Al Godfrey takes his responsibilities seriously and shows no signs of slowing down.

The Winthrop resident, who will turn 81 on April 8, has maintained ice-out records for Maranacook Lake in Winthrop and Readfield for the past 29 years.

This year tied with 2010 as the earliest ice-out for Maranacook — March 21 — though Godfrey adds that an incorrect date of March 19 was reported in 2010, even though the route to the Readfield boat launch still was blocked by ice.

This year, Godfrey said the ice went out after dark but before midnight March 21.

Why is the ice-out date so important?

“So everybody there knows so you can go out there and go fishing. It’s important for people to know, especially the fisherman, As far as water-skiing or Jet Skiing, it’s too darn cold,” said Godfrey, the keeper of more than 90 years of ice-out records.

The Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry provides ice-out dates for lakes across the state on its website. Some lakes and ponds, according to the site, had ice-out on the first or second of March.

By late this past week, ice-out was reported on lakes east of Interstate 95 and south of Route 9. The ice melts south to north, he said, with lakes in the Allagash the last to open.

The department’s ice-out site is maintained by Tim Thurston, navigational aids supervisor, whose office is in Richmond.

“Most of the input we get comes from users spread across the state,” Thurston said. “Now that this ice-out website has been up for a number of years, I get a lot of returning customers. People are just anxious to see their lakes listed.”

Those calling the ice-out dates are game wardens, sporting camp owners and people with property along the lakes.

“Lake ice-out is one sign of spring that people look forward to,” Thurston said. “Just knowing there are lakes to boat and fish on brings a sense of relief that winter is nearly over. Whether or not you actually go is a personal choice, but knowing you can brings people hope.

“Punxsutawney Phil (the weather forecasting groundhog) might be right or wrong, but lake ice-out is sure a sign that spring is nearly here.”

Godfrey’s ice-out watch on Maranacook began in 1987, when he retired from state government at age 53.

“I started as transit man on a survey crew with the State Highway Commission,” he said. He became a state traffic engineer in 1972, then a governor’s highway safety representative; and he finished at the Maine Department of Public Safety.

When he retired, he immediately started a forensic engineering business doing motor vehicle accident reconstructions. Godfrey is now in his 62nd year as a volunteer firefighter— most recently responding as a member of the Readfield Fire Department to help rescue a dog on Echo Lake.

In 1987, he took over ice-out watching from Roger Audette, the uncle of Augusta’s current fire chief, who has the same name. Audette had taken over from the founding watcher, Roscoe Sprague, who started the record-keeping in 1925.

“He worked down in the Wadsworth & Woodman mill making oil cloth tablecloths,” said Godfrey, whose father had worked with Sprague.

“Sprague had a camp at Camper’s Point,” Godfrey said. “He had an ice house there and would record on the wall of the ice house when it went out.”

Godfrey said Sprague set the guidelines for determining the ice-out: when you can launch a boat at the boat landing in Winthrop and take it out at the boat landing in Readfield.

“There maybe still be ice in the coves and between the islands, but if you could get up through and do it, then the ice is out,” Godfrey said.

After Sprague recorded the first 15 to 20 years’ worth of ice-out dates on the wall of the ice house, “he decided, ‘The old ice house is getting kind of tender, so I better write this down,'” Godfrey said. Sprague then handed the watch over to Audette in 1955, and Audette carried the torch for the next 32 years.

“He lived right on the start of Memorial Drive, so he could watch the lake,” Godfrey said.

Some things have not changed. The south bay, near the center of Winthrop, goes out earlier than the north bay in Readfield.

This year the south end went out March 19, but a traverse of the full lake was blocked until March 21.

Godfrey tests the route by land, not by sea, driving around the lake as soon as the south bay is open.

Godfrey’s boat won’t be coming out of storage for a few more weeks, but when it does, it’ll be heading out on Brassua Lake, the last lake in the Moosehead river chain before it runs into Moosehead Lake.

He has a camp there, Loon Landing, in Township 1, Range 1, North of Bingham’s Kennebec Purchase, adjacent to Rockwood.

He formerly served with the Winthrop and Rockwood volunteer fire departments, helping to arrange to have a 1973 former Winthrop fire engine end up with Rockwood, where it is now designated as Rockwood Engine 2, and significantly increased the department’s capability, he said.

Betty Adams — 621-5631

badams@centralmaine.com

Twitter: @betadams

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