You know, it occurs to me, there ought to be a song with the name "Wilton" in it. Couldn't find any, not even on GoldLyrics.com. Too bad — could have sung it on the way back from the 4th annual Pine Tree State Sportsman and Gun Show this evening, which is being held in Wilton.

Nevertheless...

* Good news, all you open water fishermen. Seems that while we've been worrying about all this ice and snow and cold we're saddled with, some of the guys actually out there in the field aren't feeling quite so sorry for themselves.

According to Paul Laney, a Gardiner native who now guides out of Grand Lake Stream, ice out should happen right on schedule this year -- or pretty close to it.

"There's a lot of ice out there, but most of it is (iffy) ice," Laney said. "It's not going to take it that long to melt. Once it warms up."

Once it warms up. Of course... Granted, with extended forecast after extended forecast showing 30-degree day after 30-degree day, one's got to wonder if it ever actually IS going to warm up.

* Ran into the always good-natured Carroll Ware, one of the nicest outdoorsmen you'll ever meet over at the old Bass Shoe factory where the show is being held. He and his wife, Lila, run Fins and Furs Adventures.

Last fall, Carroll took me out on the upper Kennebec River to chase brown trout with fly rods. Long story short, Carroll left me to my own devices, and my devices snuck up on me and planted a size 16 right in my cheek.

Poor Carroll. He's probably apologized 237 times since, saying he felt bad for not acting as more of a guide and warning me about the pitfalls of leaving so much line out in a gusting wind. I told him that just because we went fishing together doesn't mean he has to be my guide, that he has reason to expect certain things from somebody who dubs himself an "outdoors" writer.

It's not his fault.

But that doesn't mean that when two prospective Fins and Furs customers turned away from the table I didn't take time to jab Carroll just a little.

"Did you remember to tell them about the free fly in the cheek with every trip?" I asked.

Thankfully, he laughed.

* After putting the show together themselves for the first three years, the people at the Bob Nichols Exposition Center have handed the reigns over the Vic Morin.

Morin now runs the Northwoods Sporting Journal, and, it should be noted, lives in Enfield.

That wasn't always the case. When I checked in at the booth upon my arrival on Friday, Vic was ecstatic.

"The Sentinel?!" he said. "I was born in Waterville."

Huh. Small world.

Vic expects between 8,000 and 10,000 people to visit the show on Saturday.

-- TB