After several years of intense effort, a bill governing our public lands has been enacted, thanks to votes in the House and Senate to override the Governor’s veto of the bill. Several legislators, including my State Senator Tom Saviello, and our state’s major environmental groups, deserve credit for crafting this bill and never giving up […]
Linda and I recently visited Attean Lake Lodge in Jackman (www.atteanlodge.com) for our travel column, and I was astonished by this historic sporting camp. I of course knew of it, but had no idea how special it is. The land surrounding this large lake in Jackman is protected by a conservation easement managed by […]
Enjoying a notebook of historical stories at Attean Lake Lodge in Jackman, I came across this wonderful article about Maine guides. Wanting to share it with you, I asked Andrea Holden to copy it for me. I am sure you will find it as interesting and enjoyable as I did. The article, published in Outing […]
Wiggie Robinson was a legendary guide, for sure. I was privileged to know Wiggie, and to fish with some of his famous flies. And I was very pleased when the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife and the Maine Professional Guides Association teamed up to create the Wiggie Robinson Legendary Guide Award in 2009. Very […]
The Maine Professional Guides Association won a $10,000 grant from the Maine Office of Tourism to create a member directory to distribute out of state. “It is noteworthy because we are taking the lead to promote member businesses and tourism recognizes that they are not.” Don Kleiner, MPGA lobbyist and executive director, told me. They […]
Jake Morrell offers many great stories in his book, Hardscrabble Lodge. I got to visit with Jake at an authors’ event in Boothbay Harbor and eagerly grabbed a copy of his book. Jake and his wife Beth lived an interesting and unusual life as the owners of Hardscrabble Lodge in the north woods. They purchased […]
By Jim Hynson I made my first trip to our camp at Camp Phoenix on Memorial Day weekend of 1991. George came for his first weekend the following week. That gave me one week’s head start in discovering what fly might work on the lake at that time. George spent much time before his trip […]
Perhaps you are wondering why there are no salmon in Aroostook County’s Salmon Brook, a tributary of the Aroostook River which once sported lots and lots of Atlantic salmon. Well, wonder no more. Cast your line here, for two interesting articles about this issue, written by Lloyd Irland, a forestry consultant who lives in Wayne. […]
I was astonished earlier this week to be on a northern Maine lake that once drew lots of anglers, and to see only a handful of anglers in two days. I guess it should not have surprised me, because I recently read Jeremiah Wood’s report about a sharp decline in northern Maine angler use between […]
Something in the Water turned out to be Nazi U-boats, and the effort by these remote Maine islanders to protect themselves and others resulted in one of the best novels I’ve read in years. Author Peter Scott gives us both history and suspense, with very realistic characters, lots of emotion, and enemies both near and […]
George stepped down at the end of 2010 after 18 years as the executive director of the Sportsman’s Alliance of Maine to write full time. He writes a weekly editorial page column in the Kennebec Journal and Waterville Morning Sentinel, a weekly travel column in those same newspapers (with his wife Linda), monthly columns in The Maine Sportsman magazine, two outdoor news blogs (one on his website, georgesmithmaine.com, and one on the website of the Bangor Daily News), and special columns for many publications and newsletters. Islandport Press published a book of George's favorite columns, "A Life Lived Outdoors" in 2014. In 2014, George also won a Maine Press Association award for writing the state's bet sports blog. In 2016, Down East Books published George's book, Maine Sporting Camps, and Islandport Press published George and his wife Linda's travel book, Take It From ME, about their favorite Maine inns and restaurants.
