Anglers aid in biologists’ calculations

Between checking the lines on your ice fishing traps and putting an edge on the auger, it may be to your advantage to peruse the following information provided by two regional fisheries biologists. From Down East, Ron Brokaw of Region C sends word that Eagle Lake in Bar Harbor is proof-positive that cooperation between anglers and biologists can produce limits of satisfaction for each.

In Brokaw’s words: “For the past several years, Eagle Lake anglers have reported an increased proportion of unmarked togue in their catches. Because all togue that have been stocked in the lake have been fin-clipped, this was a strong indication that wild togue were on the upswing. Most anglers allowed that from one-half to three-quarters of their togue were unmarked.”

This fall, the Region C crew trap-netted Eagle Lake to determine the percentage of wild togue in the fishery. Of the 32 togue captured, 31 – 97 percent – were unmarked. Obviously, the reports from anglers weren’t fish stories. The result is that Eagle Lake has been removed from the stocking list and will be managed henceforth for wild togue.

Regarding the tip-off from anglers, Brokaw said, “Without such information, Eagle probably would have been stocked next spring, which we now know would have been not only unnecessary, but probably detrimental to the growth rate of the wild togue. A tip of the hat to Eagle Lake togue anglers for keeping us informed of what was going on. Eagle Lake now joins a considerable list – Beech Hill, Phillips, West Grand, Toddy and Jordan – of waters formerly stocked with togue but which now support viable populations of wild fish. Only one water remains on the Region C togue stocking list, Green Lake.”

There again, Sport, you have example of the importance of the word “cooperation” to the future of Maine’s fish and wildlife resources and attendant recreations.

Brokaw also provided the following list of new regulations for Hancock County waters: Abrams Pond, Webb Pond and Great Pond in Great Pond Township: minimum length limit on bass, 18 inches. Daily bag limit on bass, one fish. Alligator Lake: All salmon between 16-20 inches must be released alive at once. Daily bag limit on salmon and trout, one fish in the aggregate. Donnell Pond: minimum length limit on salmon, 16 inches.

Eagle Lake: minimum length on togue, 20 inches. Minimum length limit on brook trout, 8 inches. Flanders, Georges, Walker’s ponds: minimum length limit on brown trout, 14 inches. Phillips Lake: open during January and February except that salmon can be kept only in February. Minimum length limit on salmon, 18 inches. Restricted to two lines per person. Lower Patten Pond: minimum length limit on brown trout, 18 inches.

Tunk Lake: all salmon between 16-20 inches must be released alive at once. Daily bag limit on salmon, togue and trout, one fish in the aggregate. Jacob Buck, Lower Springy, Toddy ponds: daily bag limit on splake and brook trout, two fish; minimum length limit, 12 inches, except that only one may exceed 14 inches.

From Fisheries Region B headquarters in Sidney, assistant regional biologist Jim Lucas provides an update on Swan Lake’s continuing togue-tagging project, which was initiated in 1993. The objectives of the project are to evaluate the effects of fishing pressure on the lake’s overall togue population. The following numbers represent information regarding sport fish trapped at Swan Lake in 1995:

Togue: number caught – 54, average length – 26 inches, average weight – 6.9 pounds;

Landlocked salmon: number caught – 13, average length – 20.7 inches, average weight – 4.1 pounds;

Brook trout: number caught – 4, average length – 14.6 inches, average weight – 1.4 pounds.

Togue Landlocked Salmon Brook Trout

Number caught: 54 13 4

Average length: 26 inches 20.7 inches 14.6 inches

Average weight: 6.9 pounds 4.1 pounds 1.4 pounds

According to Lucas, one togue was a hatchery fish that had been pumping Swan Lake through its gills for 24 years. Stocked in the spring of 1972, the fish was 25.3 inches long and weighed 5.7 pounds. Seven previously tagged togue were captured during the trap-netting operation, four of which were tagged in 1993 and three tagged in 1994. The seven fish have shown little or no growth since they were tagged.

Anglers have reported information on 10 of the 165 jaw-tagged togue available at Swan Lake during the past 2 years. Nine of the fish were caught during the 1994-95 ice fishing seasons; two were caught by open water anglers, one was released in 1994, the other kept in 1995.

Lucas urges Swan Lake anglers to report any jaw-tagged togue they catch. The biologist doesn’t need the tag itself, but would like the tag number, the date the fish was caught, its length and whether it was kept or released. How well the effects of fishing pressure on the lake’s wild togue population will be understood depends largely on how well anglers cooperate. There’s that word again.