Ice Fishing Booms thanks to New Products

Wayne K., Mason, and Graham a few years back at Bowdish

Posted by Wayne G. Barber

Jack Polachek, Lakafish, Lake

Best and Brightest New Ice Fishing Items Extend Your Season

2″ or less – STAY OFF
4″ May allow Ice fishing or other activities on foot
5″ often allows for Snowmobile or ATV travel
8″ – 12″ of good ice with supports most Cars or small pickups
12″ – 15″ will likely hold a Medium sized truck.

Remember that these thicknesses are merely guidelines for new, clear, solid ice. Many factors other than thickness can cause ice to be unsafe.

Pascoag,RI – Maybe it's no wonder folks living south of the Mason-Dixon line view ice fishing as slightly senseless; the Arizona Senator McCain once called "moronic." Who in their right mind, after all, would stare through a hole in the ice for eight hours straight? Or drive a full-size truck onto a frozen lake? Or risk frostbite for a fish bite?

The answer, according to data from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is well over 2 million people — that's who. In 2006, outdoors folks spent about $105-million on ice fishing tackle and equipment, a figure that had ballooned to $178-million by 2011 and is expected to easily exceed $200-million when 2016 data is unveiled. That's nearly a 100-percent expansion in sales of ice fishing gear in a single decade.

So why all the excitement for a sport that's conducted in the cold? For one, becoming a first-time ice angler is simple and relatively affordable, even for families. And even while innovation among other segments of the sport fishing industry, in some cases, has plateaued, creativity in new ice fishing tackle and equipment continues soaring to new levels of awesome.

Stroll the jam-packed aisles at events such as the New England Fishing and Outdoor Expo with ice fishing shows and you meet as many young anglers as you do hard water veterans. Each and every one of these folks flock to the show floor for the same simple reason: to see the new stuff — amazing lures, rods, electronics, apparel, shelters and other equipment that promises to make their time on the ice more exciting, comfortable and efficient.

To celebrate the approaching, eminent ice fishing season, we've handpicked some of the most attended Ice Fishing Derby's in New England .

RI, Between the Cracks, Annual Kevin Thatcher Memorial Derby at Crystal Lake, Jan. 28, 2018 7 till 2 pm and the Burrillville Grid Iron Hebert Memorial Derby with a Free Dynamite Sub at Wilson's Reservoir, Pascoag, RI and the New Hampshire Meridith Rotary Lake Wiini. Derby on Feb 10, 11th 2018
Crystal Lake Derby, Gray Me. Last week end of January, 2018 and the Sebago Lake Rotary Derby, ME

Public Meetings on Moose in Vermont

Posted by Wayne G. Barber

VTF&W photo by Wayne Laroche

MONTPELIER, Vt. – The Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department is holding three public informational meetings about Vermont’s moose in December. 

 

“We are holding the meetings on the status of Vermont’s moose population, including information about new challenges facing moose and current research efforts here in the Northeast,” said Vermont’s Director of Wildlife Mark Scott.  “We want to share information and educate Vermonters about Vermont’s moose population, and get a better feel for what other information the public would like about Vermont’s moose herd. Anyone interested in Vermont’s moose population will want to attend one of these meetings.”

 

The meetings will include information about historical moose populations in Vermont, the impacts of climate change and winter ticks on Vermont’s population, and the current three-year moose study in which moose cows and calves are being monitored for survival.

 

Wildlife staff will be on hand to show pictures of Vermont moose and their habitats.  The meetings are free and will be held from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at the following locations:

 

December 13 -- Northwoods Stewardship Center, 154 Leadership Dr, Island Pond, VT 05846

December 14 – Montpelier High School, 5 High School Drive, Montpelier, VT 05602

December 19 – Billings Farm & Museum Visitor Center Theater, 69 Old River Road, Woodstock, VT 05091

State Game Wardens Conducting Roadside Checks

Posted by Wayne G. Barber

BAKERSFIELD, Vt. – Drivers out and about in Vermont this fall may be stopped and checked by Vermont State Game Wardens.  Wardens recently conducted such a routine hunting season check of motor vehicles on Sunday, November 19, in Bakersfield. 
 
“We conducted this check to enforce hunting-related laws with the assistance of Vermont State Police to help enforce other laws,” said Warden Major George Scribner.
 
Vehicles were stopped at the intersection of Route 108 and East Bakersfield Road in Bakersfield between 4:00 and 9:00 p.m.  Wardens contacted more than 200 vehicles and inspected many firearms throughout the evening.  Four loaded long guns, five drug possession violations, four alcohol-related offenses and six motor vehicle infractions were discovered. 
 
A person convicted of having a loaded long gun in a motor vehicle is subject to a $435 fine and a one-year loss of their hunting, fishing and trapping privileges.
 
“We will conduct these checkpoints periodically throughout the fall,” added Scribner.  “Our goal is to heighten public awareness about warden presence during deer season in order to decrease violations.”

Consider donating all or part of your harvest this hunting season to Hunters for the Hungry

Posted by Wayne G. Barber

Maine sportsmen and sportswomen who enjoy participating in hunting can also help provide thousands of nutritious meals to hungry people across the State.

  All New England Hunters, check in your own State for a similar program.

Through the Hunters for the Hungry program, the Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry distributes the donations of game meat to food pantries, soup kitchens, and shelters affiliated with The Emergency Food Assistance Program.

