Holiday Season

Another Christmas come and gone and 2010 fast approaching.   The lakes are freezing over and the ice fisherman are heading out.  As usual the Wardens Service is asking people to use common sense and check the ice before going out.  "Choose small bodies of water when first venturing out on the ice. Rivers and lakes are prone to wind and wave action, which can break ice up quickly. Avoid areas with currents, around bridges and pressure ridges. Remember: "Thick and blue, tried and true. Thin and crispy, way too risky."" (These ice safety tips courtesy of the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife). 
   I heard on the radio this morning that they are publishing a site, http://www.maine.gov/ifw/fishing/newsletter/bangor.htm#icefishing , that has a listing of lakes and ponds with 10-14 inch fall stocked brook trout, put in with the ice fisherman in mind.  The article also suggests some tricks to make your ice fishing for brookies more productive.  If you are a fan of brook trout and want to hit the ice you should definitely be checking these lakes and ponds. 
   I woke up this morning to my 5 year old daughter Laura yelling back up the stairs "We got alot of snow last night!!"  I jumped out of bed and looked out the window,  I had watched the end of the Bears and Vikings game and looked out my front door at close to midnight and it hadn't started doing anything yet so I foolishly thought that we might not get the snow.  So it was a quick get ready to go this morning so I could get in here and plow before everyone else showed up for work.  Weather is definitely a fickle thing, I talked to someone in Portland at 5:00 and he said it had been snowing hard there for awhile, one of my crew from Otis said they were plowing there at 7:00 or 8:00 last night. Well, off to plow some more.

Kids and Boats

This is a picture of Laura's first boat ride, she was 1 month and 1 day old here and I was spending the day on the water as a safety boat for the annual swim for breast cancer on Green Lake. As you can see, her excitement was boundless at her first trip in a boat.



As you can see here, Thomas has been a loyal Lund man right from day one. Grandma made this for him from a Lund Fleece blanket, I would bet that at 2 days old there haven't been too many younger fisherman wearing their own Lund Gear!





As Laura turned 5 in July and Thomas 3 in September you can tell that these pictures are a few years old. I will be taking some new ones this summer and put them up here. They both got the chance to go out fishing with Dad and Grandpa this summer and both of them got to help reel in a nice splake from Pleasant River Lake. While neither of them is yet a diehard fisherman(woman), they both were excited to catch their first fish.

2010 Lund Boats

We just got our first truck load of 2010 model year Lund boats. 17 total Jon boats and utilities. We have now got 2 A-12, 2 A-14, 1 WC-12, 2 WC-14, 1 WC-16, 1 SSV-14, 2 SSV-16, 1 WC-14DLX, 1 WC-16DLX, 1 1032 JON, 2 1232 JON, and 1 1436L Jon. Now comes the fun part of finding a space for 17 boats before the real snow hits. The driver got here just as it was getting dark so we got to unload them in the dark on a slippery steel truck body, always an adventure, but we got them all off with no damage being done to any boats or any of us so it was definitely a successful project.

Boat Shows!

I have gotten our information for the Penobscot County Conservation Association's Annual Sportsmans Show. The show will be as always at the University of Maine Field house and will be held March 12, 13, and 14th. I hope to see a ton of people there, hopefully we will be well on our way to spring by then. Check out more details on that here: http://www.conservationassociation.org/sportsmensshow/sportsmensshow.htm

The Bangor Boating and Marine Expo will be at the Bangor Auditorium and runs March 19,20, and 21st, they are going to be featuring a live Stingray exhibit this year.

My 10 Seconds

Check out minute 3:09 http://walleye.outdoorsfirst.com/watch.asp?id=1138to see my 10 seconds on Internet fame, that was me in a 2009 Lund PRO-V at about 50 mph. That boat rides beautifully, it is fast, quick to plane and very stable, not to mention a blast to drive.

Winter has finally hit

Branch Pond Marine is starting a blog, we got cleaned up from the first 2 snows of the year and this seemed like the time to start a blog. I am going to be linking as many things as I can think to help our friends and customers to enjoy their time outdoors. I have already set up a link to a page that will give you the Union River Tides, one to take you to Mercury Outboards, one to Lund Boats and one to the Maine Department of Inland Fish and Wildlife. I am going to be adding more links as I find them. Check back in for information on local lakes and ponds, Branch Lake (Branch Pond if your local), Green Lake, Tunk, Toddy Pond, Beach Hill Pond and others. I will be looking for photos and stories from people to post here as well as information of fishing, the location of landing and the condition of the ice for the ice fisherman this winter.