Meteorologist, Please Help! #101

I’m not sure if you are seeing the same phenomenon where you live, and if so, how you are dealing with it, but it is really putting a crimp in my style, and I for one want to see it slow down or stop entirely.  I’m speaking about the enemy of the fisherman, yes, the wind! Now, picture a canoe on a pond with two fishermen in the canoe and the wind gusting 25-30 miles per hour. First, it is very hard to cast a line with that type of gust. Second, unless you are anchored properly, the canoe is going around and around like a top. Thirdly, and most importantly, there is a safety factor that cannot be ignored.  I remember back in the day when it would be windy, but the early morning and early evening until dark were pretty good. Unfortunately, that has not been the case so far this year. Wind has been prevalent the entire day. So, I set out to try to find what the devil was going on and what we could expect for the rest of the season. As you might think, there are a number of different reasons about it, from the lack of the dip in the jet stream to global warming. Along with that, they say that generally the jet stream dips sometime in June and the wind starts to subside a bit back to normal. Regardless of the science behind it, I know one thing  for sure, it is WINDY!

So, you ask, how do we compensate for the wind when we fish? Thanks for the question and here is my answer. Our season is short so we have to improvise as much as we can to take advantage of the time we have. Therefore, we take to the stream on rough days or we pull out the aluminum boat and motor and do a little trolling. Mindful of the fact that if the wind dies down, we are moving at light speed to the pond for a little fly fishing action. But, do not think that I don’t give it my all, no matter what the weather throws at me. And although safety is always first and foremost in my mind, I’ll do everything I can to get that fly rod out and do a little casting using the wind to my advantage. See, you can always throw a line farther when you have the wind as your friend.

I’d be interested to hear from you about how you cope with the wind. 

When an Idea is First Conceived

100^thBlog

I’m sure you all have dreams that you aspire to make real. Some follow their dreams and some just dream about their goals. Whether you dream or make them a reality, don’t let anyone tell you that one is better than the other. They both serve a purpose in one’s life. So, when I decided that I wanted to start my own business, I did a lot of dreaming, explored a great deal, and procrastinated until one day, I decided to get going. 

Now, as some of you remember, I started this blog some time ago and it has grown to where this is my 100^thaddition to my blog page. So, I found it fitting to make my 100^thblog reflect my business and the way it came to be. Here is my story.

I grew up loving the woods and all it had to offer. I enjoyed hunting and fishing and although you can never perfect your talents to the limit, I tried my best. Eventually, I decided that I would take the course that would lead me to my exam for my Maine Guides License. At that time, I really did not have any agenda other than to see if I could pass the exam. I was fairly comfortable with the book part but the map and compass and catastrophic event was something I needed to spend time on. After the course was over, I set my mind to preparing. Now, you never know what the guide’s board will ask you so you need to prepare for anything. I had maps all over the floor in our family room and would make hypothetical trips from one point to another using the inlets and outlets of ponds as my starting and finish points. TC was there with me and took the course as well, although she did not want to take the exam, she was really interested in expanding her own knowledge about the various subjects.  

The day of the exam came and as you might think, I was a bit nervous. Had I studied the right material? Had I contemplated all the questions they might ask? Was I ready? We would soon find out. I drove to Augusta, parked outside the building where my exam would take place and looked at the material one more time. Then, in I went, ready or not here it came. Now, the two gentleman that would test me were very nice and it was clear that they wanted to make sure that I knew what I should know and that if they granted me a Guides license, I was worthy of that distinction. As you all know, I passed and left there with a big smile. It was after that, I decided to look into forming a business. What I found was that there were a number of hoops that needed to be navigated through. For my best interest, I needed to form an LLC or Limited Liability Company as well as pick a name and get it approved through the Maine Secretary of State. I was fortunate to have a friend who was an attorney who helped me get through the paperwork and shortly thereafter, Vernon’s Guide Service LLC was formed. But, it did not end there. Now, I needed to be insured to protect the business. Soon afterward, I made that happen and now I could move forward with my future plans as well as getting the business out in the open. I have a cousin who is a Graphic Designer and I approached Peter to see if he might help me design my business cards and logo. Thankfully, he jumped at the opportunity to help and we began the process of picking out designs and colors. Once he had some ideas of what I wanted, he went to work and my designs soon became reality. And I must say, Peter did a phenomenal job. 

