As I deal with frozen pipes in minus 11 degrees, I’m thinking back to how this past fishing season started.
I’ve been guiding for 23 years and have fished many popular places around the state. But as time has gone on and my client base has grown, they now dictate where we go.
Over the years I’ve come to focus on the Penobscot River for smallmouth, the West Branch for trout and salmon and several spots for pike and musky. With no days off during the fishing season, it’s hard to explore new water because you want to put your clients on fish.
Two years ago I had a last-minute cancellation and happened to get a call from my client Chris. It was his first trip with me and he instantly booked again for the following September. But in midwinter he reached out looking for another date and I was already booked. I told him I’d been wanting to explore water closer to home for big northern pike. I mostly guide fly anglers, but Chris was a spin fisherman, which made it easier to cover new water.
I wasn’t going in completely blind. I had caught pike there with fly anglers before, but never this early in the season or on the big lake.
Last April it was clear the weather wasn’t going to cooperate. High winds and rain were forecast. Rain is no big deal, but wind makes it tough to get on the lake, especially since my plan was to fish the far side. We drove down and looked, but the waves were too big for my boat, so I had to pivot. Option one was out.
We headed to a smaller body of water where I had previously caught pike. I felt more confident there and figured we’d be sheltered from the wind. We spent the whole day trying. Zero pike, but we did land a couple bass.
On day two we tried a completely new body of water small enough to cover in a day. With the wind blowing down the lake, we started at the launch and worked our way along the shoreline with no luck. Later I went back to the launch and worked up the lake.
Chris caught a small largemouth and a couple pike. Then we hit the opposite shoreline and drifted down. That’s when Chris really got into largemouth. He ended up landing 30 fish up to 21 inches.
It was an incredible day, but what shocked us was the 20-inch brook trout I caught.
I typically don’t fish with clients, but since we were exploring, Chris insisted. I threw a fly and had a couple hits right after he landed a fish. Then my line went tight and a fish jumped. I joked, “It’s a rainbow,” because I saw some color and figured it was a bass.
When I slid the fish into the net, Chris couldn’t believe it. I was shocked enough to look up the stocking report when I got home, and sure enough the state had put broodstock brook trout in that lake. Even though we were soaked and cold, it was the highlight of our two-day trip.
The following weekend I had another client who loves largemouth and had seen Chris’ photos. This client, also named Chris, loves bringing way more rods than needed. For me that’s good and bad. I fly fish and he spins, so I get to see all kinds of cool gear and lures I’ve never heard of. He also brought his father-in-law Larry, who fishes one rod and one lure.
We planned to fish a half day on the pond, but he misunderstood where we were meeting and ended up at my house. With limited time, I went straight to the spot where we caught fish the week before and started working the shoreline.
Nothing.
I asked if he had a spinning rod available, grabbed it and cast toward the middle so I wasn’t interfering with their fishing. I wanted to see if the fish were deep. No luck until I cast straight in front of the boat and hooked an 18-inch largemouth.
Chris said, “I hate when you fish — you always catch something.”
I told him to start throwing ahead of the boat, and sure enough he hooked into a beast. He was all over the boat and in the process stepped on one of the many rods. That didn’t matter because he had just landed his personal best largemouth, a fat 23-inch fish.
After more than two decades guiding on Maine waters, there are still new places to fish and things to learn. Next spring, Chris and I will be back exploring, chasing togue and whatever surprises the lakes have in store.
