Maine

People often ask me, which state was the most fun to fish? I always answer with a canned, but true, remark, "That's a tough one, I've enjoyed so many." Also true is that when I scan my gray matter fishing database for a real answer, Maine is one of the first trips that comes to mind.

In summary: I contacted the state of Maine's Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife asking them to put me onto a fish somewhat unique to Maine and a person who could take me fishing for this species of fish. The Blueback Charr and the Sunapee Charr were suggested and Fred Kircheis a fish biologist was the person I should contact. Fred has done so much research on this fish species, he has an encyclopedia size folder full of facts and articles written by himself and by other researchers. Fred agreed to go fishing with me and we signed a fishing contract, setting the date for the last couple of days in September, because fishing for these species is best then and the fish are in their brightest colors.

I met Fred at a restaurant in the middle of the state. After lunch, I left my vehicle in the restaurant parking lot and rode with Fred up a series of mountain dirt logging roads until we got to a rather large lake, (pond), which I'm not allowed to name as per our fishing contract. We motor canoed to the only structure on the pond, a one room cabin (camp) owned by a retired game warden. We stayed there for two nights and we fished the pond for two days, trying to catch a Blueback Charr.

The weather was great and the pond was surrounded by a forest of fall foliage in full color, the best I've ever seen. The pond was next to the Appalachian Trail with a hiker's camp ground located on the shoreline. Other than a couple of Appalachian Trail hikers who had camped in this place, we only saw one other person in 2 days. This older fisherman actually looked like he was part of the pond. Fred said there are some good size brook trout in this pond and that's why this guy was there.

We didn't get a Blueback Charr, but I catch two rough fish called fallfish, adding a new species to the list of fish I have caught.

If anyone could have caught a Blueback during the two days we fished deep water and shallow water and shoreline and stream mouth and stream source and so on and so forth, it would have been Fred. It would have been Fred who could have put us on some fish, because he has been involved with netting the pond and assembling an inventory of its fish. He knows when and where he has netted these fish. Yet we didn't get a Blueback Charr.

We cancelled the Sunapee Charr portion of our trip, because the ground around his favorite pond had been charred by a forest fire. I thought that rather funny, we couldn't fish for Charr because of a char. Fred says it wasn't exactly that way, it was because the camp had been destroyed in the fire and we wouldn't have had a place to stay. It didn't matter to me anyway, because I got to spend more time on the water and less time riding from place to place. Besides that, genetic research has proven the Maine Sunapee isn't a Sunapee Charr. It's a Blueback Charr.

I don't have much else to say, except I was impressed with Fred and his genuine concern for planet Earth.