Alewives

I first heard this fishy sounding word in Damariscotta, Maine, as I was spending an August afternoon swinging from a rope into Damariscotta Lake. “Ayuh, alewives runnin’ agin.” I pictured, in my overactive 13-year old imagination, local hussies all dolled up for some annual event at which they would, en masse, lift the hems of their dirty housedresses and tear off down Route One in a race toward some highly significant finish-line beerfest.

Alewives are actually a type of fish native to the state of Maine — anadromous*, planktivorous* and the preferred bait for the spring lobster fishery.

* Oh, go look it up.

Kit Thompson