Not to mention my continued involvement in CSF and the many trips we have planned. As well as my family and I taking to the woods this summer. Two step sons who will be fishing and a future daughter in law who will as well. The wife and I are constant pair of anglers. Plus my youngest son, at 7 who walks in my shadow, grinning at how much like me he really is. All of us creating fodder for my writings and new articles to follow.

I will be posting more in the next 24 hours…… stay tuned….I’m just getting started.

New??? AFT Logo.

I have been doing some design work trying to come up with a good logo. Tell me what you think!!!!!

May offer this in Patches and decals…Tshirts and Hats ????

BlogCatalog???

Spring Fishing Report

Region G – Aroostook County

With snowbanks so high that I have difficulty seeing traffic go up Station Hill in Ashland, peering into our crystal ball we will predict that ice out will occur as normal, that being late April in southern Aroostook County and May 8-15 in the remainder of the region. As usual travel in the North Maine Woods area will be subject to the effects of mud season – culvert washouts, frost heaves and unplowed roads that may be full of snow hampering travel to some ponds.

The usual ponds were stocked with fingerling brook trout in fall 2007 and should reward anglers with ice out fishing. These include Deep and Carry lakes in Littleton, Echo Lake and Hanson Brook Lake in Presque Isle and Daigle Pond in New Canada. Spring yearling brook trout will also be stocked in the same waters: Mud Pond and Logan Lake in the Houlton area, Arnold Brook Lake and Monson Pond in central Aroostook, Island Pond and Upper Elbow Pond in the back country.

Improved catches of salmon and smelts in Square Lake this winter should cause optimism for those anglers that have longed for the fast ice out fishing for which the lake was well known. Increased smelt abundance has improved the growth of these salmon. Brook trout fishing in Square Lake has produce nice catches of 14-16 inch fish. As has been the case in past years, anglers will flock to Long Lake looking for the trophy salmon. Mud Brook will be open to smelt dipping again in 2008.

By all reports, trout fishing in the larger streams and rivers was excellent last year and should continue into 2008. The Aroostook River between Caribou and Fort Fairfield, under special regulation, is now known for excellent catches of trout 12-16 inches. The Presque Isle Stream, Prestile Stream, Fish River and Allagash should all offer some decent brook trout as the water drops and warms in late May and early June.

The 2008 Open Water lawbook has been printed and is now available to the public. We would recommend taking the opportunity to read this pamphlet while anglers wait for the snowbanks to recede and the ice to leave their favorite waters.

Finally, the Presque Isle Fish and Game Club’s Sportsman Show is scheduled for April 5-6 at the University of Maine at Presque Isle. This may be the first sign of spring in the County and should offer the public a great opportunity to get ready for the upcoming fishing, boating and camping season.

– David Basley, Regional Fisheries Biologist, Ashland

Stabley Outdoors of Skinny Moose Media Donates $3,000 of Advertising

STABLEY OUTDOORS Donates $3,000 worth of advertising space to the National Hunting and Fishing Day.

“This is a great way to help spread the word about National Hunting and Fishing Day. I encourage everyone to take a newcomer out hunting or fishing, no matter what the age.” said Stabley.

Outdoor television star Michael Waddell has been selected as honorary chairman for this year’s National Hunting and Fishing Day, set for Sept. 27. Read more

And On The Sixth Day God Created Maine

On the sixth day, God turned to the Archangel Gabriel and said: “Today I am going to create a land called Maine. It will be a land of outstanding natural beauty. It shall have tall, abundant mountains full of pine trees and eagles, beautiful sparkling lakes bountiful with bass and trout, forests full of deer and moose, high cliffs overlooking sandy beaches with an abundance of sea life, and rivers stocked with salmon”. God continued, “I shall make the land rich in resources so as to make the inhabitants prosper, I shall call these inhabitants Mainers, and they shall be known as the most friendly people on the earth.”

“But Lord,” asked Gabriel, “don’t you think you are being too generous to these Mainers?”

“Not really,” replied God, “just wait and see the winters I am going to give them.”

