Krill Fly? Yes - Krill fly!!

Photo ID – Captain Doug Jowett’s Krill fly – don’t laugh to loud, it works.

       Striped bass flies are born out of necessity, imagined need and plain creativity.

       Sometimes the conditions on the water seem almost impossible to replicate. Matching the hatch appears difficult.

       One example of almost impossible situations is mid summer on a very calm ocean when striped bass, bluefish and bluefin tuna are feeding on krill.

       Krill are small crustaceans and are found in all the world's oceans. The name krill comes from the Norwegian word krill, meaning young fry of fish. In our Northeast waters we have lobster krill, shrimp krill and crab krill.

Krill are considered an important trophic level connection – near the bottom of the food chain – because they feed on phytoplankton and to a lesser extent zooplankton, converting these into a form suitable for many larger animals for whom krill makes up the largest part of their diet. Most krill species display large daily vertical migrations, thus providing food for predators near the surface during the day.  At times they remain on the surface for days on end.

A single krill is difficult to see, but when tens of thousands gather together they can be seen as large globs near the surface being corralled by predator fish. Or there will be scattered krill looking like pollen on the water’s surface.  The predators become very selective and usually won’t touch any other offerings from an angler.

One year I got real lucky using a small shrimp fly, so I realized stripers would take the fly when a krill hatch is on. But how could you actually match the hatch of such a tiny natural and have a hook bold enough to hold stripers?

I eventually came up with the fly pictured with this article. I was so embarrassed about its sophomoric look, I never exposed it to anyone but my finest and trusted customers who all laughed until it worked for them. The first fish I caught on the krill fly was a 26 pound bluefin tuna.

Last spring on Cape Cod we had a small cookout with a few light tackle fly guys. During our discussions, the problem of fishing striped bass when they were on krill came up. I mentioned the fly and all were interested. I sent the photo of the fly to the guys and asked them not to laugh.

Mike Rice, a commercial fly tier dba Mud Dog Saltwater Flies of blooded pedigree, wrote back and commented, “Doug- I like that. It’s brilliant actually”.

So, for the first time, I present the krill fly for public consumption. To my knowledge there is no other krill fly out there. Remember, this is a specialty fly which only produces when fish are feeding on krill, usually late summer and early fall in our Northeast waters.  

Big stripers and blues will look like sipping trout, just rolling softly on their prey. While fishing the krill fly, use a floating line and leader, keep a tight line and move it painfully slow. When a fish shows to take the fly, wait for it to turn on the fly before setting the hook.

I use 1/0 and 2/0 TMC – 600SP hooks for stripers and 5/0 for small tuna. The tie is simple. Tie a few overhand knots into a clump of rainbow crystal flash, fold material over the hook and tie in with clear thread and then bow tie it back over the hook. Several bunches tied in randomly complete the fly. Coat the inside areas of the clumps with Softex or thinned Goop to provide separation and form. Form is not exactly the term for this fly because it has no defined form.

Processing Maine Deer Meat

When you shoot a deer, how do you prepare it for the freezer? Some hunters simply get their deer tagged, haul it to a deer meat processor and call it good. Some like to hang their deer for four or five days prior to taking it to a processor or cutting it up themselves. There used to be many deer meat processors in Maine, but over time the numbers have decreased. I’m told most processors who gave up deer cutting did so because state regulators made it almost impossible for them to financially comply with demands of inspections associated with state imposed rules and regulations. The problem for most who were also in the business of beef, pork and other commercial meat processing. There are still some deer processors in Maine. One I visited this fall is Thibeault’s Deer Cutting in East Harpswell, Maine owned and run by Pat Thibeault with the help of her son Vincent for the past 13 years. The business was purchased from the Pinett family on Rt. 196 in Topsham, Maine where the operation was run for 40 years. Vincent worked for them for 10 of those years. Thibeault’s has a clean and efficient operation in the spirit of an assembly line. A big walk in cooler and a freezer keep your deer, bear and moose in good condition. A staff of 10 workers efficiently moves the meat along quickly; skinning, cutting, grinding, packaging, labeling, cooling and freezing. Only six workers fit into the meat cutting area at one time. When you arrive, they can tag your deer as an official, state tagging station. Ones tagged your deer is logged into a computer system, hoisted and weighed by a conveyor rail system that takes the deer with all it’s information attached into the cooler to wait it’s turn to be butchered. The conveyor system looks like a beef processing operation at Chicago meat packing plants. The goal at Thibeault’s is to process one deer every 15 minutes. That doesn’t always happen, but it’s pretty fast. The cost of having your deer processed, packed and frozen varies. Charges may include skinning, boning, vacuum packing, capping, sausage making, addition of fat for burger and other charges. An example of cost for a 150 pound deer, boned, packaged and vacuum packaged would be $91 with a yield of about 63 pounds of venison meat. That’s a pretty good bargain in my book. A chart of their charges can be seen on their Facebook page on the internet. Other deer butchers are listed on the internet here: www.themainehuntingguide.com/butcher.html

