April 2010 Almanac
~ THIS MONTH ~
Spring’s Here, But What About the White Stuff?
Open-water anglers wait patiently like children for Christmas, and finally, April Fool’s Day arrives and we head forth to fish. The snow stands deep, though, and ice covers most ponds and lakes, except where a rushing stream pounds into the still water. In short, our brain says, “Let’s fish,” but our eyes tell us, “Hey, it’s still winter!”
What’s an angler to do?
A few places in Maine do have open water, and boy, do all the anglers know about these spots. April 1 fishing offers participants a social sport for sure. Anti-social types need not apply. April 1 forays are for people lovers.
As the month progresses, though, ice goes out and flowing waters drop to fishable levels, spreading out the masses where folks can find solitude.
According to data from The One That Didn’t Get Away Club, the first four weeks after ice-out produce a good amount of the entries in this prestigious club run by The Maine Sportsman. Yes, this month produces big fish – eventually.
When black flies swarm, brook fishing for brookies turns hot. Red maples have those red (female) and yellow (male) blossoms on them, ushering in mayfly hatches. Those little flowers tell us the water temperature in rivers beside the maples have reached 50 degrees Fahrenheit, kicking off emerging insects.
Folks like to hike now, and that means they hit places with designated trails – Camden Hills State Park, Kennebec Highlands, etc. Only hard-core outdoors types strike out across the woods and enjoy being half lost much of the time.
Shooters get out now as clay-sport ranges pick up steadier business, and archers and riflemen practice more now. Turkey season lies around the corner, and crows and woodchucks interest a handful of shooters.
It’s a good month that passes as leisurely or as busily as an outdoors type chooses.
~ TIPS OF THE MONTH ~
Shallow Coves Warm the Quickest
As ice departs ponds and lakes this month, shallow coves with dark bottoms warm the quickest, drawing salmonids and bass into them for savvy anglers to catch. Spring-fed inlets also warm still water more quickly, another hotspot for early fishers to find action. Springy areas along the shoreline of lakes and ponds seep into the water, but these spots take a sharp eye to notice. The land may make a depression between higher ground and the lower area will have lots of ground vegetation, showing it’s springy.
Polarized Light Tough Now
Dead leaves from last fall lie plastered to the ground now, thanks to spring melting, and the light-tan, dead foliage reflects lots of light, almost as much as white. This can fool a camera meter, but a polarizing filter used according to the directions can tame the most troubling light. Photographers might shoot manually and experiment with shutting down the f-stop a half-stop or even more.
Clean As a Whistle!
When cleaning the blood sac against a fish’s backbone, nothing works more efficiently than taking a folded paper towel, pushing the thumb against absorbent material and running it hard down the backbone once or twice, which removes the distasteful-looking, dark, congealed blood. It also eliminates using water to remove the blood and slime, which some folks feel reduces fish flavor.
~ WHERE THE ACTION IS ~
Hottest Fishing in Icy Maine Begins in Grand Lake
When April Fool’s Day arrives, fishing trips in Maine feel like an April Fool’s errand, but places do produce salmonids now.
Check out Maine’s number-one destination – Grand Lake Stream in Washington County on DeLorme’s The Maine Atlas and Gazetteer (MAG), Map 35, B-4. Folks line up in this picturesque village on April 1 – and for good reason. Landlocked salmon often winter in the stream here, a river really, and offer opening-day successes to the crowds that show up.
Grand Lake Stream, a fly-fishing-only water, appeals to that group, Maine ranks as one of the great fly-fishing destinations in the U.S. Big dark nymphs and smelt-imitating streamer flies fool the salmon that have stayed in the stream all winter with no flies swinging by their maws.
Belgrade Lakes Magic Kicks Off Now
Belgrade Lakes might reign as the second best spot to fish on April 1. Three spots attract crowds for the occasional excitement:
• Belgrade Lakes village at The Spillway in downtown Belgrade Lakes village draws crowds where folks cast into the current rushing from The Spillway or fish in the pond where the raging flow has pushed the ice away.
