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.

Patrick Coan of Waterboro landed the brook trout on January 8, 2010, while fishing at Mousam Lake.

The fish was weighed 9.02 pounds and was weighed on a certified scale at Limerick Supermarket. The record was confirmed by regional fisheries biologists based in IF&W’s Gray Regional Office.

Coan’s record-setting brook trout was a product of an IF&W hatchery, as evidenced by its fin clips. It is not known when this particular fish was stocked in Mousam Lake.

The previous state record was caught by James Foster of Howland on Big Black Pond in 1979. It weighed 8 pounds, 8 ounces

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.

Tom Remington

Maine Warden Service Urges Snowmobilers to Stay Off Ice on Parts of China Lake

The Maine Warden Service is urging snowmobilers to stay off the ice near the west basin of China Lake because it is too thin to hold snowmobiles.

Lt. Kevin Adam of the Maine Warden Service said there are areas around this part of the lake where there is ice, particularly near the shore, and there is open water out into the lake.

The Maine Warden Service is conducting a search using airboats and other equipment in the west basin of China Lake. Game Wardens are searching for 18-year-old Richard “Shaw” Jackson of South China, who was last seen on Friday night, Jan. 1, 2010. On Monday night, Game Wardens found tracks on the ice leading to open water at the west basin.

Lt. Adam said he’s overheard snowmobilers say they’ll be alright if they ride on the ice near the shoreline. They won’t, according to Adam. Equipment being used by the Maine Warden Service and weather conditions are thinning what little ice is there.

“Our airboats are creating waves that are weakening the ice and snowmobilers could go through it,” he said.

Our regional fisheries biologists preview the upcoming season in their annual Ice Fishing Preview. This is an informative guide to what fish have been stocked and where, and biologists’ picks of great ice fishing hot spots!

To view the preview on our website, visit http://www.maine.gov/ifw/fishing/reports/weekly_biologist/index.htm

For a printable pdf version, select this link: http://www.maine.gov/ifw/fishing/reports/pdfs/2010icefishpreview.pdf

Happy Fishing!

Bethel, Me…..Tyler Cote of Monmouth was the first place winner in the Third Annual Upper Andro Two Fly Contest held Saturday, September 19th on the Upper Androscoggin River between New Hampshire and Rumford, Maine. Tyler tied for first place in the biggest fish category with Brad Jerome of Newry. Both anglers caught a 14” rainbow trout. There was a tie for second place between Kevin McKay of Brewer, Maine and Charlie Lowe of Twin Mountain, NH, with 13 ½” rainbows. Chad Hughes of Camden, Scott Overbey of Brunswick and Mitch Cummings of Bethel each caught a 13” rainbow for third place honors.

The largest catch was also won by Cote with 12 fish, ten rainbows, a brown and brook trout. Second place went to Overbey with a catch of 9 rainbows and third place to Lowe with 4 rainbows, a brook and brown trout.

The Rocky Freda Turtle Water Team Trophy was presented to the Patagonia/Wild River Angler team who caught 21 fish.

Thirteen teams entered the competition. Each team made up of two anglers and a drift boat oarsman, fished with the use of only two flies from 6 am to 2 pm. All fish were caught, recorded and released. Along with the trophies, merchandise prizes from Orvis, L.L. Bean, Kittery Trading Post and Patagonia were presented to the winners. Three anglers who were unable to catch any fish received a new set of flies from Selene Dumaine of Merrymeeting Fly Shop in Brunswick.

The annual event is a fundraiser for the Upper Andro Anglers Alliance. The non-profit group, based in Bethel, Maine, is dedicated to conserving, protecting, restoring and promoting the natural resources relating to the Upper Androscoggin River, its tributaries, watershed and environs.

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.

While I was there, I met a man from Connecticut who had been fishing portions of the Upper Androscoggin River that day and he had opted to conclude his fishing adventures by returning to Bear River Rips at Newry Corner along the Androscoggin River.

