Back in the 70s, I took canoe trip with my dad, brother and family friends down a portion of the Kennebec. A beautiful river, but the first day was steady cold rain, and the second day the deerflies came out. My little brother was so tired, He fell asleep in about an inch of water in the bottom of the canoe (of course we made sure his head was well out of the water). We paddled so hard. We went about 15 miles the first day which was about 2/3 of the trip at least, and ended up staying in Ranger station, the guy was wonderful and we had steaks. Tough trip, but I'll never forget . Adversity and successfully navigating through it is a great character builder and I am grateful for the opportunity I had. It must've worked because I've been called " quite a character" a few times in my life. Some have told me that's not what that means but I prefer my version. peace.
4:10 - A small sturgeon- impressive as hell, these are extremely rare. In general there are a lot more fish than I usually expect to see in these rivers. I've dove in all of Maine's major rivers. This footage shows more sediment in the water than the Kennebec usually hass, I wonder if it was taken near the outflow pipe of Gardiner's water treatment plant, because that is what it looks like (I have dove in such locations before, it is a good way to immediately get an ear infection). In this part of the Kennebec it does notmater whether you are upstream or downstream of the pipe as the current reverses with the tide. Not too far Upstream from here I've' dove a lot, I was helping an environmental engineering firm install monitoring equipment to monitor a Superfund toxic waste site on the river bottom - it is where for a century or so coal tar was dumped into the river from the old Augusta coal gas plant (it closed in the 1950's). There is a huge, huge area where the river bottom is like a parking lot, if you did into it for a sample black smoke erupts from the bottom, where the black smoke hits your skin it hurts, after the dive the skin turns red and peels like a severe sunburn over the next few days even after you wash as well as you can after the dive. It is due to the polycyclic hydrocarbons in the sediment. This is why I will never eat a fish caught in the Kennebec. This footage is taken near where in the 1950's as a bridge was being built a revolutionary war cannon forged in Paul Revere' foundry was found, there was a big Revolutionary War defeat to the British that occured here, interestingly Paul Revere himself was there, There is a riverfront park in Augusta, near the downstream corner near a Marina there is a wall on the River that makes a corner - right there is a spot that a little brook of coal tar liquid breaks out of a steep slope and ever so slowly flows into deeper water. If you look at the hulls of the boats in the marina there is a ring of dark brown coal tar scum at the water line, this is from a small portion of the coal tar that is light enough to float, it slowly bubbles up from the bottom at low tide, when the hydrostatic pressure is lowest. This superfund site is quite bad - not as bad as (although considerably larger than) the Holter Chem site in the Penobscot, where a chemical company illegally dumped mercury waste to save disposal fees. The guy got away with it for many years, when discovered it ended his business thankfully, I think the guy went to prison over it. Commercial divers like myself have refuse to dive there, because the one guy who did had his skin peel over his entire body. It's bad news. All this stuff after many years just remains in place, it is incredibly expensive to remediate - nearly impossible. And political deals can occur which act to prevent anything from ever being done, I know about one of them.
Wow that’s crazy to think there’s some places like that in our rivers. The area in this video was from the waterfront in Gardiner to the bridge just upstream. There were more Sturgeon around they must’ve just been a little camera shy!
I figured there would be a smallmouth around somewhere but never saw a single one. Not sure if the Stripers would prey on them or what, I’m sure there were some big enough around so that they could!
@@MFEGoingDeep You were there around the same time as me! I got some good clips of em jumping, in one the Sturgeon missed a great Blue heron by about 1-2 inches, it was super close.
I was fishing under that bridge in the area where you zoom down to the water. In the early 2000s. I hooked onto something heavy It took me some time to get it up to the boat I realized it was a chain. Sometime before that a man went missing in that area as I was pulling that chain up thinking it might have been him we got about 6 ft of chain into the boat. I assume there was a concrete block cuz it came to an end I couldn't pull it anymore. I I caught a lot of stripers catfish eels and sturgeon on that River.
It was a little tricky but it worked out! I was waiting for one to land in my boat, I’d be watching the screen as I’m operating the drone then there’d be a big SPLASH close by. Jumped me a few times haha 😂
I think those are white catfish, I thought the same thing being hornpout but have since been told on a few different occasions they’re invasive and lots of them in the Kennebec now. I think the Stripers make it up towards Skowhegan way but not exactly sure the limit they travel upriver.
Definitely quite a few Stripers and I was surprised at the size on some of those catfish. I’ve really only seen bullheads around and those don’t get that big, not sure what they were, channel cats maybe 🤷♂️
@@MFEGoingDeep i mentioned on another video that exploding Lake Willoughby in Vermont would be interesting. Supposedly it 280’ deep and known for some really big lake trout. Thanks again
I got knocked out of my kayak in 2014 by a massive sturgeon on the kennebec, between gardiner and richmond. I got a good concussion and a nice laceration on the back of my neck. I'm lucky it wasnt worse, they are quite a force.
