For Immediate Release
March 30, 2006

Anglers get ready for opening day

    AUGUSTA -- April first marks the beginning of the open water fishing
season in Maine, and in contrast to most year's where lakes and ponds are
buttoned up tight with ice, this April, anglers should be able to areas to
fish throughout the state.

    "This certainly is different than most years," said Peter Bourque,
Director of Fisheries for the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and
Wildlife, "With the mild winter we have had, there are open water spots to
fish throughout the entire state."

    Many lakes in southern and even central Maine are completely ice
free. The lower than average snowfall also means that rivers and streams are
at low springtime flow levels, making for easier fishing.

    Anglers are likely to find more fish available in waters that were
stocked last fall. Poor ice conditions meant less time for ice fishing,
leaving many trout and salmon that normally would have been caught in the
winter still there for spring anglers.

If you are heading out anywhere with a boat this weekend, the Maine Warden
Service is urging boaters to wear their lifejackets. Prolonged immersion in
cold water can kill, and wearing a life jacket can greatly increase your
survival chances if you are in the water unexpectedly.

    The beginning of the open water season also means that the
department stocking trucks will be busy. The Dry Mills Hatchery and the
Casco Hatchery Fish Hatchery start an ambitious stocking program next week,
and by the time ice starts to cover lakes in the fall, over 1.2 million fish
will have been stocked in waterways across the state.

If you haven't purchased your license yet, hop online and visit
www.mefishwildlife.com <http://www.mefishwildlife.com> to purchase your
license any time of the day, any day of the week. And if you buy your
license through MOSES (Maine Online Sportsmen's Electronic System), you will
be automatically entered to win a 1957 Maine Warden Service Truck.

Once again, there are some changes in fishing regulations specific to
certain ponds. Before heading out this spring, please check the regulations
in the law book.

For Immediate Release
March 30, 2006

Hatchery trucks ready to roll

    AUGUSTA -- Trout and salmon hatcheries around the state are gearing
up for the spring stocking season. Over 500,000 trout and salmon ranging in
size from 6-12 inches will be placed in the waterways around the state
starting the first week of April. An ambitious stocking program this past
fall means hundreds of thousands of trout and salmon are already in
waterways around the state.

    Trucks from the Dry Mills Hatchery in Gray are headed to York County
starting next week, and they plan on stocking waterways in York, Oxford and
Cumberland County throughout April. By the time spring stocking has
concluded, trout and salmon will have been placed in over 700 ponds, lakes
streams and rivers around the state.

    "This is the busy time for the hatcheries. Once open water season
starts, the trucks start moving. We start stocking in the southern part of
the state, and as waters start to open up, we
start to move north," said Steve Wilson, Superintendent of Fish Hatcheries
for the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife.

    Most of the fish stocked early in the season are brought by truck to
their destination, then either sluiced into the waterway, or on larger
bodies of water, loaded into tanks and brought by boat to deeper water where
they are released. Later in the season, fish will be stocked by plane, and
even backpacked into remote ponds.

    A 2005 Fish Stocking Report is available at the Information Center
at the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife at 284 State Street in
Augusta, or on the department web site at www.mefishwildlife.com. This
report lets anglers know what body of water fish were stocked, how many fish
were stocked, how big they were and when they were stocked.

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