Milt Inman Photo

Milt Inman

Last evening I made a trip from my camp here in Maine down the Androscoggin River for approximately 6 miles to the Moran’s Landing site. I recently provided you a story on efforts by local river supporters, etc. to build a boat launch ramp at the site. I returned last night to get photos of the nearly completed project so I could finish my story and get it published.

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

Gary Inman Photo

Gary Inman Photo

In Fort Kent, Maine along the shores of both the St. John and the Fish River are some walking trails such as is shown in the picture below. While we were there in mid-June, many of the trails were lined on both sides with forget-me-not flowers. Very attractive!

Milt Inman Photo

Milt Inman

I certainly enjoy a gander at a barn, especially if it has some age and character to it. Aroostook County in Northern Maine has its share of barns. This one I grabbed a shot of shortly after leaving Houlton.

Photo by Tom Remington

Tom Remington

I took this photo from a lobsterman’s dock in Eastport, Maine. Running nearby to the dock I was standing on was the remains of an old pier. As you can see in the photo, vegetation of this variety has little difficulty growing on top of the remains. And of course two likely suspects don’t mind settling down in the growth while keeping a watchful eye on any likely scavenged meal.

Photo by Tom Remington

Tom Remington

Photo by Tom Remington

During my recent vacation trip around the state of Maine, Milt Inman and I had the pleasure of accompanying our friend Gordon on his lobster boat that he moors in Seal Harbor on Mount Desert Island.

Photo by Tom Remingon
This is Gordon’s lobster boat – “Jacquelyn”

Photo by Tom Remington
First you need to grab a small pitch fork and move the bait from the tub to a holding bin.

Photo by Tom Remington
I nice tub of ripe smelling herring seems to be the bait of choice today.

Photo by Tom Remington
Pulling traps is done mechanically these days and not so much by hand.

Photo by Tom Remington
Once the trap is up, hopefully you’ll find some legal-sized lobsters. Once the trap is cleaned out, it is baited again and dropped back into the sea.

Photo by Tom Remington
Lobster traps can claim more than just lobster. You might find various shelled creatures, including crabs. In this one instance a sea sculpin was found flopping around in the trap.

Photo by Tom Remington
Really, you do find an occasional lobster – hopefully a lot more than that. This lobster was a pretty good sized one but with tiny claws. Lobsters do tend to lose their claws and nature is kind to allow them to grow back. In this case they just hadn’t had the opportunity to get back to full size again.

Unfortunately, the fog refused to lift. Although Gordon is a very proficient and experienced seaman, he is uncomfortable about being on the water in the fog as he doesn’t have a lot of trust in other boaters. We checked perhabs 25 to 30 of his 70 traps and headed back to port.

Tom Remington

This photo was sent to me by a reader from Maine. He set out his trail camera he said, hoping to maybe to catch a deer and turkey, maybe a coyote or fox. Instead he got a pretty decent picture of this bobcat. Difficult to tell from the photo but it appears to be a good-sized cat.

Tom Remington

Photo submitted by Richard Paradis

Photos and captions provided by Richard Paradis from Maine.

Posted by Tom Remington

Maine Warden Service aerial photographs taken yesterday show ice dams that are being monitored by Maine emergency management officials. The photos were taken by Sgt. Tom Ward from a plane flown by Warden Pilot Daryl Gordon.

Aroostook River at Crouseville, Maine

Grand Isle on the St. John River, Maine

Van Buren, Maine at Canadian border crossing on St. John River

Ice jam on the St. John River, Van Buren, Maine

Ice backed up near train bridge at Van Buren, Maine

Posted by Tom Remington