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Man, I have to call BS on the summer time bait restrictions. For starters the summer time fishing pressure is not near as great as the winter. I spend a ton of time on these lakes and I see first hand the fishing pressure from season to season. To say "fishing artificials will result in fewer fatal deep throat hook ups" is so far from the truth it's not even funny. I have seen way more deep throat hook ups on Lake Trout in the winter using cut bait on Burbot sets than I have seen trolling or jigging in the summer. I have Laker fever just as bad as the other guys that frequent these lakes but if the ADF&G adopted this proposal to "reduce hooking mortality and maintain harvests within sustainable levels" they got their dates for prohibiting bait mixed up....
Not buying it....There are a lot of cabin owners that fish every weekend in the winter and might fish once or twice over the course of the summer. And then you have the guys in the hard sided shacks that hit it hard every single weekend...
I am one of those in a hardside and I probably fish it 5 days outta the month. Another guy I know has a hardside and he is about the same maybe a little more. That being said we have hooked fish deep not going to say other wise. But far more are hooked in the mouth above the gills. I wouldnt be against the set lines for burbot going away as I agree that is a major player in alot of the mortality rate of lakers. But In all honesty 98% of the lakers we catch in the winter swim off with no ill effects.
Just dug up the ADFG angler effort and harvest stats for LL for 2010. No breakdown though for hardwater vs softwater anglers. This data does NOT reflect the subsistence harvest.
Next thing will be no alcohol, Swisher Sweets or coffee.......