Dear Fishermen and Fisherwomen;

I’d like to invite you to compete in the Upper Andro Two Fly Contest and Drift Boat Competition scheduled for June 12 and 13. This is the Upper Andro Anglers Alliance’s primary fund-raiser for the year. Our sponsors, Kittery Trading Post, L.L. Bean, the Orvis Company, Caddis and Cane, Sun Valley Sports, and Clackacraft have donated over $5,000 worth of prizes.

Information and registration is available on line at www.upperandro.com. The releases below give an overview of the events.

If you are a guide, invite two of your best sports to join you for the event and introduce them to the trout fishery on the Upper Andro. Did you know that Maine’s record rainbow trout was caught last June on the Upper Andro? If you are an avid angler but a mid-week 9 to 5’er, perhaps your employer would sponsor your team. We’d be happy to post any banners or posters from you company to give them recognition.

Many of our lodging members have special overnight rates. Just mention that you are competing in the Two Fly Contest to receive the rates. May we suggest The Bethel Inn-$133 per night for a double occupancy room including tax (800-654-0125) or The Bethel Hill B&B- $230 for 2 nights exclusive of tax or bring your friends and stay at the Village House sleeping 6 for $375 for 2 nights (207-824-2461). Information about other UAAA lodging and camping members is available at www.upperandro.com

The final day of registration is Wednesday, June 11 at Sun Valley Sports. Pick up your registration kit, rules, and barbecue coupon early so you can get out on the water at the crack of dawn. Any questions, give me a call at 207-824-7533.

Yours truly,

Rocky Freda
Sun Valley Sports
UAAA Director

Upper Andro Two Fly Contest

Set for June 12 and 13

The Upper Andro Anglers Alliance is sponsoring its Annual Two Fly Contest on June 12 and 13 in Bethel, Maine.

The Two Fly contest will test the skills of anglers to fly fish for the most and the largest of the three trout species, brown, rainbow and brook found in the Upper Androscoggin River from the New Hampshire border to Rumford.

Contestants may use only two flies during the event, which starts early Thursday morning and ends at noon on Friday. A fly is defined as made from natural or synthetic materials tied to a single pointed hook. No tandems or treble hooks are allowed. Teams of three including two anglers and a referee/oarsman must fish from an open boat-drift boat, row boat or raft. All fish must be released live.

Prizes include rods and fishing gear supplied by Kittery Trading Post, L.L. Bean, Caddis and Cane, Sun Valley Sports and the Orvis Company.

Official contest rules and a registration form are available on line at www.upperandro.com or by phoning 1-877-851-7533. The entry fee is $375 per team and includes an outdoor barbecue at the Bethel Inn. Proceeds from the event will benefit the Upper Andro Anglers Alliance.

Northeast Drift Boat Championship

The First Annual Northeast Drift Boat Championship will be held Friday afternoon, June 13 on the Upper Androscoggin River in Bethel Maine. Designed as a spectator event, the competition will test oarsmen’s skills at launching, navigating a course and rowing speed. Each drift boat must carry at least one angler, who must remain standing throughout the timed race. The launch will be from Bethel Outdoor Adventures on Route 2 and the finish line is at Davis Park in Bethel-a distance of a quarter mile.

Prizes include drift boat equipment provided by Clackacraft. A registration form is available on line at www.upperandro.com or by phoning 1-877-851-7533. The entry fee is $50 or is included in the Two-Fly Contest fee if the drift boat is competing in both events.

Tom Remington

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After a standing room only premiere of “The One” at The Bethel Inn this February, the film is now available on DVD. Sun Valley Sports in Bethel, Aardvark Outfitters in Farmington and the Maine Guide Fly Shop in Greenville are all retailing “The One”. It is available for sale on line by following this link.

Raised in the western mountains of Maine on the banks of the Androscoggin River and the village of Bethel, Carter Davidson is an avid fly fisherman, a producer of outdoor adventure television programs, documentaries and most recently executive producer of Gray Ghost Productions fly fishing film titled “The One.” Beginning in 2000, Carter first got his start with Maine PBS, producing and editing a long list of Emmy nominated magazine series and documentaries. Later, he traveled across the globe to locations such as New Zealand, France, Argentina, Chile, and British Columbia to film all sorts of outdoor adventures from extreme skiing, whitewater rafting and kayaking, skydiving, mountain biking and of course fly fishing. In 2007 Carter founded the video production company Gray Ghost Productions and began his search to film and capture the essence of fly fishing.

“Follow the dream team of Gray Ghost Production’s first adventure as they travel through New England, Patagonia and British Colombia in search of The One. Come explore the untouched terrain of Argentina with Michael Jones. Or hop in the jet boat for a wild ride hunting for steelheads. New England’s most prominent trout guru and director of the Green Meanie’s takes us into the back country of Maine and trophy brook trout water. Take a look back in time to rediscover the Rangeley lakes region and the famous trout flies originated in this area. Tag along with Luke Gray and Charlie Davidson as they hear the scream of the reel on some of New England’s large and small tributaries. Join these fly fishing junkies and their quest for, The One.”

Executive Producers: Matt Stanton, Carter Davidson
Producer: Charlie Davidson
Director of Photography: Luke Gray
Narration: Joe Perham and Carter Davidson

Movie trailer:

Tom Remington

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Are you kidding me? Man O Man!

Tom Remington

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By Milt Inman
Milt Inman is chief photographer for Skinny Moose Media and U.S. Hunting Today.

