Off to the land of Giants and Dwarfs #80

Somewhere far far away in a land where the water is pristine and trees grow small due to the severe winters and where the animals resist traveling to, and the cell and TV towers don’t exist, is also a land where the fish flourish and grow big and fat. It is also where we spent six glorious days on an island in a camp owned by one person in our party. Where the weather dictates our only way in and out which is by a float plane, and leaving us at their mercy as to when they drop us off and pick us up.  This is where our adventure began on a Saturday morning. This blog is dedicated to the five other guys who made the trip in and out with me. The story is so long that one blog will not do it justice, so it will be written in parts to catch as much of the trip as I can. So, without further adieu, let the story begin.

Our journey began many months ago when the planning started. The camp had room for six and names started circulating as to who would be interested in going. The point people for this adventure were Keith and Paul. Keith owned the camp we were going to and Paul had started the dialogue with Keith about wanting to go. Initially, the attendee list was refined to members of the Cyr family and was designed as a getaway for that group. They asked Daniel and Louie and Raymond and I was included in the mix which I was pretty pleased with. The plan was to go to Keith’s camp on a remote lake by float plane and to stay there for a week. Keith let us know that there were two times that he recommended we should go and each had its faults. We could go in May when the fishing was excellent and the trout were on top due to the cool water. Or we could go in August when the trout were down deeper due to the warmer water. Going in May brought a challenge in that the air was full of those pesky little things we all know as bugs. Yes, the bugs would be atrocious and furious. August would not have any bugs but the fishing may not be as good.  We settled on August and the planning began in full force. The roster seemed to be complete. Paul, Raymond, Louie, Daniel, Keith and I. Sometime after planning began, Daniel dropped out and we picked up their Uncle Phil, also known as Father Phil. He would fit in nicely as he lived and breathed fishing. So, we were again at full strength and ready to continue our planning. Now, if you have not gathered yet, this was a fishing trip and yes, I have not told you yet where we were going. It will become more and more apparent as we travel along the blog pathway. Also, I can’t forget to talk about one other big trooper who slid aside to let me go. Yup, TC was not invited to go, this would be an all guys trip this time. As a matter of fact, she encouraged me to attend. Can’t ask for any more than that.

Now, one thing that the brothers asked of TC was to sit down at the vise and tie them some of the flies they would use to catch the big trout. She responded by doing that and spent some time tying pink ladies, supervisors, mickey finns, among others.

As the planning continued and the day drew nearer, we learned that Louie would need to back out, so once again we were left with a spot to fill. We contacted a few others, but they were not able to come. At that point, we called our guide Keith and he went to work on finding someone. The opening was very short lived as he picked up his son in law, Chris who we were told was an avid sportsman. Once again, we were up to full force and the roster consisted of Paul, Raymond, Father Phil, Keith, Chris and myself. Two weeks before, some of us met at Paul’s home to hammer out the meal menu for our trip. The goal was to put together a list of food and then designated people would do the shopping the day before we left. Keith would line up the float plane for us and planning was complete. We were ready to go. Keith and Chris, who were coming from the central Maine area would drive up to Fort Kent on Saturday morning, and I would drive from home that day as well. We would all meet in Fort Kent and leave from there. Oh, and by the way, we learned that the plane had a limit of 2000 pounds. With the food, six full gas cans, two full propane cans we were left with being allowed only fifty pounds of personal gear each. That include our cloths and fishing gear. Now, there are two types of bush float planes. The first is a smaller BEAVER and the second was the much bigger OTTER. One of the guys processed that and came up with the question of why are they called that when a beaver is bigger than an otter in real life? Good question. If we were to be able to bring 2000 pounds, we would need the Otter. Other than that, the beaver would carry less which would make us have to bring less. We would keep our fingers crossed and hope for the Otter.

Well, Saturday finally arrived after months of planning, questions and anticipation. We were ready to go. I remember getting up that morning after a long night of little sleep, my bags by the door, saying bye to TC and pointing the Tacoma north to Fort Kent. All the way up, my mind was racing about if I had everything I needed or if I had forgotten anything. See, there is a side story behind this. I must have packed and unpacked my wet bag twenty times with TC giggling over my shoulder each time telling me that I was over the fifty-pound limit. TC always tells me that I tend to over pack in all my travels, which I have to admit is true. Anyway every time I packed, I would stand on the little bathroom scale, first to get my weight and then holding onto my wet bag, poles and other gear. And each time, the scale told me I was close to the limit, but a bit over. My final packing was around 54 pounds and I decided that was it. I could trim no more. They would just have to let me on with what I had. Well, I arrived in Fort Kent around 7:30 am that morning and headed to Paul’s home to drop off the gas cans I had brought up. From there, I went to Raymond’s where I would leave my pickup for the week. At around 8:45, Keith and Chris arrived and as they say, “the gang’s all here.” We packed the two trucks and headed out back down Main Street and then turned left on the first leg of our journey…………………………

Part two to come shortly. Stay tuned!