By Janet Gertz

Heavily perfumed with repellent,
the murkiness of the trodden forest path,
is erratically illumined by our bobbing headlamps,
which magnetize a bevy of moths.

The three joggling rods with reels
and our essential tackle, swing back and forth
as if keeping time with our steps.
On the edge of the path sits a burly porcupine.

Upon arriving at the shore
I listen to the diminutive sounds of the low tide current.
First cast, second cast, third cast,
I feel delighted when I hook a schoolie.

Soothing sprays of ocean water,
occasionally dust my face with salt.
From the distant boulder of the jetty,
I hear their muffled voices,
jesting and joking about bears.

I recline in the solidarity of darkness
and gaze at pinholes of star light
in the otherwise ebony colored sky.
I ponder a prior discovery of engravings…
were they a hoax or was the area visited by Vikings?

Soon we retrace our steps
and go home for the night.

Two rise in the predawn darkness,
leaving our half consumed coffee and partially eaten bagels,
we don our rubber bibs and boots.

In the truck I place a cooler containing bait.
Creepy, crawly, wiggly, slimey.
Navigating along the curving road,
a brief journey, we arrive at the new spot.

Beyond a distant island,
the sky is intensely tinted in crimson.
Single file…
We navigate the shoreline…
Edge…

In the threatening, semi-overcast glow
I begin to see evidence of lavender sea heather.
A multitude of hoof imprints from deer.

We gently maneuver our gear amongst the brush.
Then, with the sea water up to my waist,
I troll back and forth, casting between
my make shift boundary of protruding ledges.
He captures a twenty-two inch fish.

Scattered rain drops forming tiny rings,
upon the retreating tide.
Bam! Hit! The squealing line pulls forward.
Water splashes, radiating reluctance.

My catch is a thirty-three inch strong.
A striped bass.
We take photos and release the fish.
She glides off into the murky waters.

With jovial attitudes our gear is packed.
Prudently…
We retrace our earlier steps,
within halos of ferocious mosquitoes.

CJ from Portland sent in a comment about the regional nature of the tourney and how it influenced his decision NOT to participate…

Comment: Hi… I’ve been watching this tournament unfold. When I first saw the posters I thought about signing up, but ultimately I didn’t… I fish in Casco Bay and over the years have learned the area pretty well. I have never fished in the mid-coast waters and decided it was doubtful that I’d be able to compete outside my home waters. Thanks! CJ

Notes by Event Organizer: The regional nature of the tournament was defined as such due to the event being in it’s first year. We felt a need to narrow the geographic scope of the tournament to make it more manageable. We also wanted to highlight the quality habitat and unique geographic characteristics of the mid-coast region. This area is huge and the untapped potential is really significant.

With respect to CJ’s comments… Since the posters went up, we have heard similar comments from tackle shop owners and other anglers. Having year one under our belt and 20 X 20 hide sight, we are confident the infrastructure is now in place to support a tournament that is much broader in geographic scope and allow anglers to fish their home waters. The possibility is there to make such a tournament state-wide, but doing so offers many new and different challenges. But, maybe refining the model locally makes more sense?

We would appreciate your thoughts and comments… Please submit them using the Contact US form.

I want to take a moment to wrap up a few thoughts and tie up those loose ends that always seem to exist…

Overall the 17 Rivers Striper Tournament was a lot of fun and the photos we posted on the website effectively illustrate how beautiful the region is and how great the fishing can be. We are lucky to live here in the mid-coast region and we have a truly world-class fishery right in our backyard. Their are some huge stripers out there and we illustrated that by posting such fish photos on this site. The anglers who caught these stripers should be pleased… many of the contending catches represented “once in a life time” fish.

With respect to the website… The development of this site was done very quickly. We didn’t actually start work on the site until early July. Aaron Pastor and I really “busted it out” to design and implement the sites structure which morphed into something pretty neat! Thanks so much for your help Aaron… I couldn’t have done it without you. Personally, I am very pleased by the end result. The blog structure allowed for a dynamic environment in which to develop posts and communications to all visitors. The photo slide-shows were very slick bits of code we inserted that allowed for ease of viewing with respect to a large number of images. And the rotational ad banner was a nice addition which helped promote the businesses that directly sponsored the event.

Now that the tournament is over, I want to share some of the statistics regarding website use… To date we’ve had 1,784 unique website visitors, many returned repeatedly,… some 4,120 visitor’s in total. On average, the sites had 52 distinct visitors per day. Those visitors viewed over 46,000 pages and the website has recorded over 215,000 hits. For a local striper tournament, that was conceived in mid-June and didn’t have a fully functional website until mid-August, these numbers are pretty respectable. We will keep the site up for a while while we determine the future of the tournament.

Many have inquired about whether we will do the tournament again in 2008… Personally, I’d like nothing better than to make the tournament an annual event. It is my intent to seek funding and pledges of support for a 2008 tournament. Much of the infrastructure needed to support the tournament we now have in place, and running the event this year has provided insight into how we could do it differently to make improvements and achieve a greater level of success.

Over the winter, I’d like to ask for input from those who participated, as either sponsors or fishermen. I’m interested in hearing your thoughts on this. In order to do this again, we certainly need broader corporate sponsorship, State and local support and broader angler participation. Ultimately, we need to cover the costs. Please use the Contact Us form to send us your comments. I will share those comments openly and post them to gain greater perspective and add to the pool of knowledge. I look forward to hearing from you and hope a robust dialog develops.

Yesterday afternoon we held the Awards Ceremony for the 17 Rivers Striper Tournament and the event went over with only a few small glitches… but overall their were many happy faces. 

