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#1 |
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Just wondering if anyone knows where they have gone? I have been fishing in the Moultonborough area for a few years now and usually have a good day catching them. Albeit small ones but still catching them. Same locations as before with none! Yes the rock bass as discussed have been in some spots but are the really able to drive the LM away? Also catching a bunch of smallies in the area
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#2 |
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Excessive bass tournaments over the past years have taken a toll on the bass fishery on Winni IMO.
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#3 |
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Use to fish for SMB but gave up years ago. Still plenty of SMB around but they run very small. I agree that the tournaments have taken a heavy toll.
LMB I never found Winni a great spot for them...maybe down in Lee's Mill and that area. |
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#4 |
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I surprisingly caught one while salmon fishing a week or two before the derby. I caught it in a very unlikely location for largemouths to be. It did not appear to be in good health with a lot of miscoloring on the outside and not very fat. Probably caught and released a dozen times....
Dan
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#5 |
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Largemouth prefer different bottom structure than smallies. Largemouth like muddy, weedy, woody structure...smallmouth like rocky/sandy structure and tend to be deeper in summer. Both like docks and other man made structure.
I don't target largemouth on Winni but catch a few each year where their preferred habitat crosses to preferred smallie habitat. There are many areas of the lake the match the description of muddy/weedy/woody...look for those and find largemouth (and pickerel). As for smallies being small. A few years back we would catch many 1 pounders and few 2+ pounders. That has shifted as those 1 pounders grew up. I now see 2 pounders at standard and 3-4 pounders not uncommon. 1 pounders are the exception. Like everyone I am not liking the increase of rock bass and am sure they will continue to impact the bass fishery. On a side not to Dans comment...a few years back a friend caught a 5+ pound largemouth while trolling salmon over 100 feet of water a long way from shore so you never know. I have also caught smallmouth while trolling over 80 feet of water that puked up still-live crayfish on my deck (that fish came a long way from bottom to find my lure). Point being there are general guidelines but that fish of a life time can be caught anywhere. |
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#6 |
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It's interesting that some believe bass tournaments are detrimental to the bass fisheries considering they release the fish alive, Kind of reminds me how the state solved the catch and release of salmon and lake trout by not allowing the trolling of bait with more than a single hook! Seems many fish were being caught showing wounds from those previous catches... makes one wonder if it should be mandatory to kill the fish as soon as it's caught and not be legal to release them! It's one of the most stupid law they've come up with in a few years and they've been successful at coming up with stupid!
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#7 |
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Unfortunately delayed mortality, whatever it is and we can debate that until the cows come home has taken a toll over the past few decades IMO is the key reason bass tournaments are the single most cause for the decline.
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#8 | |
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Released live? After being punctured, "arrested", held in an overcrowded jail cell, transported to a "foreign" location, man-handled, litterally, to the scales & back, then all dumped in a random location. Sure sounds healthy to me....
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#9 |
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It is the cause, There is no other. Some of these people really believe they're pro's......I should amend this to say that rock bass are probably starting to take it's toll as well. It's rarely 1 thing that causes collapse, But it can happen super fast with a couple of stresses at the same time, I fear that's what we have here. I can say unequivocally that there are less small mouth all ready.
Last edited by noreast; 07-02-2018 at 09:31 AM. |
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#10 |
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I find your statement very interesting. Are you a fisheries biologist? There are many reasons why the fishing on Winni has changed. Blaming tournaments is a knee jek reaction. There are no big tounaments up this way, so there are probably no more than 40-50 bass fisherman out on 50,000 acres plus on a Sunday. Hardly impactful for a healthy lake.
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#11 | |
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#12 |
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How do you explain the outstanding bass fisheries the State of Maine has? IMO the reason is the State of Maine only allows less than a handful of bass tournaments on each water body a year which virtually eliminates the effects of delayed mortality due to bass tournaments.
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#13 |
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Every spring several smallmouth bass clear their nests for spawning right around my dock.They don't last more than a few days because of the large number of bass boats cruising the shore.I'm not a fish biologist but it doesn't take one to figure out that fish that are not allowed time to spawn are not going to increase in numbers.
I enjoy fishing and have had many wonderful meals from my catch...mostly salmon, lakers and love yellow perch when I can find some but sometimes 8 to 10 bass boats will pass our dock in a single day. |
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#14 |
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From the NH BASS Nation tournament on winni 7/8/18. Total Fish Weighed: 348 Total Fish Released: 326. 22 dead fish at weighin, wonder what delayed mortality will be.
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#15 | |
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![]() I've had a few servings from the Bass family of fish in my time, but "Bob's Burgers" did a super-excellent job with their Rock Bass. They disappeared like they were addictive or something! ![]() .
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#16 |
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I'm confused... from July1 - Dec 31 you can kill 5 bass per day. So why are people upset when they get released and only a few die? Sounds to me that these fisherman do care. Let's not start the hysterical issue of them being released in another location creating stress on them! They're still alive ... or would you rather see them released into a beer batter and frying pan?
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#17 | |
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#19 |
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Wondering I there are catfish or bullheads in the lake. Recently thee was a dead fish in the docks that had small whiskers (one on each side of the mouth) and rather flatish head.
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#21 |
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I caught a bullhead/catfish last early spring, right off my dock. It was small. I believe it was a black bullhead, but definitely had whiskers.
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#22 |
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#23 |
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Is "hornpout" used anywhere outside of New England? Most anywhere, they're called catfish but when I find someone who knows the term hornpout, they've spent time fishing in New England.
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#24 |
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I ran into my first bass tournament this week. A bunch of friends of ours were all anchored in a small cove on Squam and we were surprised when 30 bass boats came cruising in. Turns out the beach we had all pulled into was the weigh-in area.
Anyway, our first reaction was very positive. The participants were very nice and great to the kids. The kids loved seeing all the bass get weighed in and then released into the beach. Although we fish, none of us are terribly serious about fishing so it was great to see folks using the lake in a different way then we normally experience. As the day progressed more and more of the fish became floaters in the cove and that was pretty sucky. According to the kids, one of the dead fish was the 5.5lb winner. Not saying it’s good or bad. A significant number of the sunfish my kids catch don’t survive their efforts to get them off the hook so I’d be a hypocrite if I criticized others. It was interesting though. |
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#25 |
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Obviously showing my ignorance since I have not done any fishing for several decades. My youth, however was different as I was know to fish day and night down at the creek with a fire to keep warm on cool nights to wee hours of morning.
------------------------------------------------ I am a retired workaholic and continuing aquaholic |
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#26 |
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I grew up calling this type of fish a hornpout. I learned at an early age that you have to be careful handling them, less you get stung by the horns protruding from the sides near the gills. When we moved to St. Louis in the early '90s, we were introduced to catfish.
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#27 | |
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Last edited by Shrimpbrain; 08-03-2018 at 09:42 PM. |
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#28 |
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It was the happy hookers. Definitely way more than 10boats. My wife says 20 to 25. And as I rule she is right and I’m wrong.
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