Welcome Back!
Greetings to the greater Belgrade Lakes community and welcome back summer residents and visitors! When I was growing up and there was any kind of ruckus in the house, which was pretty common with six kids, my mother would tell us, “Take it outside!” We would then head out to the woods behind the house to find something to do.
My mother was a wise woman. Fifty years before Richard Louv wrote Last Child in the Woods in 2008, she had an innate understanding of “Nature Deficit Disorder” and knew that direct exposure to nature is essential for a child’s healthy physical and emotional development. Louv and others later proved that kids who spend a lot of time outside are healthier, have longer attention spans, and are less likely to suffer from depression or childhood obesity. If you haven’t read Louv’s book, you should.
I hope this column will inspire you to take advantage of all the outdoor recreation opportunities in our area and especially about the importance of getting youngsters outside and interacting actively with the natural world instead of spending hours passively browsing social media. Mother Nature is an amazing teacher and we can all learn from her, especially in these stressful times.
Staying physically active is one of the best ways to keep your mind and body healthy, and carefully planned and executed outdoor activities are inherently safer than indoor activities. 7 Lakes continues to add new properties and new trails. The hiking trails (including some new ones!) in the Kennebec Highlands and nearby 7 Lakes Alliance properties like French Mountain, Mount Phillip, Fogg Island, and The Mountain are beautiful, verdant, and awash in spring and early summer wildflowers like trillium and lady slippers and birds and other wildlife. Visit the 7 Lakes Alliance website to get updates and download maps of the trails.
Last year we published a new version of our local Trail Map and Guide. It is available for purchase at the Resource Center as well as at Day’s Store. The new Quill Hill Mountain Trails off Drury Lane are scenic and not very steep, making them particularly appropriate for hiking with youngsters and oldsters.
I have been busy this spring as a mentor for the Atlantic Salmon Federation’s Fish Friends program, helping students in RSU 18 and at the 7 Lakes Alliance learn about the life cycle of Atlantic salmon by raising salmon fry in refrigerated tanks in the classroom. Maine currently has the only remaining wild population of this Federally endangered species in this country. Our students recently stocked almost 600 salmon fry into the Bond Brook and Sandy River. Some of the students got a tour of the nearby Governor Hill Fish Hatchery in Augusta.
In the nearby Kennebec River, the anadromous alewives and shad are returning to spawn. Normally, these fish are still in the river in early June just below the Hathaway dam in Waterville, and I highly recommend trying your hand with a flyrod or light spinning tackle, especially if you have never caught a shad before. The fish are big, strong, and will hit small, weighted flies and jigs bounced along the bottom. They are a lot of fun to catch. By the time this article is published, the water temperature will be in the high 60s in most of our lakes and the bass will be off their own beds but back in the shallows, chasing spawning sunfish. Fast action can be had with streamer flies, surface poppers, jerk baits, or Senko type jigs.
A couple of weeks ago, I had a very successful foraging expedition and gathered lots of fiddleheads and other spring greens, including trout lily and trillium leaves, and Japanese knotweed shoots. I also had some puffball and chanterelle mushrooms in the freezer. I decided to try to catch a nice trout or perch to stuff with my foraging bounty and bake. All I caught were bass after bass. Finally, I decided to keep the next bass I caught and suddenly the fish stopped biting as I headed back to my cove. About 50 yards from my dock, I cast a bright orange and green jig towards the edge of a tree in the water. A 2 lb bass hit it and I started to reel it in. About 10 ft from the boat, the fish jumped completely out of the water and shook its head, spitting the jig out. As I was about to utter an expletive of disappointment, the fish splashed down about 3 ft from the jig and immediately spotted it and hit it again. This time, I landed the fish and we had fresh fish for dinner.
Check the 7 Lakes Alliance website and Facebook page for upcoming events. Our 3:00 to 4:00 p.m. Thursday afternoon Chewonki presentations begin on June 26 with “Owls of Maine.”
We will also be offering regular expeditions on our new education boat. I encourage everyone to take advantage of the wealth of recreational opportunities this area offers. Do like they used to in “the good old days” and take a kid fishing, or on a hike, or paddling in a canoe. It’s how memories are made. Or take a parent, so your parent can become a kid again!
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