Anglers who fish in Maine now have a new tool that makes it quick and easy to find out the fishing regulations on any of Maine’s inland waters.
The Maine Department of Inland Fisheries & Wildlife has created Maine’s Fishing Laws Online Angling Tool – FLOAT — an online map-based tool that can be accessed from one’s computer or smartphone, giving one access to fishing regulations for all one’s favorite fishing waters.
“Department fisheries staff have worked diligently with a web developer to categorize all of Maine’s inland waters, which allows our laws to be integrated into an online interactive map of fishing regulations,” said Francis Brautigam, Maine Department of Inland Fisheries & Wildlife director of fisheries and hatcheries.
With the online angling tool, one can quickly locate a body of water, determine the fishing regulations, download a PDF of those regulations if one wishes, and even identify one’s location and the body of water one is on with a GPS-enabled phone.
The map-based program shows waters with general fishing laws as blue on the map, and waters with special fishing regulations appear red on the map. For more information on the special regulations, one can click on the red area and the regulations will appear.
It’s easy to use, just visit the online angling tool on the department website, maine.gov/ifw. Get started in a moment using the quick start instructions and the “Take the Tour” button.
Mobile users should be aware that this is a web-based tool that requires Wi-Fi or cellular data access. One can download a link right to one’s phone to access the online angling tool with the touch of a finger.
The online angling tool is designed to aid anglers by visually displaying Maine’s fishing laws. To find the official and legal source of laws, consult the department’s digital or printed law book.