Littleneck, Cherrystone and Quahog Clams - Gatherer's Free Treat

We hunter gathers who seek deer, ducks, grouse, geese, woodcock and fish of all kind to fill our freezers give little thought to other forms of food available in nature.

One coastal treat are the various sizes of quahogs found in the saltwater mud and sand flats. Quahogs are clams, not the soft shell clams associated with fried clams and steamed clams served during typical Maine lobster bakes. These are very hard shelled clams that come in several sizes. Quahogs are hard-shelled, found in estuaries along the coast. Beads made of quahog shells were used as currency in early New England. Quahogs are known by name in three categories: littlenecks, cherrystones and quahogs. Quahog classes are usually over four inches wide and also referred to as chowder clams. Mahogany quahogs are in a class by themselves and legally different. You aren’t likely to find any mahogany quahogs. So, I guess you could say there are really four sizes of quahogs. In Maine, there is a personal use harvest limit on one peck, which in general is about two gallons of water. No license is needed for personal use. Personal use means just that, you can’t sell them. A minimum size limit is one inch at the hinge. You can buy a legal measure at most marine stores along Maine’s coast. Ones you locate a place to rake for quahogs, a method of harvest is required. As seen in the photo, there are small clam rakes available that can be pulled through the sand or mud with tines that guide the quahogs into the net tray attached. When you come in contact with a quahog, it feels like a small rock hitting the steel tines and hopefully falling to the trap area. You work the rake in and lift it straight up so nothing falls out. You do this recreationaly while wading in relatively shallow water. There are several ways to eat quahogs. Steamed and dipped in butter are good. Shucked and lightly sautéed in virgin olive oil, butter and chopped garlic is good. But my favorite is raw with a horseradish, tomato sauce, served over an ice tray. I like to chill the clams for two days in the refrigerator prior to shucking. You should always check laws and coastal closure areas prior to harvesting. -30-

2012 Striped Bass Fishing Results

Photo ID – Squid Flies may be the trick for late September and early October.

Strange things happened along Maine’s coast during the 2012 fishing season. First, an invasion of squid occupied the inshore waters of Maine from Kittery to Penobscot Bay. They were so thick; I caught them while jigging for mackerel with a standard sabiki rig and with a fly while chasing striped bass. In the middle of the day! People who actually wanted bucket loads of squid did so easily at night from a well lit dock area or on a boat with a strong light like a Coleman camping light. I for one have never seen such a strong run of squid from July through August. The numerous squid I caught were in four to 14 inches in size. There wasn’t any consistency to the size during a given bite. I haven’t spoken with anyone who has a good reason why so many squid invaded Maine’s inshore waters this year. Does anyone have a good response to why it happened? Personally, I know nothing about squid except striped bass love them. It’s their favorite food. Then there was the verified, mid August shark sighting at the Great Island Boat Yard in Harpswell, Maine. That’s way inside, not just outside the beach. There was another report of a shark just 50 yards of the beaches in the Wells area. That action closed the beaches at least for one day. On August 15, 2012 I recorded an all time, personal high water temperature of 77.6 degrees Fahrenheit in the Cundys Harbor waters at high tide when the coldest water of the day had flushed in. That temperature range is not conducive to hot striped bass fishing. Hopefully cooler nights and shorter days of fall will change water temperatures inside to at least below 70 degrees. Otherwise it will be a difficult fishing season during late early October. On the optimistic side, bait and striped bass may linger longer into late October unless a big tropical storm or hurricane runs the east coast and sends migrating fish out of Maine waters. Hope for an easy, fall storm season. I know a lot of sportsmen don’t fish the salt during October with all the hunting sports beginning. But, watch the weather closely. If there are no big storms in early October and the sun shines bright, try a day of salt fishing and you might catch the striped bass of a life time. Big fish are in Maine waters and they will feed heavily and stay awhile longer if conditions are right. My personal choice of flies during the fall are yellow gurglers and a small brown and yellow Clousers. Baby bunker flies and silverside imitations will also produce. And don’t forget, if the squid are still around, try using a squid fly. Fall striped bass fishing is usually a surface feeding activity as they are fattening up for their long southerly migration. You can encounter them almost any time of the day or tide in feeding frenzies of the surface. Don’t go rushing into the feeding school of fish. Approach them with stealth and you will be rewarded with many hook ups in an hours time. If the school of fish does spook, hang around the area waiting for the stripers to coral the bait into another circle for easy picking. That’s when another feed will happen. Just be patient. Have a fun and productive late season of striped bass fishing during the late fall. And as always, be careful out there. There aren’t many boats around to help you if you get in trouble.

