Catch up time...

Wow, I can't believe it has been over a month since I last posted!  I apologize for dropping the ball on keeping everyone (if there is anyone left) up to date with the happenings around here.  There has been alot going on that I need to fill everyone in on.  I will start with the oldest news and work forward.  I have been trying out a very unique product called LoopRope, that has proven itself and is due it's full review in the next blog post...Stay Tuned...

I have also made an arrangement with the company Fuse who have a very nice line of camouflage electronics accessories, and in this day and age electronics are everywhere, so we might as well wear them in style and make them camouflage!  The touch of a camo cell phone case goes well with any attire and lets everyone know where your interests lie!  Check them out at their link on the left side of the page.  A review is on its way for this product as well, but I like to really put products through their paces before I talk about them.  (You didn't hear this yet, but I am impressed!)

Now on to the outdoors!

The fish have not been entirely cooperative with my efforts to hook them, but I have managed to hook into a few.   Heather, Drake and I hit one of my favored locales just as the ice was receding from the shores and managed to hook onto a couple of nice trout.  This was Drake's first fishing trip as we work to embody the - "Give a man a fish and he eats for a day, but teach a man to fish and he will eat for a lifetime" - even if we release most of our fish, he will learn the principles and also a little conservation!  There have also been some fish getting caught by other people, so check these out.

Turkey Hunting...Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!  That sums it up!  This was my third year in pursuit of these feathered foes, and the third time was not a charm.  I had a great time, enjoyed some great company and ate like a king, so all was not lost!  (Thanks Lee and Nika!) Lee and I were out the door by 4:00 a.m. after roosting some birds the night before and hopes ran high as we navigated through the field in the darkness and setup the decoys in a likely spot.  As the morning began to dawn we heard the first gobble, and in no time we had 7-8 separate gobblers calling back as we hen called.  Surely we would get a bird!  As they flew down, we started hearing hens as well and we knew we could be in trouble.  Sure enough, those loud mouth toms would not leave the hens and left us 200 yards away.  Not to be outdone, we went into stealth mode, slid into the tree cover and used a combination of running, walking, crawling, and rolling in attempt to get ahead of the four large toms and their hens and close the distance.  We painstakingly made it to almost 50 yards when they decided it was time to leave.  I sent them on their way a little faster by shooting at a big tom that was closest to us, with him showing no effects of the shot.  We trailed him down into the woods for a ways to insure he wasn't wounded and managed to find a nice shed whitetail antler, but he was moving fine.  We saw a couple of other toms throughout the morning, but they seemed to want nothing to do with us.  All I can say is maybe fourth time is a charm!

A more fortunate hunter than I!

Speaking of sheds, the moose antler shed hunting has been slow, mostly I think due to the decreased snowfall early in the season when people found most of them, but an honest effort was still rewarded with a few of the prized antlers.

Mike Michaud - aka "The Legend"

Ok, I promise to be back soon and fill everyone in on what is going on.  I am going to attempt to get into a weekly posting routine.  I think in the next week or two the fishing should really turn on, not to mention several other things I have on the go and you wouldn't want to miss anything!  Stay tuned!!!!!

Open Water Fishing

I first want to apologize for my extended hiatus, but busy doesn't even begin to describe my schedule lately.  Work, family and home renovations don't leave a whole lot of time for writing and keeping everyone up to date.  There has also been lots of stuff going on around the blog, so let's get started!

