Fishing for fish? Perhaps a guide can help
Copyright © 2001 Blethen Maine Newspapers Inc.
| MAINE GUIDES | |
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With nearly 6,000 lakes and ponds and almost 32,000 miles of rivers and streams, the Pine Tree State represents a vast territory, and a Registered Maine Guide's assistance can make the difference between catching a few fish — or none — and a rewarding day of tight lines and nonstop action. In addition to the publications mentioned in the story, the following is contact information for guides, charter companies, fishing shops and sporting camps cited in this article: Aardvark Outfitters, Farmington, 778-3330 Dave Barnes, Rideout's Lakeside Lodge, Danforth, 800-594-5391 Stephen W. Cole, Reel Affair Charters, 848-5490 Chuck Duggins, South Branch Lake Camps, 800-248-0554 Grant's Kennebago Camps, Rangeley, 864-3608 Fly Fishing Only, Fairfield, 453-6242 "Fly Rod" Jackie Barton, Peru, 562-8559 Alvah Harriman, Grand Lake Stream Guides Association, 796-5494 L.L. Bean Outdoor Discovery Schools, 800-LLBEAN1 Dan Legere, Maine Guide Fly Shop and Guide Service, 695-2266 Steve Lemieux, Mickey Finn Charters, 379-2035 Northeast Anglers, Inc., Northport, 800-558-7658 Rideout's Lakeside Lodge, Danforth, 800-594-5391 John Rogers, Eagle Lodge/Maine Guide School, 794-2181 Weatherby's Fisherman's Resort, Grand Lake Stream, 796-5558
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When the renowned tradition of Registered Maine Guides began more than 100 years ago, visiting fishing aficionados had limited choices: Nineteenth-century "sports" could angle for trout or cast for salmon.
When today's Vacationland anglers seek a Registered Maine Guide's assistance, they're faced with a bewildering choice of species and fishing styles. Today's sports cast dry flies for brookies from the bow of a canoe, or they're chauffeured through whitewater in a Mackenzie drift boat. Or they can quietly troll for togue at depths of a hundred feet, or roar across the surface at 70 mph in search of smallmouth bass.
Maine even boasts two popular fish species unknown in the state a century ago: northern pike and muskellunge.
Fishing opportunities abound, and Registered Maine Guides can lead Vacationland visitors to all of them.
Maine fishing guides
The state of Maine has been licensing guides since 1897, when an imposing 6-foot-tall sportswoman and outdoor writer by the name of Cornelia "Fly Rod" Crosby earned the first badge. Today there are about 3,000, but only a fraction actively lead fishing trips.
Maine Guides are typically independent business people who are engaged by the day, often 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Costs range from around $125 for one person per day to as much as $300 for two. The guide typically provides the boat, transportation to the lake or river, car-boat shuttles and occasionally some fishing tackle. A scenic shore lunch — cooked over an open fire on an island — is often included in the package. Tall tales are also traditional, at no extra charge.
Guides can also be hired for a week or more, sometimes as part of larger adventures. For example, weeklong trips down the famous Allagash Wilderness Waterway are often led by Maine Guides who also specialize in fly fishing.
Some guides advertise directly. Two in-state monthly publications carry the bulk of the ads: "The Maine Sportsman" and "Northwoods Sporting Journal." Maine Tourism Association's annual "Maine Guide to Hunting and Fishing" and the Maine Professional Guides Association's directory, available at MTA information centers, are also good resources.
Or check the Internet. Some guides maintain a page on the MPGA's collective website: www.maineguides.com. Although the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife licenses guides, it does not issue a directory or make recommendations.
Many others are booked through fly shops, tackle stores and sporting camps. With so many options, species and areas of expertise, most of today's guides specialize in fishing for a couple of species over a limited territory.
For Chuck Duggins in the summertime, that means smallmouth bass in the on the Penobscot River. Duggins is the dean of the Penobscot River guides, with 15 years of continuous professional experience. He doesn't fish for trout, salmon or togue — only smallies. ÒI don't believe any guide can produce for his clients across the whole spectrum of species,Ó asserts Duggins.
Knowing the territory is often the key to catching the fish. On a trip to Grand Lake Stream, a fishing buddy and I hooked up with Alvah Harriman, a native of this renowned fishing village. Harriman enjoys a bustling guide business based on smallmouth bass.
Harriman's success rests on detailed mental maps of the region's sprawling lakes, we learned: He knows all the submerged boulders, underwater ledges, dropoffs and sunken islands that are the bronzeback's favorite midsummer haunts.
