As the weather warms and with it, water temperatures, the alewives will be triggered to come in and begin their ascent of the fish ladder. The birds are ready for fish—groups of cormorants (called gulps) are organizing in the bay to dive on the fish the minute they arrive. Osprey are in the skies, waiting […]
Osprey are flying high in the skies over Great Salt Bay, circling in search of alewives to feed their young. So far, we’ve seen them catch only smelts and flounder, two fish that we expect to be in the bay at this time of year. Eagles, cormorants and Great Blue Herons are also watching for […]
The hot weather put an end to this years alewife run, which was already winding down. The final count of alewives getting into Damariscotta Lake to spawn is 1,047,918! Now that’s a lot of fish!
After a cold and wet Memorial Day weekend, when the alewives backed out almost entirely, sunshine and warmth this week brought them back into the fish ladder. The run is definitely slowing but there are still fish to see. Yesterday we observed a seal swimming along the entrance to the fish ladder. He (or she) […]
Cold and rainy weather has taken a toll on the alewife run. This morning, there are few to no new alewives in the fish ladder and not many throughout the fish ladder. Sad to see after the huge masses of fish of the last few weeks. We won’t know until the weather warms whether or […]
Due to COVID-19, there is again no Alewife Festival this year. With wind and rain kicking off the weekend, maybe it’s not a bad thing. The alewives didn’t get the message and they are here in great numbers although they are slowing down somewhat compared to their strong showing of the past few weeks. So, […]
The fish are slowing down so the harvesting crew will not be dipping on Memorial Day—Monday, May 31–either at 5am or at 3:30 pm. If there are plenty of fish, harvesting will resume on Tuesday, June 1. Check with the fish agent, Mark Becker, at 380-7996 for further information.
May 25. The alewives are still running! We should have plenty of alewives to see on Memorial Day Weekend. With this many in, the tide doesn’t matter!
2021 is an amazing year for alewives! We’ve had a steady stream of alewives in for a couple of weeks now and the run shows no signs of slowing down. Wow, what a year to visit the Damariscotta Mills fish ladder!! If you want to see thousands and thousands of alewives…and eagles, osprey, great blue […]
There are so many fish right now that sometimes you can’t see them–or, should I say, the fish are solid and it’s hard to distinguish a single fish from the total mass of fish. That’s a lot of fish! If you’re viewing behind the fish house, look on the edges of the black mass of […]