The program accepts donations of bear, deer and moose. Road kill donations are also accepted, provided the meat is not damaged. The costs of processing the meat are paid for by the Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry or the charity that receives the food. Hunters may choose to donate all or some of their game meat to the program - every donation helps! 

For more information, to donate, or to get connected to a Hunters for the Hungry participating meat processor call 207-287-7513 or visit the Facebook page!

Is There an Association Between Lyme Disease and Suicidality?

Posted by Wayne G. Barber

Robert Bransfield, MD, DLFAPA, private practice, Psychiatry, in Red Bank, New Jersey, explains the potential correlation between Lyme and associated diseases and suicidality.

"If we look at the association between suicide in Lyme and associated diseases, for many years, when we would be in a room full of physicians, we would say, ‘Well, what’s the most common cause of death from Lyme disease?’ And there was a strong consensus that it was suicide. Now, some people would die from opioid overdoses that would occur, sometimes different neurological conditions or heart problems but suicide, by far, was the main cause.

When I gave a lecture recently, I asked, ‘How many of you in the audience know someone with Lyme disease who committed suicide?’ and two-thirds of the people in that room raised their hands; there were a couple of hundred people in the audience. So, it is the major cause, but it doesn’t occur immediately after someone has a bulls eye rash; it’s usually several years later, and it’s a correlation, it’s been observed.

I can explain it by the physiology; just like other chronic infections, and we see it with HIV, hepatitis C, other chronic infections where there’s persistent inflammation, we can see a correlation with suicide, so it makes sense. And when we look through the medical literature, we can see that there are quite a few journal articles describing case reports. So, in looking at that, I went through a number of my old charts, and I went through 253 charts and found that a high percentage of those, 43%, had a history of being suicidal at some point.

Now, I realize that this is not representative of all patients with Lyme disease because these were the patients who went to a psychiatrist, so there were more patients who had psychiatric symptoms. But looking at other statistics, they range from 18%, some were higher—like 30%, 37%, a couple of studies, so it does seem like there is a strong correlation that occurs.

And if we try to explain it, you can explain it partly by the physiology of the biochemistry and how it affects the brain, but another explanation is that Lyme patients often feel that they have a disease that would be categorized as an invisible disability, and it’s hard for them to understand what’s happening to them. They do not get so much support from family, friends, doctors, and health care assistants, because it’s hard for people to understand it, and people look at them and they say, ‘Well, you have two arms, two legs; you seem okay. And so, there isn’t the validation, and often, there’s a frustration, and that doesn’t help. There’s a feeling of alienation in addition to the pathophysiological process. So, we do see that, and I see this frequently—people struggling with suicidal thoughts.

Another part of it is that you often see that Lyme and associated diseases are associated with a lot of psychiatric symptoms that progress years later in the course of the illness. And the additive effect of all of these symptoms can contribute to suicidality in some people. Certainly not everybody, but there is a certain population that has it, and a population that does not have that.”
Source: CONTAGION® EDITORIAL STAFF

Fall Foods Abundant for Wildlife

Posted by Wayne G. Barber

VTF&W photo by John Hall

Mountain ash berries were one of the fall foods enjoyed by wildlife this year.  

SPRINGFIELD, Vt. – Vermont Fish & Wildlife is reporting that several important fall foods for wildlife were abundant this year. 

 

“Fish & Wildlife staff surveyed 27 mast stands around the state in late September and early October and found that beechnut counts were excellent, with the highest numbers recorded since 1998,” said State Wildlife Biologist Forrest Hammond.  “They also found abundant deer and bear sign in the beech stands.”

 

Hammond said acorn production was found to be good in oak stands, and mountain ash berries were very abundant at high elevations.  He added that apples were available at high numbers early, but that most had fallen by late October. 

Nearly half-century-old fish caught and released during fish surveys on Lake Superior

Posted by Wayne G. Barber

BAYFIELD, Wis. — State fish biologists conducting spawning surveys on Lake Superior hauled in a lake trout earlier this month that hatched when Richard Nixon was president.
The fish was originally caught and released during the Wisconsin DNR‘s spawning assessments for lake trout in 1981. It was caught and released again Nov. 2 in the same fish refuge, the Gull Island Shoal of Lake Superior.
“We often think of a fish’s life span being relatively short, maybe 10 years,” says Terry Margenau, DNR fisheries supervisor. “But lake trout are slow growing and have a longevity that will rival that of the ancient sturgeon.”

To help assess the condition of lake trout on Lake Superior, the DNR has been conducting spawning lake trout assessments since 1951. Part of the assessment includes tagging the fish caught and releasing them so biologists can monitor their growth and movement in future years.
The fish caught Nov. 2 had first been tagged in 1981 when it was 27.3 inches during a DNR spawning assessment on Gull Island Shoal of Lake Superior. The same fish was handled again in 2017 during the same spawning assessment and measured 35.5 inches, Ray says.
“This lake trout grew about 8 inches over 36 years, or less than a quarter inch per year,” he says. “So very slow growing. Its age is also interesting.
“Considering this fish was likely 10 to 12 years old when it was tagged in 1981, this fall it would have been at least 46 years old.”
The same fish would be caught by DNR seven more times during surveys, Ray says.
In all of those instances, the fish was captured in the Gull Island Refuge. Source:

Wisconsin DNR Reports