Fresh Tracks: After talking with Marine Patrol Wardens Jim Peva and “Chuck” Rommel, it’s my pleasure to inform you that the tides in the Kennebec and Sheepscot rivers are stiff with striped bass. Veteran “striper” fishermen are calling the runs “the best they can remember.”

That’s the good news. The bad news is that too many of the fish are being gaffed before being released – it isn’t legal to take a striper from either river until July 1. Rommel said that lip gaffing would be acceptable, but that’s not the case. “Some people are body gaffing fish and then releasing them,” he reported with audible disdain.

Can you believe it? How can anyone justify driving a gaff into – often through – the body of a fish that must be released? Another reason why stripers are handled unnecessarily during release is the use of live bait, which the fish often swallow into their gullets. If that’s the case, the leader should be cut. The hook will dissolve in a surprisingly short time.

Better yet, use lures. Even then, it’s a good idea to remove the first two sets of treble hooks from a plug. When you locate a school of stripers you’ll catch all the fish you want on the stern hook and releasing them will be that much easier.

The estuary of the Penobcot River also is holding runs of stripers. From what I hear, some real tackle-testers have been hooked in the tide rips running around Verona Island. But you know stripers – here on the morning tide, gone on the evening’s. Keep in mind that the minimum-length limit for striped bass is 36 inches. A few Penobscot fishermen have learned that Warden Kurt Soneson, also of the Marine Patrol, has long arms – and a measuring tape. Schools of stripers also are tending the tides in the lower reaches of the Narraguagus River.

Speaking of big stripers, Don Darkis, production manager of the BDN, walked into my office a week ago and asked, “Is it legal to keep a striper in the Kennebec?”

“Not until July 1,” I answered.

“OK,” he said, “I was just checking. I was fishing with my brother-in-law, Nick Curtis, down near Phippsburg last weekend,” he explained, “and I hooked a 51-incher. When he told me I had to release it, I thought he was pulling my leg. Damn!” he said with a shake of his head. “That was the biggest fish I ever caught. Just checking,” he repeated as he left my office. I suspect there would have been a family feud had I answered to the contrary. Fify-one inches – that, friend, is an ol’ walloper.

Bluefish? Word is that large schools are prowling Casco Bay, and smaller schools, the “advance party” no doubt, are showing in the Bath-Boothbay region. Peva said that water temperatures reached 60 degrees in Quahog Bay a week ago and that large kills of “pogeys” (menhaden) were expected when the “blues” began “wolfpacking” the fish into coves and inlets.

Mackerel are swarming off the Sheepscot River and schools have been sighted as far east as Searsport. Tell me this summer’s saltwater fishing won’t be something to remember when the snow flies. Get your wire leaders and “Christmas tree” rigs now.

Gil Page, president of the Atlantic Salmon Association of the Upper St. John River, checked in recently with a report that shows some of the 800,000 fin-clipped parr released into the St. John four years ago were showing up in the trap at Mactaquac Dam. The fin-clipped grilse will be held at Mactaquac until they are trucked above Grand Falls, where they will be released.

Gil also said that 100 12-pound salmon – hatchery fish provided by Canada’s Department of Fisheries and Oceans – would be released above the falls this summer. The stocking program was implemented by Atlantic Salmon Enhancement, an international group including the Upper St. John River Association and the Northwest Salmon Association of New Brunswick. In addition to the adult salmon, 900,000 more parr will be released above Grand Falls during the summer. Parr for the Upper St. John program are provided by SALEN’s Florenceville, New Brunswick, hatchery and the Department of Fisheries and Oceans.

Amazing isn’t it, how those fish will find their way to sea, roam there a few years, and then find their way back to the river in which they were released? Think about it – most mornings, I have trouble finding my truck keys.

Roger Wolverton, a game warden with the Fish and Wildlife Department for 17 years, has been promoted to warden pilot. Wolverton will replace Warden Pilot Jim Welch, who recently retired. The only other warden pilot in the state at this time is Gary Dumond stationed at Eagle Lake. Warden Pilot Dana Toothaker was called into service during Operation Desert Storm. He is currently on duty in Germany, and will rejoin the department on his return from active duty.

Reminders: Aug. 15 is the deadline for applying for an any-deer permit. Use your mailed application form. If you haven’t received a form pick one up at a license agent or an office of the Fish and Wildlife Department. Do it now. The department doesn’t have the funds to hire additional help for dealing with an avalanche of last-minute applications.

Alan Peterson, president of the North Atlantic Salmon Conservation Organization, and biologists of Maine’s Atlantic Sea-Run Salmon Commission will hold a public meeting at the Eddington Salmon Club this evening beginning at 7 p.m. The meeting will center on the international Atlantic salmon scenario and the complexities of salmon restoration.