The bright green flags are flapping on both sides of the Penobscot River , signifying that Atlantic salmon season is officially open.

Officially, yes.

Practically? Well, that’s another matter altogether.

The Penobscot is still recovering from heavy rain early last week, and though the water has dropped substantially, it has been hard to find an actual angler on the river.

Randy Steele, a contract worker for the Department of Marine Resources, spent part of Wednesday at the Veazie Salmon Club as a river monitor.

He has done plenty of river monitoring since the season opened on Thursday, but hasn’t done much actual angler monitoring yet, he admitted.

The DMR is keeping a close eye on the river during the one-month experimental season, which will be shut down early if 50 fish are caught.

On a sunny, breezy Wednesday afternoon, Steele said that he hasn’t seen many fishermen as of yet, but he has seen plenty of interesting stuff float past.

On Saturday night, for instance, he learned that some up-river homeowner was missing a substantial chunk of lumber.

“It was a full-sized deck, probably about a 16-foot by 20-foot,” Steele said. “Quite a sight.”

Steele first spied the deck when it was upriver of the Veazie Dam and wasn’t sure exactly what he was looking at.

“It was evidently upside-down, so I saw the legs coming, above the dam, there,” Steele said. “When it came back up and came even with us at the salmon club here, there was a rail sticking up.”

The deck was apparently well constructed, as it flopped over the dam and re-emerged, still in one piece.

Steele said that there’s been plenty of flotsam in the river, and he and the salmon club members who stop by to visit have seen it all.

“I’ve seen the whole trees, roots and all, and there were quite a bunch of 2-by-6’s that went down,” Steele said. “One of the gentlemen who was here earlier said he saw a truck cap come down.”

The news is not all bad, however.

The Penobscot is receding steadily, and anglers are likely to start heading to the river by the weekend.

Weather (or, perhaps more accurately, water) permitting.

Long Lake ice vanishing

I’m among those Maine anglers who have enjoyed fantastic days fishing northern Maine’s salmon hotspot, Long Lake.

The 6,000-acre lake in St. Agatha and Madawaska produces monster landlocked salmon, and each year anglers catch a few fish that top 10 pounds.

According to avid Long Lake fisherman Scott Picard of Madawaska, those who judge the official end of winter according to the date their favorite lake is ice-free should be smiling.

Long Lake trolling will begin soon.

“Looks like the lake [ice] will be out this weekend,” Picard reported via e-mail on Wednesday. “The ice is shifting, exposing some large areas of open water which can be fished by boat as long as the wind does not shift the ice. The remaining ice is crystallizing and should be melted or forced onto the shore with wind.”

While last week’s torrential rain caused all kinds of flooding problems in the St. John Valley, it also helped loosen Long Lake’s winter coat.

Early-season fishing can be the simplest of affairs on many lakes, as heavy spoons or lead-core line isn’t necessary.

Here’s hoping early Long Lake anglers have a productive start to the season.

After the winter Aroostook County residents endured, they deserve it.

Deer hearing on tap

While we’re talking about northern Maine, it makes sense to mention an important public hearing that will take place in Presque Isle tonight.

The Maine Department of Inland Fisheries & Wildlife is considering a proposal that would substantially reduce the number of antlerless deer permits to hunters across the state.

The abnormally severe winter likely took a higher-than-normal toll on the state’s deer herd, biologists have said.

The DIF&W wants to decrease the number of any-deer permits to 51,125, a 23 percent reduction from 2007.

In addition, the DIF&W wants to double the number of wildlife management districts where all hunters, including bowhunters and youngsters hunting on Youth Deer Day, would only be allowed to shoot bucks.

The hearing will be held at the Presque Isle Fish and Game Club on Parsons Road. It begins at 6:30 p.m.

jholyoke@bangordailynews.net

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