Some days ago, I was at a body of water taking photos of anything that looked interesting to me. I got pictures of birds, animals, reptiles, flowers, landscapes and people. Then I saw a man standing up in a boat move into a cove near me. I wondered what he was looking for. He was not fishing as near as I could tell but every once in a while he would throw something out in the water that would land with a soft whispering sound and disappear into the water.

After a few minutes, he pulled on a rope and hauled a mess of white stuff into the boat, shook it out and threw some things back into the water, which in turn were gobbled up by a large bird that followed the boat around.

Now this happened over and over again, so I thought he must be fishing with a net of some kind. I am from the state of Maine where net fishing like this is not legal and being in Florida seeing this done is all new to me.

I was told by some natives that this way of fishing was called Net Casting and the big bird was a pelican.

It takes a lot of time and practice to be able spread this large net out and land it flat on the water. A beautiful sight to see. Thats why I call it “THE ART OF NET CASTING!”

Milt Inman

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Yesterday, I attempted my first ever live broadcast of Open Air With Tom Remington. I didn’t think it was going to happen for most of the morning as it seemed I was having one technical failure after another but I finally pulled it off……as it was.

The show is a bit different than other shows in that there are no breaks for commercials or station IDs during the one-hour plus broadcast. I talked with John Stabley, V.P. of Global Operations for Skinny Moose Media, who is attending the Archery Trade Associations trade show in Indianapolis now through Saturday. He gives us an update on the show and how things are going for him.

Other highlights of the show include discussion of some of the continued budget problems at the Michigan Department of Natural Resources and an introduction to Bill Moore’s radio broadcast on a local Upper Peninsula sports radio station.

I also spend some time discussing the economic impact hunting, fishing and recreation has on this country with its millions of participants, yet never any mention of these topics with presidential candidates.

Plus a couple of surprises.

Below is the audio player where you can click and stream audio right now as you read more of the Black Bear Blog or just browsing about the Internet. And for those of you who may not have the time now, visit the Open Air download page and find every show that has been done. You can stream audio of each show now or download it to your media player and listen at your leisure.

Tom Remington

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The other day a wrote a long article at my Blogging the Maine Outdoors website about efforts in Maine to turn a few million acres of land in that state into National Heritage Areas. This goes along with existing efforts to turn most of northern Maine into a huge wilderness park shut out to most of the world in order to “let nature take its course”.

If you’re interested in that topic, I encourage you to click on over there and have a read. In the meantime, my good friend and fellow writer and part time humor writer, David Crews, alerted me by email last night of a guy who writes and sings funny Maine songs.

When I followed the link ovler to YouTube, I found several of Matthew Heintz videos of him performing various songs and little ditties. To go along with the topic of turning Maine into a national park, I chose this video for your viewing pleasure.

Tom Remington

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Raised in the western mountains of Maine on the banks of the Androscoggin River and the village of Bethel, Carter Davidson is an avid fly fisherman, a producer of outdoor adventure television programs, documentaries and most recently executive producer of Gray Ghost Productions fly fishing film titled “The One.” Beginning in 2000, Carter first got his start with Maine PBS, producing and editing a long list of Emmy nominated magazine series and documentaries. Later, he traveled across the globe to locations such as New Zealand, France, Argentina, Chile, and British Columbia to film all sorts of outdoor adventures from extreme skiing, whitewater rafting and kayaking, skydiving, mountain biking and of course fly fishing. In 2007 Carter founded the video production company Gray Ghost Productions and began his search to film and capture the essence of fly fishing.

“Follow the dream team of Gray Ghost Production’s first adventure as they travel through New England, Patagonia and British Colombia in search of The One. Come explore the untouched terrain of Argentina with Michael Jones. Or hop in the jet boat for a wild ride hunting for steelheads. New England’s most prominent trout guru and director of the Green Meanie’s takes us into the back country of Maine and trophy brook trout water. Take a look back in time to rediscover the Rangeley lakes region and the famous trout flies originated in this area. Tag along with Luke Gray and Charlie Davidson as they hear the scream of the reel on some of New England’s large and small tributaries. Join these fly fishing junkies and their quest for, The One.”

Executive Producers: Matt Stanton, Carter Davidson
Producer: Charlie Davidson
Director of Photography: Luke Gray
Narration: Joe Perham and Carter Davidson

Movie trailer:

A movie premier will take place in Bethel in February. The release of the full length movie will be available to the public shortly after that.

Tom Remington

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It appears that Hooked on Fishing International is losing is corporate sponsorships to keep the Kids All-American Fishing fishing derby programs viable. In a recent letter sent to Wende Gray, marketing specialist and owner of Gray Marketing and also spokesperson for the newly formed Upper Andro Anglers Alliance, HOFI informs Gray that the UAAA annual Family Fishing Festival will lose sponsorship from the Kids All-American Fishing. One of its main sponsors is Wal-Mart.

It is with great sorrow and regret that we announce that Hooked On Fishing International (HOFI) is no longer able to support the operations of the Kids All-American Fishing (KAAF) program. For 20 years we have worked with community-based organizations and agencies to introduce and promote the recreation of fishing to young people and their families. Through the support of our corporate partners, we have provided the KAAF fishing derby support kit and other planning and promotional resources to organizations wishing to host an on-water fishing event for their community.

Due to changing corporate priorities and market conditions, our key partners have chosen to devote their resources elsewhere and our efforts to secure new alliances have been unsuccessful.

This of course is disturbing and troubling news as oftentimes kids programs for fishing and hunting are regularly sponsored by corporations and local businesses. We hope that this does not become a nationwide trend as the effect could have sweeping consequences for many programs.

Tom Remington

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