Maine on My Mind

Here I am in 84-degree Florida, while a major snowstorm hits New York, and in Danforth, Maine, my camp town, the temperature has dropped to 25. One of the camp caretakers called to ask if I wanted to come up to go ice fishing. Well, of course I do, but I wonder if I can endure the cold conditions while sitting on an overturned can in a makeshift hut watching a line descend 100 feet down into East Grand Lake, awaiting a tug and a pull from a monster from the depths? Maybe if I layer up and the little propane heater is working. I have a month to think it over before the lake fully freezes—and probably talk myself out of this trip.

Yesterday, I read in the New York Times about how beavers, skilled in dam building, are being used to solve both environmental and water issues out west. The beavers create small ponds in the wilderness by damming up freshwater streams. In Maine, these “beaver ponds” are stocked with the most delightful, colorful brook trout. Not very large but fun to catch with nymphs or with dry flies on top of the water. They are not located on any map, but Greg has a way of finding them. Greg tagged an entrance off a timber road hidden beneath overgrown grasses and the remains of tree stumps from logging years ago. It leads to a beaver pond that we have returned to several times. My Grumman canoe is kept at the water’s edge. We bring our paddles and gear. I am usually muddied and exhausted by the time I have trudged through the woods, and finally sitting in the bow of the canoe is a relief, releasing all that pent-up angst from the work week. The exhilaration returns as I cast off to where I spy bubbles on the surface—a sure sign of movement just below. Greg, with his live bait, will catch a dozen fish before I hook even one. I still use the traditional dry flies, and I find it is just as satisfying to catch a few brookies that way.

So here I am settled in at my desk in Florida, looking at the sun setting, thinking about Maine, and, as the calendar turns to 2026, the promise of a new year of fishing adventures on the horizon.