Bookings for the 2021 guided fishing season are way up. Is it to make up for last year when people had to cancel their trips due to Covid restrictions and closed borders? Maybe, but guides are seeing a big uptick in business. If you’re planning a trip for later this summer, either with me or another Grand Lake Stream guide, please do so at your earliest convenience or you may miss out. In the meantime…
Tight Lines and Screaming Reels!
This slice of Grand Lake Stream was produced by Maurice Brown, videographer and documentarian. I’m pleased that my music was used for the soundtrack, but even more pleased that the short film serves as a powerful infomercial for Grand Lake Stream.
View the film here:
By way of a brief recap of the 2020 season, it got off to a shaky start, then went longer than usual. Maine’s restrictions in May and June due to Covid 19, kept most out-of-staters away until July 1st. My schedule was down by half during those first two months, and by most accounts, I was one of the lucky ones. After that, however, things picked right back up to normal speed and then some. July and August were very busy, and then the fall schedule filled up with folks who couldn’t come in May and June. Some guides didn’t finish out the season until mid-October. It was a difficult year for most lodges, but most remained open, ready for any and all business.
Bookings for the 2021 season have begun in earnest. The calendar is filling up fast, as fishermen envision a much more normal year ahead. Please check the “Guiding Services” section under “About” from the home page, as rates, and some shore lunch menu selections have changed. We look forward to sharing tight lines and screaming reels with you starting this spring!
At present, Maine, like most states, is requiring a 14-day self-quarantine for people entering the state from another state. However, the quarantine can be avoided by being tested before leaving your home state within 72 hours of arriving at your destination. With a negative test result in hand, you can come and begin your vacation without quarantine. As if to make up for these unprecedented times, the fishing has reminded outstanding all season. We look forward to seeing you soon!
Governor Janet Mills has approved guided fishing in Maine beginning May 1st for Maine residents, or those who, upon entering the state, have self-quarantined for 14 days. Sporting lodges may open on June 1st under the same guidelines, while business as usual resumes July 1st with additional safety precautions. We hope this inconvenience helps to keep all of us safe and well. If your trip is effected, please consider moving it to a later date in the summer. Our fishing remains outstanding throughout the season!
Sometimes, in any profession, a good consultant is needed. We all become too subjective at times, and need that certain voice or perspective that somehow seems to objectify everything. Here’s mine: Jude Standish Spencer, now working per diem as Consultant to Spencer Guide Services.
Here’s a typical start to a bird hunting adventure with my two dogs, Dakota and Tennyson. They are trained to “hold” any place, any time so as not to spook an area prematurely. They are English Springer Spaniels from breeder/trainer, Jo-Ann Moody in Waldo, Maine.
Each late September, I am “host rod” to a group of fly fishermen on the Gaspé Peninsula in Quebec. Here, the waters run “gin clear” as they say, and the Atlantic salmon run large. We stay at Camp Bonaventure, an Orvis-endorsed lodge located on the Bonaventure River. We fish for five days with a Camp Bonaventure guide, and the pools are rotated so that there is never excessive fishing pressure on any one. Here is one scene from this year’s trip. The lucky angler was Joseph Kievitt. That’s me on the net, Jay Thomas snapping a photo, and guide Matt Flowers in the far background.
This Grand Laker canoe, perhaps 60 years old, is once again ready for service thanks to Alan Burnell of Eustis, Maine. She was consigned to Alan’s care two years ago for stripping, major and minor repairs, and much cosmetic work. She is believed to be a Bill Sprague canoe. Bill was the father of legendary canoe builder, guide, and Grand Lake native, Sonny Sprague. The lines of this canoe seem to be closer to the lines of Sonny’s canoes than to any other, with the exception of the smaller transom which was normal for accommodating lower horsepower motors in those days.
