Posts Tagged ‘Downeast Fishing Report’
Posted on Thursday, August 23rd, 2007 by Maine Sportsman
The staff in the Downeast office has been busy in the field lately. We have been conducting numerous stream, lake, and pond surveys.
We have been successful at finding brook trout in many of the brooks and streams we have been surveying. Recently we have been sampling on Mount Desert Island, Otis, Surry, Grand Lake Stream, Calais, and the northern part of the region in the Topsfield area. These surveys are providing us with a great deal of information. We electrofish a section of the stream, perform water quality analysis, record observations about habitat, and complete an assessment of any road crossings near the survey section. This information is vital for us to effectively manage fish populations in our region.
Recently we have surveyed fish populations at lakes and ponds in Calais, Lamoine, and Deblois. We surveyed Nash’s Lake in Calais to evaluate the landlocked salmon that we stock there annually. We sampled 25 salmon ranging from fish just over 1 year old, that were stocked in the spring, to fish that were just over 3 years old, and also one wild salmon that was just over 4 years old. The fish were all in good shape with the largest salmon being about 18.5 inches. About 75% of the fish sampled had good numbers of small smelts in their stomachs. We were pleased to see good smelt numbers since this spring’s smelt run at Nash’s Lake was somewhat poor as a result of fluctuating water levels in Interval Brook. I would like to thank Phil and David Hill for assisting us in our sampling efforts and also to Earl Boyd for providing us with some of his fishing experiences at Nash’s over last few decades as well as a detailed depth map that he created.
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Tags: Downeast Fishing Report • Categories: General
Posted on Wednesday, August 8th, 2007 by Maine Sportsman
Fishery management biologists in the state’s seven different regions are responsible for overseeing and responding to many tasks and situations within their effort to protect fish populations, protect and enhance fishing opportunities, and to ensure public access to Maine waters. As biologists work with the many different groups and people, to meet these endeavors on the hundreds of lakes and ponds and thousands of miles of streams and rivers in their regions, many challenges come across their paths on a day to day basis that most of the public are not aware of.
This is no different in the Downeast management region of Hancock & Washington counties, when our human population grows there are many more interested people in the in the environment and many projects good and bad that effect fish populations, fishing opportunity and public access. In that vein, below is bulleted list of issues that biologists are dealing with in the Downeast region. I think our readers will find them interesting.
Downeast & Quoody Liquefied Natural Gas Pipelines — crossing hundreds of streams in Washington County.
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Tags: Downeast Fishing Report • Categories: General
Posted on Tuesday, July 24th, 2007 by Maine Sportsman
Three memories from a youngster who got hooked on fishing for a lifetime
1. It was a hot, calm July afternoon when the 12 year-old successfully rowed his first 100 yards across the cove. After tying a new frog-pattern floating Jitterbug lure to his fishing line, he targeted a cast between a big stump and a patch of lily pads. The lure landed with a “plop”, sending circles of ripples across the quiet water. As the ripples disappeared, the youngster slowly took a few turns on the reel, producing the tell-tale “blub-blub-blub” of the Jitterbug. This time the water exploded into shimmering droplets of water as a two-pound smallmouth bass leaped two feet into the air, producing a memory that would motivate the youngster to become a lifetime fisherman.
2. His Dad and Grampie awakened him at 4 a.m. that Saturday to be on the stream at daylight. He slept in the car on the drive, then pulled on his short rubber boots as first light was breaking through the orange glow in the east. At first he trekked excitedly down the trail that started as an old woods road through the spruce-fir forest, then he shivered as the cold heavy dew of the meadow-grass soaked his clothes in the cool early morning air. At the edge of the first beaver flowage, he hooked a worm just below the gold spinner that his eyes would watch intently all day long as he casted and reeled. It was a slow fishing day, but by late afternoon, he saw a trout chase at the worm and hit it just enough to jiggle the spinner blade — and in those seconds, a visual memory was made that would last a lifetime. No hook-ups today, just a tease from one brook trout, and a burning hope for more that would motivate the youngster to become a lifetime fisherman.
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Tags: Downeast Fishing Report • Categories: General
Posted on Wednesday, July 11th, 2007 by Maine Sportsman
The Downeast Region that encompasses Hancock and Washington Counties are experiencing an epidemic of illegal introductions of non-native fish species that are affecting the natural eco-systems and native fishes.
In this week’s report I want to let the public know where this is occurring and the potential damages it will cause.
Jacob-Buck Pond, Bucksport — smallmouth bass confirmed in the summer of 2006. This illegal introduction occurred within the last 3 years and will affect native brook numbers and sizes by competing for food and space and by colonizing the outlet and feeding on small trout that would have migrated into the pond.
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Tags: Downeast Fishing Report • Categories: General
Posted on Tuesday, June 19th, 2007 by Maine Sportsman
Maintaining access to public waters in the Downeast region is a top priority for fisheries biologists. This region has over 500 lakes & ponds and 3,800 miles of rivers, streams and brooks, where biologists and wardens have the responsibility of finding suitable lands to be purchased for public access to inland waters. Currently over 85 percent of state waters in Hancock and Washington Counties have public access across privately owned lands. These gracious landowners who have allowed public access for decades to Great Ponds (Great Ponds are lakes and ponds over 10 acres in size) in our area, have done so because they understood the importance to their communities, both for recreational opportunities and to the local economy. The social benefits from public access to inland waters is immeasurable as it keeps people connected to the natural environment and provides badly needed opportunities for citizens to enjoy the outdoors. Statistics have shown that children who fish and recreate on the water have a greater tendency not to become involved with drugs or alcohol.
The economic benefit to the Downeast region from fishing and other water based recreation is in the millions, as just fishing in inland waters generates upwards of 300 million annually state wide. These wholesome family activities are what help bind communities together and are what make Maine what it is, the place to be.
Sadly, these public access points that cross private lands are disappearing as the parcels change hands and the access blocked off. When this occurs, the lakes and ponds become privatized or semi-privatized, leaving little opportunities for Maine people to access the water that they own. In many cases once these access points are closed off the water can no longer be stocked, as all citizens need to have the same advantage to the fish resources of that water. This is a fairness issue that arises when there are many private access points that are associated with camps and residences remain and only family and friends can access but not the general public. The Department of Inland Fisheries & Wildlife policy states that fair and equitable public access has to be in place in order for the department to stock. This means that access between private landowners and the public must be the same, so that both have the same advantage to the stocked fishery resources. This can be accomplished through local towns, the federal government, state agencies or a lake landowner providing access for the public with agreements and/or development of access sites.
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Tags: Downeast Fishing Report • Categories: General
