As part of National River Cleanup, members of the Upper Andro Anglers Alliance and students from the Telstar Challenge Course at Telstar High School in Bethel, Maine will clean up a section of the Androscoggin River from Newt’s Landing in West Bethel to Davis Park in Bethel on Thursday, May 19. Students, ages 16-18, will float down the river in rafts armed with garbage bags and towing garbage scow rafts to collect debris along the riverbanks. The clean-up flotilla will launch at 9 am from Newt’s Landing and take out at Davis Park. Community members are welcome to help clean-up this and other stretches of the river. The town of Bethel will provide trash collection at Davis Park and deliver to the town’s solid waste facility.

Northern Waters Outfitters of Errol, NH will provide rafts and garbage scows. Immediately following the clean-up, Bethel’s Best Pizza Grille & Dairy Bar will host a pizza party at Davis Park for all participants,.

Rivers and watersheds have been used as dumps for old appliances, shopping carts and other refuse. Litter, such as foam cups, plastic bottles and food wrappers float into waterways, build up along the shoreline and stay there for years. With landfill space at a premium, recycling efforts stymied by a lack of plant capacity and toxic waste expensive to control, a grassroots effort can help maintain a constituency for preserving and protecting waterways. In 2010, 2 million pounds of trash and debris were collected and 6,000 miles of rivers and streams cleaned across the nation. In years’ past the Upper Andro yielded over a ton of debris including bed springs, tires and tire rims, a boat motor and a 1950’s record player.

The Upper Andro Anglers Alliance sponsors the local clean up. Says Clean-up Co-ordinator and UAAA director Bruce Pierce, “There’s been a long-standing effort to improve the Androscoggin’s water quality and fishery-now we need to improve the shore land zone along this wonderful river.”

National River Cleanup was founded in 1992 by America Outdoors, the largest association of America’s outfitters and guides, to assist local groups in keeping waterways clean. In 2007 American Rivers assumed administration of the river clean up. American Rivers, founded in 1973, is the nation’s leading river advocacy organization. NRC Information is published on line at www.nationalrivercleanup.org.

Local Maine guides and members of the Mollyockett Chapter of Trout Unlimited will teach the workshops. Instruction will include both spin casting and fly casting for older youth and parents. Maine’s Hooked on Fishing-Not on Drugs Program will supply complimentary rods and reels for use at the festival.

Families can practice newly learned casting skills in the one acre pond and are welcome to take home their catch. The pond will be stocked with trout courtesy of the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife. Each young angler will receive a mini-tackle box complete with bobber, sinkers and hook courtesy of the Upper Andro Anglers Alliance.

Kids can learn how to tie flies with materials provided by local outfitters and fly shops. Children will be able to take home their hand-tied flies.

Families participating in the event will be eligible for door prizes from local outfitters and businesses as well as L.L. Bean and Kittery Trading Post. The Bethel Fire Dept. will host a barbecue of hotdogs and hamburgers, chips, and drinks and families are welcome to bring a pack lunch.

The weekend of June 4 and 5 is a free fishing weekend in Maine. Resident and Non-resident freshwater fishing licenses are waived each day.

The Family Fishing Festival is one of many nationwide events that provide families with an opportunity to have fun on the water. The events are promoted by the Recreational Boating and Fishing Foundation (www.rbff.org). For those families wishing to stay overnight and fish or canoe the Androscoggin River on Sunday, special family packages are available for the weekend at local lodging establishments.

For information on the Family Fishing Festival, contact the Upper Andro Anglers Alliance at 207-824-3694, fish@upperandro.com or www.upperandro.com.

Salvelinus fontinalis – brook trout, actually a char, but close enough for those anglers who enjoy playing tag with this native of North America. The squaretail or spotted trout, as some old-timers still call it, is now nearly extinct in most states, except for a few strains living secret lives in the shadows of smaller creeks and brooks, waters so small and insignificant most anglers pass them by to fish the bigger put-and-take rivers stocked with dim-witted, hatchery-bred fish. Those brookies that do remain are, on average, no bigger than a finger with a large fish growing to no more than six inches.

Now don’t get me wrong, I enjoy casting my flies to these spunky survivors, spending the better part of the fishing season prowling the smaller streams that drop down through the western portion of my state; but sitting here by the wood stove, watching a hard December sky spitting wet snow across our lawn, I’m thinking back to the summer when the weather turns hot and humid and most freestone streams begin to dry up.

That’s when its time to give the trout of my home State a breather. Time to pack up my fly rod and head north. No, not toward the Catskills or the Pocono’s, but past the Green, and even the White Mountains. I’m talking really north, as far north as you can travel up the east coast without the need for your passport.

