DUE TO UNSAFE ICE CONDITIONS, THIS EVENT HAS BEEN CANCELLED FOR 2016! Join us on March 12 at Range Pond State Park for a fun day on the ice! New to ice fishing? Not a problem! Department staff and volunteers will be on hand to provide instruction. You can still enter the derby for a chance to win some great prize!

All proceeds will help fund scholarships for Camp North Woods. Derby tickets are just $10 for adults and $5 for children 15 and under.

Foodies Gone Wild…Game! Southern Maine Community College (SMCC), in partnership with the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife (IFW), bring exciting and delicious courses to the table.  Each will offer a cooking demonstration and tasting with SMCC culinary faculty Geoffrey Boardman and information and educational discussion with IFW experts in the field. Saturdays, 9 a

[caption id="attachment_1276" align="alignright" width="598"] These three different-sized smelt represent three different age classes.[/caption] How can one tiny fish be the key to so many larger fish? The rainbow smelt may be diminutive in size but its impact is huge.

Maine Warden Service Notes From the Field: January 2016 Division A: Game Warden Tony Gray observed a fishermen catch and kill a short lake trout on South Pond in the town of Bryant Pond. South Pond is a general law pond and lake trout are required to be 18 inches long. The fishermen had caught and killed two fish; the lake trout in violation was 13 inches long.

By Jason Seiders, Regional Fisheries Biologist, Belgrade Lakes Region The Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife stocks thousands of brook trout each year to provide ice anglers with an opportunity to catch Maine’s heritage fish, without needing to stray too far from home.

The Maine Warden Service is reminding anglers, snowmobilers and others who enjoy winter recreation on Maine’s lakes and ponds that ice conditions on many waterways throughout the state right now may not be safe to hold themselves or heavy equipment and vehicles. “I can’t stress enough the importance of checking ice conditions right now,” said Game Warden Colonel Joel Wilkinson, “Folks really need to take the time to drill test holes as often as they can and

The Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife conserves all of Maine’s wildlife for current and future generations.  Hunting revenues provides funding for the management of game species such as deer, turkey, and bear, but funding for lesser known nongame species that can’t be hunted or trapped has been difficult to find. Protecting these valuable species is vital as they comprise