May 21 The recent cold spell slowed the run considerably. And, last night’s big rain didn’t help. Long time harvester and fish ladder tender extraordinaire, Frankie Waltz, stopped at our house today (with an armload of lilacs, a tradition) and noted that in the past, a slowdown such as the one we were experiencing could […]
May 19 Exciting news….the first batch of smoked alewives is ready at Mulligan’s Smokehouse! Smoked alewives will be for sale most evenings between 5pm and 7pm and weekend afternoons (unless it’s raining). Don’t miss your chance to buy smoked alewives— $1 each or $10 for a string. For further information, call Jesse at 207-542-3765.
May 18 Last night was a chilly one, with a frost in many places. The alewives felt the chill so this morning was a slow one. There are still fish around but not the big schools of a few days ago. We expect they’ll return once it warms up a bit. It’s warming water temperatures […]
May 16 The Damariscotta Mills alewife run is in high gear! Lots of fish coming in and passing quickly up the fishladder and into Damariscotta Lake to spawn. Mornings have been a bit slow for a past couple of days due to low tide and early morning cold but the fish soon get moving! It’s […]
May 14 What a perfect day to bring your mother to visit the fish ladder! The alewives are in so thick you could almost walk across them as they stream by the fish house and into the fishladder. They are climbing pool to pool fast and passing into Damariscotta Lake to spawn by the thousands. […]
May 13 Happy Mother’s Day weekend! Volunteers will be selling Fish Ladder t-shirts, hats and other goods and gear at the fish house this weekend to support continuing restoration of the fish ladder and associated facilities. This weekend is a great time to visit….you can get a new design t-shirt and see thousands and thousands […]
May 12 The alewives are running amazingly well for this early in the run! Counting began on Monday and fish are charging into the fish ladder and passing into the lake like it’s the middle of the run! This morning, alewives were harvested for the smokehouse. Harvesting for bait will begin on Monday. The lake […]
May 11 There will be a 5K road race, Run with the Alewives, on Saturday, May 27 at 9am. This popular race, which follows a scenic route around Great Salt Bay, promises fun for the whole family! To sign up for the race, scroll down in the Alewife Festival section of this website for a […]
May 10 Despite the high water, thousands of alewives are making their way up the fish ladder and into Damariscotta Lake to spawn. This is one of our strongest early showings—amazing numbers of alewives! Harvesting will begin Monday as long as the level of Damariscotta Lake goes down a bit.
The air is full of birds and the fish ladder is full of alewives! That magical time of year has begun! That said, is an interesting management time for those of us managing the fish ladder. The water in Damariscotta Lake is still very high due to all the recent rain and, to lower the […]