Western Maine, specifically the Rangeley Lakes Region of western Maine, is teeming with wild brook trout native to the area, some as long as your arm. No really! The brook trout of the Rangeley Lakes Region are about as big as you’ll find south of Labrador. Oh, and just for fun, the place is chuck full of landlocked salmon that will leave you speechless as they tail-dance across a pool, spitting out your favorite fly just before they leap back under the surface.

In nineteen eighty-seven, my wife and I purchased a cabin on Aziscohos Lake, a long and narrow body of water formed in the late nineteenth century when the Magalloway River was first dammed to carry logs across its surface. The lake is situated along the westerly border of this wild section of Maine where the moose still outnumber the human residents.

Over the last twenty-plus years, I’ve kept a log of every fish caught from our cabin. To be counted, fish over sixteen inches must be measured before released, because as every angler knows, (but rarely admits) once measured, a fish estimated at sixteen inches magically shrinks to fifteen, sometimes fourteen inches depending upon the imagination of the one telling the tale and the gullibility of his or her audience.

Following Route 16 from Wilson’s Mills east to Rangeley, a little town sometimes mentioned in the New York Times travel section, you will cross at least five major lakes fed by countless streams, brooks, rivers and rills, their tannin-stained water tumbling down through balsam-and-spruce hills, with larger, fast flowing rivers falling out of the lakes, all working their way toward the mighty Androscoggin River.

Logging and fly fishing have gone hand in hand throughout western Maine for more than two hundred years. No longer dependent upon river and lake, fast moving trucks now carry timber to the mills, dirt and dust rising off the many logging roads that spread through the forest like a river spider’s web. Located a few miles west of Rangeley, in the quaint town of Oquossoc, a recently completed Outdoor Sporting Heritage Museum is worth the visit to learn more about the history of this region.

At Haine’s Landing you can stand where legendary guide, artist and all around Renaissance man, Herbert Welch, plied his trade. A short boat ride will take you to Upper Dam on Mooselookmeguntic Lake, hallowed ground to some. A place where Wallace Stevens once guided sports while his spouse, Carrie, originated many streamers still used today, such as the Gray Ghost. On the Rapid River you can walk the same carry road used by the writer, Louise Dickinson Rich, and her woodsman husband, Ralph; stay at their house, perhaps hear the call of their dog, Kyak, as the midnight moon sweeps over Middle Dam. Look hard enough and you may find a Rangeley boat in use, perhaps one built by Herb Ellis, himself.

[/caption]Last summer, casting a #18 black ant below Camp Ten Bridge on the Magalloway River, I released an eighteen-inch landlocked salmon and a sixteen-inch brook trout on successive casts while a local fisherman failed to give me a second look. During the last week of that August, fishing a tannin-stained riffle called Cleveland Eddy, I released more than twenty brookies, most measuring six inches or less, with a few nine and ten inchers to make it interesting when a brook trout measured in pounds rather than inches struck my wet fly.

This year, with the sun high in the summer sky and a southwest breeze spraying water in my face, I waded out into the Magalloway below Route 16. This is big water, a kayaker’s dream, all rapids and riffles, with a few huge pools, dark and foreboding, pools that you just know hold trout as big as you can dream. Casting a brace of flies, one wet, the other a nymph, I fished for three hours, releasing six salmon and three brookies, each trout measuring a true nine to ten inches with one of the salmon, the one that leaped across the surface three times before coming to the net, measuring twelve inches. No big fish, but a fun day.

A few days later, on a dank and drizzly morning, I pulled on my poncho and hippers and worked my way down a tributary of Rangeley Lake called South Bog Brook. My log confirms the release of twenty-nine brook trout over a period of only three hours. With the exception of a few ten-inch surprises, each measured no more than six inches.

There is so much water to fish.

If you’re looking for hogs, troll the big lakes, especially in early spring, just after ice out (Some years the ice does not start groaning until the middle of May.) or in September, before the season closes, but only if the rains come. It’s not unusual to spot a moose grazing in the shallows while overhead, an eagle might be seen gliding on a thermal current. Then again, there are always a pair or more of loons to entertain you with their eerie calls.

Two tail waters fall out of these lakes – the Magalloway, and her big sister, the Rapid, both running clean and cool throughout the summer. Anglers can also fish below Upper Dam where cold water is discharged throughout the summer. All three contain big brawling rapids cascading over humped-back boulders surrounded by what Henry Thoreau described as “howling wilderness.”

Many prefer nymphs to imitate the large stoneflies that inhabit the classic pocket water found in these rivers while others stick to streamers, which are always reliable, still some choose to tie a Stimulator to their tippet, especially as August draws to a close, knowing that the big stones are in the air at that time of year.

Traveling over logging roads, you can also fish above the lakes, wading up headwaters such as the Big and Little Magalloway Rivers, the Cupsuptic or the Little and Big Kennebago Rivers, as well as tributaries too numerous to name. For a short time each spring, big trout and salmon enter the smaller streams to follow smelt, the local bait fish, on their spawning run, returning in September, themselves to spawn. But even after the big fish have left, there are plenty of smaller trout to chase your fly, even in high summer.

