Updated: Wednesday, October 30, 2002 11:45 AM

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Spring 1996 Newsletter

Annual Meeting

The annual meeting of the Branch Pond Association will be held on the evening of Friday, July 19, 1996 at the City Hall. The meeting is scheduled for 7:00 PM.

Sailing Season

Commodore Paul Wight announces that the 1996 Sailing Season will start with a race on June 30th at 2:00 PM. The race will be followed by a social at the Commodore's quarters. The season will continue with Sunday races until August 11th.

Dam

The Branch Pond Dam status was resolved by City Council action in November and December. Formal agreement was voted in mid-December for the city to take over ownership of the dam from Bangor Hydro-Electric Company.
The water level has been high this spring, but the city has been very receptive to phone calls about lake levels and has made corrective changes to bring the water to an acceptable point.

Lake Week

This gala celebration of Branch Pond is scheduled for July 13-21, 1996. Volunteers are needed - ideas or work or both. Give Beth Smart a call at the phone number in the masthead and help out on this FUN WEEK!

Ice Out

The big day this year was April 22nd, after a long cold winter and spring.

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Fish Figures From Ron Brokaw

(Regional Fishing Biologist)
Here is a summary of the major findings in recent years from the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife.
"We estimated the total number of ice fishermen fishing the lake during the 1990 and 1991 winter seasons. For 199U, the figure was 2,689; for 1991, it was 2,889. Fishing pressure of this magnitude (at or exceeding 1 man-day/acre) is considered heavy. We will soon have estimates available for both the 1995 ice fishing and open water seasons.... we have not yet worked up the data. The estimates are derived from aircraft counts of the number of boats fishing on one weekday and one weekend day/week. Perhaps you saw the warden plane flying over the lake (generally between 1100-1230) on a number of occasions last summer.

"In the fall of 1993, we trap-netted the lake to obtain a sample of salmon. After weighing and measuring the fish, they are released unharmed back into the lake. We do this every 2-3 years to monitor the growth rate of our stocked salmon. With a solid population of wild togue present, we have to be very careful not to overstock the salmon. Togue and salmon compete strongly for smelt, a critically important forage food. We captured a total of 38 salmon; 24 were 2 ½ yrs. old, 7 were 3 ½ yrs. old 4 were 4 ½ yrs. old, and the ages of 3 were undetermined. Age II+ salmon averaged 17.0" long and 1 Ib. 10 oz. in weight. Age III+ fish averaged 18.6" long and 2 Ibs. 4 oz. in weight. Age IV+ salmon averaged 18.2" long and 2 Ibs. 6 oz. in weight. Both the 2 ½ and 3 ½ yr. old salmon came from stockings of 1,350. All the 4 ½ yr. old fish were wild, i.e. resulted from natural reproduction. Stocked fish comprised 87% of our sample, and wild fish 13%. 37 % of our sample weighed in at 2 Ibs. or more, but none weighed 3 Ibs. or more. The 3 largest salmon weighed 2 Ibs. 15 oz., 2 Ibs. 13 oz., and 2 Ibs. 12 oz. 1,350 salmon were stocked in May 1995 and the same numbers are scheduled for this year.
"A special 18" legal minimum length limit on brown trout was adopted in 1994. This should allow more females to spawn once prior to being subjected to angling mortality. We are hopeful that this regulation will result in an increase in the modest wild brown trout population.

"We electrofished the east branch of Winkumpaugh Brook (referred to locally as John Gray Brook) on July 7, 1995. At that time, the brook was very low. We sampled a 300-400 foot section about ¼ mile downstream from the road. We captured a total of 119 brown trout; 72 were 1-2" long, 11 were from 2-3", 18 were 3-4", and 18 were 4-5" long. Most of the 1-3" were young of the year (born that year) while most of the 3-5" fish were probably 1 ½ years old (born in 1994). This date confirms the unusually high productivity of this brook even under low flow conditions. It truly is a special brook, and it's of the utmost importance that the superb habitat be protected as much as possible. I was very pleased to hear that Ellsworth now plans to do some badly needed remedial work at the site next year. The support of your Association in the effort to get Ellsworth to work on this continuing problem is deeply appreciated.

"That's the update for now. Please feel free to contact me at any time at my office (255-3772) in Machias if you have further questions."

Roads

Members of the executive board met with members of the City Council to discuss improvement of city roads. The Winkumpaugh area was of special concern and corrections appear to be in the works.

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