throw the dinks/rats into the woodsburp
Lakers were fat 3-4 years ago. Skinny now. As you said, it is cyclical. Lots of rats will starve to death soon giving survivors the chance to fatten up again. Definitely in a down swing at the moment
No effort by the state to bolster the coldwater forage base? I know some other New England states, and near me the state of Michigan does. Smelt are extremely important to landlocked salmon. A lake in my state had a healthy population of smelt and cisco until the state planted lake trout. The lake trout most likely effectively wiped them out. State refuses to let us replant smelt at no cost to the state. Says they're an exotic species and will prey on the native fish eggs. But still plants rainbow and brown trout, which are exotic. Also the idea that smelt will eat bluegill, bass, yellow perch, and northern pike eggs has no merit scientifically. None of those species make up much of a fishery in the chain of lakes and other than northern pike and yellow perch, the smelt could not tolerate water temps when those fish are spawning. Can you picture a smelt in water in the 70's. And yellow perch eggs are repulsive to predators due to the gelatinous matrix.
We did manage this bigger one
MA does next to nothing to improve fishing other than trout stocking. Sucks. Is planting smelt eggs an option?! why hasn’t this happened yet!!
Sounds familiar. Planting eggs is an option along with fry. Here's a source in Maine that can be shipped FedEx. He's listed as a baitstore, but he sells smelt fry to agencies and groups that get approval. At least he used to. https://harmonbrookfarm.com