Help the Brook Trout -- Get the Word Out!!!

Here is a Post on the Fly Fishing in Maine web site that may be very interesting to all of you.  Please read the post that I have copied here and go to the links in the story for more info on the RAFFLE.  This is a good one guys and gals.

Hello FFIM -- the brook trout need your help!

This year's conclave funds will be going largely to a sea-run brook trout tagging study to be conducted by the Maine Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit.

The major fund-raiser this year is a Rangeley Raffle package that Ken B has put together that will blow the winner away. Tickets sales have been slow thus far -- and we need your help to make sure we raise enough to meet our grant commitment.

Please take a moment to click here and check out the incredible package that Ken pulled together.

Also -- please take a minute to send the address for the raffle page to a friend from out of state who likes to fish and might enjoy visiting Maine for a week in September to fish for some gorgeous Maine pre-spawn brookies....those out of staters ought to really love this package which includes a WEEK'S LODGING AND 2 DAYS OF GUIDING, along with a bunch of other great stuff.

(cut and paste this into an email: http://www.flyfishinginmaine.com/conclave/rangeley2008.php )

If you visit other fishing sites -- please kindly let them know about this great opportunity to win a really cool raffle package, and help some good causes while they are at it!

Thanks in advance for your help -- the sea run brookies thank you too!!!

-Dan

More information about the sea run brookie study:

The second grant winner is the Maine Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit. This grant of $2000 will help fund a tagging study of an anadromous run of brook trout on two small stream on Mount Desert Island. Joe Zydlewski submitted the application on behalf of the Maine Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit. An excerpt from that application reads, "The proposed study is aimed at characterizing brook trout movements in two very different systems; Stanley Brook and Cove Brook. Stanley Brook is a small (4 km) stream on the southeast portion of Mount Desert Island. Initial surveys and tagging indicate high numbers of brook trout. Based on the coastal nature of the stream and anecdotal evidence, the system is thought to support an anadromous run of brook trout. Cove Brook, a tributary of the lower Penobscot River, Maine, has historically supported Atlantic salmon and brook trout but the status of these species is uncertain. Atlantic salmon are intermittent, while anecdotal evidence suggests that brook trout may have increased in relative abundance. Historical migrations of brook trout have been observed in Cove Brook (Meister, 1958). While important in their own right, understanding brook trout movements is important for Atlantic salmon as well. Studies of brook trout movement may help assess habitat connectivity of the watershed for both species.It is proposed that PIT (Passive Integrated Transponder) technology be used to track individual movements within and out of these two systems."