goes from 2b up here to z 6 in s. maine.
I bet itās a nice view. Is it time to ice fish yet? Does the St John ever freeze over, or does its current prevent that?
For such a small state it sure has lots of climate zones. Is most of the state away from the coast heavily wooded, and sparsely populated?
I wonder zone Mt Washington is. That is prob the most inhospitable place to be in the winter in the US! Eastern US, anyway.
Weāve always wanted to visit Maine, and maybe even slip over the border to see Nova Scotia. The closest Iāve been to there was when I had a business trip to the Boston area almost 25 years ago.
went ice fishing on 6in. 2 sat. ago. the river doesnāt completely freeze but most of it is right now. we have the biggest commercial forest east of the missisipi. a lot of maine is owned by lumber/ paper companies. should you come here check out acadia and baxter state parks. baxter is probably the most remote place in the northeast. mt. washington is probably z1 as its almost arctic conditions up there. nothing but lichens can grow up there!
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I used to have a house in York Harbor. We were zone 5 
Yes, Acadia is one of the places Iād like to see. Iād like to try one of those fresh lobster rolls and maybe a local beer to go with it. Maybe one of these days.
I love coastal areas, Iāve seen just about all of the west coast, from the Olympic peninsula in Washington down thru Oregon, and all the way down to the middle CA coast. I used to have a thing for lighthouses, and have seen some very nice ones on the left coast.
What do yāall do with the fish you catch? Freeze it, preserve it? What is the usual fish thatās caught?
Thatās on my list. What month has the best weather for hiking and sightseeing?
usually mid june to early sept. is best. less chance of rain is in august.
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i usually freeze it if i donāt eat it right away. we have lake trout, brook trout, landlocked salmon and arctic char, whitefish, cusk, rainbow smelt which are native. introduced species are muskellunge, northern pike, white and yellow perch, black crappie, large/smallmouth bass, rainbow trout and brown trout.
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Nice selection. Lots of omega 3 swimming in those rivers! I find it odd they introduced bass there, I thought theyāre more of a warm water fish.
I didnāt even know what a cusk was until I looked it up. Talk about a weird looking fish.
We live close to a creek that eventually works its way into the Ohio River about 25mi from here. The only thing folks around here catch are sunfish and some perch. We can fish it without a license, since the creek is on our land, but I havenāt yet.
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the bass are better at adapting to the cold than most thought. when they 1st showed up no one thought they would be able to breed in our cold water. well, they do but their growth rate is slower than down south. as with most bottom feeders, cusk are delicious! similar to catfish and clean the same. our state record was caught by a woman from my hometown out of eagle lake. a 23 lber!
Iāve studied the nutrition of various ocean fish ā but never strictly fresh water fish. I was also brought up to believe that freshwater bottom feeders are unhealthy to eat. Itās all heresay. What are the facts of the various bottom-feeding species?
well our waters are some of the cleanest in the northeast. thats what makes the difference. the cusk and whitefish feed at the bottom. ones a scavenger/ predator. the other eats mostly insects and small fish and will occasionally be in the upper water coulomb. both are excellent eating. cusk are also found in the ocean where they grow much bigger. as do our salmon.
Yes. But regardless of the environmental and diet inputs, there are some salt-water to be avoided. Iām wondering if someone here has biological expertise in the freshwater fish?
not sure. i know there was issues with mercury contamination in the past. but that was only with larger species that accumulated it in its tissues. Iāve always preferred smaller fish anyway as Iām a catch and release fisherman and the smaller ones taste better. many of the larger salt water fish like shark and swordfish also have this problem and shouldnāt be eaten.
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I havenāt ate fish from the Mississippi in a decade. I just gave up after reading about fire retardants, prescription drugs, mercury/ other toxins being found. I guess if you need a free rx to a benzo or ssri you should just limit out on some river fish 
so the winter storm is falling apart the past couple daysā¦maybe an inch or 2 tops now. What does look more certain is coldā¦lots of cold. The coldest air relative to normals on the entire planet look to be stuck over the central USA and Canada//and eastward late Dec/early Janā¦ what the GFS does show is a more southern storm trackā¦so places from NE thru Iowa/central IL/IN/Ohio all look to turn snowā¦while a place like Minneapolis might have bare ground and subzero tempsā¦ something to watch.
Yes, I was really hoping for a nice snow blanket before the severe cold- so much easier on all the plants
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We are about 30 miles east of Minneapolis and it is snowing merrily right now. I hope we get enough to be able to shovel some snow onto some of my shorter blueberry bushes. Only have about 4" of crusted snow on ground at present. Forecast is for -14F. on Christmas Day.