Some of my fondest memories are of wading these wild stretches in the heat of summer, stopping to dip my neckerchief in the cool water, spreading it across my face before moving on. While raising brook trout on most every cast, I have found mink along the water’s edge, watched a family of otters frolicking around a boulder, stumbled across beaver dams, once watched a red squirrel swim from one bank to another, always the smell balsam permeating the air.

The fishing here is by no means technical. Nor is it necessarily easy. Find where the fish are holding and you are two thirds of the way there. Don’t spook them and you’re in for a fun afternoon. Brook trout up north, like their cousins in other States, are not selective; although when the rare hatch is in progress they can be fussy. I stick to a few wet flies and nymphs, (A Gold-ribbed Hare’s Ear pattern tied as a wet fly or nymph is my go-to fly during the summer months.) caddis flies, (Elk hair caddis and those with a cdc wing will bring fish to the surface from late afternoon until dark) switching to a Royal Wulff dry on the smaller streams and those large Stimulators to match the huge stoneflies that fly above the larger rivers in late August into early September. Classic streamers, such as the Gray Ghost or a Mickey Finn, are also a good bet, a well-known guide in the area once telling me, “Meat and potatoes bud, that’s what these fish want!”

There are a number of fishing lodges that cater to anglers and their families, each with guides eager to impart their wisdom to any sport willing to listen. Situated across from our camp, at the head of Aziscohos Lake, is Bosebuck Mountain Camps. The owners, Mike and Wendy Yates, have a reputation as gracious hosts, the food served in their lodge enjoyed by not only their guests, but also by local residents, who boat or drive up the lake to eat their fill. Tourists have been known to rent a seaplane in Rangeley to get a bird’s eye view of the mountains, lakes and streams before landing at the Camp’s dock.

Those staying at Bosebuck can motor one of the Camp’s boats up the Big or Little Magalloway Rivers. Bosebuck also provides access to the Magalloway above Parmachenee Lake, which lies behind locked gates. It’s here that some of the largest brook trout can be found.

Grant’s Camps, found on Big Kennebago Lake, provides access to the entire Kennebago River, much of which is also behind locked gates, insuring premium fishing to its sports, especially in spring and fall.
Situated beside Middle Dam, Lakewood Camps provides access to the Rapid River. Presently owned and operated by Whit and Maureen Carter, Lakewood is a classic Maine sporting camp in operation since the nineteen twenties.

Information about lodging, guiding services and more, can be obtained by going to the individual websites of these sporting camps or the website for the Rangeley Lakes Region’s Chamber of Commerce: rangeleylakesregion.com

Oh, and if you decide to cast your flies up north this summer, don’t forget to stop by our cabin and say hello.

Note: All photos in this article belong to Patricia Romano. To view enlarged copies, please click on the image.

Bob Romano has written two books about western Maine: Shadows in the Stream, which contains a series of essays, each concentrating on a different lake, stream or pond in the Rangeley lakes Region and North of Easie, a novel set in the same area. To find out more about Bob’s books and the Rangeley Lakes Region go to his website: forgottentrout.com.

Bob will be attending the Marlboro, Mass. Fishing Show and you can find him at the Angler’s Book Store where he will meet and greet and sign copies of his books.

Please follow this link to Maine Fly Fish to view the photos.

Dr. Elowe, a 22-year employee of the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, has accepted a position as Assistant Regional Director of Science Applications at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Region 5 headquarters, based in Hadley, Mass.

“Today, I have accepted Ken’s resignation with regrets,” Commissioner Martin said. “Ken has served this Department and the citizens of Maine with distinction, by creating and implementing several programs that now are nationally recognized, including Beginning with Habitat, and by being an outstanding spokesman for the agency. He truly is a talented individual and will be missed by all of us.”

In his new role, Elowe will be responsible for providing leadership and direction in the development and execution of high-priority regional science activities, including those involving climate change, adaptive resources management, and landscape conservation, particularly Strategic Habitat Conservation.

Elowe was named Director of Resource Management in 1998, which serves as the lead fish and wildlife biologist for Maine, after 10 years in the Department. Previous positions included Director of the Wildlife Division, leader of the Mammals Research and Management Group, and project leader for the Bear and Furbearer Group. As bureau director, he manages 120 employees, a $14 million budget, and all projects and initiatives related to wildlife and freshwater fish management.

For more than 11 years, Elowe has served as the Department’s senior liaison, building solid relationships with fish and wildlife agencies in other states and on the federal level, as well as conservation and sporting groups, and businesses.