• Castle Island, The Narrows between the two basins on Long Pond, creates a fast current that draws baitfish and game fish to help anglers tangle with a big one. Folks fish right from the culverts or bridge.
• Wings Mills Dam below Long Pond holds salmonids above and below the old wooden structure, and early season anglers in the know take advantage by casting from the dam or the shallows above a bridge upstream of the dam.
Below Wyman
Once upon a time, say the 1950s, the Kennebec River between Wyman Dam and the bridge in Bingham ruled as the best spot in Maine to wrestle salmonids ashore. These days, over-fishing has pushed this spot way behind the above two hotspots, but the Kennebec still has moments along this stretch.
~ NEWS & TIDBITS ~
Seasonal Quote Warms the Heart
“The color of springtime is in the flowers, The color of winter is in the imagination.” – Ward Elliot Hour
Wyeth on Seasonal Preferences
“I prefer winter and fall when you feel the bare structure of the landscape – the loneliness of it, the dead feeling of winter. Something waits beneath it, the whole story doesn’t show.” -Andrew Wyeth
How Northern Trees Stave Off Freezing
When temperatures drop low enough, trees actually freeze and the ice crystals damage the membrane structure, but northern tree species withstand an incredible amount of cold. Three defense mechanisms help save them:
• As winter nears, the membrane slowly changes to tolerate the cold better.
• The sweetened fluid in the tree lowers the freezing point – a natural anti-freeze.
• Liquid cells become more viscous and conform more to the shape of the membranes.
Manhattan Forest?
Manhattan Island in New York City, certainly one of the important cultural centers on the planet, covers a mere 22 square miles. Mostly woods and grass cover 1.3 square miles of that area – Central Park. Just think if every 22 square miles of the United States had 1.3 square miles of parkland. It would offer recreational opportunities galore for common folks.
Coffee Dehydration Revisited
For decades, medical researchers have warned folks about drinking too much coffee while jogging, bicycling, rock climbing and similar vigorous activities because it leads to excessive urinating and then dehydration. Recent scientific studies in the international competitive bicycling community have shown researchers have overblown this problem. As for overall fluid loss from coffee consumption, it is far lower than previously believed. Folks may urinate sooner but not much more if any more at all than people drinking water or sports drinks.
Drunks vs. Cell Phone Users
Speaking of the bicycling community…. Biking organizations and bicyclists in general are pushing for a federal law to prohibit drivers from using cell phones because of increased carnage against bicyclists by distracted drivers, and they often quote a University of Utah study that shows cell-phone use while operating a motor vehicle causes people to have an impairment equal to 0.08 from drinking alcohol beverages.
This cell-phone problem falls into line with a common statement made by safety officers at Maine’s Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife who have often said the most dangerous time for a hunter is driving to and from the woods when vehicular accidents kill far more of them than bullets or falls from treestands.
Is Lactic Acid in C&R Fish Overblown?
Bicycle research as late as the 1990s showed lactic acid as a problem with bicyclists, and researchers furnished tips on how to avoid lactic-acid buildups in muscles. Recent studies have shown that lactic acid in humans is not a problem and in fact is a natural process for furnishing the body with energy. Perhaps studies on lactic-acid’s evils in released fish needs rethinking in a new research project, too.
Anti-Trapping Groups Vicious
Olympic skater Johnny Weir replaced his white-fox-fur addition to his skating outfit with faux after receiving “hate mail and death threats” from animal activists, according to his agent Tara Modlin on Jan. 28. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals also objected to his use of real fur, but this group did not make threats. Weir said his decision was not a victory for animal-rights groups, but rather, a draw. He wanted no outside influences spoiling his chances for victory.
Old-Growth Hemlock 400 Years Old
In Huntington Forest in New York, a 400-year-old hemlock fell across a trail and forced foresters to cut it into short sections, revealing its rings and leading to a new way of looking at old-growth trees. For the first 280 years, the hemlock grew to a 10-inch diameter and had extremely narrow growth rings, but then, it grew quite fast for the next 120 years. Researchers surmised woodcutters removed spruce from around the tree over a century before, leading to more sunlight and growth. This led them to believe we appreciate old-growth forests while ignoring single, old-growth trees, surviving the ravages of time. They dot forests everywhere.
