Sightings of wild turkeys on the rise

Out and About: Judging from reader response to last Saturday’s feature on wild turkey restoration, it’s obvious that more than a few flocks are scratching out a living hereabouts. Jim Brown of Hampden has been seeing turkeys in the Newburgh-Hampden area. During the past two weeks he saw five near the Chapman Road, two off the Littlefield Road and a pair handy to the Mayo Road. A woman whose name I didn’t get phoned to say she saw a flock in a field bordering the Old Boston Road in Hermon.

Joe Brooks, a fellow BDN employee who often travels between his home and desk via the Back Winterport Road, told me he sees turkeys regularly near a dairy farm. “I usually see them in the morning, around 7 o’clock,” said the astute observer. “The other morning, one of them, a tom, I’d say, was strutting around with his tail fanned out.”

Another longtime friend of mine, Terry Toole of Bangor, phoned to say he watched four turkeys in a field behind his home at the end of Dillingham Street. “When I started into the field they ran a ways and then got up and flew toward Bass Park,” Terry recounted.

I wouldn’t be surprised if, in the near future, those turkeys were seen scratching on the greens at Bangor Municipal Golf Course.

From what I gather, the weekend’s fishing amounted to not much more than a chance to adjust the outboard and get the kinks out of trolling lines. Al Violette, the head guide at Violette’s Landing on Green Lake, reported shore fishermen were trying their luck at the sandbar but not many boats trolling baits. Al said he heard an 8-pound togue made the mistake of swallowing a smelt rigged by a shore fisherman. I don’t doubt it.

Each spring, several hefty togue are landed at the sandbar, where the practice is to row baits out, drop them overboard, and return to the comforts and pleasures of shore. Those enjoyments, you may know, include lawn chairs, hot coffee and lunches prepared on propane stoves and charcoal grills. Don’t knock it, Sport, it’s easier than jockeying a boat in the wind, it saves on launching fees and outboard fuel and the outhouse is handy.

Now that spring fishing is under way on most waters in this neck of the woods, Swan Lake fishermen are reminded to report any tagged togue caught at the Waldo County fishing ground. During 1993, fisheries biologists live-trapped and jaw-tagged 39 adult spawning togue at Swan Lake. In the fall of 1994, an additional 126 adult togue were trapped and tagged.

Jim Lucas, assistant regional biologist of Region B, says that, to date, fishermen reported a total of nine tagged togue. Of the 39 fish tagged in 1993, three were caught during the 1994-95 ice fishing season. One was caught and released during the summer of 1994. Five of the togue tagged in 1994 took ice fishermen’s baits last winter. In addition to catches reported by fishermen, six of the togue tagged in 1993 were recaptured during 1994 trap-netting operations.

Fishermen who catch tagged togue at Swan Lake this summer are asked to report the following information: tag number, length of the fish, date it was caught, and whether it was kept or released. The information is important to biologists in managing wild togue populations in central Maine waters – and to your chances of wetting the net. Report such information to: DIFW Fisheries Region B, RFD 1, Box 6378, Waterville 04901. Phone: 547-4161.

Never let it be said the Sunkhaze Stream Chapter of Trout Unlimited isn’t an active and dedicated organization. No sooner did chapter members put the finishing wraps on their winter fly tying classes when they waded into plans for a spring fly-fishing clinic. Therefore, if you have a hankering to learn the gentle art of casting a fly, which is surprisingly simple, or need information pertinent to putting the fly where it will catch a fish, which isn’t so simple, go to your calendar and circle April 29.

On that date, 8 a.m-3 p.m., all the instruction and information needed to make you a fly-fishing addict will be available at the Sunkhaze Stream Chapter’s fly-fishing clinic. The event will be held at the Penobscot County Conservation Association’s “Home Pool” off North Main Street in Brewer.

In addition to casting techniques, many of the finest fly fishermen ever to curse wind knots will offer instruction and advice regarding rods and reels, lines, leaders, knots, reading water, and, of course, entomology. Let’s face it, knowing how to cast a fly won’t do you much good if you can’t identify insects and thereby “match the hatch.”

Participants may bring their own equipment or use that provided by the chapter. The coffee and doughnuts are free for the taking, so you can’t go home skunked. For further information hook onto Andy Anderson at 285-7833.