Switch Fly Rods for Fall Striped Bass Fishing

Here we go! It’s time to be thinking about the fall run of striped bass when they feed heavily to fatten for the long migration south to the Carolina coasts. The daily, surface feeding patterns are predictable and can last for hours. This is the time to put in long hours of fishing and do it daily. It’s a long winter when they are gone.

Feed will include young of the year herring, maybe pogies, mackerel, pollock, crabs and this year, maybe squid which have been very thick along Maine’s coast during 2012.

I acquired a new tool to help with the casting of large flies and long casts with poppers, my favorite way to fish for fall stripers. There’s nothing more pleasing in the fishing world as a vicious, surface strike on a popper. At least for me.

My new tool is a four piece, two handed Diamondback Swinger Switch rod in an eight weight configuration and 11.5 feet long. The new rod is rated for optimal loading at 425 to 525 grains which makes it a long range tool.

These rods are a little different than traditional two handed rods often referred to as Spey rods. Switch rods are designed to load quickly with specially designed switch fly lines that are heavily loaded in the front end of the fly line. Switch rods also can usually be cast using just one hand if the situation dictates.

With ease, one can cast over 100 feet with a shooting head or deliver a popper on a long leader. The outfit weighs almost nothing, but has a tip that delivers ample energy when loaded and fights very well on larger fish.

The fighting quality of the rod impressed me most. Usually, longer rods don’t fight as well as shorter ones. But, this rod is a fighter!

You do need a large capacity fly reel as the front end of the line is quite thick. I us Cortland’s Precision XC IV large arbor fly reels as they are light, wide in construction, have a strong drag system with plenty of room for a lot of line and backing.

My first striped bass of 2012 was caught while fishing Cape Cod this past May. It was a Moses moment. The sea parted as a very large fish took my custom popper. I was using the new rod. The fish was 38 inches long and it only took a couple of minutes to beat it to the boat for a fast release.

I don’t like fighting fish with light weight gear for the fun and challenge of it. I’ve known people who find great satisfaction using five weight or even lighter fly rods to fight striped bass. Yes, it takes great skill to do so, but the length of the fight stresses the fish to exhaustion and likely death after being released.

Another advantage the Switch rod has over the traditional Spey or Skagit rods is what I call the quick draw castability.

Spey and Skagit double hand rods are not the greatest tools for quick delivery casts to moving fish, say for false albacore. You need to present a fly quickly. Spey rods take a couple of movements to load for a presentation. A Switch rod is designed to make a fly presentation faster than the other two handers.

Since that first Switch rod fish last May, I have caught many fish in the upper thirty inch range to 45 inches. The Diamondback Swinger handled them all without stress. I’m most impressed and pleased to have a better tool to use while pursuing larger fish at long ranges.

My targeted species happens to be striped bass, so that’s the size fish I gear up for. Switch rods are available in shorter lengths and lighter lines designations down to 4 weights for trout fishermen and others preferring lighter rods.

Switch rod aren’t for everyone, but I certainly love them.