Big-Three Hardwoods
Judged by the board feet sold, the big three common hardwoods in northern forests in 2000 were cherry, sugar maple and red oak. By 2007, yellow birch had jumped into the big three and had increased in value more than the other three, knocking out red oak.
Maine Fly-Fishing Has Lots Going for It
No state or province on the North American continent has more waters set aside for fly fishing than Maine does. On top of that, this state’s salmonids have the lowest general bag limit of any other state and province with a salmonid population.
None of these accolades should make us sit on our laurels, though. Maine has sterile water and needs more catch and release, slot limits and other quality-fishing regulations.
~ BIRD OF THE MONTH ~
White-throated Sparrow (Zonotrichia albicollis)
When a fly rodder sits on a calm North Country trout pond at dusk and hears “Poor Sam Peabody, Peabody, Peabody” called from the spruce- and fir-silhouetted shoreline, hopefully while brookies sip mayflies, that bird call with the sights captures the same experience visiting fly rodders have cherished for at least two centuries now in the Pine Tree State.
A white-throated sparrow (Zonotrichia albicollis) has earned a place as being as much a part of Maine’s woods as any bird, including loons, and that haunting “Peabody” call works as part of the reason it has become so special.
As the name implies, a white patch covers the throat in sharp contrast to the grayish breast, but one of this bird’s characteristic features is the yellow spots between the eye and bill on both sides. Some white-throats have a white eye stripe and others tan, making it polymorphic. Both genders have this coloring of white throat, yellow on the face and eye stripe.
White-throats look reddish brown from a distance with two, white, faint stripes on the wing. This may all sound dull, but the colors combine to make a lovely, eye-pleasing palette. Like most of nature’s birds, even the dull ones have an animated beauty that jumps out at the observer.
Ornithologists often use sparrows as a gauge to judge sizes of other birds, and this species measures 6 3/4-inches in length, sports a 9-inch wingspan and weighs 9/10ths of an ounce.
This bird lays four to five pale-green eggs in a cup of grass, rootlets and moss that lies on or near the ground in underbrush. (Ken Allen)
~ DO YOU KNOW? ~
A Few Songbirds Are Monomorphic
Of these three bird species, do you know which two are monomorphic – blue jay, white-throated sparrow or pine siskin?
~ BOOK CORNER ~
Heinrich’s Winter World a Must Read!
A Bernd Heinrich book first caught my eye in November 1995 – A Year in the Maine Woods (Addison-Wesley Publishing), and this work wowed me enough to do a book review here as did The Trees in My Forest (Cliff Street Books) a couple years later.
Each page in both books offers an intriguing thought, even jarring epiphanies at times, and the reader does not want either book to end. A book cannot get a higher compliment than that, and we’re talking about a Maine scientist-writer who works at the University of Vermont and has a camp near Rumford.
In The Trees in My Forest, Heinrich does stuff like put tape around a measured square of trees, count the species within the boundaries and then keeps track of the color the leaves turn in autumn – say on all the trees including red maples. Maples right beside each another turn a variety of colors – food for thought. One maple will be yellow next to another that’s red beside another that’s pink. Heinrich speculates why.
The best attribute of this writer strikes me as simple. He makes us truly see and then keeps us awake in the middle of the night, digesting what he has said. What more can we ask?
Last February, Winter World (Harper Perrenial) enthralled me night after night as I tried to savor it. Heinrich’s work got the better of me though, and I eventually plowed through it like an alcoholic facing a bottle of The Glenlivet.
One of the most intriguing parts of the book involved a study Heinrich conducted on the winter forage choices of golden-crested kinglets. He obtained a permit to kill some of them and cut the gizzards open, revealing caterpillars.
