Beautiful Morning & Heading Out

After a great breakfast at Kim's , the GMC and the GL canoe were mated for the short trip to the public landing. With Steve and Kim doing the honors it wasn't long before the Grand Laker, circa 1963, was in the water, packed, and ready to head up lake.

With a few quick pulls on the starter cord, some minor tweaks on the engine controls and Kim at the controls, off we headed..blue skies..bright sun..flat calm.

Fishing Grand Lake Part 2

A couple of weeks ago I contacted a couple of my wife's cousins, who happen to be Maine Guides (and know West Grand Lake) via Facebook and mentioned that I was planning a day trip to the lake on the 18th. to go fishing. (I wanted to pump some insider info from them.) It just so happened that Steve and his brother Kim were planning to do the same and that all of us should get together. I of course jumped at the chance to be taken under their wings and show me the ropes of late season fishing.


My previous experience for lake salmon fishing was with my Dad, many years ago. We would go to Swan Lake in the spring, just after ice out, and troll. Of course surface trolling was out as the water in Grand Lake apparently is still quite warm as a result of the balmy summer weather. Clearly I needed different gear other than my fly rod and streamer flies that I normally use for trolling..So..on to the Cablea's website I go to pick up an appropriate combo package.

Friday after school I headed to Herman to pick up fisherman extraordinare, Steve Vose. Off to GLS we go and end up at Kim's house around 5. After a marvelous baked ham dinner that Kim provided , we ( including JR who had stopped by) settled in for some good spirited chat and world problem solving..Up next , fishin' day..

Boating To Castine

Fishing Wharf
Tide Running Hard - Out!

Dice Head Light

Monument and Bell #2

Belfast Harbor

On Sept. 11 my wife and I and our dogs had a very nice cruise to Castine..The weather was great..calm seas..water temp still ranging from 57 to 60 degrees..In my calculations there is approximately 4 more weeks of boating left on the bay..We'll be taking our annual foliage run pretty soon to the eastern shore of Penobscot Bay ..Bucks Harbor , Deer Island, etc..

Flashback

>Year: 1957 or so

>Dad's shotgun for bird hunting: Remington 12 ga semi automatic - He loved that shotgun (Note my trusty BB gun in the porch boot box)

> Dad loved bird hunting, particularly pheasant hunting..He often went to Frye Mtn in the Montville area. Today it's a Maine Wildlife Management area but I'm not sure if it was back then. We never had bird dogs so he would hunt with a friend who did have them or he would just go out and tramp around or ride down old dirt roads , looking for partridge. Anyways , clearly I was impressed..

September 11th

Today my thoughts go to the families that were so sadly affected on this day 9 years ago.

FLASHBACK

I'm going to be including in my blog some flashbacks of my family and their connection to Maine and Maine sports..I'll start off with Don, my father, who was an avid fisherman and hunter. I shot my first deer under his tutelage and traveled with him many times on various fishing trips..both fresh and saltwater. But..not on those trips to The Miramachi River in New Bruswick where he fished for his favorite..The Atlantic Salmon..He reserved those for himself and his buddies. I always anxiously awaited his return to see what luck he had and he always had good luck..Here is a photo of him and one of the salmon he caught..Good going Dad!

My New Read

Started reading this book sometime ago and have recently picked it up again..This is a great fly fishing/life story about two old men and their disappearing way of life on an Arkansas farm. Written by an amazing author, Harry Middleton, who died a garbage man in 1993..Very sad..But if you are looking for a great book to help get thru the coming winter..this may be the one..

August at Grand Lake 2

Here are a couple of cousins, Steve Vose in his Grand Laker that he built over the course of last winter and Mike Bailey in the "A T Lahaye" that was his grandfathers canoe. Mike restored the old girl to superb working condition. I had the very distinct honor of going out fishing with Steve and managed to land a couple of salmon..Unfortunately I forgot my camera..Better planning on my part next time..I hope!

August at Grand Lake 1

Here's a serious camping setup courtesy of my brother in law Rob..Lots of great cooking..We were so inspired that we also got a Dutch Oven ( the same as the one on the right) but we haven't used it yet..we still need to season it by cooking 5 lbs of bacon in it..(per Rob's advice)..Anybody else out there have any suggestions on the proper seasoning technique?

One of my fishing hangouts..

www.maineboats.com/coastal-adventures/gizmo-104-fort-point-stockton-springs

Stockton and Fort Point is a good spot for mackeral and , so I've been told, an occasional striper . The state pier is a good spot to tie up..The beach/sand bar is awesome.

Random Curiosities

Random...Stopped in at the Orvis flagship store in Manchester Vt this past weekend..Here's our Guide Dog in training Boyd with his new friend.Picked up a new short sleeve pole (on sale from 49 to 19) and some assorted fly tying materials..nice store..a little pricey and not nearly as big as LL Bean or of course Cabelas

Curiosity...Just finished "shaving" both the outside and inside of my ears..why is it that when I lost the hair on my head that I started growing it in my ears? Just wonderin'...

New Cabela's Fishing Gear

I'm gonna try to keep my blog updated a little better than once every 8 or 9 months or so................ Just ordered this new trolling rig from Cabela's to take with me to Grand Lake, the weekend after next..I don't know if I'll need it or not but the water temperature yesterday at Lake St George was 71..So we may need to troll deep..Anyways..can't use it if you don't have it..