A bio told me the big ones all go into the rivers from Francis. They still go back and forth a bit, but the really big ones are in the river I was told.1st is a fun lake to troll, but the amount of structure is almost intimidating. We landed some nice ones in there, and also lost a few that left me wanting to go back.
Did you catch browns in First Lake? I didn't think there was any in there? We usually fish for lakers there.
....the lakes I've fished that have a true quality brown fishery also have landlocked alewives as forage (mostly in Maine, however).
Thanks everyone for the input.Checking last year's stocking report, Lake Francis got ~4500 browns and ~3000 rainbows. Similar numbers in 2018. I know it has salmon so maybe these aren't stocked every year or are naturally reproducing? 1st and 2nd CT lakes weren't stocked at all (?). Same in 2018. I thought 2nd had to be stocked to provide a fishery, only tried it once and wasn't impressed. 3rd CT got its typical 3000 rainbows both years.
Fish and Game claims there is enough natural reproduction that they haven't needed to stock salmon in the Ct. Lakes for the last 2 years.
Fish and Game claims there is enough natural reproduction that they haven't needed to stock salmon in the Ct. Lakes for the last 2 years. I call bull hockey. If I had to guess they have pressure to stock the fish where the money is, and that is Winni.
Sorry to digress, but the one NH exception to the alewife-supported brown lakes I would fish was Bow Lake. What a lake that used to be. I lived on it for a summer and would troll leadcore after work for a dinner rainbow about once a week. Always got one on my first pass over the hole, 5-7 colors down depending on the day. Caught some beauty browns doing that too. Poking around, found this old thread with some interesting anecdotes: https://www.iceshanty.com/ice_fishing/index.php?topic=97499.0
Why do you say no on the natural reproduction? I certainly don’t have any studies, but I’ve seen quite a few wild fish out of there especially compared to the rest of the state.
Do you know that to be true? I was only speculating. But I don't disagree about Winni.
While at the Buck Rub 2 weeks ago I got in a conversation with one of the guides at Lopstick. He said they haven't stocked salmon in Coos Cty for the past 2 years at all and that was the explanation that was given to them by Fish and Game.
Wow. I know they've had problems with lls rearing which allegedly has hurt Winni's fishery. I don't know, so many rumors floating around. Not to bash NH F&G, as I think the rank and file do a great job in a tough situation, but I still wish there was more transparency from the agency overall.