Want a learning experience? Dan Legere, owner of Greenville's Maine Guide Fly Shop and Guide Service, suggests seeking an individual who can teach and communicate. "You can learn more in one day with a guide who's willing to share some secrets with you than you can all summer long on your own," he explains.
Some guide services specialize in teaching. Northeast Anglers Inc. in Northport and Rapid River Fly Fishing in Andover combine formal fly-fishing lessons with trips, while "Fly Rod" Jackie Barton of Peru gives half-day instruction in fly casting, equipment and entomology to both children and adults.
L.L. Bean's Outdoor Discovery Schools run weeklong fly fishing workshops at several of Maine's best-known sporting camps, including Weatherby's Fisherman's Resort at Grand Lake Stream and Grant's Kennebago Camps in the Rangeley region.
No matter what the species or fishing style, a customer's personal experience is what counts most. Legere emphasizes that the right individual will place the guest first. "The guide's caught a lot of salmon before," says Legere. "He gets a hoot out of seeing you catch that fish."
A guide's future business depends on satisfying the sports, so the prime producers, top teachers and most affable communicators are happy to provide references. "I would suggest that people ask for references," says Duggins. "And check them."
When, where and how
If ever there's a time when a guide's assistance can add fish to the creel, it's the month of August, when fish are feeding slowly and seek deeper water to escape the heat. John Rogers, owner/guide at Eagle Lodge in Lincoln, likes to take guests to the nearby Penobscot River.
"The most action would be river fishing for smallmouths," Rogers explains. "The fish in the river tend to migrate a lot, but by the time July and August come, water temperatures are stable and the fish tend to find their summer haunts. And the fish are fairly predictable where they're going to be."
Fly fishing for trout and salmon in the rivers is more technically demanding at this time of year, says Legere, and a local expert's ability to "match the hatch" can be invaluable. Multiple hatches from sunup to sundown are common in midsummer, and the best guides know the drill.
Also check the guide's ability to deliver sports to the hot spots where the fish are biting. Today, that often means fast-moving water and a Mackenzie drift boat. Two fly fishermen can cast from a standing position in the sturdy double-ended craft, which is rowed by the guide.
Drift boat trips are fairly new in Maine, and are offered by Aardvark Outfitters in Fairfield, Fly Fishing Only in Fairfield and Maine Guide Fly Shop in Greenville. These companies are among Maine's leaders, and many of their guides are also certified as fly casting teachers by the Orvis Company or the Fly Fishing Federation of America.
In the larger lakes like Moosehead, Sebago, East Grand, West Grand and Big Lake, schools of salmon, brook trout and togue head into the deeper, cooler waters, and the top-producing guides deploy an array of electronic devices to locate them: Global Positioning System, depth sounders and fish finders are used to target the quarry.
At Rideout's Lakeside Lodge on East Grand Lake in Danforth, owner Bob Lorigan Jr. marvels at the printouts produced by the precision fish finders used on some of his guides' boats. "You see salmon stacked like cordwood," he says.
To deliver bait and lures deep down to those fish, heavy lead balls suspended on steel cables — called downriggers — plus light tackle have largely replaced the traditional lead-core lines and beefy trolling rods used in years past.
"Downriggers give you many more options when lake-trout fishing," says Steve Lemieux, guide/owner of Mickey Finn, a power cruiser which trolls Moosehead Lake. "You can fish at just about any speed you want at any depth you want."
Lemieux adds: "You can use ultra-light rods instead of the traditional heavy-action lake trolling rods. A four- or five-pound lake trout on a light-action, spinning rod will give you a much nicer fight than it will on a heavy trolling rod."
Reel Affair, a 25-foot outboard cruiser owned by guide Stephen W. Cole, is another Moosehead Lake trolling boat that combines electronics and downriggers.
Non-traditional species are getting increased attention today. Guides who specialize in northern pike are sprouting in the Belgrade Lakes area, and Legere even offers occasional fly fishing trips to Baker Lake in search of muskellunge. "A big muskie hitting a fly is a vicious strike," says Legere. "They jump and it's a hoot."
Want a celebrity fishing guide? Dave Barnes, a nationally ranked bass tournament professional who's often featured on television fishing programs, visits Rideout's several weeks each summer. Piloting his 225 HP Triton bass boat across 16,000-acre East Grand Lake at 70 MPH, Barnes and his sports can cover a lot of water.
"Dave Barnes knows all the hot spots, tricks of the trade and all the secret places on the lake," says Lorigan. "With his vast familiarity with the lake and his different types of lures and tackle for different seasons, he can catch fish anytime. And with his down-to-earth humor, he's a one-in-a-million type. It's an experience you can't find anywhere else in the state of Maine."
Scott Andrews is a Registered Maine Guide and outdoor writer from Portland.