Trucks from the Dry Mills Hatchery in Gray are headed to York County that first week of April if waterways start to open up, and they plan on stocking waterways in York, Oxford and Cumberland County throughout April. By the time spring stocking has concluded, trout and salmon will have been placed in over 700 ponds, lakes streams and rivers around the state.

"This is the busy time for the hatcheries. Once open water season starts, the trucks start moving. We start stocking in the southern part of the state, and as waters start to open up, we start to move north," said Steve Wilson, Superintendent of Fish Hatcheries for the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife.

Most of the fish stocked early in the season are brought by truck to their destination, then either sluiced into the waterway, or on larger bodies of water, loaded into tanks and brought by boat to deeper water where they are released. Later in the season, fish will be stocked by plane, and even backpacked into remote ponds. Last year, 747 waterways were stocked with over one million fish from state hatcheries.

A 2001 Fish Stocking Report is available at the Information Center at the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife at 284 State Street in Augusta, or on the department web site at www.mefishwildlife.com. This report lets anglers know what body of water fish were stocked, how many fish were stocked, how big they were and when they were stocked.