Pawtuckaway Lake Association

This months View From The Trading Post editorial focuses the upcoming boating and fishing season and big changes at the Trading Post!

Welcome to spring in New England. Let’s see, rain, floods, rain, black flies, peepers, rain, and more rain. All seems normal. And….three ‘100 year’ floods in three years – now that these are behind us we should be all set for the next three hundred years. (??)

I need to mention again that we are no longer doing boat registrations at the Trading Post – from what I know the choices to do this are; to mail them in, go to the Registry of Motor Vehicles (our closest is on Rt. 125 in Epping) or go to Wildlife Taxidermy at the Massabessic Circle in Manchester. I’m sure there are others but we aren’t aware of them.

So, what’s new since our last ‘View from the Trading Post’ – I guess the biggest news is the opening of our second location – on Rt. 4 in Northwood – where customers may actually be able to find us! I guess we’re trying to see how a small business can do when there are actually more than 10 cars a day driving by. Stop in at 1548 First NH turnpike and say hi to ‘Shawn’ if circumstance allows.

 Also, we have a few more of our regular spring & summer events planned. Firstly we’re having our free ‘Demo Day’ (at the Raymond shop) on Saturday, May 12 from 10 – 5. Stop in and try a canoe or kayak, watch paddling and rescue demonstrations, talk with our product reps. and have lunch (on us). We’re also holding another ‘Demo Day’ for our Fly Fishing Shop on Sunday, May 13 (also 10-5). Stop by and try fly casting, get casting tips, watch some fly tying (or tie a fly yourself), try a float tube or personal pontoon, have lunch ….and more.

And…. We’re holding our third annual ‘Kayak Fishing Tournament’ on Sunday, June 17th. Fishing from 7 - 2:30 (with roving weigh-in boats) followed by our awards gathering and cookout. Two new kayaks will be ‘up for grabs’ – one each for ‘spin cast’ and ‘fly rod’ categories – lots of other prizes too. Stop in or go to www.mrtp.net for more details.

Ok – all that said – on to news about New Hampshire Fish & Game. As you may know there was recent legislature being considered to address NHF&G’s budget shortfall. Some of these initiatives included ‘saltwater fishing licenses’ and ‘paddlecraft fees’.  Both of these, as well as some others, failed to pass through the legislature. Fish & Game Director – Lee Perry – is also slated to retire this fall which should make for some interesting times for the already burdened Department. It seems apparent to me that something has to be done to keep this valuable resource viable – it’s clear that NHF&G’s charter has changed considerably with (at the very least) ATV and Search & Rescue responsibilities. With these, as well as several other additional responsibilities (expanded well beyond just hunters and fisherman) it seems funding from the State’s General Fund makes sense. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.

Well that’s it for the ‘Spring’ update. In closing, we are looking for feedback (tips, techniques, lessons learned, or any other general info) about winter storage of boats with ethanol-based fuel in their tanks (which seems to be causing poor motor performance.) Stop in or email us ( This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it ) with any information you may have.