Jeremy arrives a little late as usual and we are on the road to the north country. We started talking about the big salmon we hoped to get that afternoon. We start getting close to the river and we could not resist stretching our legs a bit and fly fishing for big bows on a lower stretch of the river. The water level was perfect and the wind was down. We walk up to “Joe and Joey’s run” and fly fished for less than an hour. Jeremy is using a sinking line with a wooly and me a dry. Jeremy has a big hit and sets the hook. BIG FISH!!!! Rainbows, tons of em’, were coming up for the wooly buggers. So, we call it quits after a few nice Rainbows and less than an hour of fly fishing. It’s getting a little late and we still have some drive time ahead of us. So far my falling in count is 1. No felt and no cleats suck in fast water.So we get to the portion of the river where the wild salmon roam. I am really itching to get a big one. First five casts I had a hit, than another than another. Nothing of anysize. Jeremy chucks out a caddis dry into the seam and has a monster on. I saw the pull and he immediately broke off. So we chuck everything at those salmon and brookies, Jeremy gets a nice colorful brookie and life is good for him. I am going ballistic. I had expected to hook a big salmon by now and nothing was even pulling on my line. We head up river and Jeremy hooks me up with his sinking rig. Immediately, I have a big fish on, thought it was a salmon but instead a stupid monster chub. So now we gotta get back home. This sucks cuz I wanted my big salmon! I was nearly in tears. Well, not really but I was mad. “We gotta get your mom to let you stay up here next time” says Jeremy. “How about today?” lets go call her. So, we convince my mom to let us get a room and fish the next day. Now, I’m realizing its not over yet! We find some hotel and are back on the water within minutes. No fish for the rest of the day.We get up at 4:00 am and run to the river. Jeremy was getting cranky without his coffee. We head over to a nearby river that was close to a country store with coffee. Jeremy got chub chub chub chub BIG SALMON!!! He is into the backing in no time and the fish is hot. He lands the beauty and sends her off to fight again. An amazing fish. So where is my salmon? My story is yet to come! So, we get to the river and the fog is just coming off the water. It was exactly what I imagined the river to be like. So, I put on a elk hair caddis dry fly. The bigger fish are now up on top for the morning caddis hatch and both Jeremy and I have been looking forward to this hatch. I follow Jeremy’s advice and throw out a ton of line into the far seam. A monster Salmon jumps up for my offering. The fish never jumps but Jeremy knows its a salmon. We play the fish carefully and life is good with me actually getting a nice salmon.The sun has finally hit the water and the fish are not active on top any longer. We move to the other side of the river. I find the run that I was looking for. Jeremy stands beside me while I swing an olive wooly bugger into the pocket water. “Look at em!” Jeremy say as the salmon chase my fly. I get 2 hits but no solid hookups. So that little run dies down and I know the fish are onto me. I make one last cast but get a different drift. WHAMMO! MONSTER SALMON! The fish races to the head of the pool and jumps four feet clear out of the water 2 times. Both of our jaws dropped and Jeremy is yelling, “dude you got the fish of a lifetime on don’t lose him!” The giant moves back into theslower pocket water he was hooked in and sits there, often taking out 20 feet of line then laying still. “Did I just hook into someones steak?” I asked. The fish was not tired after 10 minutes. He was mad. Jeremy and I took the time to analyze how we were gonna land him. This fish was tactical. So, we finally get the fish to move out of the little pool and into Jeremy’s netting range. “YAAAYYY” Jeremy yelled. HE WAS IN THE NET! We get pictures and life is so great. “Now that’s a Salmon” said Jer.So we wanted to continue on our embark on a grand slam, and we both ended the day with a Brown Trout. It was a great trip with lots of laughs, lots of fish, and just spending time with a good friend. Now Jeremy, take it away with the flat tire dilemma! Jeremy, thanks for everything. I will never forget this trip and look forward till next time. Thank you.
Book
- Alaska
- Guide & Fisherman
- Guiding: Choosing Your Guide And Choosing Your Customer
- Guiding: Do It Yourself With A Guide
- Guiding: Evolution Of A Guide
- Guiding: Freshwater, More Than Meets The Eye
- Guiding: Friends For Life
- Guiding: Know Where You Are
- Guiding: More Than Just A Fisherman
- Guiding: Mystery Of The Fisherman
- Guiding: Payment
- Guiding: Saltwater, A Different World
- Rough Fish
- Fly Fishing For Rough Fish: Why Do It?
