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 5 and 6 is a free fishing weekend in Maine. Resident and Non-resident freshwater fishing licenses are waived each day.

The Family Fishing Festival is one 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

The Upper Andro Two Fly Contest and Northeast Drift Boat Championship are scheduled for the weekend of September 19 and 20, 2009 in conjunction with Bethel’s Annual Harvest Fest. The competitions are the annual fund-raisers for the Upper Andro Anglers Alliance, a non-profit group dedicated to the conservation, protection, restoration and promotion of the natural fishing resource of the Upper Androscoggin River, its tributaries, watershed and environs.

Contestants may use only two flies during the event, which starts at 6:00 am on Saturday. Teams may launch from public launch sites from the New Hampshire border at Shelburne to Rumford Center. The contest concludes at 2:00 pm.

The Two Fly contest will test the skills of anglers to fly fish for the most and the largest of the three trout species, brown, rainbow and brook found in the Upper Androscoggin River from the New Hampshire border to Rumford Center. A fly is defined as made from natural or synthetic materials tied to a single pointed hook. No tandems or treble hooks are allowed. Teams of three including two anglers and a referee/oarsman must fish from an open boat-drift boat or raft. All fish must be released live.

Prizes including rods and fishing gear supplied by Kittery Trading Post, L.L. Bean, Sun Valley Sports and the Orvis Company will be awarded Saturday afternoon immediately following a parade of the drift boats up Main Street and around the Town Common.

The Second Annual Northeast Drift Boat Championship will be held Sunday, September 20 at 10 am. Designed as a spectator event, the competition will test oarsmen’s skills at navigating a course and rowing speed. Each drift boat must carry at least one angler, who must remain standing throughout the timed race. The launch will be from Bethel Outdoor Adventures on Route 2 and the finish line is at Davis Park in Bethel-a distance of a quarter mile.

Last year’s winner of the Two Fly Contest with a 19 1/2” brown trout was Tyler Gammon of Otisfield, Maine. Winner of the Drift Boat competition was Mike Jones of Harpswell, ME rowing a Clackacraft boat. Both outdoorsmen plan to defend their titles.

Official contest rules and a registration form are available on line at www.upperandro.com or by phoning 1-877-851-7533.

Leave a Legacy Fish 50 Trophy Waters in 50 States in 50 Days www.fish5050.com

Our Mission: On June 13th, 2009 my son Taylor (age 17) and I will embark on a nationwide quest, a quest to Fish 50 Trophy Waters in 50 States in 50 Days. Our journey will span 15,000 miles by land, 6,000 miles by air (Alaska and Hawaii), cover 500 miles by water, with no shortcuts. www.fish5050.com /

Our Cause: Our hope is that our adventure, our quest, will inspire fathers and sons across the nation to realize their dreams for adventure and connect once again. To find and live out that adventure in their lives they so desperately desire and need. To realize that no matter where you live there is a pond, river, lake, or ocean – teeming with fish – waiting to be explored – to build a lasting memory – to rekindle that long lost relationship – to Leave a Legacy.

Ever since I was a small boy I’ve dreamed of adventure; desiring to seek after something that seemed bigger than life. If you’re like me, adventures such as climbing Mount Everest or running the Boston Marathon seem a bit beyond reality. I’m just an average father; what could my adventure be?

What’s so special about a father and son adventure? My son Taylor has been my fishing buddy since he was a small boy. We’ve experienced some incredible fishing trips together. Realizing that with college on the horizon we see one last chance at a truly epic adventure together – to seize the moment. Where the fish story of all fish stories, between a father and son, can be lived out and told.

When I was a child, I longed to ride along with my dad no matter where he was going, and I jumped at every chance to go fishing with him. In fact, from my earliest memories, fishing has always been my passion. For many of us, fishing was the one true bond we had with our fathers, where we finally felt connected, where our father’s legacy lives on. The romance of those days is a distant memory for most people. Fathers are caught up in the rat race of life with long commutes, constant emails, and never ending work weeks while our children sit at home trying to fill the voids by immersing themselves in their world of Xbox, iPOD, and Cable TV. With all of society’s advancements many fathers and sons have lost their common bond
- they’ve lost their desire for adventure.

The Media: The project will have significant U.S. media attention through local, state, and national magazines, newspapers, web, television, radio, and upon completion of our journey a book.

Jeff & Taylor Turner
7332 Fox Call Lane
Warrenton, Virginia 20186
540-351-0250
jeff.turner@fish5050.com

For the complete details and information about this adventure, follow this pdf link.

Posted by Tom Remington