Maine Free Family Fishing Festival

The Upper Andro Anglers Alliance in co-operation with Trout Unlimited will host a free family fishing festival on Saturday, June 5. The festival will be held at Angevine Park on the North Road in Bethel, from 9 am to 2 pm, rain or shine. Free casting workshops and fly-tying instruction will be available throughout the day.

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. Read the story »

Dr. Kenneth Elowe Accepts Position at U.S. Fish and Wildlife Regional Office

AUGUSTA – Commissioner Roland “Danny” Martin announced today that Dr. Kenneth Elowe will leave the position of Director of the Bureau of Resource Management on July 30, 2010.

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. Read the story »

Fishing Lures For Catching Moody Fish

By Capt. Jim Hirt

From time to time we all can use a little help. These changes in thinking or additions to your fishing arsenal will improve your success. The speed of your bait whether it is a spoon, jig, or crankbait is important. The right lure at the wrong speed will be less productive.

The correct speed is dictated by many variables.

Always consider the mood of fish and the environment they are in. This will help you find the best speed. Mood is defined by weather and the time of year. High and low barometric pressure are a part of the weather question. They both have a significant impact on the mood of all fish. Activity level in fish will change with the movement or lack of barometer movement. You must know what the weather has been preceding your fishing trip. This information will set the stage giving you the information you can use to your advantage. A clear blue high sky after a low pressure front is every anglers nightmare. Fish get spooky, neutral or negative in these conditions. Read the story »

Upper Androscoggin River Clean Up – Maine

Students from Telstar’s Challenge Program [Telstar High School] collected over 800 lbs of trash, including bed springs, pylons, washing machine, air conditioner and refrigerator parts, during the annual river clean-up on the Upper Androscoggin River between Gilead, Maine and West Bethel, Maine on Monday, May 24. National River Clean-up is sponsored by American Rivers and locally by the Upper Andro Anglers Alliance. Magic Falls Rafting Company provided rafts and garbage scows to collect the trash. Bruce Pierce, UAAA Director, coordinated the event along with Steve Keane, Telstar Challenge course instructor. Read the story »

Leslie B. Otten – Candidate For Maine Governor

I got a telephone call one day from Les Otten, owner of Sunday River Ski Resort. He wanted to know if I could meet him at his office. When I arrived he was on the telephone heavily engaged in a telephone conservation concerning the sale of several new condominiums being constructed on the mountain. Twenty-five years ago, a few hundred thousand dollars was a lot of money. I waited.

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. Read the story »

Emerson Family Invades Parmachenee Lake – Maine

Our annual excursion to Parmachenee got underway Thursday evening July 24th with the 1100 mile drive from Indiana to Maine. 24 hours later, we arrived at my Dad’s fishing lodge very weary but also excited at the prospect of two weeks of uninterrupted camp life.

After a long night’s sleep, my little fishing buddy, Lacey, and I hit the lake at 5:15 a.m. and only moments later I landed a beautiful trout, “Tommy Trout” which measured 17.5″ and weighed 2.25#. Read the story »