Posted by Mainard True

NSSSF Press Release..your impact on Maine?s economy.

Maine’s Hunters and Anglers Have a Significant Impact on the Economy
Spending $581 Million a Year

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Maine’s 266,000 hunters and anglers are among the most prominent and influential of all demographic groups, spending more than $581 million a year on hunting and fishing, according to a new report.

The new report, “Hunting and Fishing: Bright Stars of the American Economy ~ A force as big as all outdoors,” spotlights the immense impact hunters and anglers have on the economy at the national and state level.

In Maine, spending by hunters and anglers directly supports 8,800 jobs, which puts $222 million worth of paychecks into pockets of working residents around the state. Of course, government coffers also benefit — spending by sportsmen in pursuit of these outdoor activities generates $56 million in state and local taxes. These latest figures demonstrate that season after season hunters and anglers are driving the economy from big businesses to rural towns, through booms and recessions.

“Because sportsmen enjoy hunting or fishing alone or in small groups, they are overlooked as a constituency and as a substantial economic force,” stated Jeff Crane, president of the Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation. “When you compare spending by hunters and anglers to other sectors, their impact on the state’s economy becomes more tangible.”

• Sportsmen support more jobs in Maine than the University of Maine, one of the state’s largest employers (8,800 jobs vs. 8,000).
• Annual spending by Maine sportsmen is more than the Gross State Product for arts, entertainment and recreation ($581 million vs. $376 million).
• Maine sportsmen annually spend more than the revenues from commercial seafood landings in the state ($581 million vs. $362 million).
• Maine sportsmen outnumber the populations of the state’s nine largest cities combined (266,000 vs. 253,000).
• The economic stimulus of hunting and fishing equates to an astounding $1.6 million a day being pumped into the state’s economy.

“Spending by sportsmen benefits not only the manufacturers of hunting and fishing related products, but everything from local mom and pop businesses to wildlife conservation,” noted Doug Painter, president of National Shooting Sports Foundation. “And because most hunting and fishing takes place in rural areas, much of the spending benefits less affluent parts of the state.”

On the national level, 34 million sportsmen age 16 and older spent more than $76 billion in 2006, supporting 1.6 million jobs.  If a single corporation grossed as much as hunters and anglers spend, it would be among America’s 20 largest, ahead of Target, Costco and AT&T. And if all hunters and anglers had voted during the last presidential election, they would have equaled 31 percent of all votes cast.  If all hunters and anglers living in Maine voted, they would have equaled 61 percent of all votes cast in the state.

These statistics are impressive and, if anything, they underestimate the impact of sportsmen since they do not take into account the millions of hunters and anglers under 16 years of age or people who were not able to get out and hunt or fish in 2006. When sportsmen’s spending is thought of in business terms and compared to other sectors of the economy, it is quite remarkable. From small rural towns scattered across our country’s landscape to the bottom-line of Fortune 500 companies located in major cities, if you take away hunting and fishing you take away the equivalent of a multi-billion dollar corporation.

“It is a fairly simple equation – hunters and anglers mean jobs in states and local communities that have made the effort to maintain their hunting and fishing opportunities,” said Crane. “The economic impacts that sportsmen have on state economies should be a wake-up call to state governments to welcome and encourage hunting and fishing in their state.”

The report, “Hunting and Fishing: Bright Stars of the American Economy ~ A force as big as all outdoors,” was produced by the Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation with support from the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, National Marine Manufacturers Association, National Shooting Sports Foundation and SCI - First For Hunters. The report uses the results from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s 2006 National Survey of Fishing, Hunting and Wildlife-Associated Recreation and statistics provided by the American Sportfishing Association and Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies.

The report: “Hunting and Fishing: Bright Stars of the American Economy ~ A force as big as all outdoors” along with STATE FACTS are available on the Web at
 www.sportsmenslink.org and www.nssf.org

For more information or questions contact: Melinda Gable 202-302-4794 or at Melinda@sportsmenslink.org

Used with the permission of NSSF…4/1/08 BNR

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