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Thursday, July 4, 2013

Hex


I set up a drift boat trip on Sunday with a guide friend of ours. I had a favor to repay to my friend Nate and I could think of no better way than a day on the water.

We fished with Boz from Maine River Guides, if you are in the area you would be smart to call.

We floated the West Branch in the comfort of a custom Boulder Boatworks drifter and caught many salmonoids. I have photos of none of them. We had huge steaks and cold Budweisers for a shore lunch with not a photo to prove it. I do not have a photo of the dry fly dropper I was fishing that whilst trying to land a small salmon become lodged in my index finger. Nor does there exist a photo of our guide removing it.

The one photo I do have of the trip is below. You will have to take my word that it was an awesome day.




We were really just killing time.
Waiting for nightfall and a potential hatch of sailboat sized mayflys.

We drove north and left our custom boat behind for an old tin jobber stashed on the side of a lonely pond. The three of us climbed in and waited.




We did not have to wait long to see the signs of what was to come.



Soon we did a lot of this









I was three hours late to work on Monday.
Thank you ,

7 comments:

Keith said...

Jasper what are the discolored spots on that one brookie? Are those parasites? Nice fish.

Jasper Walsh said...

Captain Lane, you are correct.
It is a larval trematode parasite that lives part of its life cycle in a loon, many Maine ponds are lakes play host to these bugs.

Interesting read here ; ( you may need to copy and paste)
http://www.maine.gov/ifw/fishing/health/vol2issue8.htm

Clark Winchell said...

Indeed. At least they don't seem to hurt the fish. Glad you got into 'em good!

Keith said...

A good read sir. I had seen these spots on warmwater species but never on a trout. A troubling sign in my opinion. I think we all must accept that to best protect the native brook trout and our beloved fishery, we must eradicate this parasite. And to best eradicate this parasite, there is only one reasonable solution. We must eradicate the loon.

Andrew Wilkie said...

Lane I laughed out loud; this is the first year I have felt serious aggression toward the loon. Where do we start?

Keith said...

We start with some loon decoys and a 12 gauge. My guess it that the loon probably tastes decent when properly prepared. A delicacy that has not been enjoyed since the days of the Wompanoag i would guess.

Jesse Lance Robbins said...

this is a great read. thanks jasper