Atlantic Salmon Stocking Program

[bluewatr]

I have been fishing the Salmon RIver in CT since I was a child. They have always stocked Atlantic Salmon fingerlings. These fish are caught constantly by anglers. Most die before ever making it out of the river. And what jerks me the most is they never allow these fish to pass the Leesville Dam when they do migrate back upstream. I do remember one friend/neighbor who caught a 14 lber many years ago on a nymph. I caught one around 4 lbs but that one may have never left I don't know. This was probably just a freak thing. Why dont they let any of these fish return and spawn naturally. I know that plenty come back because I have seen them caught below the dam. I wish that dam was removed....

-mike :mad:

[Catch22]

Mike, I'm not familiar with that dam. Is it a major one? The DEP may either be planning a fish ladder or may be open to dam removal. That seems to be their big thing lately. They just blew out a bunch of dams on the Naugadump River, and are expecting some runs of andromous fish up as far as the Thomaston dam. Check with the local DEP office, you just might get a nice surprise.

Jeff

[Bob Parsons]

I know some of the salmon are making it up to several rivers in massachusetts where they have spawned. They get past the Holeyolk dam via the fish elevator. How are these getting past the Leesville dam?

[bluewatr]

They are not getting passed. The 14lber was a fluke. Mine may have never left. They should be letting at least some of these fish through so they can do what they do naturally.

[Mal Greene]

What I am about to say may not be appreciated, but here goes. The Atlantic salmon is doomed to extinction,at least in New England.
To qualify that statement look at what has happened to Atlantic salmon stocks in my home state of Maine. When I was in school at the University of Maine at Machias I was an avid or maybe rabid Atlantic salmon fisherman. That was from 1977-1981. I lived on the Machias river right at the first holding pool(tough huh).At the time the Atlantic salmon pop. in Maine was stable with healthy runs of bright native fish.The Machias, East Machias,Dennys,Narraguagas,St.Croix and Penobscot rivers all had self sustaining runs of salmon.Now only 20 years later these rivers are nearly if not completely devoid of salmon. :( You can blame several factors for this decline, but I believe it is acid rain and global warming that have doomed salmo salar.Atlantics are extremely fragile fish,environmentally.They require cold clean water with little to no pollution.To successfully breed their home rivers must be pristine and when was the last time you saw a pristine river in New England?
As usual we humans have screwed up our own waters so bad that you're not even supposed to eat fish caught here because of mercury and PCB contamination.Imagine what that does to the fish.How can we ever have the native runs of salmon if we take away their ability to breed.Or we contaminate their rivers so bad they can't even survive in them(as juviniles).

I truly miss the salmon fishing I once enjoyed. I even miss the sight of salmon in their home range. Face it folks we stupid humans are killing this planet and the extinction of the Atlantic salmon in N.E. is just an indicator of things to come. Maybe it's time for a global plague to rid this poor old planet of the only creature that ever destroyed it's own environment.
:mad: