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Fort Kent Derby Brings to Light the Muskie's Unfortunate Muscling-In

August 04, 2009 - FORT KENT -- Muskies, or muskellunge, are not native to Maine. They don't belong here, least of all in northern Maine's native trout and salmon waters.

Let's just get that out in the open from the start.

Certainly, it could appear from the hoopla surrounding Fort Kent's International Muskie Fishing Derby next weekend that this nasty cousin of the pickerel is a fan favorite, a New England fisherman's ultimate trophy.

"We've got some alligators up here," Fort Kent Community Development Director John Bannen said proudly. "Since the inception of the derby, each year the winning fish wouldn't have made it into the next year's (winner's circle). They keep getting bigger and bigger."

A success story, you might think.

Well, it's not.

The muskie is a dirty, rotten, unwelcome interloper that snuck into Maine through Canadian waters (where it was stocked) and threatens to displace native coldwater game fish in the St. John River.

Just consider this: The muskie's name comes from the Ojibwe's word for – get ready for it – ugly pike.

Of course it's ugly. It's not a brook trout.

So the derby with a mighty $35,000 purse may result in 25-pound fish held up by winning fishermen on the trophy stand. Even the youth winners could bring in fish close to 10 pounds, as they have in past years.

But, take note, we don't want these fish here.

"They are an invasive exotic in the St. John," said state regional biologist Dave Basley in Ashland. "Obviously, we're not going to get rid of them. But we have no size or bag limit on them."

The sad irony to the muskie's story in Maine is that the Quebec government stocked muskies in Lake Frontier, a lake bordering Maine, in the 1980s, Bannen said. This fact can be lost in the derby frenzy.

"Certainly, they've become popular among local fishermen," Bannen admitted. "And now they are starting to get some recognition throughout the country."

But the real fish story here is the trepidation over the danger the muskie presents to Maine's trout and salmon waters.

Basley fears fishermen will embrace the muskie's fighting ways and move it throughout Aroostook County's precious trout and salmon waters.

And Bannen, despite his excitement over the muskie derby, is worried about this, too.

"We have native populations of salmon and brook trout in the river system. There is a concern that the muskie will displace them and gobble them up," Bannen said. "One of the reasons for beginning the muskie derby was some sort of attempt to minimize their populations in the region."

Maine is famous for its wild brook trout, with the largest population in the eastern United States, according to Trout Unlimited.

Maine is also cherished for its landlocked salmon, a game species that gets its scientific name (Salmo sebago) from Sebago Lake, one of the four original watersheds of the game fish.

Why these fish are sought after, cherished and fished here is clear when you see them – they are pretty.

And the "ugly pike" in the St. John River threatens them.

So while derby fever will undoubtedly spread next weekend throughout northern Maine, the hope is that the muskie will not.

In an effort to discourage fishermen from moving muskie, the tournament requires that all muskies kept be larger than 33 inches long. So only the biggest muskies will be brought to weigh stations, and the hope is unlikely contenders will not get dumped elsewhere.

"The big thing is, we don't want to give the impression that people should move these around and do their own brand of bucket biology and introduce them into other areas," Bannen said. "There is a whole series of lakes that drain into the Fish River that comes into the St. John River in Fort Kent. That is a big concern. That is considered the last native population of landlocked salmon in the state."

WHAT: Sixth annual Fort Kent International Muskie Fishing Derby
WHERE: St. John River and its tributaries
WHEN: 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Friday through Aug. 9
PURSE: $35,000
TO LEARN MORE: 834-3136; www.fortkent-muskie.com

DEIRDRE FLEMING, Portland Press Herald, July 30, 2009


Lakes:
Regions: Presque Isle


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