Reports of illegally-stocked bass in Bryant Pond have not yet been verified.
By Terry Karkos
Staff Writer

NORWAY – Maine’s experimental rainbow trout stocking project and illegal fish stocking in Sebago Lake Region are the topics in a Wednesday night program.

Francis Brautigam, a fisheries biologist with the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, is to conduct a PowerPoint presentation on those topics and pond reclamation efforts.

He is to address the Mollyockett Chapter of Trout Unlimited at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 18, at the Trolley House Restaurant at 237 Main St.

Last month, Brautigam said that according to preliminary data, the rainbow trout stocking project appears to be doing well. Rainbows up to 24 inches long are being caught from Mine Pond in Porter.

But on the negative side, yellow perch have been showing up in the winter fishery on Crystal Lake in Gray.

Brautigam, a former fisheries biologist with the Maine Department of Environmental Protection, said the department first learned about the illegally-stocked yellow perch two years ago.

Recent reports of illegally-stocked bass in Bryant Pond in Woodstock, which is a regional splake fishery, have also been received, though not verified yet.

Brautigam is also expected to provide fishery management updates for Sebago, Thompson and Auburn lakes at Wednesday night’s program.

Brautigam, who graduated from the University of Maine at Orono with a bachelor of science degree in wildlife management, was promoted to regional biologist in the department’s Sebago Region last fall.

As the regional fisheries biologist, Brautigam is required to develop and implement fishery management plans for the region’s fishery resources.

He also oversees the development and evaluation of fish stocking programs, development and evaluation of regulations, habitat evaluations, population monitoring programs, and population enhancement programs.

For more information, phone 743-7461 or 743-9808.

tkarkos@sunjournal.com

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