Does Fishing with Barbless Hooks Benefit Maine's Fisheries?
By Fisheries Biologist Dave Howatt
Recently I was contacted by an angler inquiring about adding barbless hook restrictions to a cluster of waters in the Rangeley Lakes area with wild fisheries for brook trout and landlocked salmon. MDIFW is very interested in protecting both of these species, especially wild populations, so I decided to dig a little deeper into the subject.
The Maine Stream Temperature Monitoring and Modelling Network
Stream temperature is a primary control on the distribution and abundance of fishes and other aquatic organisms. After all, most are aware that Maine’s iconic salmonid fishes, such as wild Brook Trout, have a close affinity with waters that stay cool year-round. Hence, having a good understanding of where coldwater resources are and how these patterns may change in the future is something rather important for maintaining habitat for our native fishes, wildlife and their habitats.
Reconstruction of Lock Dam, Allagash Wilderness Waterway
By Regional Fisheries Biologist Frank Frost
How and why we age fish
By Fisheries Biologist Kevin Gallant
Having the ability to age a fish is a valuable tool for fishery managers. Stocked fish often have clipped fins that tell us what age they are (by knowing the year the certain fin was clipped). With wild fish (and unmarked hatchery fish), we have a few other options to give us the age of a given fish.
Smelt Research on Moosehead Lake
By Fisheries Biologist Tim Obrey The Moosehead Lake Region, as designated by the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, is big…some might say wicked big. It stretches from Dover-Foxcroft in the south to Allagash Lake in the north, Rainbow Lake to the east and the thriving metropolis of Skinner to the west. The land area covers 4,391 square miles with 4,125 miles of flowing water and over a quarter million acres of Great Ponds (there’s also another 2,160 acres of not so Great Ponds. i.e.
Spring smelt spawn!
By Regional Fisheries Biologist Liz Thorndike Smelt dipping in Maine is a springtime tradition for many, and depending on where you go and the conditions, these smelt runs can be sparse, or if you are lucky, the brook can run black with smelts. One night a few years ago, I captured this video of rainbow smelts spawning, when the brook ran black with smelts. Smelts are widely utilized and highly valued here in Maine.
Lake Trout No-Harvest Slot Limits Helping Produce More Larger Fish in Downeast Lakes
By Regional Fisheries Biologist Gregory Burr [caption id="attachment_3442" align="alignright" width="400"] Jim Hogan, Beech Hill Pond – 37 ½ inches, 22 pounds[/caption] For years, many of the famed trophy lake trout (also known as “togue”) waters Downeast languished in small fish obscurity. Lakes like West Grand, West Musquash, Tunk, Branch and the current lake trout state record ho
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