Less than four weeks ago I was absentmindedly-perusing Wikipedia articles about the 50 states and noticed an entry about Maine Guides. Fishing has been lacking in New Jersey and I have been itching to feel the tug. I telephoned Cross Current Guide Services and booked a float trip on the Upper Androscogin in the Bethel Maine area. Fellow shredders already know this locale as the home to Sunday River Ski Resort.
The first thing a weary traveler perceives about Maine as they cross the back roads out of New Hampshire is how awesomely desolate the state is. We arrived around 9PM and couldn’t see much of anything except for the moonlight-silhouetted mountaintops.
Fast forward a few hours, dad and I are meeting our guide Kate Farnham down a short dirt road to Newt’s Landing. Mary our shuttle driver gives us and the Boulder Boat Works drift boat a lift up to the put in.
I was stoked on fishing my new Kelly Galloup 7WT Bankrobber with Streamer Express Sinking line. This time of year in Maine the trout love streamers; there is very little surface hatch activity and nymphs can be wielded with only marginal success. Kate quickly tied on a Green Flash Back Wooly Bugger with a trailing brown stonefly on 3X tippet. The stonefly had these ungainly rubber arms that apparently get the Brown Trout all hot and bothered. Our strategy was as follows; Dad was set up with a floating line and a Muddler Minnow to aggressively pound the shallow bank waters while I used the full sinking line in the trough.
Right off the bat there was major fish activity, several trout rose to slurp midges off the surface film. We both had some intense fights but no fish in the boat. A few more casts and varying up the retrieves and I landed a healthy Brown, the Bankrobber was no longer a virgin. I followed this up with two more, one on the aforementioned rig and a third on the Muddler Minnow.
We continued to pound the water until fish activity ceased. A cold front was pushing through along with a light drizzle and the fish went down. We set off down the river testing various patterns in a near fruitless attempt to get the trout feeding again. Dad on the other hand was able to pull in a sizable Rainbow as we slowly meandered down the river (Story to be recounted in another entry).
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