The fishermen who gather at the Western Maine Fly Fishing Expo in Bethel next week will come together for more than a fishing festival.

Each year the Alaska State Fair holds a moose calling contest, dubbed the “Moose Calling & Tall Tail Contest.” But across the Lower 48 states, nowhere but Maine appears to hold an annual moose calling contest.

Let’s go fly-fishing in March before the spring run-off starts in earnest. The best early-spring action occurs before spring melt raises rivers and streams over the banks, which slows angling action until flows subside.

Last January, Peter Kallin of Rome stopped at my home, and in the middle of our conversation, he said something that perked my ears up straighter than a Boston terrier’s.

Most residents of this state have at least an inkling that snowmobiling spurs the winter economy, particularly folks in rural hamlets in northern and eastern Maine. They really get a firsthand view of this sport’s importance, as sledding crowds flock to local businesses.

Stripers Forever (SF), a conservation organization that monitors our striped-bass resources, recently pointed out that the recreational catch of wild stripers along the Eastern Seaboard has dropped from nearly 29 million in 2006 to 8 million in 2011, thanks to poor spawning success in Chesapeake Bay and also to over-harvesting by recreational and commercial anglers.

Fly-tying booms across Maine each winter, a wonderfully pleasant pastime that requires no license to participate — just good eyes, nimble fingers and sedulous nature.

In my preteens, rabbit hunting meant a short walk east from my home, taking me through a stately grove of white pines and then to a tumbling brook that rushed downhill, enough of a drop for a kid to sled the bank.

This past Christmas afternoon, I visited the Freeport store to buy the finishing gifts for a late holiday celebration three days later and found many discounted items, including a collection of 40 Northeastern saltwater flies in an unbreakable fly box. This proved a perfect gift for my oldest daughter, Heather, who fishes in the Atlantic off Long Island in New York.