Waterways also teem with bugs

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Knee-deep in the riffles of Souadabscook Stream, Kevin Tracewski pulled a long-handled net out of the flow, checked the mesh, and began to smile.

“There’s a good one,” he said, reaching into the net with a pair of forceps and depositing yet another creeping, crawling stream resident into an aluminum pan.

We Mainers love our water. As the years pass, those unforgotten images of babbling brooks and the memories of our favorite placid ponds remain with us. We set those scenes in the beautiful sepia-toned haze of our mind’s eye and associate them with special times spent recreating in special places.

Then we look in Kevin Tracewski’s net and realize something.

There are dozens of critters squirming around. They live in this beautiful stream … and our favorite pond … and they’re pretty nasty looking.

Some are “shredders,” which turn their attention to the leaves that fall into the stream each autumn. Others are a bit more ominous.

“There are also predators in the system,” Tracewski points out. “Fish are predators that we focus on, but there are also insect predators, and you saw the teeth on those hellgrammites. You know, I didn’t want to hold ’em.”

Tracewski is an entomologist by training and a fisherman by choice. That combination has served him well, and he has written a popular book “A Fisherman’s Guide to Maine,” which he wrote over the span of seven years, using his summer vacation from the University of Maine to gather information.

On Wednesday, Tracewski gave ABC-7 cameraman Dave Simpson and me a closer look at a stream’s teeming insect life.

It was, to say the least, enlightening.

Streams, most of us realize, are ecosystems that support a variety of plant and animal life.

With just a few kicks of a boot, Tracewski showed us how easy it is to see exactly what kinds of insects are living in a stream. To an avid fly fisher, that process can also give hints on what kind of flies the resident fish might prefer at a given time.

Tracewski knows the scientific names of the insects we sampled but rarely uses them. He jokes that after receiving his masters degree in entomology, he figured that he knew everything necessary to be a great fly fisherman.

“In the last 20 years or so, I’ve evolved to not being so technical, just hanging with the guys who know how to fish,” he said. “I’d be identifying these things by their Latin names and you’d have this old guy fishing a Hornberg and outfishing me 10 to one.”

Since publishing his book, Tracewski has remained busy. An attractive hardcover version is now available, and the Old Town man has branched out into other pursuits.

He has a Web site (www.fishguideme.com) that offers many fishing-related services, and he plans to run a fly-fishing school beginning this winter.

He also plans to buy a Hyde drift boat and offer float trips next spring and summer.

All of which guarantees that the man who wrote the book (or at least one of the books) on Maine fishing will continue to help others enjoy the sport for years to come.

“It was sort of a natural extension to do some other things related to the book,” Tracewski said.

Greenland Point update

Woody Higgins of the Penobscot County Conservation Association stopped by on Friday to share some encouraging news about the Greenland Point Center.

According to Higgins, who joined Down East conservation groups in forming the Greenland Point Coalition (now called Greenland Point Center Inc.), a lot of progress has been made in efforts to open the center as a youth conservation camp next summer.

Higgins said the camp will be an independent nonprofit facility and not affiliated with the Maine Conservation School, which ran sessions at Greenland Point in the past.

Higgins said that over the past three years that a conservation camp hasn’t been held at Greenland Point, as many as 1,200 children from eastern Maine have missed opportunities to attend a camp where they could learn about the outdoors.

As you may recall, the University of Maine System put the 32-acre Princeton parcel on the market a year ago and accepted an offer from another bidder. The state ran a conservation school at the site for years but had consolidated its efforts at its Bryant Pond facility in Bethel and discontinued classes in Princeton.

Higgins said the bidder, who wishes to remain anonymous, stepped aside when he found out that an effort was being made to serve the state’s youth.

In fact, Higgins said, when the PCCA evaluated its finances and decided not to foot the bill to buy Greenland Point, that anonymous bidder stepped back and agreed to finance Greenland Point Center Inc.’s bid.

“As of mid-June an individual has purchased the property for us,” Higgins said. “We have a year at zero percent interest and then we have five years to come up with the money to pay him off.”

Now, Higgins says, the push is on to raise money. He said the organization is in the process of applying for grants and has unveiled an “adopt a camp” program in which interested companies or individuals would assume responsibility for regular upkeep of one of the 14 camps.

In addition, Higgins said the group is seeking donations of money, labor, materials, and equipment for the center.

If you’re interested in learning more or donating money or other help, you can call Higgins at home. The number is 945-6853.

“If I get deluged with calls, I’ll love it,” Higgins said.

Muskie derby looming

While I’m officially on vacation next week, that doesn’t mean that my days off won’t look remarkably similar to my days spent “working.” I guess that’s a sign that you’ve got a great job and explains why so many people tell me they want mine.

Today I’ll be at the Maine Lobster Festival, trying to convince crustacean lovers that they ought to enter our “Win a Deep Sea Fishing Trip” contest.

And on Aug. 13-14, I’ll be in the St. John River Valley to take part in the second annual Fort Kent International Muskie Fishing Derby.

Truth be told, my muskie-fishing experience is nonexistent, and all I really know about the toothy critters is that I probably ought to avoid retrieving embedded lures by hand, lest I end up leaving a few fingers in Fort Kent.

But derby organizers assure me that they’re going to put me in a boat with someone who’ll give me a good chance at seeing a fish or two (and, more importantly, keeping all of my fingers attached), so I’m looking forward to the experience.

If you haven’t made plans, you may want to consider heading up to Fort Kent. The weigh-in site is at Bee-Jay’s Tavern on Main Street, and town residents have all kinds of entertainment lined up for the weekend.

Derby registration costs $25 for adults, $15 for those age 15 and under, and the potential payoff is a biggie: The adult angler catching the largest muskie will earn $2,500, and young anglers will compete for a $1,000 savings bond.

See you there!

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