- Introduced Rough Fish: The Carps & Other Invasive Species
- Methodology: Gear & Tactics For Pursuing Roughfish On A Fly
- More Roughfish: Bullheads, Whitefish, Goldeye, Burbot & Drum
- Rough Fish Environments: Where To Look For Rough Fish?
- Rough Fish Species: The Suckers
- Rough fish: A Lifetime Of Learning
- Rough Fish: Fishing For Dinosaurs (Gars & Bowfin)
- Rough Fish: What Are They?
- The Hook: Some Common Rough Fish Fly Patterns
- Spey
- Spey: Applications, Where Can You Do It?
- Spey: Atlantic Salmon, A Significant Fish
- Spey: Defined And Demystified
- Spey: Gear, The Nuts And Bolts
- Spey: Lines, They Are That Important
- Spey: Steelhead, New Traditions & A Modern Movement
- Spey: The Energy
- Spey: The Flies
- Spey: The Swing
- Spey: Two Critical Casts
- Striped Bass
- Striped Bass: Fishing Rocky Shorelines
- Striped Bass: Fishing The Beaches
- Striped Bass: Fishing The Flats
- Striped Bass: Fishing The Reefs
- Striped Bass: Fishing Tidal Rivers
- Striped Bass: Flatwing Swing
- Striped Bass: Fly Line Options & Choices
- Striped Bass: Gear, The Nuts & Bolts
- Striped Bass: Migration Patterns
- Striped Bass: What They Eat
- The Art Of Escape
- Fly Fishing: A Natural Drug
- Fly Fishing: A Validation Of Freedom
- Fly Fishing: Don’t Fight The Current
- Fly Fishing: It Is What It Is
- Fly Fishing: Socialization For Asocial Individuals
- Fly Fishing: The Allure Of The Fish
- Fly Fishing: The Art Of Escape
- Fly Fishing: The Simplicity Of It All
- Fly Fishing: Time Flies
- Fly Fishing: Times You Remember & Try To Forget
Austin…What a great fish to get in a river on the fly! Especially since we were in a very difficult run..our backs were on the treeline and we had fast rapids above and below us…Finding that fish was tough….Tricking it was tougher….Landing it was near impossible..but you did it. You should be proud of yourself. That is one heck of a Salmon and the epic 20 minute battle even made it better.
PS… AUSTIN RECENTLY ATTENDED THE TU TROUT CAMP HERE IN MAINE. HE WAS ONE OF 12 KIDS HAND SELECTED TO PARTICIPATE. OF COURSE, AUSTIN’S (FISHERBOY’S) PASSION FOR FLY FISHING , STOOD OUT ABOVE ALL THE OTHERS…WHEN THE MORNING SENTINAL NEWSPAPER WROTE AND PUBLISHED AN ARTICLE ON THIS YEARS TROUT CAMP…THE WRITER MUST HAVE SEEN FISHERBOY AS BEING AN ICON FOR WHAT TROUT CAMP IS SUPPOSED TO BE…
BEGIN TROUT CAMP NEWSPAPER ARTICLE
Students Get Hooked On Trout:
By DAVE SHERWOOD – Friday, July 8, 2005
Copyright © 2005 Blethen Maine Newspapers Inc.
SOLON, MAINE — There was no getting 14-year old Austin Heinrich, of Cumberland, off the Kennebec river last Thursday.
“Just one more cast, please, please,” he said.
He turned downstream, stripped some more line from his reel, then fired one last cast into a shallow riffle in the Kennebec River. The white fly fluttered gently to the surface.
“Slurp.”
His fly disappeared in a splash. He yanked his rod skyward, slack line flew through the air in coils and a trout slapped the surface.
It wasn’t a big one, but it didn’t matter.
“All right! Yes! I love this! This is so great!” Heinrich shouted as he played the fish, dancing around the river, clad in waders and dwarfed by an over-flowing fishing vest and crooked hat.
He was wild-eyed, obsessed, passionate — almost beside himself with excitement.
And that, said Greg Ponte, of West Gardiner, is exactly what Trout Unlimited had in mind when it began its summer kids camp last year.
The Trout Unlimited Kid’s Camp, held at Evergreen Campground in Solon, is about fishing — but also, learning to love the places where fish live.
Trout Unlimited is a national organization, comprised largely of fishermen, whose mission is to defend the places where coldwater fish — like salmon and trout — live.