The first day of April means more than April Fools Day to me.  It is the official start of the open water fishing season here in Northern Maine.  Every year I try to make it a point to get out and wet a line.  Last year I was rewarded with two muskies in only a couple of hours time so this year I took the day off to really focus my efforts.  Blake Hatt and Brent Stoliker decided to join the craziness that my fishing trips entail.  The weather forecast was less than ideal with a snow and rain combo predicted for the day, with temps hovering around the freezing mark.  The ice on the St. John River hadn't yet "run" so while there were big open spots, they were still separated by ice sheets.  The water level was also amazingly low for this time of year.  Evaluating the conditions, I decided that shore hopping would be our most effective way to cover several of the open spots.  Meeting at our pre-determined time of 5:00 a.m.(I told you my fishing trips are crazy) we wasted no time grabbing our gear and walking the quarter mile to our first location on top of the 18" of crusted snow.  Thinking to myself, that walk wouldn't be pleasant if it warmed up and we lost our crust, we pushed on along the faint markings of a trail winding though the trees.  Thanks to the contrast of snow we were able to navigate easily even though it was pitch black.  As we neared the river we switched on our head lamps to navigate the ice field along the shore and get into position on the river bank.  Wasting no time we hooked on our lures and started probing the icy, wet darkness below us.  We spread out and used the splash of lures as they landed to judge where everyone's line was and avoid a big tangle.  Hopes ran high as the lures made their first pass through the water.  Cast after cast we worked the water in fan patterns trying to convince a toothy behemoth to strike.  As the light started to creep into the sky, we could see a couple of boats show up and launch.  All guys I know, so as they would pass by we would keep tabs on each other by yelling over the sound of their outboard motors.  The piece of water that was open around the boat launch was not overly large and most boats worked in a circuitous fashion.  Time ticked by and still no fish to show.  Working at that hole for a couple of hours we decided to move downstream to the next likely spot.  By this time we were soaked from the snow and rain mixture and the wind started to pick up making for cold conditions.  We took a quick break and sipped some coffee to warm us up from the inside and then we were back at it fan casting to all of the little eddies and current lines that looked like a potential hiding spot for a yard long fish.  In five hours time we had effectively covered every promising looking spot that was thawed open, were froze to the bone and had no fish to show for it.  Just as we were ready to head out one of the boats picked up the first and what would be the only fish of the day.  It was a 10 pounder that Corey Daigle caught out of Bud Soucy's canoe.  This gave us a little bit of encouragement and put some fire back into our casts as we started working the water again.  We kept casting until all but one of the boats had left and it was up for debate whether or not our frozen fingers were still functioning.  We then decided that if the muskies weren't up for being caught, we would try our hand at a brook trout or two.  Besides if we picked the right spot we could drown a worm and sit in the heated cab of the pickup to thaw out.  After checking a couple of favored locales and finding them still locked up tight under a coat of ice.  Finally we found a spot by a culvert that had opened up enough to fish.  As we threaded the worms onto hooks the wind seemed to pick up even more and turned an already cold situation frigid.  I used my preferred presentation with just a worm floating down through the current and leaving the bail on the spinning pole open I hurried back to the truck a few feet away to warm up.  We watched the baits for a couple of hours checking the bait every few minutes to no avail.  Just as we were ready to pack up I decided to try a lure just for fun.  On the first retrieve I saw a fish dart out from the edge of the ice and swirl at it.  Quickly casting again, I waited and just as I saw the swirl I felt the line tension up and I quickly lifted the rod tip to set the hook.  Ahhh, there it was that tugging and pulling that I had waited all winter for.  The foot long trout put up a good fight and after a quick admiration I released him to swim another day.  We decided that since we were no longer skunked we could call it a day and go get some warm, dry clothes.  A slow start to the 2013 fishing season, but I hope to redeem myself soon!

Stay tuned for exciting news and product reviews and for up-to-date fishing reports in the near future!

"Big Eagle" Ice Fishing

Eagle Lake.  A confusing name in its simplest form with the State of Maine housing 3 water bodies sporting the name - Eagle Lake, and two others named Eagle Pond.  Luckily one is located in the southern portion of the state and therefore does not find its way into the folklore and stories told here in Northern Maine.  That only leaves two lakes to distinguish between, so in true Maine fashion, the simple solution was to rename one and thus the larger water body became unofficially “Big Eagle Lake” or just “Big Eagle”.  This is the second lake in the chain of lakes that form the headwaters of the famed Allagash River.  Enough rambling...more fishing!  About 40 miles of pavement and 75 miles of gravel logging road separate my house from this famed fishing hole.  By leaving the house at 4:00a.m. we were able to navigate the majority of those miles before we reached prime fishing time.  As soon as we arrived, we unloaded our gear and piled onto snowsleds to make the final trek of our journey down onto the frozen expanse. We drove down the winding path through the trees descending into the waterway until we broke out onto the lake.  The lack of camps and it's remoteness adds a feel to the lake that cannot be described until experienced.  We made short order of drilling through the 30 inches of ice and dropping our baits into the depths.  Preferences for bait varied, but my preferred setup was a large lake smelt 2-3' off the bottom in hopes of hooking onto one of the monster togue that are rumored to inhabit the lake.  The day started with Mike Michaud "The Legend" (check him out via our guides page!) hooking onto a nice 3 pound laker.  Before it had cleared the hole, Ron Soucy had his own battle on with what would be our largest fish of the day.  The 5 pounder was beautifully spotted with a forest green/black background.  We followed up those with four other togue in the 3-4 pound range, caught by Tim, John, Corey and myself.  In between the togue, I managed to hook into two small cusk and Rocky Bard also picked one up.  The action was steady, with several flags in between to keep us running.  Unfortunately not all parties were able to catch fish with Jesse and Bob getting skunked, but for every day you go without fish, you are that much closer to catching a monster.  The weather was beautiful and as we rode home, I watched the sun set and a feeling settled over me that all was right...or maybe it was just exhaustion!  

Check out the action in the photos below.  I also captured lots of video footage that I will try to compile in the near future and get posted.  Also, open water season is knocking on the door so stay tuned for lots of upcoming action!

Ice Fishing Video

This is the most recent creation by Ridge Runners & River Rats.  It is a compilation of video from the outing described in my recent post on Madawaska Lake.  I tried to keep it a realistic length for people to watch and if you have comments on how to make it better, just let me know.  Enjoy!