“Ken has been instrumental in working with a variety of Maine conservation and sporting organizations in an effort to secure permanently protected funding for MDIF&W for the future,” said Peter Bourque, Director of Fisheries Program Development. “By ensuring proper funding, the Department can continue its efforts to preserve Maine’s outdoor resources for future generations.”

During his tenure, Elowe has monitored the status of fish and wildlife resources throughout Maine; directed the development of effective management programs for all species; lead the strategy for conservation land acquisition; and worked with private landowners and timber companies to develop strategies to manage lands while maintaining wildlife habitat. Currently, MDIF&W and 11 companies have wildlife habitat management agreements regarding more than 500,000 acres of forested habitat.

In Maine, Elowe was one of the originators of the Beginning with Habitat program, which seeks to integrate the principles of landscape conservation into municipal comprehensive planning. Beginning with Habitat also serves as one of the two pillars for Maine’s Wildlife Action Plan.

“Ken has been, and continues to be, an enthusiastic advocate for Beginning with Habitat and landscape conservation, using every opportunity that arises in Maine and the northeastern states, within the Northeast Association of Fish & Wildlife Agencies, and within the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, to support and advance sound landscape conservation application,” said Mark Stadler, MDIF&W Director of Wildlife. “His goal? That 50 years from now, our grandchildren will also be able to enjoy abundant and healthy wildlife management populations and habitats.”

Throughout his career, Elowe has sought to advance the concepts contained in Beginning with Habitat as well as worked extensively on endangered species policy and conservation initiatives at state and national levels.

Last year, Elowe helped celebrate the delisting of the Bald Eagle from Maine’s Endangered and Threatened Species List, after a 30-year effort by MDIF&W biologists and other natural resource groups to restore the populations in Maine.

Elowe is a member or a leader in the following groups: Atlantic Flyway Council, Atlantic Coast Joint Venture, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Strategic Habitat Conservation Committees, Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies; and North American Waterfowl Management Plan Revision Steering Committee; also a federal-state joint task force on federal aid policy.

Les wanted to know if I was interested in building on an addition to one of his ski lodges. We walked around the building and peered under a deck where the addition would go, both of us raising several questions about the existing structure. Soon, with Les in his work clothes (dress slacks and dress shirt) and I in mine (grubs), we were both crawling on our bellies through the dust, gravel, weeds, debris and just about everything else one might have the pleasure of finding under a heavily traveled ski lodge deck. I did make a couple of comments about our adventure but I’ll refrain from posting them here.

I’ve told that story more than one time but as I was thinking more about it this morning after getting off the phone with Les, that action actually is a pretty good characterization of him. Here’s a man who could have sat in the comfort of his clean office but instead did not hesitate to roll up his sleeves and get dirty.

I’ve known Les for perhaps 30-plus years and during that time he has given unselfishly to his community. Time and space will not permit the endless list of how he has impacted the people in his home town and surrounding area.

Les Otten is a businessman who understands many things, among them tourism, promotion, marketing, investment, providing a viable product and operating within a budget. Whoever resides in the Blaine House will face daunting tasks and challenges. I believe he is up for the challenge and can put together the right people to make it all happen.

One huge undertaking will be the financial shortfall of the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, a depleted whitetail deer herd, an overgrown population of coyotes and other predators, and environmental groups eager to make a living serving up lawsuits to stop hunting, trapping and fishing. The hunting, fishing, trapping and general outdoor recreation brings millions of dollars into Maine each year. The next governor has got to find a way to tidy up fish and game and make sure that those running it are in sync with the mission.

True to character, Otten will “roll up his sleeves and get dirty” on this issue.

All of the United States is at a crossroad. Things are changing and many of us don’t care for the direction it is going. If there’s one weapon we have as free Americans it is the right to vote. That’s where we can begin to push back.

Outdoor sportsmen can be independent people. We love to be outside, in the forests, on the water, enjoying the peace and quiet and the beauty God gave us. But to protect that, we have to give a bit more than we take sometimes. I’m asking every sportsman in Maine to make it a point to vote on June 8, 2010. Vote for the candidate(s) that you believe best represent your ideals. Finding the right people is extremely important at every level of government. Don’t wait to see who comes out on top. Be the one who puts your candidate at the top.

Tom Remington

The fish was weighed 1.73 pounds and was weighed on a certified scale at Yellow Front Grocery in Damariscotta. The record was confirmed by Maine Warden Service Game Warden Joe Lefebvre.

The previous state record was caught by Chad Mostats of Portland on Worthley Pond in East Peru in August 1989. It weighed 1 pound, 10 ounces (1.625 pounds).

The Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife and the Maine Sportsman newspaper, which is edited by avid outdoorsman and TV personality Harry Vanderweide, jointly announce new records. The publication has maintained the state record book for more than 30 years.

According to Vanderweide, this is the seventh state fishing record set in the past three years. That is more new records in a three-year period than any other three-year period since the records have been kept.