*To facilitate quick and efficient fish release when
applicable, we have chosen an 18 inch total length delineation within
the form. The "18 inch or longer" or "less than 18 inches" categories,
for both kept and released fish, will provide some perspective on the
size of fish caught, at the best cost/benefit given fish that are to be
released. The 18 inch mark was chosen as a "best fit" for several
reasons; it denotes, generally speaking, a quality sized landlocked
salmon and the management goal at end of the age-2 growing season, a
high quality rainbow trout for NH, the minimum length for lake trout in
all but two lakes, and a size which yearling salmon do not exceed in the
first growing season. If any of these species is close to the 18 inch
mark, a total length measurement (from tip of snout to end of
caudal/tail fin) is desirable and requested, but not at the expense
of proper release. The bottom line is, this length delineation allows
for fish clearly under or over 18 inches to be released in the best
possible condition, when choosing to release.
*Although desirable to obtain information on brook trout
(e.g. Pleasant Lake - New London) or the odd brown trout (Ossipee and
Francis are the only large lakes browns may be found with landlocked
salmon), the relatively few requested lakes containing these other
species, compared with most which contain landlocked salmon and/or lake
trout and/or rainbow trout, as well as for simplicity and clarity, such
additional species will not be considered.
* A high volume of trip reports/submissions is crucial
for the data to be meaningful; bias is already inherent with the current
effort, but this is a starting point. The more and varied participants
involved, over the entire season, every single trip, the more meaningful
the data. I cannot overstate the importance of religiously reporting
every trip, from the fastest to the slowest, all weather conditions,
first trip to last over the entire season, etc., for the data to be at
all meaningful. In all honesty and frankness, if you cannot report on
every trip throughout the season, it would be best to not participate
(although we still welcome your anecdotal reports, this is an attempt to
gain more formal objective data and must be treated as such - thus only
filling out the form on your fastest trip, slowest trip, when you
remember a pencil, or "when you feel like it" will actually make the
data less meaningful).
*There are anglers which will desire more "fishing
specific variables" regarding weather, moon
phase, lure/flies/presentation, depth, etc., and having kept such
journals myself for years, I can't tell you how tremendous a resource
this is as an angler. But for the purposes of the specific data
desired, these additional details should be kept in a personal fishing
log; if you already keep such a log, simply transfer the applicable data
to the Fish and Game creel survey. As much as it interests me as an
angler, for brevity and clarity's sake we won't be looking for
additional comments, notes, "fast fishing", "slow fishing", "saw an
eagle", etc. Hopefully this will also make the form quick and easy to
fill out, and thus hopefully more committed participation.
*We will not be requesting fin clip/age data; due to
confusion/angler inexperience/clip clarity in some cases, as well as the
time issue for fish to be released (we don't want excessive handling to
identify a fin clip which may still be mistaken). As with precise and
accurate length and weight data, fin clip/age structure is something we
track annually with fall netting, and will be redundant in this case.
One of the main focus points is catch rate, along with the comparative
number of various species and length (within the 18 delineation) kept
and released.
