MAINE - Life in the Slow Lane
I feel that a wild stream should be left alone as far as stocking goes. I believe that strict regulations should be put in place such as catch and release to those streams . Fly Fish only would be a nice touch to . Over harvest and bait fisherman can easily wipe out a natural wild trout stream. Now if Maine Fish & Game are trying to reintroduce wild trout to a stream and want to see if they can get wild populations going once again then I'm all for it. But they have to go about it the right way. That would be the removal of fish not native to the stream . Clean up and restructure of the stream and designate it closed to fishing for the 1st couple of years That would atleast give the now wild brook trout a chance to survive and reproduce. I am not a fan of stocking but it has its place. Like put and take streams. Nothing wrong with a few fish for the plate. this would take the pressure of a all wild trout , fly fish catch and release only streams . There would be no need to restock that type of stream. To have a stocking program with wild brook trout without doing these things would be a waste of time and money in my opinion. Lee good post . Dave V
Hi Lee and Dave V.
How long does it take for a stocked trout to become a wild trout?
Trout stocking requires a lot of research on the particular stream. Many surveys have to be
completed first..
The short list:
Average width and depth.
Amount of riffle
Water levels
Spawning area
Present population
Aquatic life
Fishing pressure
Bag limit
All of these have to be factored in to determine if there are sufficient population escapement to meet
spawning requirements.
Just because it is the biologists favorite stream does not mean that 95% of the stocking should take place there.
Here is a link (FlyFishinginMaine) to the thread on that site that got me started with this topic. There are some good responses to this topic on the thread, read to see what I mean.
See Yah
Lee
Lee
You know my views from other places but for those who do not let me say I really think we need to move towards wild torut managment and away from the put and take mentality where ever possible. There in lies the Catch 22! We would have to support a definition that best represents our interest in qulaity wild trout.
I see Ziggy has signed up Lee and we should be off to some more good post, more pictures and lively discussions!
Tight Lines!
Bobby
Here is a good question for everyone.
Should Streams and Rivers that hold wild populations of trout be stocked???
It is my feeling that they should not be stocked if the wild population can maintain good numbers of fish. Competition is really hard on the wild fish when stocked fish are added to the water. I just looked at the Maine stocking report and the Wild River in Gilead Maine was stocked with about 96,000 Brook Trout in the 3 to 4 inch size range. I really don't have a clue what good this is going to do for that River. The state does stock larger Brook Trout and New Hampshire also stocks a sizeable number of Rainbows in the River on the New Hampshire side, up River about 5 miles or so. This really is a catch 22 situation if you ask me. It would really be great if both NH and ME put no fish in and tried to manage the water for the wild fish that are there, river improvements would go a long way in making that a better fishery then dumping large numbers of fish in.
Just my two cents.
See Yah
Lee
Lee Goldsmith
Site Admin
Acton, Maine
Life in the Slow Lane
E-mail: Lee Goldsmith