Our First Foray of 2016 is Uneventful #76

The 2016 fishing season started a bit early this year, but that really didn’t have any effect on TC and my schedule as we really did not get started until last weekend. So, we decided that we would just take a ride into the North Maine Woods and see for ourselves what was going on. We packed up the truck with our lunch, stream fishing gear, and away we went. No canoe this trip as we were not sure the ice would be out of the ponds yet. After paying for our annual pass and passing through the six mile gate, we headed to Mooselook Stream for a bit of wading action. The day had turned out very nice and the sun was warm. On our way to the stream, we saw four deer alongside the road, a good sign that they may have weathered the winter well. Two of them were together and the other two were by themselves. Now, I have seen a lot of deer, but one in particular really turned out to be different. We spotted this particular doe just standing on the side of the dirt road with its head down eating something in the roadway. As we drove quietly closer to it, TC took out the camera and started taking photos of it. We got closer and closer and it did not move. As we got to within 20 feet, it pulled its head up and slowly moved to the side of the road and just watched us. As we continued toward it, the doe moved slightly and just stood there. We stopped the truck and took more photos as we got within 5 feet of it. She just stayed on my side next to my door. We completed our photo session, said thank you to the deer for being so cooperative and photogenic and decided we should move on and let her get back to whatever she was eating. As we drove off, she came right back to the spot she had been feeding at.

We finally made it to Mooselook Stream. The water was not that high so we put our waders on and in the water we went. It was good to be back in the woods fishing as the winter had been a long one. After a time, we decided to move on to Machias Stream, so we packed up and headed to that location.

When we got there, we had a little lunch before going into the water. It just seems like lunch is always better in the woods than it is at home and this one was no exception. After eating, we got our rods out and down to the rips we went. This was really TC’s first excursion into the fast water, but she did really well. I kept a close eye on her and at one point noticed that she lost her footing and in the cold water she went. She handled it like a pro, holding onto her rod and finding her way back up. She didn’t miss a beat as she continued to cast the line out into the fast moving water. After a while, we climbed out of the cold water and up the bank we went to the truck.

Our first ride into the woods had been good. The weather had cooperated and the traffic had been light. We always think about how lucky we are to live so close to this treasure and to be able to take advantage of what it has to offer. We are already planning a few overnight trips before June ends. I expect you will get to read about them here as we continue to explore the North Maine Woods.