Letters
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To The Editor
Finding that “Just Right” Spot for Fish Populations
To the Editor: Jim Andrews’ October “Self-Propelled” column, titled “Wildlife Numbers Game Can Have Unforeseen Consequences,” highlights how anglers and hunters alike need to strive for “The Goldilocks Zone.” Astronomers use this term to describe the optimal distance between a sun and a planet. Only within this zone can a planet support water and potential life. If a planet is too far from a sun, the planet is frozen. If it’s too close, the planet becomes a furnace. Similarly, anglers need to find the same sweet spot for salmon. If catch-and-release has created too many small, skinny fish, anglers need a new mantra. “Catch more, keep more” or a similar type of slogan. If the anglers made catch-and-release prevalent enough to cause this issue, surely, they’ll keep more salmon and trout once they realize that a smaller fish population leads to a superior, more robust catch. Only by changing their methods can anglers stop getting “damn small fish”—as Andrews wrote—and start feeling like Goldilocks where everything is just right. Dan Harrington – Augusta
How to Make your Fish Look Bigger, Part II: Take an Action Figure Fishing! To the Editor: With the November “Almanac” piece titled “Two Ways to Make Your Fish Look Bigger,” you have opened a can of worms (sardines?). However, now that the catfish is out of the bag, I guess I can tell you our secret for making Branch Lake fish look bigger – simply bring an action figure along! Max Hembley – Winkumpaugh Corners, ME
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A Reason to Like Opossums To the Editor: Thanks for the piece on opossums eating ticks in the “Almanac” section of the November Maine Sportsman. I thought I was doing a good thing protecting the opossums on my property, and you confirmed it. Back in early spring, my dog was sniffing around the tarp I have covering my tractor’s cultivators. I pulled the tarp back to reveal
a plump female opossum that I assumed to be pregnant. I covered her back up and told my dog, “Mrs. Opossum is my friend, so you leave her alone.” My dog hates it when I declare any wildlife on my property my friend, because that means she has to protect it when she’d rather be chasing it. In the following months my dog would sniff around the tarp to make sure she was still there, but didn’t bother her. Only once in the summer did I see the opossum wondering around the yard in the early morning hours when I came home from work. In early September my dog was sniffing around my salt hay pile, which is also covered with a tarp. I noticed a small hole chewed in the bottom of the tarp (held down with cement blocks), and thought perhaps one or more of the young opossums had taken refuge there. In late September I had set a Havahart trap for another animal that was bothering my wife’s bird feeders, but what I caught was a young opossum. I took the trap back towards the barn and released the opossum about 15 yards from my salt hay pile, and that’s exactly where he ran to, and entered by way of that small hole! My wife was none too happy about an increasing opossum population, saying “I don’t like opossums, they’re dumb.” “That may be,” I replied, “but they aren’t hurting anything.” But since my wife hates ticks (and isn’t keen on me getting Guinea Hens to combat them), you now gave me information to help her warm up to our opossum friends. Bart Schairer – Hammonton, NJ (Continued on next page)
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