Squid and Sharks Invade Maine Inshore Waters

Strange things happening along Maine’s coast during the 2012 fishing season. First, an invasion of squid occupied the inshore waters of Maine from Kittery to Penobscot Bay. They were so thick, I caught them while jigging for mackerel with a standard sabiki rig and with a fly while chasing striped bass. In the middle of the day! People who actually wanted bucket loads of squid did so easily at night from a well lit dock area or on a boat with a strong light like a Coleman camping light. I for one have never seen such a strong run of squid from July through August. The numerous squid I caught were in four to 14 inches in size. There wasn’t any consistency to the size during a given bite. I haven’t spoken with anyone who has a good reason why so many squid invaded Maine’s inshore waters this year. Does anyone have a good response to why it happened? Personally, I know nothing about squid except striped bass love them. It’s their favorite food. Then there was the verified, mid August shark sighting at the Great Island Boat Yard in Harpswell, Maine . That’s way inside, not just outside the beach. There was another report of a shark just 50 yards of the beaches in the Wells area. That action closed the beaches at least for one day. On August 15, 2012 I recorded an all time, personal high water temperature of 77.6 degrees Farenheit in the Cundys Harbor waters at high tide when the coldest water of the day had flushed in. All these unusual events have had impacts on striped bass fishing.

Are Striped Bass Safe To Eat or Handle?

Below is a notice from the Mass. Marine Fisheries Department. Use your own judgement. I keep a pair of gardening gloves on my boat to handle such fish and have done so for at least five years.

July 17, 2012 MarineFisheries Advisory OCCURRENCE OF SKIN LESIONS ON STRIPED BASS MarineFisheries has recently received reports of skin lesions on striped bass. The general condition reported has been red spotting visible along the sides of the fish. Lesions such as these can be indicative of the presence of the disease Mycobacteriosis, which is common in southern waters, especially Chesapeake Bay, but has not been documented in Massachusetts waters. The information available at this time indicates a slightly elevated occurrence of skin lesions on striped bass, likely of viral or bacterial origin, but not clearly associated with the disease organism Mycobacterium. MarineFisheries staff has been collecting information from anglers on the prevalence and geographic distribution of the skin lesions. At present the prevalence appears to be low (<5%) coastwide but higher in fish from southern Massachusetts, primarily Buzzards Bay and the Cape Cod Canal. Internal and external examination of afflicted fish has not indicated that these lesions are associated with Mycobacteriosis. The examination of several dozen randomly collected striped bass showed no signs of abnormalities in their spleens, the hallmark indicator of the disease. Lesions on the skin of striped bass are a relatively common occurrence and have many causative agents. The elevated prevalence seen in some areas this year may be the result of anomalously high spring and summer water temperatures seen in Massachusetts and more southerly waters. Fish with mild skin lesions are safe to handle and consume. Some common-sense fish handling guidelines should be followed: Wear heavy gloves to avoid puncture wounds from fish spines If cuts, scrapes or other open or inflamed areas of your skin are present, cover hands and wrists with an impermeable barrier like a rubber or vinyl glove Wash hands thoroughly with an antibacterial soap after handling fish Wash off all cutting boards, surfaces, knives and other utensils used to process raw fish with warm soapy water Discard fish with large open lesions or darkened patches in the fillets Persons who exhibit signs of infection on their hands after handling fish should contact their physician immediately MarineFisheries will continue to monitor the recreational and commercial harvests for increased prevalence of skin lesions. We encourage fishermen who observe lesions to contact us at marine.fish@state.ma.us and report the geographic location.

Early Season Striped Bass Fishing Is Excellent

These photo describe the spring, Cape Cod fishing for 2012. It's been wall to wall fly fishing action for weeks with 30 to 36 inch and over fish being the norm and skinny water fishing producing sub, 20 inch fish by the thousands!

Stripers Should Be Big In 2012

Ok, time to do some serious striped bass fishing during June and early July. Yes, fishing for striped bass still exists in Maine. There has been much written about the declining striped bass stock along the Atlantic coast from North Carolina to Maine. I am probably more guilty of rattling that drum beat than most. But, I am also, maybe more passionate about striped bass fishing than most. I just want great fishing for linesiders all the time. With 43 fishing and 22 years guiding for them in Maine and on Cape Cod, I have seen some fantastic fishing.

