Monthly Archives: June 2015

Note to anglers: New striped bass regulations in effect

Late last week I told you about the welcome return of striped bass to the Penobscot River — a development that has lured anglers back to a river that has been largely striper-free for the past several years. But over the weekend, a couple of readers checked in to point out that this year’s striper […]

Stripers in the Penobscot? You bet!

Just four years ago, despite his best efforts, Hunter Pate caught only one striped bass in the Penobscot River. To many, that wouldn’t come as much of a surprise. After all, according to Maine Department of Marine Resources data, the bottom had fallen out of the state’s striper fishery, and many anglers had simply stopped […]

Maine Moose on the Loose: Lincoln photographer back with new book

Less than a year ago, photographer Roger L. Stevens Jr. fulfilled a dream when he self-published a book of stunning fox photos that he took near his home. Shortly after that, he followed up with “June the Loon,” a book that traced the first few months of life of an iconic Maine bird. Now Stevens […]

Bear crew recaptures 442-pound male|

At this time of year each spring, wildlife biologist Randy Cross and a team of his colleagues spend a few weeks in the woods, looking to enlist new black bears in the state’s ongoing bear research project. Sometimes Cross receives a welcome surprise, when bears he “met” before return and temporarily are captured with a […]

Guide teaches fly fishing lessons on annual drift boat trip

On Saturday evening, guide Dan Legere and I began an ominous text-message conversation …. not the ideal situation when you’re just hours away from embarking on a drift boat trip on one of Maine’s top fly-fishing rivers. The East Outlet of the Kennebec — our destination for Sunday’s annual “Win a Drift Boat Trip” adventure […]

Our Maine Heritage: Who drew the first-ever moose permit?

On Saturday, hundreds of Mainers will flock to Bethel for an annual event that will determine which hunters get to head afield in search of moose this fall. The moose permit drawing is a tradition that began back in 1980, when the state sponsored its first lottery for those coveted licenses. In today’s Our Maine […]

Author Doiron shines in latest Maine woods mystery

Through five books (and counting), readers have rooted for game warden Mike Bowditch, the protagonist of author Paul Doiron’s series of novels set in the Maine woods. It hasn’t always been easy, as Bowditch has proven prickly, impetuous, hot-headed and downright reckless at times. In his latest book, “The Precipice,” the Camden author has lived […]

The wait is over: Prospective moose hunters will head to Bethel for drawing this weekend

For the last 35 years — since a Cub Scout  reached into a hopper and pulled out the first lucky name — Mainers have been fascinated with their moose-permit lottery. Nowadays, computers, not Cub Scouts, do the drawing. But on Saturday afternoon, when 2,740 hunters learn that they’ve earned a Maine moose hunt for this […]

Casting with colleagues: If you don’t bleed, you’re ahead of the game

When you work in a building that sits on a stream, (which, in turn, empties into a mighty river just a few hundred yards away), it’s easy for your thoughts to start revolving around fishing. That’s my excuse, anyway. And ever since the Bangor Daily News moved downtown, and I mentioned to a colleague that […]