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Author Topic: 2020 Fishing Rules  (Read 2302 times)

Offline Anomaly

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2020 Fishing Rules
« on: Dec 12, 2019, 07:26 AM »
Just got  this email from IFW, Fisheries Division Management Supervisor, Joe Overlock:

"Hi Joe,
Books are being printed now and should be going out to licensing agents the week of the 23rd. 
Take care!”

Maybe the info will be online before that... Hope so!

"You can’t buy happiness, but you can buy fishing gear and that’s kind of the same thing.” 

Offline Bosshog

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Re: 2020 Fishing Rules
« Reply #1 on: Dec 12, 2019, 10:00 AM »
Thanks Clamfarmer!
Bait goes on the hook... hook goes in the water...smelt is in the water...OUR SMELT!!!

Offline collegeicejunkie

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Re: 2020 Fishing Rules
« Reply #2 on: Dec 12, 2019, 04:48 PM »
Thank you for the info clamfarmer!

On another note what’s everyone’s thoughts on expanding regulations for panfish?

Offline woodchip

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Re: 2020 Fishing Rules
« Reply #3 on: Dec 12, 2019, 05:04 PM »
Need no laws on pan fish. when laws are put in place for pan fish  less are kept and the population increase in the lake puts more fish and less feed for them reducing the size because of too many for lake .When they put a quaintly limit on white perch in Sabattus lake the size of fish went down. wrong move  ,Ponds with heavy metals in the watershed  should allow no limit so they can use for fertilizer in gardens  to help reduce heavy metals  .The smaller the fish the less heavy metals  in them if one prefers to eat what he catches     

Offline Anomaly

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Re: 2020 Fishing Rules
« Reply #4 on: Dec 12, 2019, 06:38 PM »
Thank you for the info clamfarmer!

On another note what’s everyone’s thoughts on expanding regulations for panfish?
Here, I don’t believe such a thing has been any kind of issue. In MANY other states, panfish are heavily targeted as food, but more so as a commercial product. It is common to see yellow perch, crappie, bluegill, sunfish, bullhead, etc on restaurant menus. Fisherman go out EVERY DAY to get their limits and take them to market! There are places to sell all these species just like you might find clam shops along the coast here in Maine. States have BOTH size AND bag limits because of this kind of pressure and market.
"You can’t buy happiness, but you can buy fishing gear and that’s kind of the same thing.” 

Offline woodchip

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Re: 2020 Fishing Rules
« Reply #5 on: Dec 12, 2019, 07:35 PM »
Commercial fishing in large lakes with nets are completely different than around maine with hook and line. Out in the salt water the shrimp, the smelts  cod the laws all punish the rod and reel and not the seines set inside islands  or  draggers. The  NH introduction of coho was doing great but seineing bait for the lobster industry killed that.

Offline Anomaly

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Re: 2020 Fishing Rules
« Reply #6 on: Dec 13, 2019, 01:15 AM »
Commercial fishing in large lakes with nets are completely different than around maine with hook and line. Out in the salt water the shrimp, the smelts  cod the laws all punish the rod and reel and not the seines set inside islands  or  draggers. The  NH introduction of coho was doing great but seineing bait for the lobster industry killed that.
Guys commercial fish with hook and line! The limit is like 25 fish of a given species, especially o yellow perch and crappie. I’m NOT talking about nets. BTW, it IS legal to sell yellow perch, crappie, bullheads and sunfish here in Maine. I have and I know I know some other guys have. Others have bartered with restaurants for meals in exchange for their catch.
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Offline The Rusty Crab

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Re: 2020 Fishing Rules
« Reply #7 on: Dec 13, 2019, 06:55 AM »
Screw bag limits etc. Let's stop the bucket bios first. White perch in the fish river chain now. Had plenty of yellows there already. Crappie spreading like the flu. Save the brook trout right? We are slowly becoming the south warm water fishery and the sacred heritage north brook trout waters

Offline Anomaly

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Re: 2020 Fishing Rules
« Reply #8 on: Dec 13, 2019, 07:10 AM »
Screw bag limits etc. Let's stop the bucket bios first. White perch in the fish river chain now. Had plenty of yellows there already. Crappie spreading like the flu. Save the brook trout right? We are slowly becoming the south warm water fishery and the sacred heritage north brook trout waters
i completely agree with no bag limits on pan fish at this point. Meanwhile, plenty of waters get stocked with brookies every year that are really only warm water fisheries anyway. I’d much rather see self-sustaining fisheries in ponds like that. With warming temperatures, whatever cause, there will be more waters that fit the bill for warm water species
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Offline Seamonkey84

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Re: 2020 Fishing Rules
« Reply #9 on: Dec 13, 2019, 10:51 AM »
Thank you for the info clamfarmer!

On another note what’s everyone’s thoughts on expanding regulations for panfish?
The only regulation needed is already in place, don’t spread them!
Hardly any one in Maine actually targets them. Out of my 6 fishing buddies, I’m the ONLY one that will actually target panfish. Most others just think of them as a waste of time to get off the hook. Until just a few years ago, we didn’t even have a official state record for bluegill or pumpkinseed sunfish! It was an out of stater that bothered to submit the first bluegill for a record lol.