Photo by Tom Remington

An angler from Connecticut, casts his nymph onto the waters of the Upper Androscoggin River in Western Maine. At this site is the confluence of the Bear River and the Androscoggin. The Bear River is fed through several brooks and streams coming down out of Grafton Notch, high up in the Appalachian Mountain region near the Mahoosucs, noted as being some of the toughest terrain along the entire length of the Appalachian Trail.

The cool mountain waters of the Bear River provides a great resource for cold water species of fish such as trout. These much sought after fish lay quietly in water eddies waiting to strike at the opportunity for a meal.

Photo by Tom Remington

I stood at the completed boat ramp and snapped this shot looking upstream. To the right in the picture is where the Bear River enters the Androscoggin just below the bigger rips. The top of the smaller mountain to the right in the photo is Mt. Will, a great and relatively easy hiking trail that provides some spectacular scenery. Far up the river and what you can see over the top of the last visible part of the river, are mountains leading up to the Appalachian chain and the Mahoosucs. That one visible mountain may possibly be Locke Mountain.

Photo by Tom Remington

Standing on the same boat ramp looking downstream the views are just as stunning. The above angler told me a large trout lurked in the little ripples of water visible in the photo near to where I was standing.

Difficult to see and further down the river, is the head of Hemlock Island. I grew up on this river and as you view the photo, I lived on the right side of the river and Hemlock Island was directly behind our house. Hemlock Island is most noted in Indian lore as being the site that Indian Princess Mollyockett buried the treasures she had amassed over the years. As appealing as that might sound, don’t drop everything and head for the island to scavenge for treasure. People have flocked there for years looking. (My brothers and I found the treasure years ago and that’s why I am now independently wealthy!……. NOT!)

The sun was setting and the mosquitoes and black flies were feasting on my flesh, so I gathered myself and headed for camp, leaving the Connecticut angler in his quest to out-maneuver that pesky trout.

Author’s Note: If you would like to learn more about the history of this river and the transformation that has happened over the past few decades of taking this river from one of the ten most polluted rivers in America to a clean water, destination fishing location, you can read a story I wrote several years ago called, “From Blight to Beauty“.

Tom Remington

The Maine Warden Service received the missing persons report at 7:30 a.m. today, March 23, 2009. Twelve Game Wardens and two MWS aircraft are searching for the couple, and a Maine Forestry Department helicopter is en route to assist.

The couple is from Pen Argyl, Pennsylvania. They planned to ride north and ride off trail, according to Lt. Pat Dorian of the Maine Warden Service.

Missing are:

Clifford Achenbach: 41 years old, 6-foot-2-inches, approximately 170 pounds, dark reddish hair, brown eyes.

Denise Achenbach: 42 years old, 5-foot-8-inches, approximately 140 pounds, brown hair, brown eyes.

They were riding a 2009 Polaris, red in color, and a 2007 Arctic Cat, green in color.

The couple checked into the Moose Mountain Inn on March 16, and planned on staying until Saturday, March 21. Earlier in the week, Mr. Achenbach told a hotel attendant that the couple had ridden to Pittston Farm and Northeast Carry.

The couple was due back at work in Pennsylvania today.

People with information about the couple should contact Piscataquis Sheriff’s Office 1-800-432-7372

A picture of Clifford Achenbach.

The red snowmobile on the left belongs to Clifford Achenbach. He is the person wearing a black snowmobile suit and waving. He was wearing that suit when he went out sledding on Thursday.

2007ArcticCat: This is a picture of the other model of snowmobile being ridden by Denise Achenbach. HOWEVER, the hood now is black.

Posted by Tom Remington

The proposal for the license claimed that the license was a way to collect and track data from fishermen who use the resource. Sen. Trahan has come up with an alternative proposal to a license and he needs your help.

The Sportsman’s Alliance of Maine has teamed up with Senator Trahan to promote this alternative. The New England Outdoor Voice has provided a site where you can read a letter that is being sent to the Joint Committee on Marine Resources asking them to consider Trahan’s proposal and why.

If you would like to read the letter and sign you name to send, click this link.

Tom Remington