This is without a doubt the dumbest thing I've read. You can't use downriggers or leadcore - what about dipsey divers? Or heavy keel sinkers really deep diving plugs?

They can't stop you from fishing - so how will they tell what you are fishing for?

The real killer of trout on East Twin is guys still fishing with live bait in the summer. The mortality rate of fish hooked in this manner is far less than those caught using downriggers. How about restricting it to single hooks on spoons, etc.

This is also going to put more pressure on West Hill and Wonoscopomic - if you have a small enough motor. I strictly troll for trout and I feel the state is just taking this away from us.

Don't ask me for any support DEP!
Let’s take a look at the stocking plan for these three lakes. In 2004 the DEP stocked 4000 adult brown, 5800 adult rainbow and 1000 brown >12” in Crystal for 10,800 total trout.

6600 adult brown, 3000 adult rainbow and 500 brown >12”, 3000 brown yearlings and 2500 adult Brook in East Twin for 15,600 total trout.

8500 adult brown, 1200 adult rainbow and 500 brown >12”, 4900 brown yearlings in Highland for 15,100 total trout.

In 2005 the DEP stocked 4100 adult brown, 8500 adult rainbow and 1000 brown >12” in and 52 broodstock in Crystal for 13,652 total trout.

6700 adult brown, 3680 adult rainbow and 500 brown >12”, 1500 brown yearlings and 2700 adult Brook and 50 Tiger in East Twin for 15,130 total trout.

8100 adult brown, 1200 adult rainbow and 500 brown >12”, 3000 brown yearlings in Highland for 12,800 total trout.


Now I don’t fish Crystal or Highland that often, but I’ve fished East Twin a lot in the last 25 years. So let’s look at that. The Kokanee did so well there because East Twin has a natural limestone base that allows for high plankton or fresh water shrimp numbers which the salmon fed on. The alewives also feed on these and out competed the Kokanee. So the state started stocking large growth sub species of browns and put a limit of 22” on the size of fish and a closed season starting June 1. After a few years, the size of the fish went up drastically because nobody fished for them (because the changes put a lot of people off fishing there) and the state didn’t stock that many fish. It wasn’t until the 1995 season that large fish started to show up. You would see huge schools of alewives boiling on the surface – taking up large sections of the lake – you never see that now.

Then the Zebra mussels got into the lake. They filter the water and remove a lot of the nutrients the fresh water shrimp need. We have seen huge drop off in the amount of alewives – crashes in which whole year’s fry don’t make it. And the growth of the trout has slowed. This is coupled with the DEP stocking more fish than ever there. I mean 15000 trout – most of which aren’t in the catchable range is a lot of fish to compete for a diminishing food supply. Do you think the large starving trout are eating the freshly stocked yearlings – I do? When they put some Kokanee fry in there – do you think the trout ate them?

So what are they going to do? They are going to close the season again. But now there isn’t enough forage for the fish. The 20” current limit hasn’t allowed the fish to grow – so why would closing the season help? They would be much better off letting nature take its course. Allow the 5 fish limit – with one fish over 20”. That would thin out most of the small fish and allow the holdovers to grow, with an occasional large trout. That’s the best they can hope for now with the Zebra mussels. Stopping the use of downriggers and lead core won’t stop people from fishing for trout using other methods.