But, what is fantastic striped bass fishing? Everyone has their own perception. For some it is catching 15 or more fish each time out. For others it is catching one monster fish for the entire season. Yet for others, a few 28 to 35 inch fish per week is a personal measure of fantastic fishing. Many people along the Atlantic coast consider great striper fishing as killing a limit each day out, no matter what the limit might be. A limit could be one fish over 28 inches or like in Maine one fish between 20 and 26 inches or one over 40 inches. The limit varies state by state which means different year classes are targeted state by state. When you catch a monster striped bass, you may consider that one fish for the season the measure of a great year, regardless of what the rest of the season was like for you. An example, one of my customers caught a 53 pound striped bass on a fly last year. Not only was that a fish of the year, but likely a fish of a life time for him and me alike. In contrast, I have had people catch a 26 or 28 inch fish and declare it as the biggest striper they ever caught. To them, that was a trophy fish creating a life time memory. This is the year to contact with a trophy fish over 30 to36 inches. That’s the size coming from the dominant 2003 year class which has been sustaining our Atlantic coast for the past six years. Stripers available in the 20 to 26 inch slot limit in Maine will be difficult to come by. Then there’s the big lie! As a guide, you are going to have an absolutely, terrible day of fishing when a customer comments, “it’s just great being out here in the beauty of Maine’s great outdoors”. They didn’t dish out hard cash to go fishing and catch nothing. It happens! Striped bass fishing is always better at night or first and last light of the day. When the biomass of fish is high, mid day fishing can be out of sight good. With the diminished biomass and limited, available year classes of striped bass expected this summer, I would recommend concentrating on low light times when the tides are running in or out. Be stealthfull, cast soft and accurately and be patient. Some good, trophy fish will end up on your hook this summer. Using flies, lures, plugs or bait; think big. Flies in the 12 inch range. Soft plastics with heavy headed hooks, up to four or five ounces in depths with a clean bottom. Surface and subsurface plugs in the eight to nine inch range will catch the bigger fish. Don’t forget that Maine law requires no more than two treble hooks on lures and you can’t use treble hooks while using bait. Tube and worm rigs in oil green and orange or red are productive. Don’t forget that big striped bass like a slow moving bait. They are lazy.

Gold Mining Threatens Maine Wild Brook Trout

Gold mining rule changes in Maine would be a disaster for wild brook trout. Below from the Bangor Daily News explains a disturbing turn of events for trout fishermen.
Please call your Maine legislator to urge them to appose the legislation.

By Jeff Reardon, Special to the BDN
Posted March 19, 2012, at 3:19 p.m.

Looking at Irving’s proposal for a copper mine near Ashland last week, I remembered what mining did to a Pennsylvania stream I fished in 1990.

Fresh out of college, I was working in Newark, N.J, wondering where the nearest brook trout might be. I quickly discovered the great trout streams that flow through central Pennsylvania. Single and broke, I spent most of my weekends exploring those streams. Pennsylvania streams look different than Maine’s, but their trout take the same flies.

One Saturday, I fished a new stream, taking a nice brook trout from the first pool. A bit downstream, a tributary dumped in. When a dozen casts failed to connect, I walked down and saw why. The bottom of the tributary was brick-red, every rock covered with a thick coat of rust. The stream was dead — not a bug or a fish or even a frog. And below the confluence my stream was dead too, for as far as I could see.

It was “acid mine drainage,” or AMD. AMD forms when buried geologic formations are exposed to air and water. A complex set of chemical reactions yields highly acidic water and toxic levels of metals. Aquatic life is poisoned out of the water.

In the West Branch Susquehanna watershed, where I was fishing that day, there are over 1,200 miles of AMD-impaired streams. AMD from copper, gold and silver mines in places such as Montana and Nevada kills fish too.

So when I read about a proposed copper and gold mine in the headwaters of the Fish River — and Irving’s request that Maine relax its mining laws to make it easier to develop — I worried.

First, I found the mine site on the DeLorme. Clayton Lake, a wild brook trout pond, is just a mile and a half south. Carr Pond, another wild brook pond, is less than two miles to the north. Carr Pond Stream runs off the north side of Bald Mountain, through Carr Pond, then meets Clayton Stream coming off the west side of Bald Mountain to form the Fish River. Two miles downstream is Fish River Lake, with wild brook trout, salmon and togue.