So, 2018 is my inaugural year of the opening of Vernon’s Guide Service, LLC. With that, I am pleased to unveil my logo and business cards. I could not have gotten this far without the understanding of my wife TC, Charlie who helped me wade through the LLC paperwork process and with the help of my cousin Peter. Thank you all.

 And without further ado, here is the final product. And their friends is my 100^thblog!  Let the season begin.

Credit given to Peter Stafford at Cambridge Pen for the design and art work.  www.cambridgepen.com

When the Sun Sets High in the Sky #99

When we get to this time of year, winter has outlasted its stay with me, and I begin to watch for signs of warmer weather. Among those signs are increasing temps during the day and more daylight. The sun’s rays help to melt the winter snowpack and the streams on I-95 are showing signs of water protruding on top of the ice. When I begin to see any of these, I start to think about spring. Now fishing season still has a few months to go before we can wet a line, and even at the start, there tends to be some impediments, but that being said, preparation is key to hitting the ground running.

As the season begins, I make sure that the canoes are ready to go, the reels are all greased and cleaned and that I have sufficient flies tied to last the year. Typically, I don’t tie flies during the fishing season unless I find something on the water that I don’t have and need to imitate, or if I have run out of certain flies that they are hitting well.

For the last couple of years, TC and I have been working with the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife in their fish/pond documentation program. That is where we keep track of the ponds we fished during the season, the number of fishing people in the party and the number and kinds of fish caught. Biologists send me a book each spring that I record information in and I return it to them at the end of the season. Last year, we spent a lot of time in the northern part of Maine and the year before, we fished the north western part along the Piscataquis county line. This gives the biologists a look at a number of different ponds in different locations. Our plan is to mix it up more this year.

This year will be a bit different in that we have the inaugural year of Vernon’s Guide Service. Already, things are looking good and the calendar is beginning to take shape. However, I have been told that I need to save time for TC and I to do our fishing, and heeding that warning will be important. I can tell you that I have a surprise coming soon. I hope to unveil my business logo within the next month or so. It is in the works right now and my cousin who just happens to be a graphic designer will begin work on it soon. Knowing what he does and what he comes up with, I am looking forward to the final product. It should be fantastic! Of course, I will unveil it in a blog when the time comes.

For now, let the snow start to drop, let the ponds unthaw and warm up as I get ready for another great fishing season. I’ll be documenting my trek on both twitter, email and facebook as well as blogs. So, keep watching for new updates because it won’t be long now!

My next blog will the 100th since I began. What do you think I should write about?

Announcing Vernon’s Guide Service, LLC #98

A few years back, I decided to sit for the Maine Registered Guides Exam. The testing procedure was tough requiring you to show your proficiency in how to use a compass and a topo map as well as responding to a major catastrophic event. If you failed in one of these areas, you were not allowed to continue with the rest of the exam. The State of Maine breaks the classifications down in a couple of ways. You have to individually sit for your Fishing Guides license, your Hunting Guides license and your Recreation guides license. There are a few other classifications, but these are the ones that apply to us in Northern Maine. I chose to sit for the Fishing Guides license. Once I obtained my guides license in fishing, I began planning for how I wanted to use it in future years. I knew that I wanted to work a bit while still employed at my current job and then eventually work more as time allowed. Having an insurance background, I also knew that if I wanted to do this, I would have to form a separate business, and that is exactly what I did. In November 2017, I began researching how to go about forming an LLC. In December, I filed the paperwork, with the help of a friend and on December 18, 2017, I received the final paperwork. The beginning of Vernon’s Guide Service LLC. The service will work exclusively on fishing in Northern Maine and will begin with the 2018 fishing season. For the time being, I will only be booking a few trips in 2018 and am happy to report that I have already booked one. I look forward to spending time growing the business and giving people what they want, a great fishing experience in the North Maine Woods. So, away we go. My moto going forward is “I’m having the time of my life and I hope you will to.”

