Local Maine guides and members of the Mollyockett Chapter of Trout Unlimited will teach the workshops. Instruction will include both spin casting and fly casting for older youth and parents. Maine’s Hooked on Fishing-Not on Drugs Program will supply complimentary rods and reels for use at the festival.

Families can practice newly learned casting skills in the one acre pond and are welcome to take home their catch. The pond will be stocked with trout courtesy of the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife. Each young angler will receive a mini-tackle box complete with bobber, sinkers and hook courtesy of the Upper Andro Anglers Alliance.

Kids can learn how to tie flies with materials provided by local outfitters and fly shops. Children will be able to take home their hand-tied flies.

Families participating in the event will be eligible for door prizes from local outfitters and businesses as well as L.L. Bean and Kittery Trading Post. The Bethel Fire Dept. will host a barbecue of hotdogs and hamburgers, chips, and drinks and families are welcome to bring a pack lunch.

The weekend of June 2 & 3 is a free fishing weekend in Maine. Resident and Non-resident freshwater fishing licenses are waived each day.

The Family Fishing Festival is one many nationwide events that provide families with an opportunity to have fun on the water. The events are promoted by the Recreational Boating and Fishing Foundation (www.rbff.org). For those families wishing to stay overnight and fish or canoe the Androscoggin River on Sunday, special family packages are available for the weekend at local lodging establishments.

For information on the Family Fishing Festival, contact the Upper Andro Anglers Alliance at 207-824-3694, fish at upperandro dot com or www.upperandro.com.

Along with the contest , the expo will feature 40 exhibitors, rod building and fly tying instruction, entomology seminars and fly casting techniques and strategies. Door prizes donated by the exhibitors will be awarded every hour. The Expo hours are 9:30 am to 4 pm. Admission is $5 for adults and free for juniors 15 and under.

For information contact the Upper Andro Anglers Alliance at 207-824-3694. On line information is available at www.westernmaineflyfishingexpo.com.

For a copy of contest rules (pdf) click this link.

Exhibitors include Maine and New Hampshire outfitters and guide services, sporting camps, wildlife artists and authors, The Maine Dept of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, the University of Maine 4H Camp, and boat and gear manufacturers. Attendees can learn the art of fly tying, rod building and wildlife photography. There will be educational seminars on ecology and entomology as well as instruction in strategies and techniques in fishing for trout, salmon and bass. HMH Vises is sponsoring a fly tying contest. Sponsors and exhibiting vendors are giving away dozens of door prizes every hour. Proceeds from an auction of items including guided trips, sporting camp vacations and fly fishing gear will go toward fishing habitat restoration projects and river access in the Western Maine region.

Says Scott Stone, President of the Upper Andro Anglers Alliance and TU member, “We’re really blessed to be able to fish in this area of Western Maine which provides the perfect environment for catching trout. We hope that anglers of all ages and abilities will attend and leave with a greater understanding of the sport and lots of fishing goodies too.”

Information on the event is available on line at www.westernmaineflyfishingexpo.com or by phoning the Upper Andro Anglers Alliance at 207-824-3694 or email questions to fish@upperandro.com.

The Upper Andro Two Fly Contest and Northeast Drift Boat Championship are scheduled for Friday and Saturday, September 16 and 17, 2011, in conjunction with Bethel’s Annual Harvest Fest. The competitions are the annual fund-raisers for the Upper Andro Anglers Alliance, a non-profit group dedicated to the conservation, protection, restoration and promotion of the natural fishing resource of the Upper Androscoggin River, its tributaries, watershed and environs.

Contestants may use only two flies during the event, which starts at 6:00 am on Saturday. Teams may launch from public launch sites from the New Hampshire border at Shelburne to Rumford Center. The contest concludes at 1:00 pm.

The Two Fly contest will test the skills of anglers to fly fish for the most and the largest of the three trout species, brown, rainbow and brook found in the Upper Androscoggin River from the New Hampshire border to Rumford Center. A fly is defined as made from natural or synthetic materials tied to a single pointed hook. No tandems or treble hooks are allowed. Teams of three including two anglers and a referee/oarsman must fish from a drift boat. All fish must be released live. The contest is limited to 18 teams.

Prizes including rods and fishing gear supplied by Kittery Trading Post, L.L. Bean, Patagonia, Sun Valley Sports, House of Hardy and the Orvis Company will be awarded Saturday afternoon immediately following a parade of the drift boats up Main Street and around the Town Common.

The Upper Andro Anglers Alliance will be offering fly tying and fly casting instruction on Saturday from its Harvest Fest booth on the town common. A tally of trout caught during the contest will be updated and posted at the booth during the day.

The Third Annual Northeast Drift Boat Championship will be held Friday, September 16 at 3 pm. Designed as a spectator event, the competition will test oarsmen’s skills at navigating a course and rowing speed. Each drift boat must carry at least one angler, who must remain standing throughout the timed race. The launch will be from Bethel Outdoor Adventures on Route 2 and the finish line is at Davis Park in Bethel-a distance of a quarter mile.

Official contest rules and a registration form are available on line at www.upperandro.com or by phoning 207-824-3694..

Please follow this link for a PDF copy of contest rules and a printable registration form.

Local Maine guides and members of the Mollyockett Chapter of Trout Unlimited will teach the workshops. Instruction will include both spin casting and fly casting for older youth and parents. Maine’s Hooked on Fishing-Not on Drugs Program will supply complimentary rods and reels for use at the festival.

Families can practice newly learned casting skills in the one acre pond and are welcome to take home their catch. The pond will be stocked with trout courtesy of the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife. Each young angler will receive a mini-tackle box complete with bobber, sinkers and hook courtesy of the Upper Andro Anglers Alliance.

Kids can learn how to tie flies with materials provided by local outfitters and fly shops. Children will be able to take home their hand-tied flies.

Families participating in the event will be eligible for door prizes from local outfitters and businesses as well as L.L. Bean and Kittery Trading Post. The Bethel Fire Dept. will host a barbecue of hotdogs and hamburgers, chips, and drinks and families are welcome to bring a pack lunch.

The weekend of June 4 and 5 is a free fishing weekend in Maine. Resident and Non-resident freshwater fishing licenses are waived each day.

The Family Fishing Festival is one of many nationwide events that provide families with an opportunity to have fun on the water. The events are promoted by the Recreational Boating and Fishing Foundation (www.rbff.org). For those families wishing to stay overnight and fish or canoe the Androscoggin River on Sunday, special family packages are available for the weekend at local lodging establishments.

For information on the Family Fishing Festival, contact the Upper Andro Anglers Alliance at 207-824-3694, fish@upperandro.com or www.upperandro.com.