Archive for January, 2008
Posted on Thursday, January 24th, 2008 by Maine Sportsman
Regional Characteristics
Wildlife Region B contains 135 townships and extends from the central Maine coast north to Dexter; and from the Penobscot River westerly to the Androscoggin River valley. There are nearly 4000 sq.mi. in this region including approximately 3800 sq.mi of land area and 170 sq.mi. of open water lakes and ponds. In short, Wildlife Region B contains the lower river valleys of the Penobscot, Androscoggin and Kennebec Rivers. Human population and development is centered along two major corridors: (1) Route 1 and associated coastal development from the Brunswick area north to Bangor including such towns as Wiscasset, Waldoboro, Rockland and Belfast; and (2) the I-95 corridor from Brunswick to Bangor including the urban centers of Augusta/Gardiner, Waterville/Winslow and Bangor.
The remaining portions of this region are sparcely developed containing some of the Maine’s best soils and an excellent mixture of reverting farmland, active farmland and upland mixed forests. Population densities vary across the region from greater than 170 residents per sq. mi. in Androscoggin Co. to approximately 50 residents per sq. mi. in portions of Waldo Co., eastern lower Somerset Co. and western Penboscot Co.
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Tags: Central Maine Hunting Report • Categories: Hunting Reports
Posted on Thursday, January 24th, 2008 by Maine Sportsman
Physical Characteristics
Region A is the southern most region in the state, made up of ninety towns in York, Cumberland, Oxford, Androscoggin, and Sagadahoc Counties. While the region represents approximately 10% of the state’s area it has almost 50% of the state’s population. The region can be characterized as three main areas. The coastal strip, which is that area east of the Maine Turnpike, the central area, and the western foothills, which extend up into the lower portion of Oxford County. Over the past 50 years there has been a continual increase in both the amount of development and the amount of forested land while at the same time there has been a continual decline in the amount of agriculture. In that time the amount of agricultural land, within the region, has declined from 30% to 10%. At the same time, the human population, within the region, has increased approximately 30%. The development pressure has not been constant across the region, it is strongest along the coast and diminishes as one moves west. Some concerns within the region have been the increasing amounts of posted or restricted land, increasing amounts of development and the associated loss of quality habitat, and balancing deer accidents and crop damage complaints with the hunters request for more deer.
Wildlife Management Areas
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Tags: Southwestern Maine Hunting Report • Categories: Hunting Reports
Posted on Thursday, January 24th, 2008 by Maine Sportsman
Ice thickness on Millinocket and Millimagassett lakes this weekend were in the 10- to12-inch range, with excellent travel conditions on the lakes. The recent thaw has created many hazards on the trails going to and between lakes so caution is strongly suggested. With cold and snow forecasted conditions should improve greatly.
Angler activity in the Mattagammon Region was lower than expected during the past weekend and last week’s thaw and rains kept anglers close to home.
Opening day on Square, Cross, Long and Eagle Lakes is Jan.15. Local anglers have awaited this day with much anticipation. Reports from the summer and our work on Long Lake this fall indicate that Long Lake is the place to go for salmon of excellent size quality. By all indications brook trout fishing on the Fish River Chain should be nothing short of extraordinary.
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Tags: Aroostook County Fishing Report • Categories: Fishing Reports
Posted on Thursday, January 24th, 2008 by Maine Sportsman
The warm temperatures of the past two weeks has been great for the winter fuel bills, however it has done little for ice conditions except deteriorate them.
We are hearing from and seeing very few anglers so far this year. This past weekend biologists surveyed Schoodic, Seboeis, Molunkus, Upper Cold Stream, Webster, Matagamon, and Scraggly Lakes. Each body of water was checked at least one day during the weekend. Only three parties were observed, and questionable ice conditions limited our ability to fully cover several of the lakes. Hopefully, the temperature will continue to cool down and more ice will form so all the winter anglers chomping at the bit to do some ice fishing will have safe conditions to do so.
The few fishing reports that we have received from around Region F have been good. The low angling pressure early in the season should produce some excellent ice fishing throughout the region later in the season. Here are a few highlights.
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Tags: Penobscot Valley Fishing Report • Categories: Fishing Reports
Posted on Thursday, January 24th, 2008 by Maine Sportsman
The unseasonable weather the Moosehead Lake Region received this past week kept many anglers at bay last weekend. The warm weather and rain reduced the snow pack significantly and had many anglers questioning the ice conditions on local lakes and ponds. Ice depths, however, held their own during the warm spell. We still are seeing good ice depths of 14-16 inches on many of the smaller ponds and the shallow areas of Moosehead Lake. We still urge anglers to use caution since ice condition can change daily. Individuals should also avoid traveling over the deep basins on Moosehead Lake, since many of these areas of the lake have just recently frozen over. The 5-6 inches of snow ice we had last weekend soaked up most of last week’s rain and snow melt, and little if no slush was encountered in our travels this past weekend.
In our travels on Moosehead Lake and Lower Wilson Pond this past weekend we saw very little fishing pressure. The few fish we saw where predominately lake trout and a couple of nice brook trout where observed from Lower Wilson and Prong Pond. The majority of lake trout on Moosehead Lake and Lower Wilson Pond are 14–17 inches. We are encouraging angler to harvest these14– to 17-inch lake trout in hopes to reduce the abundant number of individuals in this size range on both of these bodies of water. By reducing the number of smaller lake trout we will increase the health of the lake trout populations in both of these bodies of water.
Last week we received a few phone calls in regards to access to some of the local ponds in the Moosehead Lake Region. The ponds in question were Mountain View (Fitzgerald Pond) Pond and Prong Pond. Local anglers have been plowing the access at Mountain View Pond for the past few winters. I stopped at the pond this past weekend on my way back from checking anglers in Rockwood and found that someone has once again plowed the access road to within a short distance from the boat launch. Prong Pond can be accessed from the Lily Bay Road in Beaver Cove. The access road to the boat launch is not plowed, but last week people where driving down to the boat launch. As the winter progresses and we receive more snow the access may become a little more difficult and anglers are going to have to access the pond by snow sled or a short walk down the access road.
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Tags: Moosehead Region Fishing Report • Categories: Fishing Reports
