Fisheries Biologist
Inland Fisheries and Wildlife’s Fisheries Division’s Lakes Research group that works out of the Bangor office recently brought its new electrofishing raft to Aroostook County to sample small ponds and rivers. This new tool worked very efficiently, and will be a great tool for sampling fish populations in the future. Joe Dembeck and Jason Seiders built the new craft, and came north to train Region G staff on its use.
The group focused efforts on a few waters where smallmouth bass have been reported or where researchers suspected they have invaded new waters. Smallmouth bass are not native to waters in Aroostook County, but with a large population having been established in the St. John River, bass now have access to a few drainages where they did not historically exist.
The Meduxnekeag River drainage is one watershed where biologists have documented the spread of bass in recent years, and are concerned with the invasion of muskellunge as well. Bass were being reported from a stretch of river in the town of Littleton during the 1980s; these reports became more frequent in the late 1990s and Nickerson Lake, New Limerick and Linneus was documented to have bass in 2002.
The group was able to sample the river in Littleton last week, and sampled several bass but no muskellunge. The river temperature had warmed to the point that trout are now seeking out cooler tributaries. They also were able to sample a number of brook trout very quickly with the raft.
The Meduxnekeag River supports a good fishery for wild brook and brown trout, and local biologits will continue to monitor this fishery and the impact of non-native sport fish that become established there.
