We Finally Made It  #11

My wife, who I will call TC from here on out and I decided last week that we were going to set aside Saturday as our first fishing day in the North Maine Woods for 2012. When Friday came, we were busy getting all our gear ready and loaded our canoe on the truck. I had decided to go into a pond that I had fished once before. My best bet was to bring my 16’9” Old Town canoe with me in case I wanted to do some trolling. I also packed my Min Kota electric motor and battery for the trip. All I needed now was for Saturday to come.

I rose fairly early on Saturday morning. Not because I had planned to leave early, but because I just couldn’t sleep. I was all wound up thinking about our trip and what fun we were going to have. My plan was to leave around noon time which would put us on the pond at about 2pm. From there, we would fish until dark.  At noon, we got into the truck and headed off to Ashland. As we got to the dirt road leading into the North Maine Woods, I could feel a sense of calm. I was ready for this day and regardless of whether I caught any fish or not, I was looking forward to it.

As we got to the six mile gate, I could see that it was open for the year. See, the last time I came through that gate in 2011 was during hunting season and they had closed it up for the winter. As I got to the driveway, I saw a familiar face standing on the porch. It was Ed the gate keeper. Interestingly enough, the last time I passed through the gate in 2011 when it was open, Ed was tending it as well. Now, Ed and I have something in common. We both have the same kind of truck, a Toyota, and it is the same color, silver. Ed is always making remarks about my truck, and this day was no different. As I entered the gate house, Ed let me know that I had a real nice truck. I told him that I was glad to see him too and glad to be there. We talked a while and I bought my season passes for TC and I. Ed told me that there were quite a few people in the woods, many of them attending a memorial service for Jim Carter who owned Munsungon Hunting & Fishing Club. Jim had passed away from Cancer over the winter, but had been a legend in these parts for his years in the woods. The memorial service was being held at his sporting camps that day. Eventually, Ed and I said our goodbyes and off we went down the Pinkham Rd. We left the Pinkham Rd just after crossing the Machias River Bridge taking a right onto the Jack Mountain Rd. From there, it was a short distance to a road on the right that would take us to the pond we were fishing. We made that turn and started down the dirt road. About 2 miles in, TC spotted something just off the road on the left side. It was dark and she said that it was too small to be a deer or moose. As we got closer to where she had seen it, we stopped and got out of the truck. As we both got to that side of the road, we spotted a young black bear leaping over a tree in a small clear cut. It appeared that it was probably a 2nd year bear, but it could still move fast. We lost sight of it as it went into the trees. We ventured on and about a mile from the bear, we saw a moose just off the road on a grown up old road. We watched it a minute until it turned and walked away. It looked horrible with different colored fur. See at this time of year, the moose are losing and replacing their fur. It had some light and dark spots. Truth be known, my remarks about looking horrible was probably the same thing he was saying as he was looking at us. On we went until we reached the pond. It was beautiful, but I noticed that the wind was really blowing and the lake was anything but calm. I made up my mind that I had driven all the way here and I was going to fish that pond, wind or not.  TC and I unloaded the boat and took it down to the water’s edge. We put the motor on and loaded it with our gear. We put our life jackets on and were about to get in when we heard a truck coming. When I first saw the truck, I knew it was a Maine Game Warden. When he saw us, he stopped, got out and came down to where we were. He was nice young man, very polite indeed. He checked our licenses and then checked our boat for the proper registration. We then got into a conversation and I told him that my father had been a warden for over 36 years. He told us he had been on for 6 years and really enjoyed his job. That led to more conversation until we heard another truck coming. The warden bid us good bye, got into his truck and off he went.

It was time to attack the pond. TC and I got into the canoe and shoved off. We decided to troll due to the wind. It was really easy going down the pond with the wind, but not so easy coming back. We went up and down until about 6:30 and only got one bite. At that point, the wind had not let up so we decided to pull out and head home. We got the gear put away and the boat loaded and tied down. We were just about to leave and guess what happened? The wind died down, the pond turned to glass and the fish started jumping. TC asked if I wanted to take the boat off and go back out, but we agreed to head home. We got half way out on the pond road and came to a beaver dam that had not yet spilled over into the road. As we got to the dam, we heard a loud splat. Yup, the beaver heard us coming and let us know he was nun to happy with us being there. We shut the truck off and sat there in silence for about a minute when we saw a head pop out of the water. The beaver swam around and around the pond just a short distance from us. We took some photos of it as it got its exercise. After about 10 minutes, we decided to leave and I started the truck up. Just as I did, that beaver again let us know that he did not like our noise invading his space and he slapped his tail on the water and dove under.

We drove out until we got to the Jack Mountain Rd and then onto the Pinkham Rd. Before we got to the six mile gate, we had seen 6 moose.  Back at the gate, Ed was still on duty. As we got to the gate, he came out and met us on the porch. He took our pass and talked with us a minute. We told him we would see him again soon and drove home.

Although we had not caught any fish, we had seen 7 moose and 1 bear. We got our season pass for the North Maine Woods and got to catch up with Ed. We are already making plans for next weekend.

Each time I visit a pond, I will give you the coordinates to it. If you think you know where I went, add a comment to my blog. This week’s adventure took me to:

46degrees 36”07.65N

68degrees 47’19.49W

Elevation- 1098 FT

Good Luck.

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