non use of rubber nets, hook wounding, etc, etc, shows up and kills way more fish than what is “boarded”. You can see the results of the derby by the amount of floating fish for two weeks following the derby. I see it first hand living full time on Welch Island. What many people do not realize is the derby was initially started to REDUCE the amount of salmon in the lake...nuff said!

Dan

Not disagreeing
 

My comment was directed at swnoel's comment that the winter derby kills salmon. Salmon can't be taken through the ice.

I do agree with Dan's comment.

Dave

Really... clearly ice fishermen are taking the fish out of the water, onto the ice, holding them up, snapping pictures, frigging around trying to save their 25 cent hook, allowing their gills and eyes to freeze, then if they don't hide them in the snow, release a stressed and possibly damaged fish back into the water. Can't be taken through the ice? If you're serious about protecting our fisheries end all the derbies!