Then, he and his students went into the forest to collect these crawling critters, and even experts at the Smithsonian couldn’t ID them – apparently an unidentified species.
No one suspected kinglets were eating these worm-like creatures in the dead of winter. Yeah…wow. Score a big one for Heinrich.
If readers want excellent insight into the winter world of Maine wildlife as well as a perfect introduction to Bernd Heinrich, buy this book. You’ll thank me warmly for the suggestion – a 357-page paperback for $14.99. (Ken Allen)
~ INNOCENT BYSTANDER ~
What Color Are Spots on Brookies?
If a person asked Maine anglers what color the spots are on a brook trout, most folks would answer, “Red.”
The ones being quizzed would answer without hesitation unless they thought it sounded like a trick question because of course the spots are red. Where’s the debate?
However, a research scientist with a more objective eye might say, “A brook trout has red spots and yellow ones, and the latter are far more numerous.”
A photo of a small, mature, native brook trout from a brook east of Augusta would be typical of the species from Labrador to Georgia. One side of the fish shows 23 red spots and 152 yellow ones, so why do we always say red?
There’s a lesson here for advertising moguls. Red really stands out, so on a fish with nearly seven times more yellow spots than red, the brain says red.
Here’s another example of red in nature dominating the brain. In late April or early May when red maples blossom, somewhat astute observers notice the tiny flowers, which indeed give this hardwood a red tinge that sticks out in the drab landscape.
The female blossom usually blooms red and the male usually yellow, but as with brook trout, the human eye misses the yellow and keys on the red.
If you asked 100 woodland wanderers what color the new blossoms were on a red maple every spring, 99 to 100 of them would say, “Red.” Only someone like The Maine Sportsman’s nature writer, Tom Seymour, might answer, “Red and yellow.”
Nature has much to teach, and one lesson would help advertising executives, and another lesson offers a message about human behavior for sociologists, psychologists and criminologists – mainly that observers don’t always see what they think they do. (Ken Allen)
~ NEXT MONTH ~
Fishing Peaks; Turkey Hunting Rocks
Fishing peaks in the bottom third of Maine, and the top two-thirds of the state produce fast ice-out action. Furthermore, as the month wanes in the North Country, mayflies hatch, and in streams and rivers this means the Hendricksons and red quills – the female and male versions of Ephemerella subvaria.
As shorelines change to mint green, fishing picks up considerably, a time that stretches out over four to six weeks from Kittery to Fort Kent. That’s the beauty of Maine. Those of us who love ice-out mania, red-quill hatches, bass on spawning beds, spawning white perch and other events that draw schools of fish can follow the angling north for a short version of the endless spring a la the surfer’s endless summer.
Turkey hunting really excites its followers, and they go bonkers this month, arising well before daylight. This sport has taken off in Maine, and some folks have confessed to this writer that they do not want to get into turkey hunting for fear they’ll like it so much they’ll quit ice-out mania fishing.
Canoe trippers, backpackers and car campers pick up this month, gaining intensity as we near Memorial Weekend, the big push for folks who love sleeping outdoors and smelling wood smoke.
As May wanes, saltwater fishing may pick up as early striped bass arrive, but in recent years this species has been a bust in Maine. Bluefish have proven as iffy as stripers. Mackerel might show up in late May, but for sure, they’ll show up in June.
Groundfish species such as flounder, cod and haddock have picked up a little in action, but folks still catch lots of short groundfish.
As flowers dot fields with color, landscape photographers get out and make artworks folks are proud to hang over the fireplace. Lush grass, verdant foliage and flowers galore create dynamite backdrops as May slides toward June.
Bicycling increases in activity as folks flock to roads with breakdown lanes. This sport puts anglers and hunters into great condition.
~ANSWERS TO “DO YOU KNOW?” ~
Will the Monomorphic One Stand Up?
Male and female blue jays and white-throated sparrows look alike, nearly identical, and it takes an astute, trained ornithologist to tell the difference. Pine siskin males look much brighter than the drabber females, thanks to the male’s addition of yellow plumage.