By gathering corporate sponsors like L.L.Bean and Patagonia, and enlisting volunteers, Trout Unlimited holds camps for kid’s in different states across the country.
“The hope is that we’ll spark an interest and excitement about conservation by teaching these kids fly fishing,” said Sue Townsend, who coordinated the week-long camp.
Fly fishing, she said, is the “hook.” Learning to care for the environment comes easy after that.
Austin was one of 12 campers — many from central Maine, who attended the camp.
To qualify, students wrote essays about why they felt they should be selected, and submitted recommendations from their high school science teachers.
Both the essay and the recommendation were reviewed and scored. The 12 students with the highest scores attended the camp. If the students agreed to share their learning with others after the camp, and to get involved with their local chapters, then Trout Unlimited even paid for their tuition.
It’s a “win-win” situation for everyone involved, said Greg Ponte, who helped start the kids camp in Maine.
The kids come to camp, learn about the environment and fly fishing, then leave excited and engaged — and ready to participate.
The students are high school age, ranging from 14- to 17- years old, but at camp, they’re immersed in a graduate-level course on river and trout ecology.
They leave the shores of the Kennebec with a better understanding of the fish and the river than most adults, said Ponte.
According to Townsend, the students’ itinerary revolves around a study of habitat. They’re taken to Austin Stream, the Williams Dam impoundment and to the Kennebec River, studying first-hand the differences in the three environments.
They measure temperature, turbidity, water levels and flow and look for aquatic insects underneath rocks.
“It’s a really hands-on program,” said Townsend.
They also dissect a hatchery brook trout, learn about fish anatomy and life cycle and hear about careers in conservation.
And of course, there’s plenty of time for fishing.
Evergreen Campground, on the shore of the Kennebec River, offers a perfect setting for the camp.
Kids stay in log cabins that dot the shore of the river. During camp week, wet waders dangle from porch railings, fly rods lean against cabin walls and sandy wading boots sit with laces unraveled outside doorways.
Through the pine trees, kids are seen fishing morning and night.
After hearty meals, they learn to tie flies that imitate the aquatic life they identified during their stream sessions. Then they go out and catch fish on them.
The counselors seem to enjoy it as much, or more. Many of them are school teachers and all of them volunteer their time — free of charge. Some take a week of vacation from work every year just to attend and help with the kids.
Their hardwork didn’t go unnoticed.
Valencia Schubert’s son, Mack, of Belgrade, attended the camp. He was a fishermen before he came to the camp, but was apprehensive at first because he didn’t know anyone there.
“The things he learned from them exceeded anything any of us expected, and their generosity was beyond words,” she said.
“They told him to never stop learning,” she said, in tears on the phone the following week. “They gave him their phone numbers, and offered to go out fishing with him anytime. It’s just so wonderful that there are such positive opportunities out there for kids.”
It’s a worthy cause, and worth every bit of effort and the money, said Ponte.
“These are the kids that will become our leaders in the future,” he said.
The hope is that some will go on to careers in conservation, or environmental protection. But even those that don’t, he said, will likely still go on to make a difference.
“A kid might become a mechanic, a doctor or who knows what, but sometime in the future they see something that’s not quite right — say, a subdivision where too many trees got cut, and then they’ll get involved. That’s why we do this,” he said.
And it’s not just about trout.
“It can be saving whales, or anything they want,” said Townsend. “We just want to foster that conservationist ethic.”
Dave Sherwood 621-5648
[email protected]
Awesome story and fish guys. That IS what its all about…..
Jeremy, once again thanks for a geat trip, it was alot of fun.
Austin
Nice work Austin!! Wow, I can now say that I got a chance to fish with Trout Unlimited’s Maine posterboy!
Fisherboy,
Nice fish, nice article. The conehead wooler bugger should be renamed to the Mr. Fantastic. That fly does wonders on the water you were fishing.
Congrats…
Hi Pat
Till this trip, I had always dissed the wooly bugger and called it stupid and over rated. I have a whole new sence of respect for it now. I now know how to fish it, and it has produced wonderfully since. It caught my best fish ever and I will never leave home without some for me and jeremy
Austin
It actually happens all the time! I was on channel 6 opening day! Thanks dave
Austin
AUSTIN
MAN COME ON YOU CAN ATLEAST SMILE WHEN YOU CATCH A FISH THAT BIG.
GREAT STORY AND NICE FISH.