A little phone and Internet research increased my worry. A literature review for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Alaska concludes no “hard rock surface mines exist today that can demonstrate that AMD can be stopped once it occurs on a large scale. … Permitting large scale surface mining in sulfide-hosted rock … imparts a substantial and unquantifiable risk to water quality and fisheries.”

A colleague in Montana tells me of a review that says 90 percent of metal sulfide mines cause AMD. The Bald Mountain mine site — and the majority of other possible mine sites in Maine — is in “sulfide-hosted rock.”

The last-minute process by which the Legislature’s Environment and Natural Resources Committee is reviewing this proposal is, simply put, just as scary. The sole public hearing was scheduled with less than a week’s notice. The bill was hand-delivered by lobbyists on the day before the hearing.

Some of us who testified received the bill — all 22 pages of it — 18 hours before the hearing, but only because we were on the committee clerk’s email list. The rest of the public still cannot get a copy of the bill on the Legislature’s website. Irving’s team of out-of-state lawyers and consultants are demanding the Legislature review and approve this new bill in a matter of days.

We — the Maine people who will have to live with the legacy of this decision forever — are being asked to “just trust us.” We have no time to review the issue carefully, ask experts in other states how they deal with these types of mines or even read the proposal before we testify.

In a state where it’s common to have a stakeholder group and several years of review for even minor changes in environmental law, we are being asked to endorse sweeping changes overnight.

One change renders moot all existing mining laws and rules. Another allows ore processing and disposal of tailings in the floodplain. A third insists that any soil near a mineral deposit is, by definition, “suitable.”

Maine has a proud history of balancing our natural resource-based economy with outstanding environmental protection. We have a tradition of taking the time to get things right. We need to do that now before we lose the nation’s best brook trout resource to a set of rules drafted to meet Irving’s bottom line.

Jeff Reardon of Manchester is the Maine brook trout project director for Trout Unlimited.

Prediction - Maine and Cape Cod Stripers Will Run Big In 2012

Maine striped bass anglers are mostly aware that the past four years have been a challenge if you were looking for schools of fish surface feeding and catching 15 plus fish per fishing trip.
Those who put in the time to learn how to catch the fish available, had some fine fishing for larger fish in the 10 to 30 pound class and an occasional 40 plus pounder .
So, what’s up for 2012? My prediction is about the same action as last year with the size of fish being bigger as the 2003 Chesapeake Bay dominant year class continues to support our striped bass fishing in Maine and are growing larger each year. How long this year class will continue to provide limited fishing action is anyone’s guess. It can’t hold up forever making its’ way up and down the east coast every year being targeted by all means of recreational and commercial fishing in several states to our south.
The Maine Department of Marine Resources continues to fight the good fight at Atlantic States Marine Fishery Council (ASFMC) meetings to reduce mortality rates on striped bass with limited success. The politics at the ASMFC are weighted towards commercial fishing, so recreational interests have a tough battle there.
At the local, state level however, Maine does have some options to improve our own striped bass fishing.
The Kennebec River has a spawning population of striped bass. How big that population is has become the topic of discussion lately. Since the removal of a couple of dams, more spawning and nursery grounds have become available to striped bass.
Back in the 1980’s, striped bass were stocked in the Kennebec River to help rebuild a home grown spawning population of fish. Special regulations were applied to the river to protect spawning fish. It worked.
Then came the prolific striped bass fishing along the entire Atlantic coast from 1990 into the early 2000’s. It was wonderful fishing. No one paid close attention to the Kennebec River stock except for the long running, established special regulations.
Between 1990 and 2011, the law has allowed killing off our own spawning stock one fish at a time after July first. All this took place prior to any dams being removed.
Now that more habit is available for striped bass to spawn and nurse in, we don’t have a viable population of spawning fish to take advantage of the new spawning opportunities above August.
So, what should be done to improve the Kennebec River’s striped bass spawning population?
MRA (Maine Recreational Anglers), a small advocacy group has asked the Maine Department of Marine Resources to do the following to jump start the Kennebec River spawning stock biomass. They say the following:
“The lack of data on the existence and size of a native, resident striped bass population in the Kennebec River remains a key constraint to moving forward with more aggressive restoration techniques, i.e. further enhancement with striped bass YOY from nearby rivers with resident populations, i.e. the Hudson. Still unexamined is whether enhancement from the Hudson was inappropriate (due to the long geographic distance between the Kennebec and the Hudson and the significant differences in eco-regions); and whether supplementation from the nearest native resident stock (the Shubenacadie in Nova Scotia) would be more biologically appropriate and suitable since the Kennebec and Shubenacadie are more similar in eco-region than the Kennebec and the Hudson.
“Whatever approach the MDMR undertakes to implement stocking, it should be done with care. Many of those whom we have discussed our proposal with voice this concern.
”At present DMR regulations allow for the taking of stripers in the river after July 1st of a fish between 20 and 26 inches total length, inclusive or a fish greater than 40 inches. The larger fish, by definition, are large spawning females. The DMR rules also allow the use of live bait for stripers in the Kennebec after July 1st, which increases the likelihood that a striped bass of any size hooked on live bait will perish due to hooking wounds and stress during landing, handling and any attempted effort to unhook the fish. We understand that it has been recently determined that striped bass may spawn as late as August. We need to learn more so that fishing activity can be regulated appropriately.
“Here are the measures we propose to restore the striped bass fishery:

