Low water not clearing river ice

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The message on the Maine Canoe and Kayak Racing Organization’s Web site is straightforward … and somewhat surprising.

“St. George is still frozen. No race this Saturday, March 27. St. George Race will be April 3,” the text reads.

To most, those words don’t mean much. Spring has arrived slowly here. We all recognize that. There hasn’t been much rain or much warm weather to turn streams and rivers into the freshets white-water paddlers prefer.

But to those paddlers, the fact that racing season won’t begin this weekend is a bit of a surprise.

This is the St. George we’re talking about. Come late March, that Searsmont river is open … and ready for racers. Period.

Photos on the MaCKRO Web site paint a vivid picture: There is plenty of open water … but even more ice, including huge floes, perched on rocks.

Opening Day will come to the St. George. But not in March. In April.

Dale Cross has been directing the St. George River Race for years. About 10 days ago, he told me it was iced in … but he was still optimistic.

“Am I gonna curse us?” Cross asked that day … before going forward and, perhaps, cursing us: “In 26 years we’ve never had to cancel the St. George because of ice.”

Until now.

The one year Cross had to postpone the race? 1987. And that wasn’t because the St. George was still iced in. It was because it was wide open … and at flood stage.

You likely remember that year, and the devastating floods that ravaged eastern Maine.

So, spring isn’t upon us … yet. The St. George – a free-flowing, wild-and-wooly river that always provides us a harbinger of warmer, more pleasant times – is still iced in.

For now.

That doesn’t mean that avid paddlers aren’t out there, preparing for their spring pursuits.

Far from it.

They just have to be a bit more creative.

Kenny Cushman of Hampden, one of the area’s top kayakers, said he’s been paddling five days a week since Feb. 29 … give or take a few days for inclement weather.

His paddling venue: the Penobscot River, beginning at Turtle Head Marina in Hampden.

“There’s been a couple days when there’s been quite a bit of ice and I couldn’t go,” Cushman admitted.

Cushman said the late start to spring has been obvious to him and others who spend February and March looking for open, navigable water.

“Usually by this time of year, I’m on the lower part of the Kenduskeag,” Cushman said. “Usually I would have been able to get on it two weeks ago, from Bulls Eye Bridge down.”

Not this year.

“There’s just no water to wash the ice away,” Cushman said. “The ice is all loose, and it’s ready to go, but there’s nothing there to push it.”

Next week, Cushman and the others will race the St. George. That race has been reset for Saturday. Then, on Sunday, they’ll head back to Waldo County and race the Passagassawaukeag.

Organizers are billing it as “The Big Splash Weekend.”

Cushman is hopeful … but said he’s wondering if the weather will change enough to make both rivers passable by then.

“It doesn’t seem to be progressing much,” he said. “I don’t know what’s going to be happening next week, either.”

For now, Cushman’s paddling regime will continue. He’ll head to Turtle Head Marina. He’ll unload his kayak. And he’ll dodge the occasional ice floe in his attempt to get ready for the competitive weeks ahead.

“I’m getting pretty antsy to get in some white water in general,” Cushman said.

“I’m not a diehard racer like I used to be,” he said. “I just want to get out there and have some fun. This paddling up and down the Penobscot is getting old.”

Spring talk of turkeys and open-water fishing dominates this time of year, but outdoorsmen and -women shouldn’t forget that an important deadline is approaching.

If you’re a prospective moose hunter, and you haven’t turned in your application for the permit lottery – by mail or via the Internet – time’s running out.

The deadline for entry into this year’s lottery is 11:59 p.m. on Thursday, April 1.

The state’s Web site, which can be accessed at www.mefishwildlife.com, provides a quick, easy method of registering. In about five minutes, you can register … then you can join the rest of us by crossing your fingers and hoping for the best.

If you’ve got a coupon or two lying around for our “Win a Drift Boat Trip” contest, time is running out for you to drop them by our office at 491 Main Street.

This year’s contest, which we ran in conjunction with the Eastern Maine Sportsman’s Show, and with the cooperation of Greenville guide Dan Legere, has been very popular. We have a box full of entry blanks … and one of them will be drawn on Monday.

The trip, which will take place on June 13, gives one angler the chance to drift the picturesque East Outlet of the Kennebec with Legere … and me.

The fly-fishing-only stretch of water is fabulous. Legere knows where the fish live. And we’ll eat well, too. Not a bad day, eh?

And of course, in Tuesday’s editions I’ll tell you who’s heading to Greenville.

Coming up: In addition to the announcement of our “Win a Driftboat Trip” contest champ, the week ahead promises to be a busy one.

I’ll let you know about a new Web-based program that will allow anglers to keep a fishing log of their trips … and how that system will aid Maine fisheries biologists and the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife.

And on Thursday, I’ll be out there … somewhere … fishing.

It is, after all, opening day. And come snow or rain or flood, I just have to wet a line.

I figure I’ll head Down East to Grand Lake Stream this year to check out one of the state’s most popular opening-day haunts.

That’s the plan. For now. I think.

The problem: The always persuasive pull of Greenville and the East Outlet (one of my favorite spots on earth) is hard to resist.

So, come Thursday, I’ll be at Grand Lake Stream. Or the East Outlet.

Hopefully, I’ll run into a few of you … and you can share your fish stories with me.

John Holyoke can be reached at jholyoke@bangordailiynews.net or by calling 990-8214 or 1-800-310-8600.