You’d be wasting your breath telling Barry Cunningham of Hampden that the quality of Maine’s fishing has declined, especially at Scraggly Lake. That’s where he derricked a 17-pound, 33-inch togue from the depths on June 16. Take a look at the picture on this page and I’m sure you’ll agree it would take serious fishing to put a prettier togue in the boat.

Cunningham was trolling a red-fin shiner behind six colors of lead core line when the trophy fish accepted the invitation to a tug of war. The give-and-take game lasted 45 minutes before the angler, who was fishing alone, managed to net the togue. But in doing so, he also landed a limit of last-minute, heart-stopping excitement.

“I only had a 2-foot net and between that and handling the boat I had my hands full,” said Cunningham. “Just as I got the fish over the net the leader let go and I made a dive for the fish and ended up about halfway in the water – but I got him.” Time will never tarnish the memory of catching that togue or its image. A plastic replica of the fish soon will occupy a place of honor in the Hampden angler’s home.

Back along, Lorna Evans wrote an interesting and informative column called “Nature Notes” for the BDN. Recently, she called to tell me a fish story involving her 7-year-old grandson Wayne Evans,

who lives in upstate New York.

While fishing in a small pond with his father, John, and a friend, the young angler felt the need to respond to nature’s call. Naturally, men and boys are ideally equipped to respond to such urgings while afloat. For a number of reasons, however, it isn’t always possible to stand in a boat and “go over the side.” Accordingly, Wayne directed his attention to a bottle taken aboard for specific purpose.

Now, wouldn’t you know, while the boy was so occupied, his set-aside fishing rod began dancing a jig that ended with a deep bow. You can imagine that all systems were immediately shut down, so to speak, while the youngster landed the fish, which turned out to be a 20-inch, 3-pound-plus rainbow trout.

When the day’s fishing ended, a photograph was taken of the young angler holding his trophy trout. Although his proud smile was captured perfectly in the photo, his excitement was perhaps best displayed by his still-unzipped fly.

It looks as though the Maine Atlantic Sea-Run Salmon Commission has made its last cast. LD 1298, a bill that will abolish the commission and create a state Atlantic Salmon Authority, recently was voted “ought to pass” by the Legislature’s Fisheries and Wildlife Committee. The bill was sponsored by Senate Majority Leader, Leo Kieffer of Caribou, who also is a member of the Fisheries and Wildlife Committee.

My understanding is the Atlantic Salmon Authority will comprise eight members: Bucky Owen, commissioner of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife; Robin Alden, commissioner of the Department of Marine Resources; a representative of the Penobscot Indian Nation and the Passamaquoddy Tribe, respectively; and four governor-appointed members, each representing specific river areas, namely, the Aroostook, Penobscot, Saco and Down East rivers.

A chairman for the authority will be named from among its members. I’m told, however, that it won’t be Bucky Owen – which tells me the hook of politics is buried deep in Maine’s Atlantic Salmon scenario. The Atlantic Salmon Authority would, of course, determine where and when salmon would be stocked and, considering the origin of LD 1298, it’s a sure bet that would include introducing salmon above Grand Falls on the St. John River – which Bucky Owen and the ASRSC opposed in conjunction with the DIFW.

If that’s the way it washes out, then so be it. But it’s possible that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which provides the majority of funds for Maine’s Atlantic salmon-restoration programs, may not be receptive to the idea of personal-agenda politics driving the management of those programs.