What is a splake? Ask the fisherman with the record

You could say that Dan Paquette of Augusta had his priorities in order on May 9. After packing his fishing gear and taking the trail to Basin Pond in Fayette, he didn’t waste any time in putting a Mooselook Wobbler to work behind a few colors of leadcore line.

Talk about being in the right place at the right time. Shortly thereafter, Dan’s rod did an abrupt backbend while his reel applauded. The Augusta angler knew immediately that he had picked a fight with a heavyweight. As it turned out, Paquette not only won the give-and-take brawl by netting a 10-pound, 3-ounce splake, he also landed a state record.

Species identification, weight and length (28 1/2 inches) of the record catch were confirmed by fisheries biologist Dave Boucher of the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife (DIFW). According to Boucher’s report, fin clips revealed the splake was 7 years old and was stocked in September 1986.

You may know that splake are hybrid coldwater game fish produced by the hatchery mating of eggs from female lake trout (togue) and sperm from male brook trout. Splake grow faster and larger than brook trout, are much hardier, and live longer. Although the hybrids don’t usually spawn, their fast growth rate and willingness to put a bend in a rod make them attractive to anglers.

Ten years ago, give or take, the DIFW began stocking splake to determine whether the fish were suitable for waters where hatchery-reared brook trout failed to produce a fishery. The results were so encouraging the department expanded its experimental stockings of splake. To date, the fish have been stocked in 38 lakes and ponds, about 25 of which still receive allocations.

The DIFW considers the splake program experimental through 1994 when data will be evaluated and the species’ future in Maine’s fisheries management determined. Already, many anglers and fisheries biologists are referring to splake as the “put-and-take fish of the future.”

You can bet it will be a while, though, before Dan Paquette’s hybrid record-holder will be dethroned – if ever.

If you want to sight in on a deer that isn’t toting antlers this fall, keep in mind the approaching deadline for Maine any-deer permits or, if you prefer, “doe permits.”

Usually, the deadline is Aug. 15, but because that falls on Sunday this year, the DIFW will accept permit applications postmarked Aug. 15 or that are delivered to its Augusta office before 5 p.m. that day.

The department urges anyone receiving a permit application in the mail to use it. Application forms are also available from hunting and fishing-license agents and at DIFW regional offices.

About 44,500 hunters will tuck doe permits into their wallets this fall. They will be determined by a computer drawing in late September. Hunters without doe permits are restricted to setting their sights on bucks.

Doe permits are allocated among Maine’s 18 deer-management districts based on deer populations and habitat conditions. Following are the district permit allocations: District 1, 500; District 2, 350; District 3, 150; District 4, 2,300; District 5, 650; District 6, 1,900; District 7, 3,300; District 8, 3,000; District 9, 250; District 10, 3,150; District 11, 3,300; District 12, 10,750; District 13, 5,900; District 14, 4,200; District 15, 3,800; District 16, 250; District 17, no permits allocated; District 18, 750.

The purpose of the doe-permit program is to increase the deer herd to a statewide population of 300,000. According to the latest estimate, 250,000 whitetails are leaving tracks in Maine’s woods.

A week or so ago, Elaine Robertson, an employee of the Unive A week or so ago, Elaine Robertson, an employee of the University of Maine System located at 107 Maine Ave. in Bangor, was leaving for lunch. As she crossed the facility’s parking lot, however, she stopped when she saw what she suspected was a mountain lion.

Robertson said she saw the large, long-tailed cat, which wasn’t moving fast, as it went between two buildings and headed toward Hammond Street. The astonished woman said the occupants of a car coming along Maine Avenue also saw the cat and stopped to observe it.

To confirm her suspicion, Robertson referred to an encyclopedia and found a picture of a mountain lion that matched perfectly the cat she saw.

Anyone else get a glimpse of that foot-loose feline?