Glad you were alright! Definitely is something to be aware of out there, I know when I was doing this video and I’m sitting in my canoe watching the screen for the drone all of a sudden there’d be a big splash every few minutes right nearby 😳
@MFEGoingDeep I need to fix my fifish v6 expert. I have one led lights out. Do you know how to fix it. Also, which underwater drone is better chasing m2 pro max or qysea fifish e-go
Have you tried contacting Qysea about it? Not sure when you got it but they cover stuff like that sometimes under warranty and if they don’t that’s gonna be your best bet on getting a replacement light and instruction on what to do to fix it. I have not used a chasing uwd for a comparison to a fifish but I’ve been happy with mine for what I do with it and just looking at the designs I feel like in some of the rivers and streams with current I explore the chasing unit would struggle based on its shape and design as opposed to the fifish being more sleek in the water.
Whites, The Kennebec is known (along with the Penobscot) to have large populations of them. Afaik the only other catfish present in the state is the Brown Bullhead. I believe someone stocked their private pond with Channel cats but the state found out and chemically killed them.
Why not? I compose my own for the videos to have something in the background other than silence so if people like it they can keep listening to it or they can just turn it down if they’d prefer. Just like any kind of music there are some that might not like it and that’s ok.
Back in the 70s, I took canoe trip with my dad, brother and family friends down a portion of the Kennebec. A beautiful river, but the first day was steady cold rain, and the second day the deerflies came out. My little brother was so tired, He fell asleep in about an inch of water in the bottom of the canoe (of course we made sure his head was well out of the water). We paddled so hard. We went about 15 miles the first day which was about 2/3 of the trip at least, and ended up staying in Ranger station, the guy was wonderful and we had steaks. Tough trip, but I'll never forget . Adversity and successfully navigating through it is a great character builder and I am grateful for the opportunity I had. It must've worked because I've been called " quite a character" a few times in my life. Some have told me that's not what that means but I prefer my version. peace.
Haha I like that! Definitely a good story 👍
Lots of stripey, Some catfish, an eel and a even a sturgeon.. Great video! Thank you for this!
That was very cool. Never seen a sturgeon in person. Thanks for sharing
Thanks! I hadn’t seen one either until yesterday. Really cool seeing them jump out of the water.
4:10 - A small sturgeon- impressive as hell, these are extremely rare. In general there are a lot more fish than I usually expect to see in these rivers. I've dove in all of Maine's major rivers. This footage shows more sediment in the water than the Kennebec usually hass, I wonder if it was taken near the outflow pipe of Gardiner's water treatment plant, because that is what it looks like (I have dove in such locations before, it is a good way to immediately get an ear infection). In this part of the Kennebec it does notmater whether you are upstream or downstream of the pipe as the current reverses with the tide.
Not too far Upstream from here I've' dove a lot, I was helping an environmental engineering firm install monitoring equipment to monitor a Superfund toxic waste site on the river bottom - it is where for a century or so coal tar was dumped into the river from the old Augusta coal gas plant (it closed in the 1950's). There is a huge, huge area where the river bottom is like a parking lot, if you did into it for a sample black smoke erupts from the bottom, where the black smoke hits your skin it hurts, after the dive the skin turns red and peels like a severe sunburn over the next few days even after you wash as well as you can after the dive. It is due to the polycyclic hydrocarbons in the sediment. This is why I will never eat a fish caught in the Kennebec.
This footage is taken near where in the 1950's as a bridge was being built a revolutionary war cannon forged in Paul Revere' foundry was found, there was a big Revolutionary War defeat to the British that occured here, interestingly Paul Revere himself was there, There is a riverfront park in Augusta, near the downstream corner near a Marina there is a wall on the River that makes a corner - right there is a spot that a little brook of coal tar liquid breaks out of a steep slope and ever so slowly flows into deeper water. If you look at the hulls of the boats in the marina there is a ring of dark brown coal tar scum at the water line, this is from a small portion of the coal tar that is light enough to float, it slowly bubbles up from the bottom at low tide, when the hydrostatic pressure is lowest.
This superfund site is quite bad - not as bad as (although considerably larger than) the Holter Chem site in the Penobscot, where a chemical company illegally dumped mercury waste to save disposal fees. The guy got away with it for many years, when discovered it ended his business thankfully, I think the guy went to prison over it. Commercial divers like myself have refuse to dive there, because the one guy who did had his skin peel over his entire body. It's bad news. All this stuff after many years just remains in place, it is incredibly expensive to remediate - nearly impossible. And political deals can occur which act to prevent anything from ever being done, I know about one of them.
Wow that’s crazy to think there’s some places like that in our rivers. The area in this video was from the waterfront in Gardiner to the bridge just upstream. There were more Sturgeon around they must’ve just been a little camera shy!
AWESOME!!! thanks for sharing. it's kinda funny to see stripers and catfish swimming together.
Haha I thought the same thing! 😂 thanks
Susquehanna Flats 👍
They do it in the Chesapeake too😀
Awesome!