• Enhancement of the Kennebec River forage base by a program to increase river herring esp. alewives by providing fish passage on Cobbosseecontee, Togus and China Lake Streams
• Moratorium on the killing striped bass in the Kennebec until an abundant self-sustaining population is reestablished or until studies show that this cannot be done
• Studies on the basics of striped bass population dynamics in the Kennebec inc. expanded studies: YOY, tagging and DNA
• Trial stocking of tagged striped bass to help reestablish the breeding population”
-30-

Maine's Kennebec River Striped Bass May See Changes In The Future

Below is a proposal by "Maine Recreational Anglers" which was delivered to the Maine Department of Marine Resources for future consideration. There will certainly be much talk about the proposal.



KENNEBEC STRIPER INITIATIVE

2011 marked the fourth year in a row of poor striped bass fishing in Maine. Maine is currently dependent on migratory fish for its fishery - most of the fish seen in our waters for some time have been from Chesapeake Bay stocks.
The historical striped bass fishery is well documented. Native fish wintered over in the Kennebec River until their wintering areas were discovered in the 1860s and these fish were reduced to a small, remnant population. The river was stocked during the last fishery crash in the 1980s with good results, but this was discontinued with the return of migratory fish in the early 90s. Permissive fishing regulations allowed most of these fish to be fished out. Although MDMR has recently reported that the Kennebec has striped bass breeding in the Augusta area, resumption of stocking is seen as the way to better establish breeding stocks and provide a more consistent fishery.
The additional habitat now available upstream of the site of Edwards Dam makes reestablishment of a native fishery more possible than it has been in over 150 years. Restoring alewives is seen as key to this: an increased forage base will be needed once striped bass become more abundant so that the fish will be in a condition to winter over. This fishery would not be as subject to the feast or famine cycle that our dependence on migratory fish has dictated, and would restore the river to a condition more representative of the natural ecosystem: one that contained river herring (esp. alewives) and striped bass. Here’s how we propose to accomplish this:
 Enhancement of the Kennebec River forage base by a program to increase river herring esp. alewives by providing fish passage on Cobbosseecontee, Togus and China Lake Streams
 Moratorium on the killing of striped bass in the Kennebec until an abundant self-sustaining population is reestablished or until studies show that this cannot be done
 Studies on the basics of striped bass population dynamics in the Kennebec inc. expanded studies: YOY, tagging and DNA
 Trial stocking of tagged striped bass to help reestablish the breeding population.
There are 250,000 people in Maine who are striped bass fishermen - joining the efforts to restore alewives and striped bass will make both more likely to succeed. When abundance is achieved, the range of native striped bass would likely increase and help to restore the greater fishery, especially in waters north of the Kennebec.
This proposal comes from Maine Recreational Anglers (MRA), the fisheries advocacy group who first proposed to MDMR the tightening of saltwater fishing regulations to reduce inadvertent kill that began going into effect this year. With your help, this initiative will succeed as well. This is the best opportunity we will get to do what should have been done 30 years ago.