Paul's Hunting Blog: May 2014

This is not my first fish in Maine but it is the biggest yet. It's a huge Brook Trout.

A lot has happened in the last few weeks. I have lots of stories and even more pictures. I am going to break up this post into events and locations.

Trout Fishing

First in adventure, but not on the timeline is a quick trip I took with two great friends I've met at work. I have been waiting to fish with these guys since I met them. They took me to an awesome spot that I would have blindfolded anyone I was taking into it. We hiked into one of the most beautiful forests I have ever seen and we fished a small winding creek that had a few shallow holes. At our first hole I finally hooked into my first Maine fish; a small brook trout. Finally, the weight of the world is off my shoulders and whatever curse I had is lifted. We hiked around hitting different pools and we all caught fish. One pool coughed up about 8 brookies to two of us even though it was smaller than most people's living rooms. One of the fish was trophy sized. I have had a lot of great adventures in the past but being able to fish with these guys in such an amazing place makes the top 5 for sure. It was raining so my camera didn't want to focus on most of the pictures.

My 1st Maine fish!

The fish we were catching had amazing coloration and many were probably native as they had no clipped fin.

Turkey Hunting

Unless I wake up tomorrow at 4am and hit the woods for the final day of the season; turkey hunting is done for me until fall. I went out a few times and called many birds. One morning I got on 4 different toms within 2 hours. I was never able to get any to commit to my decoys. They seemed pretty henned up when I was hunting and I wasn't able to get out very much. I did see a lot of deer and enjoyed hunting though I don't know if I will hunt turkeys again alone. It seems more of a partner sport.

One of my decoy set ups.

Moms Visit

My Mom and Mother-in-law came for a visit for a weekend. It was a great chance to hang out with them and show them our nursery and some new parts of Maine. We visited Fort Foster so I could see if my clean up attempt stayed clean. The beaches still looked pretty good. My parents are visiting in July so I am planning some good fishing trips for me and my Dad.

Together we all built a fire pit and put in flowers and a garden.

Biddeford Pool Fishing

This beaver is literally 8 feet long and loves to chase Rusty off the beach.

I've put in a ton of time at Biddeford Pool trying to catch a striper. I have seen them chasing baitfish out of the water. I fish there just about every night. I have had no luck in salt water yet.

Chelsea and Rusty come down sometimes to keep me company. Even in the rain!

I tried sea worms for the first time yesterday. These things are creepy!

High tide offers fish, low tide gives other treasures. Finally got my SPRO jig back.

Fishing here just about every night makes me wonder how many sunsets I have missed.

Chelsea trying to train a dock dog.

Bubble Chaser.

Double rainbow all the way.

This is the first fish I touched in Maine. It was some kind of baitfish that had a large wound on its back. I tried to catch it but it had enough life left to get away. Story of my salt water life.

My TICA rod lost an eyelet insert the first time I used it so it's on it's way back to TICA right now but the Baitrunner worked very well.

Buoy at low tide.

Saco Dam Fishing

After finding I could have the Biddeford Pool to myself 90% of the time, I haven't been back to the Saco Dam in a while. I went back with Rusty and Chelsea last week to let him swim and the fish hitting the surface were crazy. Even Rusty was jumping in after them. The last time I fished there a seal was riding the fish ladder like a water slide.