Offline eiderz

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Re: 2020 Fishing Rules
« Reply #10 on: Dec 13, 2019, 12:34 PM »
I agree 100 percent that panfish and green carp are getting out of hand, 50 years ago I didn't realize there were panfish in Maine lakes north of Augusta. About 12-15 years ago the SMB showed up at camp on the Pemadumcook chain, now they fight for a surface bait like blitzing bluefish. The bass are also getting a firm foothold in Moosehead now, last summer there were a nests around the dock. I spoke with guys two years ago who had a couple of 30 gallon barrels almost full of "fertilizer" bass they took from Prong Pond which feeds into Moosehead. God knows what those smallmouths will do to Moosehead eventually. It's already pretty well stocked with yellow perch, I've caught some nice ones and they have a pleasing iridescent color. What I don't know is whether the togue predate the YP, in some lakes in NY the YP is a preferred prey.

I also agree the bait dumping is a problem, however, the fish spread naturally too. Supposedly fish roe will cling to waterfowl, or the vegetation on a waterfowls legs, and be spread as the bird pond hops. What I'm positive of is that eagles and ospreys do it as I've seen both species with fish in talons, (at least 3 times that I can recall) fly from a river, up over a dam and lose hold of the fish over a lake. I've also seen videos of them dropping fish so it must happen frequently. Stocking by raptor. It wouldn't be surprising if that's how the white perch got into the FRC. FWIW I caught a couple in the Aroostook River, and therefore they would have been in the St. John River, 40 years ago when I lived in Presque Isle. The white perch are a coastal saltwater species which can tolerate fresh water, maybe they came up from the ocean. Either way it's no good for the FRC, and more importantly I hope the dreaded stinklogs are kept out.

Offline 9huskies

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Re: 2020 Fishing Rules
« Reply #11 on: Dec 13, 2019, 07:28 PM »
I agree 100 percent that panfish and green carp are getting out of hand, 50 years ago I didn't realize there were panfish in Maine lakes north of Augusta. About 12-15 years ago the SMB showed up at camp on the Pemadumcook chain, now they fight for a surface bait like blitzing bluefish. The bass are also getting a firm foothold in Moosehead now, last summer there were a nests around the dock. I spoke with guys two years ago who had a couple of 30 gallon barrels almost full of "fertilizer" bass they took from Prong Pond which feeds into Moosehead. God knows what those smallmouths will do to Moosehead eventually. It's already pretty well stocked with yellow perch, I've caught some nice ones and they have a pleasing iridescent color. What I don't know is whether the togue predate the YP, in some lakes in NY the YP is a preferred prey.

I also agree the bait dumping is a problem, however, the fish spread naturally too. Supposedly fish roe will cling to waterfowl, or the vegetation on a waterfowls legs, and be spread as the bird pond hops. What I'm positive of is that eagles and ospreys do it as I've seen both species with fish in talons, (at least 3 times that I can recall) fly from a river, up over a dam and lose hold of the fish over a lake. I've also seen videos of them dropping fish so it must happen frequently. Stocking by raptor. It wouldn't be surprising if that's how the white perch got into the FRC. FWIW I caught a couple in the Aroostook River, and therefore they would have been in the St. John River, 40 years ago when I lived in Presque Isle. The white perch are a coastal saltwater species which can tolerate fresh water, maybe they came up from the ocean. Either way it's no good for the FRC, and more importantly I hope the dreaded stinklogs are kept out.

Some waters should have harsher regulations for invasive species. When northern pike were first found in Maine there should have been a regulation requiring anglers to kill every one they catch. In some smaller waters its not too late. For years the state encouraged us to kill every pike, crappie or muskellunge we caught. If they had required it those species wouldn't be firmly established in many of out waters.
 

Offline collegeicejunkie

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Re: 2020 Fishing Rules
« Reply #12 on: Dec 14, 2019, 08:16 AM »
Thank you all for your input! It’s quite interesting to see a local perspective as I’m new to Maine. I was overall curious when I found no regulations in the rule books about them. From most people’s perspective it seems that this is due to the lack of fishing pressure and that the majority of the panfish are invasive.

Offline The Rusty Crab

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Re: 2020 Fishing Rules
« Reply #13 on: Dec 14, 2019, 10:24 AM »
Thank you all for your input! It’s quite interesting to see a local perspective as I’m new to Maine. I was overall curious when I found no regulations in the rule books about them. From most people’s perspective it seems that this is due to the lack of fishing pressure and that the majority of the panfish are invasive.

They ruin a cold water fishery

Offline Eroy4

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Re: 2020 Fishing Rules
« Reply #14 on: Dec 14, 2019, 12:14 PM »
Boy, you guys sure are pessimistic. I'm not for illegal introductions, but many of the stated examples above have had little impact on our cold water fisheries. Smallmouth bass have been in Moosehead Lake since the 1970s! Yet, we are experiencing some of the best brook trout fishing that biologists have seen in nearly 40 years! The salmon and togue fishing also continues to improve on Moosehead. I've also seen plenty of lunker salmon and brook trout get pulled out of the FRC recently. One of the greatest challenges with the FRC is an overabundance of smaller Salmon; this is a common theme in many Maine waters. Smallmouth have been in the rapid river for years and the fishing has been steadily improving. Alewife in Mooselookmeguntic sure haven't hurt the brook trout and salmon populations either.

We should be putting more resources into protecting our coldwater fisheries, But, lets not always be doom and gloom about everything.

 



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