Brook Trout ... Lots of em'

February 15.  The date doesn't mean much to most people, but here in Northern Maine that signals "opening day" on a favored locale in these parts.  Tim Cyr, Josh Caron, Nick Pelletier and myself decided we were going to head out to this popular location, Madawaska Lake, for opening day.  Madawaska Lake is one which is stocked annually by the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife.  They put 1700 brook trout in this year, to supplement the native fish for this heavily pressured lake, so my hopes were high about the action we would see.  The majority of these brookies were 12-13" when they were stocked back in the fall, but 100 of them were brood stock fish which are all over 17".  These fish held special interest among our group as big fish are always nice to hook onto.  We arrived at the bait shop just as it opened to make sure we were on the ice as soon as possible to claim the prime territory.  We arrived in the nick of time, and just finished setting up as trucks started rolling into the landing.  As I was drilling the third hole the first flag went up.  A quick battle revealed a fat 12" trout that had eaten the bait.  A quick clip of the hook and he was back down the hole to swim again.  As we continued setting up, the action became fast and furious and at one point 5 out of our 20 flags stood straight up.  All told, we had over fifty flags and landed over thirty trout between four of us.  That kept the action very steady and we had a lot of fun.  We found time to eat well, with moose meat burgers with bacon and onions made into the patties and bratwursts in between flags.  Most of the fish we caught were in the 12-14 inch category, with 80% of them being stocked fish.

One fish stands out in my mind.

I heard the yell - "FLAG".  As I turned to see where it was, my heart skipped a beat when I saw it was the "camp hole" which meant it was my flag.  I had only taken a couple of steps towards it when "ping" I saw another of my flags rocket upwards signaling other fish had taken the bait.  As I neared the first trap, right beside our "base camp" I noticed the reel wasn't spinning on the tip-up, so I continued right past it to the second flag.  I knelt to grab the line as the reel spun wildly, quickly setting the hook and starting a game of tug-o-war with the finned creature.  It started to come up the hole and just before it was out of the water, it came off the hook and started back down.  Reacting, I dove my arm down into the icy water and managed to grasp the slippery fish and fling him out reach of the hole.  Looking down I realized I was now soaked to the elbow on one arm, but as I looked at the fish I forgot all about it.  It was a beautiful 15" trout that had obviously eaten well as it was very thick.  Shaking myself back to reality from enjoying the fish, I remembered I still had another flag to check.  I ran back to the camp hole which by now had attracted a couple of my fellow fisherman to watch the spectacle unfold.  Pulling the trap from the water, the line was not moving but distinctly angled to one side.  As I increased tension on the line, it suddenly got heavy...real heavy!  I could feel a slight head shake to confirm I had a fish and was not stuck on bottom, so I started pulling the line hand over hand.  Reaching my leader I knew the fish was now close and I peered into the hole as the swivel on the hook slid into view and then a head that seemed to fill the hole.  It started up the hole and I almost had the fish without a struggle, but all of a sudden it came alive and dove back down for its first run.   After seeing the fish that rolled in the hole, Nick Pelletier stripped off his coat and rolled his shirt sleeves to dive in after the behemoth if necessary.  I managed to turn the fish back to the hole and got him pointed up and with a sweeping motion Nick grabbed the fish and flung him to a secure spot.  Still in shock, I stumbled over to the fish and couldn't stop admiring it.  An 18.5" male brook trout that weighed 3lbs. 1oz. was laying in the snow.  His belly was a deep purple, almost black that continued onto his jaws which were very dark in color.  Moving up the sides the deep purple faded into a reddish orange color transitioning up into the silvery dark green speckled sides.  The dorsal fin was centered on his humped back with the tiger stripes very evident on the translucent fin.  Truly a beautiful fish, it was my largest brook trout to date that came through the ice.  Check out the pictures below and a video is on its way!

Shed Hunting Report

The shed hunting season is well under way for this year.  Reports are trickling in of people finding antlers.  I would say most of the bulls should have lost their antlers by now and all you have to do is go pick them up.  Sounds easy right?  Not so much...Currently the average for the "shedders" I talked to is about 100 miles of prime areas covered for every antler find.  This can be greatly increased if you can find areas that haven't already been checked by someone in the last couple weeks, but that is getting harder to find with this hobby increasing in popularity.  The recent weather we have had really dropped the snow pack and any of those buried antlers might start surfacing.  I would think right now if you can get into some ground not already looked at, the pickings would be prime.  One of the largest antlers I have heard about comes from Peter Tabor who noticed three tines sticking up through the snow and as he pulled on them the snow started moving three feet away as he unearthed the 24 pound behemoth!  

Then there are days when it really pays off and you can find 8 antlers in one day!

I would say if you are looking for antlers you had better get out there soon before a snow storm buries whatever is out there.  Good Hunting!  Stay tuned for some more fishing reports and video footage.

Ice Fishing Video

The much anticipated (probably not, but I will tell myself that) video footage from the GoPro camera!  I am also playing around with some different video editing software, so I put it into a trailer type video.  Lots more footage to come as I figure everything out!  If anybody has any thoughts or comments on how to improve either the video footage or the blog itself, let me know.