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Some body has to! You know where I fish, you know what we USED to have, same with the lake we spoke about that I fished last week, certain individuals, saw fit to catch and keep every Rainbow they could, now, we both have nothing left for those places but hope and memories... placesbwhere 4lb rainbows were common and 5's happened every year..
I do enjoy a good Loch. Usually get “ the Lochs” at the bagel caboose in Kittery if I’m out and about after a long night of surf fishing. They use smoked salmon. I tell them they can keep the capers
That place has killer food. Every time I visit my sister/brother-in-law in Elliot ME it’s a staple for breakfast
I will say my buddy smokes some of his with an old family method/recipe and makes lochs (sp? cream cheese and smoked fish), and that is actually not bad.
A bunch of great discussions on this thread.If I am planning on releasing trout, which is 99% of the time I rarely take them out of the water or touch them. If I cant see the hook in the lip I snip the line at the mouth. If its a leaker and bleeding from the gills I will keep it. I think it is pretty tough to say how many fish released in good condition don't make it, especially through the ice. I know 100% of the fish I keep don't make it.Does anyone know of any studies on reproductive rates of NH stocked fish? I would also be curious to know when they started clipping fins on the hatchery fish, I can't remember when they started? I know that at least some private hatchery's don't necessarily clip fins, do all the state hatchery's clip fins? I am wondering if the larger fish that are caught with all their fins were just stocked prior to clipping fins. When you fish Vermont or Maine you see the lakes appear to be much more fertile than New Hampshire from the forage on through the apex predator's, I believe I have heard it had something to do with NH lakes being more acidic than Maine and Vermont due to the geology.
I think the catch and release bass fishing crowd using soft plastic baits also has a serious impact on fish getting old. I find gnarly rubber worms clogging the digestive tract of fish all the time. Especially lake trout. I often keep legal fish and enjoy eating them with my family, even if they are freshly stocked. I don't feel bad about it. I always follow all laws and regulations.
.... and the ‘resource’.
How about releasing trout that are bleeding from the gills, or after you rip the hook out of its gut? Not a mouth wound, or non-visceral cut, but something where it is likely to die if released?Personally I would keep a gill hooked fish, and would cut off the line on a trout that swallowed it deep into the gut if possible (I am not leaving a bucktail in its gut.... right?).