Once one of the most polluted rivers in Maine, the Androscoggin\u27s upper reaches

Once one of the most polluted rivers in Maine, the Androscoggin\u27s upper reaches are increasingly becoming a destination trout fishery, and the stretch from Rumford to Brunswick boasts some of the best small-mouth bass fishing in Maine. To satisfy Maine\u27s 250,000 anglers, the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife stocks about 750 waters each year with roughly 1.2 million trout, salmon, splake, and togue, about 85 percent of which arrive by hatchery truck. Float stocking, where trout are pulled downriver in silk nets suspended from inner tubes, allows for greater dispersion of the fish, community involvement, and the opportunity to highlight a natural resource