How bucket stockers are destroying Maine’s cold-water fishery

By V. Paul Reynolds

By now it is no secret – especially among sportsmen and anglers – that there is a monster loose upon the lands and waters of Maine: the Bucket Stocker. Like Bigfoot, these culprits are rarely seen but are out there nonetheless. We know this because there are growing numbers of non-native fish species being caught in our once-pure, cold-water sport fisheries. Someone is putting them there, and it is not The Creator.

These perpetrators likely come in a variety of sizes and outlooks. What drives them to do what they do? Why would any person willfully introduce crappies or bass into a classic Maine trout or salmon fishery? Is it a revenge crime, a payback to the Fish and Wildlife Department for some wrong — real or imagined? Do these individuals, in a moment of deluded thinking, fancy themselves as some kind of fishing activists hell-bent on transforming Maine into their own fantasy concept of a diverse fishery?

In truth, these bucket stockers are a disaster for Maine’s nationally known and priceless cold-water sport fishery. Because of Maine’s vast network of drainages and interconnected waterways, a fish that is invasive — and illegally introduced — can wind up almost anywhere.

This is happening now in spades. Bass — smallmouth and largemouth — are increasingly being found in formerly pristine trout waters. According to fisheries experts, these bass will multiply, and in time destroy trout waters. 

This point was driven home last week when the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries revealed that fisheries biologists had visual confirmation of largemouth bass in West Musquash Lake. This water is a classic cold-water fishery that is home to wild trout and wild landlocked salmon. According to the fisheries biologists, this is a native water that has never been stocked. A Department press release dated July 24 reported that a team of biologists visually confirmed “multiple largemouth bass of varying ages in the lake.”

A $6,000 reward is being offered for information leading to the arrest and conviction of those responsible for the illegal introduction. Anyone with information about this wildlife crime is encouraged to contact the Maine Warden Service or Operation Game Thief at 1-800-ALERT-US.

This unusually large reward is a joint effort between the Grand Lake Stream Guides Association, which offered $1,000, and Operation Game Thief, which is providing $5,000. 

Although a couple of these offenders have been prosecuted over the last ten years, the Maine Warden Service has found it difficult to find and prosecute perpetrators of illegal fish introductions. There was another illegal incident in August 2024 on the fabled Magalloway River. A person, yet to be identified or prosecuted, installed a large gillnet on this well-known game fish water. Operation Game Thief offered a sizable reward and appealed to the public to step forth, but nobody did. 

Invasive species have been found in a number of other important cold-water trout fisheries including Moosehead Lake and the trout-fishing jewel of them all, the Rapid River.

Unless a warden is close by when an illegal stocker strikes, the offense is a difficult one to trace or prove, unless an eyewitness from the public has the courage to step forward. Public tipsters also have an option to submit a tip anonymously online on the Operation Game Thief website. 

Additionally, the identity of anyone who provides helpful information to Operation Game Thief about an illegal stocking act will be kept confidential.

In Maine, illegal stocking is a Class E crime, with fines ranging from $1,000 to $10,000, and a mandatory suspension or revocation of fishing licenses for one to five years.