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.
These songs are the crowd-pleasers, the most requested songs about the people, the place, the life and lifestyles of Grand Lake Stream, Maine. It is available through the store on this site.
Finally brought to a boil something that’s been simmering for a long time. I’d researched Cattaraugus River steelhead fishing after a friend from PA emailed his experiences there to me a few years back. It’s one of the chief breeding rivers for steelhead coming up from Lake Erie. There are many “tribs” as the locals refer to tributaries. All of them hold steelhead too. Peak time is late fall, so, I booked a flight to Buffalo the second week of November. Two days before my arrival, three inches of rain fell on the region, blowing out the Catt and all of the tribs. The stream beds there have a high clay content and when it gets stirred up, the water turns chalky. A local Orvis guide told me that the smaller tribs clear fast, so I went anyway. I sure am glad I did.
The first day, I went to the Orvis shop near Buffalo to get up to speed on the fishing. The word was, “go to the Niagara.” It was huge and fast, but steelhead, king salmon, brown trout and lake trout were holding to the shorelines. The hike in was steep and treacherous. You could hear the river long before you got there. Weighted wooly buggers and egg imitations were the recipe for success, so I was well-outfitted. On the way in, I met a fisherman coming out. His Hardy 11′ switch rod had been broken in the mid-section by a fish! He said it was probably a king. “He got out in the current and headed for Canada,” he said, “and that was that.”
Within half an hour, I was to learn exactly what that’s like. The rod didn’t break, but the leader did–10 lb Maxima Chameleon. I’d never felt such force on a fly rod. Just before breaking off, this king salmon jumped to show me what I was up against. I estimated his weight at 25-30 lb. I even tried the ancient trick of putting the entire fly rod underwater to relieve stress and help turn the fish. Nothing doing.
I felt better about things in general after landing a 5-6 lb brown trout, as pretty a fish as I’ve ever seen. The feeling was short-lived, as another king took my fly and headed for heavy water. This time, I prepared myself for the same outcome, and it all happened again. I watched shooting head, running line, and backing disappear at breakneck speed until, “Bang!” and he was gone. Still, of all the things I might’ve been doing that day, this had to be one of the better choices. On the way back to the hotel, I called the Orvis guys to thank them for the good advice.
One of the smaller tribs had cleared en0ugh to fish the following day. In four hours, Walnut Creek gave up four steelhead to a newbie who knew next to nothing. Cattaraugus Creek Outfitters guide Rick Fisher steered me ar0und, jibed and joked to lighten the mood when I made rookie mistakes, and was there to photograph my first-ever steelhead. He also set me up to fish on my own for the rest of my stay. Can’t say enough about CCO!
Maybe sometime you’d like to change up on the grocery store fowl that are grown to maturity in about 8 hours with the aid of mega hormones and antibiotics. Maybe you’ve forgotten how much fun it is to swing on a rising bird that has just boiled up out of the brush thanks to a highly motivated flushing breed. Maybe it’s time to get back to the basics of upland bird hunting, and trade an antibiotic bird for a macrobiotic one. If so, email me and I can hook you up!
You can see how low the water was on the Ledge Pool, just above Ingraham’s Bridge, but when I saw the rainbow, I thought I’d better fish it. No luck, but great fun. Photo by Robert Moser.
I hosted five fly fishermen at Camp Bonaventure in late September. The water was low, but the salmon returns were high. One of the sports, Craig Fowler (who was about to set a record the following month in the hiking/biking world), captured me doing a Spey cast in one of the most storied pools on the Bonaventure River. The rod is an LL Bean Streamlight, 14′ with a large arbor Streamlight reel loaded with a Skandi shooting head and Compaq running line.