These are awesome, dont stop!
Listen to this guy ^ hes wicked smart. He also sells flies so you can catch these fish youre seeing
Lots of "Stuff" floating around, just a rocky bottom no plants or anything ! 🐟
That's really cool. Thanks for sharing. I'm really surprised you didn't see any small mouth bass. Stripers everywhere!!!
I figured there would be a smallmouth around somewhere but never saw a single one. Not sure if the Stripers would prey on them or what, I’m sure there were some big enough around so that they could!
Cool
Awesome video. I have fished there many years ago.
this is exciting! ive been fishing the waterville part of kennebec and didnt realize the variety of fish in there
:O we have sturgeon? cool.
Sure do! They come into the rivers from the ocean to spawn. First time seeing them yesterday, some were jumping which was really cool!
@@MFEGoingDeep You were there around the same time as me! I got some good clips of em jumping, in one the Sturgeon missed a great Blue heron by about 1-2 inches, it was super close.
Interesting fish you have, I'll bet the Missouri River would be a trip.
Oh I’m sure it would!
I was fishing under that bridge in the area where you zoom down to the water. In the early 2000s. I hooked onto something heavy It took me some time to get it up to the boat I realized it was a chain. Sometime before that a man went missing in that area as I was pulling that chain up thinking it might have been him we got about 6 ft of chain into the boat. I assume there was a concrete block cuz it came to an end I couldn't pull it anymore. I I caught a lot of stripers catfish eels and sturgeon on that River.
Wonder what it was?! Definitely seemed like plenty of fish all around the area and for sure some big ones!
@@MFEGoingDeep I'm assuming they had a barge attached to it years ago when they were working building the bridge.
We were there on Tuesday to watch the sturgeon jump. Amazing to see. Was it hard dealing with the Kennebec's current? Thanks for the underwater view.
It was a little tricky but it worked out! I was waiting for one to land in my boat, I’d be watching the screen as I’m operating the drone then there’d be a big SPLASH close by. Jumped me a few times haha 😂
Are you able to watch this in real time with this drone?
Yes, I use an iPad and it streams to that as I’m moving it around underwater. Records to a micro sd card you can download later on.
Looks like a good spot for horn pout. How far up the river will the stripers go?
I think those are white catfish, I thought the same thing being hornpout but have since been told on a few different occasions they’re invasive and lots of them in the Kennebec now. I think the Stripers make it up towards Skowhegan way but not exactly sure the limit they travel upriver.
Nice bit of stripers in there. Big catfish for a head?
Definitely quite a few Stripers and I was surprised at the size on some of those catfish. I’ve really only seen bullheads around and those don’t get that big, not sure what they were, channel cats maybe 🤷♂️
@@MFEGoingDeep they are White catfish.
I like the newer format! Find a fish and chase it!😂
That is amazing? What kind of drone is that?!
I use a fifish v6 expert
Nice video and informative somewhat. Wish you would identify the species of fishes seen on here.
Thanks, I do list the species in the video description but will look to tag each one on multi species videos like this moving forward
@@MFEGoingDeep i mentioned on another video that exploding Lake Willoughby in Vermont would be interesting. Supposedly it 280’ deep and known for some really big lake trout. Thanks again
I got knocked out of my kayak in 2014 by a massive sturgeon on the kennebec, between gardiner and richmond. I got a good concussion and a nice laceration on the back of my neck. I'm lucky it wasnt worse, they are quite a force.
Glad you were alright! Definitely is something to be aware of out there, I know when I was doing this video and I’m sitting in my canoe watching the screen for the drone all of a sudden there’d be a big splash every few minutes right nearby 😳
Do wilson pond Winthrop next
Which fifish are you using
I use the v6 expert
@MFEGoingDeep I need to fix my fifish v6 expert. I have one led lights out. Do you know how to fix it. Also, which underwater drone is better chasing m2 pro max or qysea fifish e-go
Have you tried contacting Qysea about it? Not sure when you got it but they cover stuff like that sometimes under warranty and if they don’t that’s gonna be your best bet on getting a replacement light and instruction on what to do to fix it. I have not used a chasing uwd for a comparison to a fifish but I’ve been happy with mine for what I do with it and just looking at the designs I feel like in some of the rivers and streams with current I explore the chasing unit would struggle based on its shape and design as opposed to the fifish being more sleek in the water.
Looked to be Channel catfish.
That’s what I thought too, I’ve had a few people tell me white catfish. I don’t have much experience with either to know for sure.
Whites, The Kennebec is known (along with the Penobscot) to have large populations of them. Afaik the only other catfish present in the state is the Brown Bullhead. I believe someone stocked their private pond with Channel cats but the state found out and chemically killed them.
Why the creepy music?
Why not? I compose my own for the videos to have something in the background other than silence so if people like it they can keep listening to it or they can just turn it down if they’d prefer. Just like any kind of music there are some that might not like it and that’s ok.
If that was 1972 it would be nothing but turds
Thankfully not the case anymore!