So, if you feel like you want to have a Northern Maine Woods fishing experience, drop me an email or give me a call. I’d be glad to schedule you in.

vernonsguideservice@gmail.com

I also created a Vernon’s Guide Service Facebook page. Please search it out and give me a “LIKE.” You can find it at:

www.facebook.com/vernonsguideservice

Ready, Aim, Fire #97

Every year, we cherish when our boys come back to Maine to either hunt or fish. They enjoy all aspects of the woods, including fishing, hunting and camping. I do think that our youngest enjoys hunting a bit more, but his recent visits have not been that productive, until 2017.

So, Ryan and Amanda notified us that they were going to come for a visit in October. They both enjoy being in the woods and Ryan really had an itch to do some partridge hunting. As I said earlier, his timing had been off in the past because he had not seen many birds when he came. We hoped that this trip would be different.

They arrived on a Thursday evening and we made plans to strike out early Friday and then again on Saturday. TC had planned some meals that we could warm up on the old Coleman stove, so that we would be well fed.

We awoke bright and early on Friday morning to a stiff wind, but bright skies. We loaded up the truck and made our way toward Ashland and then the Six Mile gate. Once through that, we headed up the Reality Road and soon transitioned into hunting mode with Ryan holding his gun by his side. The wind blew mightily but I was soon amazed at the number of birds we saw. They were not very cooperative though. Many of them had their track shoes on and would get out of dodge before Ryan could get off a shot. We logged about 125 miles that day.  Our official bird count for the day was 25 with Ryan taking home 4 and I took home 2. I can still see Ryan’s eyes lighting up as he told me that this was the best day he had ever seen from a bird sitting standpoint. I have to mention our two point people in the back seat that kept telling us “there’s a bird.” Yup, Amanda and TC were enjoying the ride and were also doing an excellent job of sighting them and letting us know. We returned home late that afternoon, satisfied with the day’s results. That evening, we made our plans for the following day and we fried up a few partridge with our special recipe for the guests.

Saturday morning rolled around and once again, we headed out to the North Maine Woods. I was more excited than the day before because of the weather. The morning brought us calm winds and plenty of sunshine. I could feel it was going to be a great day. We passed through the Six Mile gate and headed up the Pinkham Road. The woods offered its beauty with the trees sparkling from the bright sun and the temperatures were again cooperating. We made our way to the Jack Mountain Rd and from there worked across to the Reality Road. There are several roads that connect the two and that is what we really focused on. Then for good measure, we drove over to the Chase Brook Rd which is one of my favorite bird roads. The day started much slower than the preceding one, but we were all enjoying our time together. Ryan was sitting in the front passenger seat poised for a quick pounce out of the truck if need be. He had it down packed, see a bird, jump out of the truck with the gun, load, aim and fire. If need be he would chase them up and over the bank until he had a clear shot. The sightings were a bit down that day. We only saw thirteen but Ryan did get 3 and I got 2.

We have found over the years that time goes far too fast when it comes to visits by our sons. Your instinct is to want them to stay a little bit longer, but understand when they can’t. So, Sunday morning came around and we watched them pack up to meet their plane at eight AM. Our drive to the airport was way too short and they unloaded their gear and headed to the ticket counter. Soon, they called for TSA screening and we said our goodbyes. As we walked out of the terminal, I could not help but think that this trip had been a real productive one. Not for many years had we seen so many birds on their visits. TC and I were truly thankful that they had done so well. We know that this will be the last time Ryan will come during the 2017 hunting season, but we were grateful to have had time with them both. When the plane landed in Boston, we got a text thanking us, and telling us how much they really enjoyed their trip. The pleasure was really ours!