First we want to thank all the tournament sponsors who helped with financial and like-kind contributions of tackle. Their support was key to making this tournament happen. Also, for the Awards Ceremony, First Federal Savings sponsored the appetizers and Kristi & Gene, the owners of the Kennebec Tavern put out a nice spread. Thanks!

In the Junior Division we gave out a boat-load of tackle. All the kids who attended left with at least two prizes, but the big winners were Charlie Gill IV (2nd Place - 22″ striper) and Cameron Guth (1st Place - 24″ striper). These two boys scored spinning rods and tackle boxes loaded with gear!

In the Adult Division, the “scoring system” created a problem that jumped out and derailed things at the last minute. A mistake on one of the fish registration forms resulted in the final award being incorrect. In the end, the recipient pointed out the error and we were forced to recalculate the award standings and re-distribute awarded prizes. In the end it all worked out… and the awards were distributed as follows.

LL Bean Orion Fly Rod Outfit - Dan Shiells

2nd Place - $500.00 - Dan Soule

1st Place - $2,500.00 - Ed Gauvin

Congratulations to all who participated in the tournament. The fishing was a lot of fun, the month lasted a long time, and some great fish were landed. We truely hope the images we’ve posted illustrate the value of this sports fishery to the region! Please check out the new photo slide-show posts.

Cheers! Robert Fernald - Event Organizer

The Awards Ceremony is slated for Saturday October 13th @ 3:30 PM -5:30 PM… That’s tomorrow afternoon! Any interested persons are welcome to attend, but for those who participated in the tournament, please try to attend to show your appreciation to the people and businesses who supported and organized the tournament.

If you registered a striper, you will definitely want to attend. Primary awards will only be given to those in attendance and all attending participants will be eligible for additional tackle & prizes.

This event will be held at the Kennebec Tavern located on the river-front in Bath, ME. The restaurant is 400 yards up-river from the bridge. You will find us in the banquet room. First Federal Savings is sponsoring appetizers and a cash bar will be available for those with a thirst. We are planning to put on a photo slide-show, play some cool “blues” music and award the prizes. It should be fun! See you there.

Fall is here! Over the Columbus Day weekend I had to get out fishing one more time… actually three times. The stripers are still here and the fishing’s pretty good. I did  land a 28″, 34″, 36″ and a 39″ striper, but overall the action was relatively slow. However, the quality of the fish did make up for it.

On one night, I awoke at 2:00 AM, put on the waders and headed off to go fishing. It was inky black out and the moisture was heavy in the air. When I got to the ocean, the tide had slipped and was going fast.

When I stepped onto the flat, the ground and water exploded in iridescent sparks. The movement of my passing disturbed tiny dynoflagelates which each emitted an iridescent glow that lasted for only seconds, but it was really amazing. I looked back and could actually see the outline of my footsteps glowing in the sand.

I started fishing. As I waded along, my legs sent off showers of sparks each time I moved. Tiny bait fish and shrimp skittered out of the way also emitting a cascade of sparks. Each cast resulted in illuminating sparks and the action of the fly gave off streaks of iridescence.

After some casting I finally got into a fish. It was 28 inches and gave up a good fight. As I brought the fish into the beach I could easily see it’s shape and size due to the iridescent glow. I landed the fish, removed the hook and gently released it back into the water. She lay there for a moment regaining her strength, then with quick acceleration darted out to sea. The movement resulted in an intense burst of illumination as the dynoflagelates erupted with the stripers passing. The result was breathtaking; a iridescent fish, all a-glow, darting into deeper water and in its wake, a fading iridescent footprint reminding me of it’s passing.

That experience was something I will never forget!

In Maine we have unique striper size limits, a slot and a trophy option if an angler wants to keep a striper, but every State has differing regulations. If you are ambitious, check this link out detailing State specific striper regulations. When you see how other States manage this recreational resource you’ll be able to get a better understanding to the value of this resource and gain some insight into how varied the regulations are. Their are infact several States that also have significant commercial fisheries.

An interesting study was recently published by Dr. David Conover, head of Marine Science Research for Stony Brook University. The study looked at the effect selective taking from a fish population had on future populations over several generations. In the study, Conover established three base populations (1,000 each) of Silversides, an Atlantic bait fish. From those populations he removed 90% of the largest fish from one group, 90% of the smallest fish from another and randomly removed 90% from the third. This procedure was carried forward for four generations and then the populations assessed to see if their was a measurable result.

Results - The group where the largest fish were removed had an average weight of 1.05 grams. The group randomly harvested had an average size of 3.17 grams. The group where the smallest fish were removed had an average size of 6.47 grams.

Think about this! Our fisheries regulations have a direct impact on fish escapement and conversely those that will spawn. Based on this research, we can draw some pretty solid conclusions related to what the future fishery will translate into if the over-riding regulations encourage the taking of the big stripers. Ultimately, schoolies will be the norm! Darwin would be pleased that we grasp this concept… So, with such important knowledge, why can’t we put into place solid regulations that are uniform across all State boundaries? Politics!

So, since we can anticipate bureaucratic inaction, we fishermen need to be responsible stewards of this resource. If we value this resource, we need to individually take the position of releasing the big fish. Put the big ones back, let them spawn, and be happy with the knowledge that their will be stripers there for your kids to catch.

Who says stripers can’t be caught using flies after dark? It’s just a bit more difficult managing the line, but when you find the fish, they can be caught. Ed Gauvin proves this point by registering another nice striper (33.5 inches) caught the night of September 27th using a fly. 

 ”If you bite down hard on the cork before removing the fly, it won’t hurt as much”. Nice one!