A. Sayward Lamb

Family and friends, including all of us here at Skinny Moose Media, Maine Hunting Today, Maine Fishing Today and U.S. Hunting Today, are mourning the passing of a great husband, father and friend. Sayward passed away on Thursday, May 29, 2008. Read more

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, May 31. The festival will be held at the Grand Summit Hotel Pond at Sunday River Ski Resort in Newry, from 9 am to 2 pm, rain or shine. Free casting workshops and fly-tying instruction will be available throughout the day.

Members of the Mollyockett Chapter of Trout Unlimited will teach the workshops. Instruction will follow the curriculum developed by Trout Unlimited’s “First Cast” program for Kids. 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 more

Maine Fishing Report For May 26, 2008

Region A – Southwestern Maine

This past week I was fortunate to take part in three days of brook trout sampling in the Moosehead Lake region. The folks that manage the big lake were kind enough to ensure that I saw a good cross section of their springtime field efforts. We worked both wild and stocked waters, assessed a relatively new stocking program, and assessed the age and growth implications of a stocking rate change. Read more

Andro River Clean-Up Nets Over Ton Of Trash

On May 15th, students from Telstar Regional High School and the Upper Andro Anglers Alliance teamed up for a river clean-up between Gilead and Bethel, divided into two groups each covering half of that stretch of river. The effort was part of the National River Clean Up.

Wende Gray, representative of the UAAA, sent me the following photos and this comment. Read more

Maine Fishing Report For May 19, 2008

Region A – Southwestern Maine

By now most of the region’s waters that will be stocked have been stocked with the exception of some salmon lakes and some high-use catchable trout waters being stocked for a second time or third time. If you have any questions about whether your favorite water (catchable trout only) has been stocked please check out the Department’s new link (“current stocking”) on our Web site (www.mefishwildlife.com). The site contains an update listing of all stockings of catchable trout and is updated daily. Read more

Maine Warden Service Dive Team Receives Gift from Drowning Victim’s family, friends

WATERVILLE – The Maine Warden Service Dive Team on Friday (May 16) received a generous gift of underwater camera and surveillance equipment from the family and friends of Thomas W. Kopp, the late dean of admissions at Colby College.

Mr. Kopp drowned on Nov. 10, 2007, when the aluminum skiff that he, his son and three grandsons were in flipped over on Great Pond in Belgrade. Mr. Kopp was located in the pond the next day by his son, Blaine, who used similar underwater camera equipment to assist the Dive Team in its efforts to find his father. Read more

Conservation Groups Sue Federal Government to Protect Salmon in Maine; Agencies Stall on Endangered Listing

PORTLAND, Maine— Today the Center for Biological Diversity, Friends of Merrymeeting Bay, and a Maine river activist filed suit against the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries Division over the agencies’ failure to take action on a petition to protect the dwindling Kennebec River population of Atlantic salmon under the federal Endangered Species Act.

“The Kennebec River salmon are on the verge of extinction, yet the agencies continue to stall,” said Ed Friedman, chair of Friends of Merrymeeting Bay. “The salmon runs on the Kennebec were once the stuff of legend, but today only a few fish make it up the river. Will the government simply wait until even these survivors have disappeared?” Read more

Maine Fishing Report For May 12, 2008

Fish Stocking Report Now Available With Daily Updates

The spring 2008 stocking report now is available on the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife’s Web site, and it features daily updates from hatcheries staff.

Instead of hearing when and where the hatcheries have stocked well after the season has ended, anglers now will be able to easily locate waters freshly stocked with catchable trout. Read more

How To Sew On Smelts, Suckers and Shiners as Bait for Trolling

By A. Sayward Lamb

I have trolled sewed smelts, suckers, and shiners, over a period of more that fifty years. Most of the time I use the method taught to me by Harl Andrews. This is my method.

First, be sure to use sewing hooks with double leaders ( I make my own) Why? Because you take the single sewing hook and, using the point of the hook, force it down through the top of the head in the bony part just above the eyes. Pull the complete hook down through. Then bring the hook up to the top of the head once again, and put the hook down through the same hole in the head a second time. Read more