Several years ago the Mid-Maine Chamber of Commerce and the Mid Maine Region hosted Major League Fishing’s 2015 General Tire Summit Cup. Major League Fishing is a tournament that is filmed over the course of a week in an area on lakes that the competing anglers don’t have any information, practice, or history on. This opportunity to host MLF in this region was too great to pass up, so the Chamber agreed and we did it. And it was awesome! The six day tournament took place on Great Pond, Messalonskee Lake, and Long Pond in Belgrade, and the finale took place on China Lake in China. Scott Suggs won the tournament and was the first Geico Select angler to win an MLF Cup Event!
This event brought a fair amount of attention to our region in the world of bass fishing. As it turns out, we have a really great group of lakes that hold a significance population of small and large mouth bass. This tournament got me interested in bass fishing, and I started looking at our local resources. I have watched the MLF episodes to identify some of the spots, bait, and techniques that the pros used to be successful. I bought some fishing rods, a bunch of hard and soft plastic bait, and this year bought a starter boat from Mid-Maine Marine. We realized at the chamber that the more people interested in bass fishing and the more people who know how awesome it is here, the more of an economic engine that it could be.
So, we set aside some money, enlisted the help of some long-time local anglers and tournament people, and set out to find the best way to promote bass fishing in the Mid Maine Region. This web site was born as part of this project. The intent of the site is to be a resource for local anglers and tourists alike. The site contains photos and maps of the area lakes and boat launches so that an angler knows where he or she can put their boat in, and what to expect at the ramp before getting there. The site is interactive, and people are encouraged to upload pictures of their catches to the photo gallery, which can be accessed from the individual lake page or directly through the photo gallery. We are also working with Lowrance to get depth maps loaded for each body of water and hope to have those up shortly.
So – this site is meant to be a resource to help promote bass fishing in Mid Maine. I have used this site extensive since pre-launch to plan my own bass fishing trips. The GPS coordinates have been extremely useful to find the boat ramps. And I have had a lot of fun taking pictures and capturing video that will make its way up to the site over the course of the summer.
So please, use this site as a resource. Create a username and password so that you can start uploading your fishing photos to the gallery. If you have any suggestions of information that would be helpful, please send us a message on Facebook at our page, Mid-Maine Bass Fishing. We are looking for suggestions for upcoming blogs, any other resources that you would like to see, or anything else bass-related in the Mid-Maine Region. And help get the word out by sharing this site with your friends, and liking us on Facebook.
Thank you. Enjoy your bassin’ this summer in Mid-Maine.
Bruce Harrington