RL--Why the hostility?
Chronic adipose fin disease? Don't smelts have an adipose fin, too?
I confess I eat goldeneyes. I guess this makes me--what, exactly?
I neither fish for nor eat pike. The two peaks for pike fishing here are right after ice out--a miserable time to open water fish, and one that conflicts with my spring trolling for lake trout and landlocked salmon--and ice fishing season, when I mostly target pickerel. (I do love a good pickerel feed.) Tip ups rigged for pickerel will hook pike, but not often land them, and I mostly target small ponds where pike (and other anglers) are rare. If I pike fished, I'd kill and eat them.
I guess I do talk about smelt and their impacts on native coldwater fish in Maine. I talk about it because here in Maine, declines in populations of landlocked Arctic charr, brook trout, and lake whitefish have repeatedly followed introduction of landlocked smelts, a pattern that has been well documented by Maine fisheries biologists for decades.
On the same page where you found Jeremiah Wood's whitefish report, you can find this one on landlocked charr and smelts:
https://www.maine.gov/ifw/docs/Bald Mountain Pond Conservation of Endemic Arctic Charr.pdf
And here is a popular article on a similar pattern on the brook trout pond that was a favorite for my dad and me:
http://newenglandboating.com/maines-thissell-pond-reclaimed-from-invasive-species/
As you note, there are examples where brook trout, charr, and lake whitefish persist after introduction of smelts, and a few where they originally co-existed with them. These tend to be larger and deeper lakes, but not always.
Lake whitefish declines in particular are a complicated situation. If you'd like to discuss your thoughts on Jeremiah Wood's report, you should contact him directly. You can find his contact info on the MDIFW's web page. He's in the Region G office in Ashland.
Chronic adipose fin disease? Don't smelts have an adipose fin, too?
I confess I eat goldeneyes. I guess this makes me--what, exactly?
I neither fish for nor eat pike. The two peaks for pike fishing here are right after ice out--a miserable time to open water fish, and one that conflicts with my spring trolling for lake trout and landlocked salmon--and ice fishing season, when I mostly target pickerel. (I do love a good pickerel feed.) Tip ups rigged for pickerel will hook pike, but not often land them, and I mostly target small ponds where pike (and other anglers) are rare. If I pike fished, I'd kill and eat them.
I guess I do talk about smelt and their impacts on native coldwater fish in Maine. I talk about it because here in Maine, declines in populations of landlocked Arctic charr, brook trout, and lake whitefish have repeatedly followed introduction of landlocked smelts, a pattern that has been well documented by Maine fisheries biologists for decades.
On the same page where you found Jeremiah Wood's whitefish report, you can find this one on landlocked charr and smelts:
https://www.maine.gov/ifw/docs/Bald Mountain Pond Conservation of Endemic Arctic Charr.pdf
And here is a popular article on a similar pattern on the brook trout pond that was a favorite for my dad and me:
http://newenglandboating.com/maines-thissell-pond-reclaimed-from-invasive-species/
As you note, there are examples where brook trout, charr, and lake whitefish persist after introduction of smelts, and a few where they originally co-existed with them. These tend to be larger and deeper lakes, but not always.
Lake whitefish declines in particular are a complicated situation. If you'd like to discuss your thoughts on Jeremiah Wood's report, you should contact him directly. You can find his contact info on the MDIFW's web page. He's in the Region G office in Ashland.
